Sir Captain Tom Moore’s daughter has told how she and her husband feared for their financial future as the Covid pandemic hit in 2020.
Hannah Ingram-Moore also revealed her biggest financial mistake came over a decade ago when she and her husband Colin invested shares in the energy market.
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Ms Ingram-Moore said she and her husband “genuinely worried about our financial future” at the beginning of the UK Covid shutdown , which saw lockdowns that shuttered business across the country.
“It all started on that second weekend of lockdown when we were coming to terms with the fact that the country was closing down.”
“My husband and I sat outside, genuinely worried about our financial future. The entire pipeline for our business over the next 18 months had been wiped clean overnight.”
“We were worried about how we would sustain our workers, my father and the children.”
The comment came in a wide-ranging discussion about money and the financial lessons her father had taught her, when Ms Ingram-Moore was asked what the ‘best financial year of her life’ was.
“It was 2020,” she replied. “On a personal level, raising that money was lifechanging,” she said.
Sir Tom died in February 2021 after raising £33 million for NHS charities after walking laps of his garden.
Ms Ingram-Moore explained that the idea of walking around the garden was her husbands, after the family had to cancel Captain Tom’s 100th birthday due to the pandemic.
“My husband suggested that instead of the party my father should walk around the garden 100 times, and we would give him £1 a lap,” she said.
Captain Tom said that was a ‘fair challenge’ and millions in donations followed.
Separately, Ms Ingram-Moore and husband Colin have come under scrutiny in recent days after the foundation they set up to honour the former army colonel published its accounts.
The Captain Tom Foundation was set up in 2020 after he gained national attention with his fundraising efforts.
It raised £1m in its first year but to date only £160,000 has been awarded to charities - less than the £162,000 spent on costs.
They showed the charity paid tens of thousands of pounds to companies run by the couple, including their consultancy firm Maytrix.
Ms Ingram-Moore was appointed a trustee of the charity on 1 February 2021 but resigned on 15 March, according to accounts.
Her husband was appointed a trustee on the same date and remains in post on the board as the family’s representative.
The Charity Commission told The Independent its regulatory compliance case into the Captain Tom Foundation was opened in March last year and is still live.
“We have been in ongoing contact with the trustees of the Captain Tom Foundation on its set-up and governance arrangements and as part of this work will now assess the charity’s recently submitted accounts,” a Charity Commission spokesperson said.
In a statement, the Captain Tom Foundation said: “The Captain Tom Foundation was set up in May 2020 and launched in September 2020 to continue Captain Sir Tom’s legacy and to build on the beacon of hope that he had become.
“In the period 5 May 2020 – 31 May 2021, The foundation was dedicated to combating loneliness, championing education and equality and supporting those facing bereavement.”
