Pub bars appeal collectors

Mr Lynch who runs the Crown OC Bar in New Park Street was the only licensee in Devizes to turn away Red Cross collectors Judy Rose and Jo Beim, even though they telephoned in advance to ask for permission.

This week Mr Lynch dismissed the incident as a misunderstanding.

He said: "They didn't explain themselves properly."

The women from Avon Road had contacted all the pubs in the town centre last week for permission to collect for the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal in aid of the victims of the Asian tsunami.

Thirteen pubs agreed to allow them to collect cash from their customers on Friday night.

These included the Lamb, the Bear Hotel, the Pelican, the Dolphin, the Elm Tree, the White Bear, the British Lion, the Royal Oak, the Bell by the Green, the Black Swan, the Castle Hotel, the Black Horse, The Four Seasons and the Three Crowns.

The two women, accompanied by Mrs Beim's husband Roger and daughter Hannah, raised £700 from their fundraising pub tour, but the Crown's refusal still rankles with them.

Mrs Rose said: "The Crown was the only one to refuse point blank to let us collect. Something about brewery policy, which rings a bit hollow in the face of the warm welcome we received from all the others. They didn't want us bothering their customers."

Mr Lynch, however, said if he had known what the collection was for, he would have been happy for the fundraisers to bring their Red Cross collecting boxes into his pub.

He said: "It is our policy not to allow collections in the pub, but they didn't explain themselves properly. If they had taken some time and explained what it was all about, I would have considered it more carefully. The woman who rang was quite abrupt.

"I have become very sceptical about collectors because we have had trouble in the past and the customers don't like being bothered.

"Having said that, we did our own collection which raised £230 for the tsunami appeal, which we paid into the collection point at the HSBC Bank."

Mrs Beim who rang the pub, denied that she had been abrupt.

She said: "That is absolutely untrue. I tried to keep the conversation short and sweet, but I told whoever I spoke to at the pub who we were, what we were collecting for and so on.

"The reply was that the manager did not like people coming in and bothering his customers. I certainly wasn't brusque or abrupt.

"But it really doesn't matter. The response we had from the other pubs more than made up for it. I was particularly heartened by the reaction of the young people, who put their hands in their pockets more than anyone else."

The two women said they were overwhelmed by the generosity they witnessed. Mrs Rose said: "We would like to thank everyone who gave. In particular, the anonymous donor who handed over a large brandy bottle of coppers which amounted to £32.78, the regulars at the Lamb who had already collected more than £80 before we got there, and to the landlord of the White Bear, Brian Smith-Dowse, who gave us the contents of his charity bottle, which amounted to £197.49."

A spokesman for Wadworth, the Devizes brewery which owns the Crown, said it did not have a policy barring charity collections in its premises, but Mr Lynch, as landlord, was within his rights to make his own rules .

Band aid to help appeal

BAND leader Richard Ellis, who is organising a huge concert at Chippenham's Olympiad Leisure Centre to raise money for the tsunami appeal, with the backing of the Gazette, has revealed he is in talks with several big name stars to headline the event.

The Iron the Cat front man refused to comment further on the developments, but promised the evening would be a night to remember.

It is hoped celebrity names will be announced in the next week.

The February 5 show is part of a mammoth campaign to raise £25,000 for the appeal in just one weekend. One thousand tickets, at £20 each, are available from the Olympiad on (01249) 444144.

An auction with prizes including a new convertible Saab, a helicopter ride and part of a Formula One car signed by Ralf Schumacher is also being held at a charity golf day at Bowood on February 7.

The appeal was started by Wroughton tile company boss Manalito Chando on December 27 and has collected over 500 tonnes of aid.

He said: "The Sri Lankan embassy has asked for no more water because they now have purification tablets and want the space on the planes for other things. But that doesn't mean we will not use the water. It will just go elsewhere."