Back in the 80s and 90s I remember a giant 6ft 8 inch man called " Big Heck " from South Shields who collected over a million pounds for charity. He used to wrattle buckets outside St. James Park and the big market and all over the North East. He often appeared on Look North to tell everyone about the machines he had bought for the hospitals. I remember him on his last appearance on TV complaining that he could not get the dole office to supply him a pair of free size 18" boots despite raising over a million for hospitals and he showed the state of his boots falling apart. This bad publicity caused the dole office to look at this man more closely and it turned out he had been splitting the cash 50/50 buying machines etc but also pinching the other 50%. He had a villa in Spain and often travelled on holidays around the World. The police charged him but he committed suicide before the court date. Well that's roughly how I remember this storey but am I correct or deluded Or am I getting mixed up with another giant charity bucket collector of those times. I would like to hear from anyone who remembers " Big Heck " or the other giant person of that time who could help me unlock this mystery I have.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/hi ... n-11085317


Chant see anything about any arrests or the like though

That's exactly my problem. I lived in Newcastle at the time and often seen him around the town collecting. I always respected the man for his dedication and commitment to helping the hospitals and always had an interest he what he was achieving. But I also remember being disappointed to here of what he supposedly done with the money. I remember the local people and friends talking about his situation and what a shame he turned out to be a wrongon. Like I said in my post I may well be confused or delusional and could well be getting a good man mixed up with a bad one. It could also be lack of memory due to ageing

The article is from 2016 and there's not a word about any of the money he raised being ripped off. On the other hand, I suspect that there might be a large element of exaggaeration about the amound he raised - £1 million was a fortune 20 years ago and you'd not get anywhere near it collecting people's small change.

Well that explains why I have a nice man here who is putting a special coat on me with nice buckles on the back. Apparently he is taking me away to a nice hotel in Durham for a holiday. I hope it's the same hotel Snowy went to.

Very sad, he was only 38 years old when he passed, natural causes was the verdict, tbh I couldn’t blame him if he did siphon some of the money off.
Chief Executives are paid hundreds of thousands of pounds salaries so they are syphoning money of from the fund raising.

think we should all think that if someone points the finger at individuals who collect for some charity or other. i,ll never give a penny to the british legion either until there bank balence is much lower than it is now as there are other alternatives to give money to. same for all these animal charities when there are small local ones available.