A plumber in Burnely who helps vulnerable and elderly people in his community for free has received a huge donation from actor Hugh Grant.
The actor has made a donation of £10,000 to plumber James Anderson leaving him in “shock”, reports The Lancashire Telegraph.
Mr Anderson is the founder of a charity that provides free plumbing and heating work to local elderly and vulnerable residents.
Called Depher, the charity was first set up in 2017 to serve his local community of Burnley, which is ranked the 11th most deprived area in the UK according to the 2019 index of multiple deprivation.
Depher has completed 43,679 free emergency jobs and helped 18,297 disabled or terminally ill families who could not otherwise afford the cost.
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It was founded after Mr Anderson witnessed a Plumbing and Heating company trying to overcharge and scam an elderly and disabled gentleman out of a total of £5500.00,
The donation from Mr Grant came through GoFundMe as part of the charity’s winter appeal, which has raised more than £80,000 at the time of writing.
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Mr Anderson made headlines in 2019 after a bill of his for a 91-year-old woman showing a total cost of £0 went viral.
The publicity meant that a lot of celebrities, and members of the public started to donate to his charity by way of showing their support.
Still, he said he had to “look twice” when he saw the donation come in from Mr Grant – especially after in July of this year the charity nearly had to shut down due to a lack of funding.
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He told The Lancashire Telegraph: “I didn’t believe it was him. It’s a shock but it’s wonderful.”
“That’s 10 boilers for people with cancer. Ten boilers for people who are dying.”
The charity has since recovered, and for Mr Anderson such a big donation from someone like Hugh isn’t just about the money – but also the awareness it brings to his cause, which is more needed than ever as household costs continue to rise across the UK.
Describing the problem faced by many in his area as well as those further afield, Mr Anderson said: “Too many elderly and disabled people are forgotten about and left to face the daily struggles with life saving repairs, without a second thought of what they face.
“Since March 2017, we have seen more than there should be and it is growing out of control, with no help available it can only get worse unless we help and show community spirit.
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“The government system has not been set up to deal with the issues that they face and i feel they never will, that is why Depher has been launched.
“With 16.5 million elderly and disabled people living within this United Kingdom, it can mean the difference between life and death, especially in the winter time.”
If you would like to donate to Mr Anderson’s GoFundMe, you can do so here.
Manchester football fans warned of rise in resale ticket scams ahead of FA Cup final
Emily Sergeant
Manchester football fans are being warned of a rise in resale ticket scams ahead of the FA Cup final in a couple of weeks time.
History is repeating itself and tensions are building by the day, as Manchester United and Manchester City are facing each other in an all-Manchester final of the Emirates FA Cup at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 25 May.
And, to no surprise, it’s set to be a massive day for football fans in our football-obsessed city.
2023 was the first time the two Manchester clubs battled it out for the FA Cup title in the final in the 151-year-old football competition’s illustrious history, and it was victory for the Citizens, with the trophy was formed a crucial piece of their treble-winning season… but, in what seems to be a repeating turn of events, 2024 is the year of the re-match.
As you’d probably expect, once it was confirmed that United and City would face each other again in the FA Cup final this year, tickets for the match sold out instantly, and there’s only a handful of restricted view seats left now.
Despite Manchester City having even warned that any fans who are found to have resold their ticket will face a ban, there are, however, countless resale sites and individuals are flogging their seats online.
This is why the digital payment experts at takepayments are urging any fans hoping to travel from Manchester to London for the final to remain vigilant, and make sure they are armed with the knowledge and tips that’ll prevent them from falling for fraudulent ticket scams.
“The FA Cup Final is one of the most highly-anticipated matches of the season and there is always huge demand for tickets,” explained Jodie Wilkinson, who is the Head of Strategic Partnerships at takepayments.
“Unfortunately this means ticket touts will be looking to sell seats at inflated prices, as well as conning fans out of their money with fraudulent tickets, or stealing their bank details using a fake resale site.”
She explained that while buying tickets by credit or debit card does cover fans under Section 75 and Chargeback Rules – which is where their card provider could help recover the cost of goods or services if they do not receive what they paid for – paying cash for a ticket doesn’t have the same protection if the ticket ends up being unauthorised.
Research from Lloyds Bank ahead of the new football season last year revealed that the majority of football ticket scams tend to take place on social media platforms via bank transfers, but unfortunately, Jodie admitted that it can be “extremely difficult” to recover money lost from bank transfer scams, as in most cases, victims willingly transfer payment to a fraudster’s account.
“It’s important to only buy tickets from a secure ticket resale site and never send anyone you don’t know and have only spoken to on social media money,” Jodie concluded.
She also said that secure eCommerce websites will have “certain card payment security measures in place” to prevent people from getting scammed, and that fans should be aware of these security measures before making any payments.
Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), 3D Secure Authentication, and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certifications, are some of the most common measures sites put in place.
More information on card payment security measures can be found on the takepayements website here.
Manchester United and Manchester City will battle it out to be crowned champions in the final of the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday 25 May.
Kick-off is at 3pm, and the game action is to be shown live on both BBC One and ITV.
Featured Image – The FA
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Parts of ‘extremely busy’ road into Manchester city centre to close for improvement works from this week
Emily Sergeant
Lane closures will be in place on an “extremely busy” road into Manchester city centre from this week, it has been confirmed.
As part of the ‘Streets For All’ programme being carried out across the city and wider Manchester borough by Manchester City Council, several road improvements are set to be introduced in Oldham Road between Bengal Street and Portland Street – which is just north of the city centre, and described as being “well-used” by the public.
The Council has confirmed that the project to improve the roads and footpaths along the “key road” in the Ancoats area is expected to begin today (13 May).
The first phase of the project starting from today will take up to three weeks to complete.
Some of the improvement works being carried out from today include the improving the safety of cycleways, improving crossings and footpaths across Oldham Road to provide additional safety to any pedestrians crossing, and the installing of new traffic signals at the junction of Oldham Road and Radium Street.
Single lane closures on both carriageways of Oldham Road, between Bengal Street and Poland Street, will be in place from this week while the first phase of the project is carried out.
Manchester City Council says it’s working with its partners to “minimise disruption” as best as possible, but is still advising that people plan their journeys ahead of time.
“As part of our ongoing work across the city, we are looking at ways to make journeys safer for all our residents and improve transport links along key transport arteries,” explained Councillor Tracey Rawlins, who is the Executive Member for Environment and Transport at Manchester City Council, ahead of the works commencing this week.
“The Oldham Road corridor is an extremely busy and well-used stretch of road, providing a link to Ancoats and the city centre, which is why it’s important that this work takes place.
“Updates will be provided as the work progresses, and as ever I’d advise people to plan their journey in advance to make sure any disruption can be minimised.”
According to the Council, the improvement scheme is expected to be completed by this autumn.