Taxi drivers and war veterans sky dive with the Red Devils for Taxi Charity

Four London cabbies, two veterans and a Taxi Charity committee member, undertook tandem skydives with the Red Devils to fundraise for the Taxi Charity. Earlier this week on Thursday 26 July, Team Be Lucky, completed the 12,000 feet skydive. The team included the four taxi drivers Michael Calvey, Dean Euesden, Jon Southcott and Brian Heffernan, war veterans Bill Parr and Mike Smith, and Taxi Charity vice president, Frances Wyhowska, at Langar Airfield in Nottinghamshire. Mike Smith, 70, served with the Royal Army Service Corps as an Air Despatcher and completed his 99th parachute jump with the Red Devils this week. His 85-year-old comrade on the day, Bill Parr, was with the Cameron Highlanders in Libya in the 1950s when he was seconded to the Black Watch and sent to Korea.

Mike Smith said before the jump: “The Taxi charity means so much to me and all the other veterans that it supports, and this is my small way of repaying their kindness and raising much needed funds to allow them to do even more good work."

The Taxi Charity For Military Veterans, formerly known as the London Taxi Benevolent Association For War Disabled, was formed in Fulham in 1948 and aims to be for the benefit, comfort and enjoyment of military veterans. The charity runs annual outings in the UK and has also recently travelled to Netherlands, Ypres and Normandy. In order to fund these outings, they seek donations from the general public and organisations, and rely on volunteer London licensed taxi drivers to provide their taxis and time for free.