A group of four fundraising London Cab Drivers plan to row 3,200 miles across the Atlantic to raise £12,000 for charity
In 2023 a group of four London cab drivers will attempt to row, 3,200 miles from Lanzarote to Antigua to raise money for The Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, The Stroke Association, and a Tanzanian orphanage.
Cabbies, Daren Parr 55, John Dillane 57, Bob Barber 56 and Stuart Lockhart 49 have already raised over £25,000, for good causes, but this challenge is in another league and will push the team to their limit.
London Cab Driver Daren Parr , said, “The ‘Cabbies Do Kilimanjaro’ team began fundraising in 2019 and having done two climbs in Tanzania we wanted a much bigger test this time. So, our next challenge is a bit of a whopper to say the least. Rowing the Atlantic will certainly be an adventure, a mammoth challenge and will give us the experience of a lifetime. The team will now be known as ‘Cabbies do Atlantic Row’ and our first job is a pretty important one, to learn how to row!”
London Cab Driver John Dillane, said, “We will be unsupported at sea and ‘unsupported’ means exactly that. We will be rowing for about 60 days, two hours on, two hours off, 24 hours a day. Although we will have access to 24-hour medical support via a satellite phone, there’s no popping into A&E if we have an emergency. It could take up to 5 days for urgent help to arrive should we need it! We will need to consume 5000 calories a day and will lose about a stone during the challenge. Our food will come in dehydrated bags and will need to be re-hydrated as and when we need it. Everything we need will be on board including a sophisticated desalination unit. Removing salt from ocean water will be very important to us and will be our only source of water!”
Daren Parr continued, “Our friend and fellow cab driver Rosh Varma, who originally came up with this mad idea, had a stroke last year, his recovery has been slow so as well as fundraising for charity we are doing this row for our mate Rosh, to raise the profile of strokes and to persuade other cabbies to consider leading healthier lifestyles.”
Dick Goodwin, Vice President, Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, said, “In 2019 these cabbies raised £18,000 for us when they climbed Kilimanjaro, and in early 2022 they climbed Kilimanjaro and Meru and raised £7,000 for the London Taxi Drivers’ Charity for Children. This challenge is unbelievable, and I must admit I did think they were joking when they first told us of their plans. However, London Cab drivers are made of strong stuff, and I am confident that they will reach Antigua.”
To contact the Cabbies do Atlantic Row for more information, to donate or to sponsor the challenge email cabbiesdoatlanticrow@gmail.com
About Cabbies do Atlantic Row
London Cab drivers Daren Parr, John Dillane, Bob Barber and Stuart Lockhart will attempt to row the Atlantic from Lanzarote to Antigua in 2023. As ‘Cabbies Do Kilimanjaro’, they raised £18,000 for The Taxi Charity when they climbed Kilimanjaro in 2019, and in February 2022 they climbed Kilimanjaro and Meru and raised £8,000 for the London Taxi Drivers’ Charity for Children and a Tanzanian orphanage.
The Atlantic Row was the idea of fellow cabbie Roshan Varma. Rosh suffered a stroke in 2021 and the team wish to raise the profile of this condition especially among London Cab drivers. Money raised from this challenge will be split between the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, The Stroke Association, and a Tanzanian Orphanage near Arusha.
The ‘Cabbies do Atlantic Row’ team is being supported by Avon Marina who is providing a Scud Ocean Rowing boat for the Atlantic Dash ocean rowing race and Monkey First Adventures who will be offering advice about the challenge.
About the Taxi Charity
The Taxi Charity is run by volunteer London black taxi drivers and has been supporting thousands of veterans of all ages since 1948. The charity arranges free trips to the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, for acts of commemoration and days out to museums, concerts, or fundraising events in the UK, to catch up with friends and comrades.
The Charity worked tirelessly during the pandemic to ensure veterans received regular contact by sending out a greeting card each month, gifts to mark the 75th anniversaries of VE and VJ day, stockings at Christmas and arranging Guards of Honour at veterans’ funerals. Volunteers have also helped with regular phone calls, food shopping, transport to hospital appointments, and more recently taking veterans for their Coronavirus injections.
The charity was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in June 2021.
To fund and facilitate their work, the charity is reliant on generous donations from members of the public, businesses, and trusts.
About the Stroke Association
Every five minutes strokes destroy lives. The Stroke Association is there to help rebuild them.
About the Huruma Orphanage
The Huruma Orphanage is on the outskirts of Arusha and is home to 33 children. The land the Orphanage is built on has been sold and they need to raise $15,000 to secure new land for a permanent home.
