Charities told to clean up fund-raising

CHARITIES must stop harrying people to donate, or face action from the charity regulator, the Charities Minister, Rob Wilson, has said. He told the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association last week that there were "indefensible practices taking place", and that the window for self-reform "may not remain open for much longer". Since the death of Olive Cooke in May (News, 22 May), the Fundraising Standards Board has received as many complaints as it normally receives in an entire year.

Bishop of Guildford to take forward RME process

THE Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Andrew Watson, is to chair the new Vocations Working Group, set up as an outcome of the Resourcing Ministerial Education  (RME) report. It will take forward the output from the consultation process on RME and "develop a medium-term strategy to achieve a sustained increase in vocations as a whole", a press release said. Membership will be drawn from "expertise in the dioceses", and regional representatives will also be appointed.

Shropshire church has new memorial for infants

A MEMORIAL for babies who have died before or soon after birth has been consecrated at St Alkmund's, Whitchurch, in Shropshire, by the Suffragan Bishop of Shrewsbury, the Rt Revd Mark Rylands. Sarah Elsley, who lost her unborn daughter at 17 weeks, and had the idea for it, told the BBC: "It has got the community talking, and I think it has brought quite a lot of people together." An inquiry has found that failures at the Emstrey crematorium in Shrewsbury meant that parents could not receive their babies' ashes.

Archbishop returns to subject of capitalism

THE Archbishop of Canterbury has called for action to curb the "selfish nature of capitalism". Writing in The Daily Telegraph on the eve of the Conference on Inclusive Capitalism last Friday, he said: "Inclusive capitalism will not happen by accident. . . Rather than just seeking a return on investment, there has to be a generosity that reaches out. If we relied solely on self-interest, our society would collapse."

Corrections. In our account of the suspected stowaway found in Richmond (News, 26 June), we omitted to mention that a service of prayer for all those affected by the incident was held at St John the Divine. The Revd Neil Summers, Team Vicar of St John's, said of the accident: "It's another example of how desperate people are to reach this country to try to find a better life for themselves."

Also, last year, the combined volunteering activity of NADFAS members contributed the equivalent of £11 million towards arts and culture in the UK, not as we stated last week. We apologise for these errors.