Charity removes celebrity patron

Anthea Turner was in Dubai during a fundraising dinner

A Stoke-on-Trent charity said it has removed celebrity Anthea Turner as its fundraising patron after she failed to raise any money for them.

The Douglas Macmillan Hospice said the final straw was when she flew to Dubai to buy a home when she should have been at a fundraising dinner.

Turner was appointed as a patron in October last year.

The hospice in Blurton cares for patients with life-threatening illnesses and cancer.

We were hoping she would support a couple of events and that she would promote us at every opportunity Karen Rose

It had hoped Turner's profile would help to raise money to provide 24-hour home care for patients in the last days of their life.

But the hospice claims Turner pulled out of an appeal at Christmas.

Then, months later 200 dinner guests were left unhappy when she failed to show at a dinner to mark the launch of the spring appeal.

The hospice said it later found out she had been in Dubai with her husband Grant Bovey filming for the Channel 4 programme Celebrity Place in the Sun.

It says it has not heard from Turner in more than five months, and as far as it is concerned, it will not be doing any more business with her.

'Television work'

Karen Rose from the hospice told BBC Radio Stoke: "We were hoping she would support a couple of events and that she would promote us at every opportunity.

"Sadly it has not worked out that way.

"She could not attend our Christmas oat cake appeal and then we were hoping she would speak at our spring launch. But with just four weeks to go she pulled out because of television work.

"We talked about various dates afterwards but none she could ever make and she was supposed to come back to us with a date but we've not heard from her since."

Turner is currently on holiday but her spokesperson said her TV work takes precedence over her charity work.