Dragon statue man banned from charity role over ‘serious concerns’
ATRUSTEE of a cancer charity that was probed after failing to donate any money since 2011 has been banned from running a charity for 10 years.
Simon Wingett, who ran the Frank Wingett Cancer Relief Fund (FWCRF), has also been disqualified from acting as a trustee for any charity over the same period.
The decision by the Charity Commission, which initially launched an investigation into the FWCRF in 2017, followed “failings” by Mr Wingett – the sole trustee – that amounted to “misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity.”
It comes after the FWCRF was removed from the official charity register in May of last year as it was no longer in operation and following “serious concerns” over the way it was run.
Speaking to our sister paper, the Daily Post, Mr Wingett said he had no comment to make on the matter.
In June 2018, the Daily Post revealed the FWCRF – which operated a shop at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital until March 2018 – had handed £4,500 to the hospital in 2011, but had failed to provide a penny more since.
That came despite the charity investing more than £400,000 over the past decade into Mr Wingett’s proposed Dragon Project – an 80ft Welsh dragon statue tourist attraction in Chirk.
The trust also had not filed any accounts with the Charity Commission since 2014 – something Mr Wingett said wasn’t “top of my agenda” due to unforeseen family circumstances.
Mr Wingett, the sole director of the limited company connected to the profitable scheme, Great Welsh Dragon Ltd, said last year he was confident the project would be completed by the summer of 2020.
However, when asked if completion by this summer was still a realistic time frame, he said: “I think you ought to look out the window and look at the news. These are really discrete times and people are now just trying to survive. The world has far bigger problems than my dragon project at the moment and I think every other person should just do as the Government says.
“Let’s just get rid of this coronavirus and try and get all our lives back on track.”
The project must commence before January 3, 2022, otherwise planning permission will lapse.
Asked what has now happened to the £400,000 from the trust that was invested into the dragon project, Mr
Wingett added: “We are still trying to get [the project] over the finish line.
“No-one is giving up on it, it’s just a question of there seems to be difficult times after difficult times, and that’s all I can say.”
A Charity Commission spokeswoman said: “We have serious concerns about the way in which Frank Wingett Cancer Relief Fund was run.
“We consider that failings by the charity’s sole trustee amounted to misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity.
“As such, we have taken action to disqualify the individual from acting as a trustee or senior manager of any charity in England or Wales for a period of 10 years.
“Charity trustees hold important positions of trust, and it is right that we are able to take this action to hold people to account and protect other charities.”
The FWCRF was set up by Mr Wingett’s father, Frank Wingett, in 1981 to relieve patients in the Wrexham and district hospitals.
Its aim was to donate medical and surgical equipment and facilities and raise funds for the relief of cancer in Wales.
Mr Wingett fundraised tirelessly for North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan, and for equipment at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
In total around £1m was raised.
It is recommended by the Charity Commission that a charity should aim for a minimum of three unconnected trustees.