Derek Davis Freelance Journalist

THE poster by the school playground wasn’t huge but it sent out a big message.

A total of £2,018.75 had been raised at a recent fair at the school, ‘A Record Amount!’ it exclaimed at the bottom, and it was that final line which no doubt prompted many a wry smile by a majority of parents of the schoolchildren.

You see, no doubt the local media will pick up on this eventually, a huge scandal has engulfed the school of late with police investigating claims that almost £10,000 of funds raised by the Parents’ Fundraising Association (PFA) has been stolen.

The chief suspect is the association’s chair who police have questioned and it is understood an arrest is imminent.

Ironically, the chair, who is a popular character and indeed worked hard in all the vents the PFA were involved in, had caused some consternation a couple of years back when insinuations were made against the then treasurer.

I’m told the treasurer had fallen out over a completely separate issue with the head teacher who, along with the chair, pushed for an AGM where the accounts were to be presented.

The treasurer, who had refused to reveal the accounts until they had been independently checked by an accountant, was so upset and dismayed by her treatment at the hands of the pair she quit at the AGM where the accounts were presented – completely in order.

The sad thing about this whole sorry mess is many people had donated many things in good faith for the benefit of the children who do now have a trim trail and other things to help in the classroom.

But also the effect it will have on the chair’s child, if and when, the whole matter comes to the courts.

As usual it is the innocent who suffer.