Poor response to Dine-a-Mite fund-raising

Funds generated by industry charity Dine-a-Mite during last October's money-raising event will barely cover costs, chairman of the trustees Gerald Milsom said this week.

Confirming that 1994's campaign would be the last, Mr Milsom claimed that the failure of 13 major companies to fulfil their promises of support had contributed to the disappointing result.

He also attacked Caterer & Hotelkeeper for an "unhelpful" article published last May after it emerged that only 22p out of every £1 raised by the inaugural event would go to the homeless, the rest being swallowed up by administrative staff.

"The real losers will be the homeless and hungry and the industry," said Mr Milsom, who went on to praise Gardner Merchant, Scottish & Newcastle Retail and Thistle and Mount Charlotte Hotels for their "sterling efforts" in raising money for the charity.