volunteers

On 14 September, four London cab drivers who volunteer for the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans travelled to the Netherlands for the annual Operation Market Garden Commemorations. Every year the anniversary of Operation Market Garden, which took place between the 17 and 27 September 1944, is commemorated with a series of events in the Arnhem…

 WWII veterans enjoyed an event hosted by the Taxi Charity at Biggin Hill with two Spitfire flights and entertainment from the D Day Darlings. On 12 September a group of nineteen WWII Veterans were joined by veterans from other conflicts for a Taxi Chairty event in the Heritage Hangar at Biggin Hill, a working hangar…

On Thursday 7 September, Kent Community Foundation had the pleasure of naming a boat, at a ceremony held at the Medway Watersports Centre in Gillingham. The three Medway Watersports boats had all initially been given number identification but the trust decided that their power boats deserved names. They asked Kent Community Foundation if they might…

On 1 September, a group of Taxi Charity for Military Veterans volunteers, veterans and supporters attended a reception at the Ambassador’s Residence in The Hague. Joanna Roper CMG, His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Netherland has met with the Taxi Charity on several occasions and kindly invited them to visit her Residence on their way to…

Centre Stage Theatre Academy’s  Frankie Fitzgerald who played Ashley Cotton, Nasty Nick’s son in Eastenders is hosting a 24 hour dance-a-thon in Gravesend Kent to raise funds for charity, The Friends of Centre Stage, that helps children and young adults get access to musical theatre and the arts. Students and staff from the Centre Stage…

On 2 September veteran Ben Mead who served with REME in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan will be marching 40km carrying 15kg to raise funds for the Taxi Charity. On Saturday 2 September Ben Mead, from Eastbourne,  will join thousands of others to participate in the 40km Wandeltocht route around Oosterbeek near Arnhem. Many of the…

On 4 July over fifty volunteer black cab drivers took veterans to Worthing for the Taxi Charity’s 75th Anniversary Visit. In a tradition stretching back to 1948, veterans who are supported by the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, have been treated to a day at the coast for a fish and chip lunch. Now in…

WWII Normandy veteran Roy ‘Smudger’ Smith from Sittingbourne in Kent died in hospital on Friday 23 June, he was 97. Roy Smith is survived by his two daughters, Linda Harvey and Teresa Rising, five grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. Roy was born in November 1925 in Sittingbourne, Kent, the second youngest of seven children. From…

£400,000 from the John Swire 1989 Charitable Trust will allow Kent Community Foundation to offer multi-year funding to thirteen organisations across Kent and Medway. Thanks to the generosity and vision of the John Swire 1989 Charitable Trust, £400,000 has been made available to Kent Community Foundation to be used to support thirteen organisations. With running…

In September 1944, at the age of 19, Frank Ashleigh was the youngest airman to take part in Operation Market Garden. Frank Ashleigh from Kingsbury, who served in WWII with the Glider Pilot Regiment died on 18 June 2023 after a short stay in hospital, he was 98. Frank is survived by his wife Mavis…