Gerry McCann is doing the Virgin London Triathlon to raise money for the Missing Persons Charity.

[gilet]

For information, Gerry completed the swim in 26 minutes 37 seconds and took a steady 3 minutes 33 seconds in the transition between swim and cycle events. His cycle and run times are not yet available.

[faithlilly]

No, Saville's fund raising does not wash his reputation clean.

Just as fund raising will never wash from Gerry or Kate McCann their personal anguish at having let down their daughter by such a bad error of judgement.

I really think you are exaggerating to the point of making your post sound a little silly when you try to excuse fundraising as the equivalent of "finding God" and personally as someone who has been involved for most of my life in various fund raising events from jumble sales to quizzes to running in similar events to those Kate and Gerry have done I find your comment rather dismissive of the good work done by so many people.

Perhaps if you got involved in some yourself you would see the kind of people involved and would change your view.

Generally individuals who fundraise deserve nothing but praise, yourself included. They unselfishly give their time and energy to help others. This, however, is not what we are talking about here. The McCanns could have easily fund raised quietly for MP without any fanfare but they chose instead to make a 'media event' of it, why is that ?

BTW in relation to your final comment, you know absolutely nothing about me or my work for charity and that's because I don't find it necessary to beg plaudits for it.

[faithlilly]

For information, Gerry completed the swim in 26 minutes 37 seconds and took a steady 3 minutes 33 seconds in the transition between swim and cycle events. His cycle and run times are not yet available.

So he is a wonderful athlete but an abysmally bad parent. I know what I'd rather be.

[Rachel Granada]

For information, Gerry completed the swim in 26 minutes 37 seconds and took a steady 3 minutes 33 seconds in the transition between swim and cycle events. His cycle and run times are not yet available.

Thanks for the info.  Well done Gerry and all the other participants. 

[Rachel Granada]

So he is a wonderful athlete but an abysmally bad parent. I know what I'd rather be.

So if a member of your family went missing would you refuse the help of Missing People because the McCanns had raised money for them?

Or say if Gerry had been raising money for McMillan nurses, would you refuse a nurse if you or a relative were terminally ill?

I bet you wouldn't.

[faithlilly]

So if a member of your family went missing would you refuse the help of Missing People because the McCanns had raised money for them?

Or say if Gerry had been raising money for McMillan nurses, would you refuse a nurse if you or a relative were terminally ill?

I bet you wouldn't.

What a silly question.

[gilet]

So he is a wonderful athlete but an abysmally bad parent. I know what I'd rather be.

Not abysmally bad. He made an error of judgement. Most parents do from time to time. Not many are as unlucky as this man.

I find your inability to applaud his current efforts for charity (and those of his wife) rather sad, even sadder when you are simply repeating an old mantra about the error which Gerry and Kate have both admitted. Very, very sad and vindictive.


And could you explain why Rachel's question is silly?

You clearly have issues with the funds raised and by implication the charity for accepting Kate as an ambassador and fund raiser and Gerry as a fund raiser. Would you be so hypocritical to accept their help knowing they were using these funds?

Please do explain.

[faithlilly]

Not abysmally bad. He made an error of judgement. Most parents do from time to time. Not many are as unlucky as this man.

I find your inability to applaud his current efforts for charity (and those of his wife) rather sad, even sadder when you are simply repeating an old mantra about the error which Gerry and Kate have both admitted. Very, very sad and vindictive.


And could you explain why Rachel's question is silly?

You clearly have issues with the funds raised and by implication the charity for accepting Kate as an ambassador and fund raiser and Gerry as a fund raiser. Would you be so hypocritical to accept their help knowing they were using these funds?

Please do explain.

I have no problem with MP accepting funds from the McCanns. What I do have a problem with is the McCanns using their fundraising, through the media, as a tool to rehabilitate their tarnished reputation.

[Angelo222]

Not abysmally bad. He made an error of judgement. Most parents do from time to time. Not many are as unlucky as this man.

I find your inability to applaud his current efforts for charity (and those of his wife) rather sad, even sadder when you are simply repeating an old mantra about the error which Gerry and Kate have both admitted. Very, very sad and vindictive.


And could you explain why Rachel's question is silly?

You clearly have issues with the funds raised and by implication the charity for accepting Kate as an ambassador and fund raiser and Gerry as a fund raiser. Would you be so hypocritical to accept their help knowing they were using these funds?

Please do explain.

I have some sympathy with those who insist that the McCanns involvement with missing persons is inappropriate given their own past history.  Similarly, I find Hugh Grants donation of £5000 distasteful given his conviction for lewd behaviour.  If Grant wanted to give money so badly he should gave done so anonymously as other major donators have done over the years.

[Chinagirl]

What is CAB??

[gilet]

I have no problem with MP accepting funds from the McCanns. What I do have a problem with is the McCanns using their fundraising, through the media, as a tool to rehabilitate their tarnished reputation.

Could you please now explain your previous post about the question being silly?

Do you have any explanation for that comment or not?

It is only your rather spiteful opinion that this is the motive for the McCanns actions, of course.

Others may believe as I do, that having suffered the anguish of a missing child the McCanns are in the perfect place to empathise with other parents in a similar position and that they are using the fame that was thrust upon them by this sad occurrence to help others who the media have not taken on board in the same way.

We are all entitled to our opinions. Personally I prefer to think the best of someone if I don't have any actual evidence that they are acting maliciously.

[Rachel Granada]

What is CAB??

It's the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

[gilet]

I have some sympathy with those who insist that the McCanns involvement with missing persons is inappropriate given their own past history.  Similarly, I find Hugh Grants donation of £5000 distasteful given his conviction for lewd behaviour.  If Grant wanted to give money so badly he should gave done so anonymously as other major donators have done over the years.

I clearly have less sympathy than you with such people because I believe that having suffered the anguish of a missing child the parents of Madeleine are in an ideal place to empathise with others who have suffered in a similar way. Many of them will also be unable to forgive themselves for whatever they perceive (as the McCanns recognise) were their faults in causing the missing person to leave home or otherwise become a missing person.

Nor do I think that Hugh Grant was wrong to donate using his name. If others can do so then why not him? Would it be because of the size of the donation? If it is wrong for him then it is wrong for them all and others could be guilty of much more serious crimes than him.

Personally I think that it might be better if donations on these sites were all anonymous but I know the reason they are not is because people at all levels enjoy the feeling of seeing their name attached to the list. That goes for those donating £10 as well as those donating £5,000. As a proportion of their wealth it may well be the same.

[gilet]

Erm ... What has the Citizens Advice Bureau got to do wuth Gerrys Triathlon? 

Am I missing something?

I took it, Sadie, that the poster was making an implied point about the reaction of the public to the McCanns. Its a shame when posters cannot spit out what they really mean and dress it up in that way but...

As a matter of fact I am interested in the comment about the CAB though for other reasons and would like to see the evidence of the employment of murderers. I have asked for such evidence and look forward to seeing it.

[gilet]

I'm afraid my lawyer has advised me not to answer your questions gilet,  in the same way Kate was advised not to answer hers. So I'm afraid you will just have to draw your own conclusions as to why I am not answering them, as we had to with Kate.

Like you I also like to think the best of people but over the last six years with the McCanns that has become increasingly hard.

In all the time I have been posting on forums I have rarely seen such a silly response.

It is perfectly clear that you cannot explain why you called that question 'silly' and instead have had to make this stupid reference to lawyers who you have not actually consulted. I am appalled that you should treat the matter so childishly.

The issue in this thread is triathlon and the charitable donations not the questions.

Why call a question 'silly' when you know it is not silly? You really have shown yourself up.