This September two Taxi Charity volunteers plan to cycle 115k across The Netherlands on WWII gearless bikes and then walk 40k to commemorate the battle fought by the allies during Operation Market Garden in 1944. Taxi Charity volunteer’s Chris Willmott and Seb Philp have set themselves an impressive two-day challenge to raise £10k for the…
The small village of South Holmwood, near Dorking has been welcoming London cab drivers and veterans every summer since 1948. One couple is determined that the tradition will continue. Resident Ian Fairbrother 79 has lived in South Holmwood all his life. His wife Sue 74 is a relative newcomer having only moved to the village…
Last week D Day Veteran Bill Gladden returned to the barn where his life was saved when he was injured in 1944. Bill Gladden, 98 from Haverhill in Suffolk, served with the 6th Airborne, Recce Regiment. On 6 June, aged 20, Bill flew into Normandy on a glider carrying a tank and six motorbikes, as…
On 3 June volunteer London Cab drivers will take 25 WWII veterans to Normandy for the D Day commemorations, amongst them will be D Day veteran Peter Smoothy. On 6 June 1944 Peter Smoothy was one of the 156,000 allied servicemen that took part in the Invasion of Normandy as part of Operation Overlord. On…
On 3 June Alec Hall will be celebrating his 100th birthday with family and friends at his home in Southend Weather permitting, on 3 June Alec Hall will be in his garden in Southend, surrounded by his family, including his children Anne and Sue and grandchildren Dominic 25, Millie 16 and twins Edward and William…
Major Ted Hunt’s contribution to the building of the longest floating Bailey Bridge of WWII was celebrated in Gennep on 11 May Major Ted Hunt MVO, from Worthing, was taken to The Netherlands by The Taxi Charity to celebrate Dutch Liberation on 5 May and when the rest of the group returned to the UK,…
On 5 May twenty-five veterans were applauded as they led the Dutch Liberation Parade through the streets of Wageningen The veterans were taken to The Netherlands by the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans in a fleet of 30 black cabs. Their first experience of the love the Dutch have for them was as the cabs…
Veteran Ray Whitwell enjoyed a flight in a glider on 3 May over the skies of Arnhem where he fought during World War Two. Ray Whitwell, 103, from Malton, North Yorkshire, was delighted when glider pilot Arjan Vrieze offered to take him up in a glider at the Gelderse Gliding Club during his visit to…
WWII Veteran Bill Gladden, 98, heard about Dave the Edensor Care Home Cat on a recent trip with the Taxi Charity and offered to paint his portrait. WWII Veteran Bill Gladden, 98, from Suffolk, has been painting all his life and particularly loves painting dogs and horses to raise funds for his beloved Taxi Charity.…