Captain Sir Tom Moore’s legacy has been packed away in boxes with photos of the war hero at Windsor Castle and his Sports Personality of the Year and Guinness World Record awards removed from his family’s unauthorised £200,000 spa complex ahead of its demolition.
Workers were seen hauling out treasured possessions – also including paintings and a model aircraft – from the complex built without permission by the family of the late lockdown charity fundraiser.
His daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore was seen looking downcast outside the family’s £1.2million Bedfordshire home as the contentious spa building was emptied.
The items being taken away included Captain Tom’s Guinness World Record for raising the most money doing an individual charity walk, as well as pictures of when he was knighted by the Queen at Windsor Castle on July 17, 2020.
There were also Sports Personality of the Year certificates from when he received the Helen Rollason Award at the event’s 2020 ceremony, presented by Olympic gold medal-winning heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill.
Framed certicates were among the late Captain Sir Tom Moore’s treasured possessions packed up and taken away from his family’s £1.2million home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire
Captain Tom received a Guinness World Record prize for raising the most money doing an individual charity walk, after prompting £38million in donations for NHS charities
Pictures of Captain Tom with his family and at Windsor Castle were seen being packed away into boxes with less than two weeks to go until the spa is taken down
Certificates, paintings, a model aircraft and much more were also carried away from the complex in green garden trolleys
Captain Tom received the Helen Rollason Award at the 2020 Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, presented by Olympic gold medal-winning heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill
Captain Sir Tom Moore’s daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore was pictured outside her £1.2million mansion as she prepares to knock down the unauthorised complex
He said at the time: ‘This really is a magnificent award. I never ever anticipated I would receive this award.’
His awards and other possessions were piled up in boxes and carted away on green garden trolleys at the family home in Marston Moretaine.
A neighbour said: ‘It’s sad to see incredible memories being carted away.’
The removal work is being carried out after the family lost an appeal against Central Bedfordshire Council to keep the complex after a planning inspector ruled it was ‘at odds’ with their Grade ll-listed home.
The building must be demolished on February 7, after the local authority rejected the family’s bid for a larger C-shaped building with spa pool than was previously agreed.
In August 2021, the Ingram-Moores were granted permission for a Captain Tom Foundation Building in the grounds of their home to support its charitable objectives.
The L-shaped building was given the green light, but Central Bedfordshire Council refused a subsequent retrospective application in 2022 for a larger C-shaped building containing a spa pool. Their demolition order was supported by a planning inspector in November last year.
World War Two veteran Captain Tom was knighted by the late Queen for walking 100 laps around the garden of the house during the Covid pandemic in 2020, raising £38million for NHS charities.
The family lost an appeal against Central Bedfordshire Council to keep the spa complex (pictured) after a planning inspector ruled it was ‘at odds’ with their Grade ll-listed home
Sir Tom was made an honorary colonel and was later knighted by the Queen (pictured in 2020) at Windsor Castle, after completing 100 laps of his garden for charity
Photos of Captain Sir Tom Moore and his daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore have been boxed up and carried away as part of the removals efforts
Workers kept coming back for more as they emptied the controversial spa complex ahead of its scheduled demolition by February 7
Paintings were among the items being carted away from the property in Marston Moretaine
Many more pictures were stripped from the walls and taken away for safe keeping elsewhere
Captain Tom’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award from 2020 was seen being packed away into storage
Removal work continues at the property in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire ahead of the destruction of the spa complex on February 7
He died on February 2, 2001, at the age of 100, with Buckingham Palace announcing the Queen had sent the family a ‘private message of condolence’.
Earlier this week boxes, gym equipment, bags of rubbish, a running machine and a trolley were all seen stacked up by the front door of the spa by neighbours.
Yesterday, Mrs Ingram-Moore could be seen speaking briefly with the builder in the grounds of her home in Marston Moretaine.
A neighbour walking her dog, who wished to remain anonymous, said: ‘I definitely want that spa down. I think she is awful. I haven’t heard a good word about her.
“She is cutting it a bit fine with only two weeks to go.’
Sixty-seven-year-old Lesley Gough added: ‘A lot of people are affected by it. It ruins their view.
“There is no sign of demolition as of yet.
“Hannah didn’t get the proper permission so, if you don’t play by the rules, you have to be penalised.
Mrs Ingram-Moore spoke briefly with the builder in the grounds of her home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire
Hannah Ingram-Moore was seen in the grounds of her house with a builder as she began to clear the spa building that has to be knocked down
Boxes and gym equipment were seen piled up in front of their house
Boxes are being removed from the £200,000 spa complex in preparation for it to be demolished
Boxes, gym equipment, bags of rubbish, a running machine and a trolley were all seen stacked up by the front door of the spa
Hannah Ingram-Moore (right) was spotted removing items from the front of the £1.2million mansion (pictured with her father Captain Tom)
‘I don’t know what will happen if she doesn’t get it removed by the date she’s been given. I wonder if she has got another plan in mind.
‘I think she thinks she is untouchable.’
Another local resident, who also wanted to remain anonymous, added: ‘I hope they make her take it down.
‘She knew she had not got permission. I had to jump through hoops when I wanted to get something built.’
When approached, Colin Ingram-Moore said a date for demolition had yet to be confirmed, but refused to comment further.
At a Planning Inspectorate hearing in October, Ms Ingram-Moore insisted that the unauthorised spa was intended for regular rehab sessions and coffee mornings for local elderly people – not the family’s benefit.
The planning application for the annexe indicated it would be used as office space for the Captain Tom Foundation.
It was also believed it would be a community space to store thousands of cards and gifts sent by admirers.
The family have until February 7 to take down the spa complex and so have begun removing items in the last two days
The luxury spa pool was not part of the original plans for the building that the couple asked permission for
Hannah Ingram-Moore, 53, was accused of using the charity set up in her father’s name to add a spa pool complex to an illegal extension at the Grade II-listed family home
Hannah Ingram-Moore, and her husband, Colin, built the spa complex in the grounds of their £1.2million home. Pictured: the family’s home and spa complex on Tuesday
Captain Sir Tom Moore raised £38 million for NHS Charities Together in the run up to his 100th birthday during the first lockdown in 2020. He died the following year
The C-shaped building was given the green light by Central Bedfordshire Council, but the planning authority refused a subsequent retrospective application in 2022 for a larger building containing a spa pool, toilets and a kitchen ‘for private use’.
The extension was called the Captain Tom Building in the plans, but it soon became apparent that the structure taking shape bore little resemblance to the one that had been sanctioned.
Following complaints from locals, a site visit was undertaken in March 2022, but the planning officer reported that the ‘windows were covered and access to the inside of the building was not possible’.
The council insists that the C-shaped building, that was built on a tennis court, was 49 per cent larger than what had been approved and must be demolished.
The appeal statement by Mr Ingram-Moore said: ‘The subject building is no more overbearing than the consented scheme.
‘The view is virtually identical save for a pitch roof being added to the elevational treatment. The heights are the same. As such there cannot be an unacceptable overbearing impact.’
Captain Tom Moore’s family have been handed money from various routes, including from three of his books
Captain Sir Tom Moore went on to write three books under a deal with Penguin Random House that has earned his family more than £800,000
The C-shaped £200,000 complex will be demolished
It also said the council had ‘no grounds supporting the refusal of the retrospective application’ and ‘requested’ for the inspector to uphold the appeal.
The document also notes that the building is set at the back of the site, meaning it is not an issue for public view.
The council said its reports ‘detail harm caused to the setting of the listed building and, in particular, the significant difference between the two schemes that arises from the lack of sufficient public benefit that has been proposed in respect of the unauthorised building’.
Documents from the local government body also state that the demolition requirement is not ‘excessive’ and the ‘size and scale of the unauthorised building’ has an adverse impact on the Ingram-Moore’s neighbours.