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Silla Carron with the ‘offensive’ letter from the Duchess of York’s office |
Fergie snubs offer to join Silla’s TV show
We could have been a formidable duo, says tenants’ champ angry at ‘patronising’ rejection
WHEN the Duchess of York made a television show about crime-fighting on a tough Manchester estate – and received a public bashing for it – one woman who knew what she had been through offered the hand of friendship.
Camden Town tenants’ champ Silla Carron, who made a similar documentary after cleaning up her estate in Clarence Way, sent an invitation to the blue-blooded royal to help repair her street-cred.
Offering to have Sarah Ferguson on Ms Carron’s own BBC award-winning show The Estate We’re In, she thought it was a chance to prove the Duchess really cared.
Two months on and she is fuming after receiving a letter from the Duchess’s office thanking her for “taking the time to write such kind words” but rejecting the offer, on the grounds of “extensive travel commitments”. “I found the letter patronising and offensive,” said Ms Carron, 61, who, despite suffering from Crohn’s disease began a second series of The Estate We’re In last month, travelling by train to Bristol every weekend to offer support and guidance to tenants facing the problems she once struggled with.
The letter from the Duchess’s office – with an illegible signature – went on: “She will not be able to join you during the filing [sic] of the next Estate We’re In, but wishes you all the success with the film and indeed the good work that you are doing!”
Ms Carron said: “It’s just a shame – those people would have loved to see royalty there. We could have been a formidable duo, but it’s her loss. She could have got some good press and shown she really was passionate about this.”
In September, the New Journal revealed how Ms Carron was incensed that the Duchess had made a television show almost identical to her own, even with a similar title, The Duchess on the Estate. Shown in August, the poorly-received film documented the Duchess’s bid to brighten up a Manchester estate – similar to Ms Carron’s successful attempts to do the same thing in Plymouth in 2008 |
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Your comments:
I THINK Silla has achieved such a lot and would love to meet her.I think some of these so called "Celebrities" need to be brought down a peg or two as they seem to make things worse. The only one I have any respect for as he has actually tried to challenge issues is Ross Kemp.
A. Martin |
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