JANUARY 2009
PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY CHARITY CORNER
BOOST FOR VETERANS FROM KIND-HEARTED BLACKPOOL CABBIES
Blackpool cabbies have been heralded community heroes after their kind-hearted ges- ture to the resort’s veterans.
The drivers who ferried hundreds of war heroes around free of charge during this summer’s Veterans’ Week have donated a further £500 to charity.
Blackpool’s fleet of cabs waived their fares during the week, thanks to a £500 dona- tion made by local businesses, Blackpool Taxi Repairs and Cygnus Automotives. Now the cabbies have decided that rather
than keep the £500 to cover their fares, they would donate the cash to a local veterans’ organisation.
In a ceremony at Black- pool Town Hall, drivers and representatives presented the cheque to the Fylde Ex-Service- men’s Committee. Taxi driver Les Hamer told the Blackpool Gazette: “When we heard Veterans’ Week was coming to Black- pool a lot of us spoke about the fact we should offer veterans the use of our taxis for free.
“Every cab driver we spoke to agreed instantly which was
Photo courtesy of the Blackpool Gazette
great. Sharon Davies of the council’s licens- ing department was really supportive and helped us put leaflets in cabs so veterans knew they could use us for free.
OUT OF THIS WORLD DONATION TO HOSPICE
Phyllis Tuckwell Hos- pice will get a chance to see its name in the stars when a satellite sporting a plaque dedicated to the char- ity is launched later this year.
The aptly named Galaxy Cars, a private hire firm, donated £8,000 to the Farn- ham-based hospice last month for the honour of having both their names engraved on the Earth observa-
tion satellite UK- DMC2. It will be launched on its five- year mission from Kazakhstan in March. Surrey-based satel- lite company SSTL promised the hospice a plaque on the satel- lite, with space for its name and a sponsor. Phyllis Tuckwell took bids from interested companies who wanted to be on the plaque over the last few months and also raised
an additional £750 donation from leader- ship mentoring company Footdown. Galaxy Cars’ dona- tion will help the hospices work sup- porting people who suffer from serious conditions and their families.
Sarah Brocklebank, hospice chief execu- tive, told the Camberley News: “We are very excited to be sending a ‘hello’ from the hospice into space with the SSTL satellite and would like to thank SSTL, Galaxy Cars and Foot- down for their incredible support. “To be a part of such a groundbreaking event means a lot to us, our patients and support- ers who hope that our message of hope and humanity will spread throughout the stars.”
Galaxy Cars handed over the cheque to the hospice at SSTLs University of Surrey base, where MP for Guildford Anne Milton attended with hospice well-wishers.
“With the weather being so awful it was a real blessing for many of the veterans. Many didn’t believe us at first when we said there was no charge but we were happy to help.
“We are delighted to be giving this £500 to the Fylde Ex-Servicemen’s Committee to show our further support.” The donation from cab drivers was added to the fundraising pot from Veterans’ Week. The Fylde Ex-Service- men’s Committee was able to give a cheque for £4,500 to the Help For Heroes campaign. Arthur Roe, North West Coordinator for Help For Heroes said: “It’s great to receive this money towards this fantastic cause. I’d like to offer my thanks to the Blackpool cab drivers who gave up
their time to the veter- ans around Veterans’ Week.”
Local councillors also tended the town hall to thank cabbies for their contribution.
Cllr Ron Bell said: “Dri- vers really deserve recognition for the work and generosity. Their kindness demon- strates what the people of Blackpool are really like and it gave an extremely pos- itive image of the town. “The feedback from veterans themselves was fantastic and they were delighted with what the cab drivers were offering.”
TAXI DRIVER TO RUN 1800 MILES FOR CHARITY
A Scarborough taxi driver is preparing to run a mammoth 1,800 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats and back again.
David Szostak, 39, is busy training for the event and has been out running for a cou- ple of hours every other day.
He is aiming to com- plete the run in six weeks, which will mean covering 40 to 60 miles per day, next spring. The father of four, of Columbus Ravine, wants to raise as much money as possible for children’s medical research charity Sparks to help youngsters “get the best start in life”. He told the Scarbor- ough Evening News: “I’ve been training for this since last sum- mer, I’ve even been out running on the seafront at 2am! “I’m looking forward to it but I think I’ll always be nervous, but I’ll do it no matter what.” Mr Szostak has been a keen runner since he was a youngster and used to run for Bridling- ton Road Runners,
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On the run - David Szostak in training to runthe length of Britain for a children’s charity
along with playing foot- ball for Bridlington Town in the 1990s. He is in the process of planning the trip and organising for a support vehicle to accompany
him during the run. To sponsor David go to
www.justgiving.com/ davldszostak or call into the Beeline taxi office in Somerset Ter- race, Scarborough.
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