SUCH GENEROSITY
That’s just not Wright X-factor chief ploughs six-figure sum into troubled kids’ hospice
WHILE his wife Michelle Keegan is in South Africa, Mark Wright takes a trip Down Under – his shorts.
The Heart FM DJ looked teed off as he was caught having a rummage after a game of golf in Essex. A little birdie tells us he’s looking forward to being reunited with actress Michelle, who’s in Cape Town making BBC drama Our Girl. source said: “The hospice has had a few financial difficulties over the past year and Simon has been its saving grace. “He has been very generous and has gone above and beyond to help. Since 2012, he has increased his donations annually and this year nearly doubled his donation after learning the charity needed extra help.”
Simon, whose fortune is estimated at €400million, also regularly donates prizes and bids at the charity’s auctions.
It also emerged recently that he paid €100,000 for Britain’s Got Talent star Julia Carlile, 15, to have a back operation in the US to fix her spine curvature. And in June, Simon donated €100,000 to the fund for Grenfell Tower blaze victims as well as organising a charity single.
A spokesman for Shooting Star, in Hampton, south-west London, said: “We get next to nothing in government funding, so we rely almost entirely on donations and last year was challenging.
“Simon is a wonderful supporter and we are grateful to have him as Vice President. He has supported us for years, including hosting an annual afternoon tea, visiting hospices and trips to The X Factor and BGT. We do not comment on individual financial contributions.”
halina.watts@trinitymirror.com