Singing from the same hymn sheet
There’s been acres of media coverage of the disgraced Paula Vennells in recent weeks – largely in relation to her activity on the board of the Post Office.
Spy thought he would instead look at Vennells’ charity work, specifically, her ten-year tenure on another less high profile board – that of religious publisher Hymns Ancient and Modern.
Vennells became a trustee of the charity in late 2008. While small compared to Post Office director salaries, trustee pay rose by nearly 50% to more than £7,000 a year over the time she served. In total Vennells ended up collecting around £60,000 for her charitable efforts. Cheque’s in the post…
Hymns Ancient and Modern also owns leading Christian newspaper Church Times. But during Vennell’s entire tenure on the board, there was only a single reference to sub-postmasters in Church Times’ reporting – a story in 2010 describing how one sub-postmaster was found by a court to have fraudulently “exaggerated the amount of money held in cash at the post office.” Church Times told Spy Vennells had no say over editorial content.
Since Vennells quit, to its credit Church Times has ramped up its Post Office Scandal coverage, including most recently, running a quote by a bishop who spoke of “the suffering and pain of the sub-postmasters and their families” and that a public inquiry would “hold to account the responsible people.” Amen to that.
City Spy is back!
Sign up to our brand new weekly newsletter for your unmissable round-up of all the gossip, rumours, and covert goings-on inside the Square Mile: standard.co.uk/newsletters
