When is a charity auction not a charity auction? Possibly when the proceeds become the cash flow needed to prevent someone from getting themselves into even more of a financial mess?

September 3, 2004 -- Approaches to the charity have yielded little to convince sceptics that everything is in order. The charity has confirmed that an amount of money has been paid, but a total figure couldn't be ascertained because the amount has arrived in dribs and drabs, mainly made up of cheques made payable directly to the charity.

When approached none of the organisers of the event or the auction have given any satisfactory replies. There are people who have donated money and would like to see the paperwork for the auction – but presumably this is still unavailable, like anyone who can answer a straight question.

There might be nothing wrong with this scenario; there has been money paid to Childline and the manner in which it has been paid is quite reasonable given that money had to be waited for. But the auction raised somewhere in the region of £4,500, yet there is no actual evidence of how much was received by the charity it was raised for.

However, separate from this, but possibly related, is the story of the festival organiser and the bad debt. The charity auction is semi-independently run from the main event, with Kev F. Sutherland only really delegating the organisation of the auction to others.

Kev F. needed £1200 to pay the Ramada Jarvis Hotel for AV hire, or they would sue him! This alone is a story to grace these pages – in a nutshell; Kev didn't read the small print on the equipment hire agreement, which on moving hotels trebled in price. He thought it was £400 for the weekend; it was £400 a day! This left him considerably out of pocket – more out of pocket because Bristol this year has cost him dearly. Why the Ramada Jarvis would be threatening to sue him so quickly after the event is in itself a mystery? Most people who have dealt with hotels that I know will testify that most of them are not quick in threatening legal action when a far easier solution can be obtained – a bit like most reasonable businesses you would imagine?

Anyhow, moving along, a mystery man offered to loan Kev the money under the proviso he would pay him back out of London's profits (London being Kev's next festival in October). However, Kev told mystery man that London would not make a profit, so there was no way he could borrow the money. He stated this publicly, on the Comics 2000 mailing list, on the 15th July. As it stood at this point, Kev is still being sued.

On the 22nd July, Kev announced on his Yahoogroup list that a third party may be able to pay the Ramada. Three days later Kev says he's back from a trip to Milton Keynes and the Ramada has been paid. Two days after this the first of the cheques are presented to the Childline bank account.

The auction raised £4,500; a pretty good sum of money and one you would think would be the cornerstone of a post-festival publicity splurge in an attempt at helping stimulate interest in the following year's event. It's what I'd do, even if it were for personal ego massaging only. But no figure appeared officially anywhere – and this isn't the only strange thing to have happened in the wake of this year's Bristol festival…

As reported last week in 2.2, Kev isn't planning on doing any more events in Bristol – not only did he lose a lot of money, but he is also persona non grata at a number of the better hotels in the city – the ones who can safely accommodate a comics convention. There has also been a stream of criticism aimed at him about the overall organisation, even if some of it was down to Mike Allwood.

Kev was hoping that his October 23rd event in London would recoup his losses. Perhaps even make enough money to cover unexplained debts, who can say for sure? But the problem now is that not only is Kev's future in Bristol over, his London event is teetering on the brink of collapse!

The latest big rumour is that the show's star event isn't happening. Kev booked Grant Morrison and UK TV presenter and comics fan Jonathon Ross to do a chat show styled interview for the masses – one possibly both have pulled out of the event!

A number of guests, UK of course, who pledged their attendance are now planning on going to back to Bristol for Dez Skinn and Mike Allwood's Comics Expo in November. There even seems to be a real doubt as to whether the London event will happen with no confirmation that the venue has been booked and rumours circulating that Kev hasn't got the money to even get the ball rolling.

Ironically, the only advert for London so far has been on a page donated by Comics International, published by the organiser of the rival event in Bristol and the man about to step into Kev's shoes and take over the complete running of the UK comics conventions from 2005 – Dez Skinn. Dealers are also boycotting the London event mainly because the Bristol show is considerably cheaper and now looks as though it is going to get the best guests. You wouldn't believe the irony…

So, with London on the brink and despite keeping a brave face publicly, Kev Sutherland is suddenly staring ruin in the face and there are a lot of people out there who, if he doesn't pull something off, are going to want to see documented proof of the amount of money donated to Childline, in fact they'd probably like to see it anyway.

After repeated attempts at contacting Sutherland, he has been unavailable for comment.

Please note: Ade Brown's JUST 1 PAGE auction is in no way associated to this charity auction and was set up independently - so don't go getting this worthy cause mixed up with the Bristol Childline debacle.




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