Dragons Den investor Steven Barlett has thousands of pounds to help feed struggling UK families after a woman’s charity allotment used to help people through the cost of living crisis was vandalised, rendering all of its food inedible.
UK gardener Carly Burd, who has multiple sclerosis (MS) and lupus, had transformed her garden into a vegetable allotment and was using it to feed more than 1,600 hard-up families struggling to make ends meet.
Then this week, she discovered that vandals had poured roughly 5kg of salt across the plot – destroying enough potatoes and onions to feed more than 300 people, as well as ‘hours and hours’ of her hard work.
Taking to social media platform TikTok to share her devastation at the discovery, a tearful Carly said she was “absolutely heartbroken” and explained that someone must have jumped over the fence in the night.
Image: Carly Burd via TikTok
Image: Carly Burd via TikTok
She continued: “That means everything I’ve planted won’t grow and I can’t replant on it because it won’t grow.
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“All the hours and hours and hours of work that we’ve put in is now dead, and they’ve done it everywhere.”
Carly’s emotional video quickly went viral as people began sharing their dismay that someone could do such a thing, and a GoFundMe account set up by Carly soon began racking up donations from outraged viewers.
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At the time of writing, the fundraiser has received over 10,000 donations totalling more than £171,000 – with one of the largest being from podcaster and Social Chain founder Steven Bartlett, who contributed £2,000 to the cause.
Appearing in a list of one of the top supporters, he is not the only celebrity to have given money to the cause with Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker also donating £500.
Carly first began her A Meal on Me With Love initiative for people on benefits, low incomes and pensioners in 2022, growing fruit and vegetables to give to people on low incomes in her local neighbourhood.
On her GoFundMe page, she expressed sympathy with those living on low incomes writing: “I know how hard its going to be this winter with cost of living .So I transformed my garden into an allotment to provide those on benefits, pensioners on state pension & those on a low income FREE organic fruit an vegetables plus essentials.
She explained: “They receive a large box that contains essentials plus enough food, fruit, vegetables, pasta, rice, breakfast etc for the amount of people in the household. I made all the planters from old wood & I grow everything from seed.
She also shared her own struggles with the cost of living, writing: “I’m on disability so I have to keep the cost down. I can’t sit back & watch people struggle; not being able to feed their kids or go without food so they can have the heating on.
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“Last year I went without heating, having MS with no heating is horrific. Why are we left to live like this?”
If you would like to support Carly’s GoFundMe page you can do so here.
His post has generated a fair bit of reaction already, with one person replying: “Ridiculous advice! Loss of a table for 4 ! Empty tables for 2! Over ordered and over staffed, this stupidly from someone who should know better must corrected. Every customer counts in this day and age.”
Someone else wrote: “The amount of people booking 2 venues this year and cancelling is on the increase too!! We are now taking deposits for groups over 6 to try and eliminate this! When space is an issue booking more than you need is not fair on the venues!!”
Another commented: “A table of 3 is actually sat on a table for four. So you’re denying the business of 50% of its potential turnover. Do not do this.”
Sacha Lord – Night Time Economy Adviser to Greater Manchester.
CREDIT – Darren Robinson Photography
Gregg Wallace apologises after Downing Streets labels ‘middle-class women’ comments ‘misogynistic’
Danny Jones
Gregg Wallace has issued an official apology as he looks to be in increasing trouble not only over recent reports of his misconduct on set but his subsequent reaction to the allegations and now viral “middle-class women” comments.
The 60-year-old MasterChef presenter and well-known foodie face stepped down from the BBC cooking show last week after a total of 13 people came forward to complain about his ‘sexual’ behaviour over the course of a 17-year period.
Despite having denied an initial accusation from a former female colleague regarding an incident back in 2018, in which insists no comments or actions of a sexual nature were made, a dozen more individuals have now submitted historical complaints to the corporation and a full investigation is underway.
However, in an Instagram story shared on Sunday, Wallace was quick to dismiss the claims made by what he called “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age” – a response which was quickly met with a severe backlash online.
Equally problematic was his suggestion that because he had worked with an estimated 2,000 people during his time on the show the words of “only 13” women were somehow less valid and/or believable.
Having also shared a video thanking all of those supporting him, as well as numerous other stories featuring personal messages from people both on and off the show defending him, he has continued to rebuke those who have put his conduct over the past two decades under a microscope.
That being said, it looks as though the now former TV personality and household name is doubling back after even Downing Street came out to condemn his comments, with a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer labelling the response video “completely inappropriate and misogynistic.”
Having since deleted a number of his IG stories and now shared a follow-up video to his initial reply, telling his followers: “I want to apologise for any offence that I caused with my post yesterday and any upset I may have caused to a lot of people.”
He said that he was not in a “good head space” when he posted the response and has been dealing with a lot of stress since the story broke, adding, “I felt very alone.” You can see the clip down below.
As you see, the ex-green grocer and restaurant owner said he intends to step away from the story for now and let the in-house investigation move forward without interruption.
Both the BBC and production company, Banijay UK – who make MasterChef and the various spin-off series on which Gregg Wallace has served as a co-host – are currently conducting an internal review of those complaints made by former contestants and staff, including a BBC news anchor.
While none of the allegations are yet to be proved, one former male contestant reportedly told Sky News that the current allegations are just the “tip of the iceberg“, claiming he witnessed a “toxic environment” and was so “horrified” he considered quitting the show on his first day.
Georgina Pellant -
13th April 2023 
