Another week has come and gone dear reader and, yeah, how about President Trump’s decision yesterday? Pulling out of the Paris climate agreement because it’s a ‘bad deal’ for America. He really classed it up too – White House rose garden, the country and the world’s press gathered together in the blazing, early summer sun and, of course, a jazz band playing jaunty tunes.
Certain journalists on Twitter remarked that having a band playing at the announcement of something so catastrophic was a bit like the band on the Titanic playing as the ship went down. Seems an inappropriate comparison though, given that Donny T. is basically getting rid of all those pesky icebergs in the name of MORE JOBS!
We’re all doomed, but then again seems like we always were.
Dr. Who thought this was a good idea?
So they are plotting the destruction of the world, and are the acme of instinctive evil. Yet somehow, they're also quite handy for charity fundraising.
That's right. It's the Daleks. Complete with laser cannon, sensor array, and that other funny knob that doesn't really do anything, they're coming to a charitable event near you.
The Hunts Post, the town’s local newspaper, sent a reporter down to the local high street to catch what all the fuss is about and, yeah, Society Diary’s none too sure, to be honest. It’s just a couple of Daleks, made of funny blocks, standing in a window, doing nowt.
Anyway, the two daleks were constructed by Oxfam volunteer and local tinkerer Mike Addis. In order to celebrate the release of the latest series of Dr Who, Mr Addis also constructed a lego version of the Doctor’s Tardis telephone box, to sit alongside the Daleks in the Oxfam charity shop window.
Geoffrey Stalker, the shop manager, said the Tardis and Daleks took two months to make, but have been worth all the blood, sweat and tears because the locals “have been very excited by the whole thing”.
It’s also driven the shop’s social media traffic “through the roof”. Bully for them.
It seems in general as if the combination of charity and Daleks drives the British public into inexplicable paroxysms of delight. No less than seven different Dalek-makers have created full-size replicas of these creatures, available for free for the charity fundraiser of your choice. Just Google "charity Dalek" and sit back in wonder, to consider the veritable panoply of models available for your, er, dalektation.
It's a veritable Who's Who's Who, as it were. A police box of delights. Enough to set both your hearts a-flutter.
One size doesn’t necessarily fit all
It’s Volunteers Week, everyone! Diary’s sure you’re all already aware of this, given the event launched yesterday to much social media acclaim. Quite why a weeklong event was launched on a Thursday is beyond this column – surely you’d launch your weeklong event on the Monday so as to ensure that it covers the rest of the week. But what does Diary know? Why would you publish the best and most incisive piece of journalism on a Friday lunchtime, after all?
Ah volunteers. The beating, un-remunerated heart of the charity sector. And no charity sector umbrella body knows this fact better than NCVO, who have been out and about wearing branded Volunteers Week T-shirts and handing out ‘Life is short. Volunteer’ duffel bags to grumpy commuters around London.
Jump on NCVO’s Twitter to check out some of the lovely, sun-kissed images of volunteers taking their inspiring messages of hope and joy out onto the streets of this fine country. It’s enough to warm the cockles of one’s heart, no matter how icy.
Karl Wilding, director of policy and volunteering at NCVO, self-professed ‘prog rock saddo’, and the charity sector’s very own Northern Powerhouse has, needless to say, been getting in on the merchandise action. Check out this tweet of him, proudly wearing his Volunteer’s Week T-shirt.
According to @NCVOvolunteers, these were the largest size too. Oh dear. No more pies for me during #volunteersweek. pic.twitter.com/IvBAzp0erD
— Karl Wilding (@karlwilding) May 31, 2017
From the brain of Bubb
Finally, to the Twitter feed of Sir Stephen Bubb, the former chief executive of Acevo.
This week, we carried the news that Sir Stephen's new programme, Charity Futures, has spun out of Acevo into a community interest company, or CIC. He's cicked himself out, as it were.
Anyway, this leads to a thought. Has Sir Stephen ever technically been a member of Acevo? Presumably if you're the chief executive of the association for chief executives, you could sign up to a membership. You wouldn't get many additional benefits, admittedly.
And when he stopped being a chief executive, he couldn't be a member. But now he's a chief executive again, of a social enterprise, he can join up - actually for the first time.
In other news, it seems that Sir Steve also wasn’t to be dissuaded from also sharing his personal favourite breakfast item. Porridge.
"@Peston: Scoop. @jeremycorbyn makes new pledge outside manifesto. "Everybody should have bowl of porridge in morning"
— Sir Stephen Bubb (@BubbCeo) June 1, 2017
Agree.i do!
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