Honouring Women in Service: Taxi Charity hosts historic event at RAF Club
The Taxi Charity for Military Veterans marked International Women’s Day with a special gathering at London’s RAF Club on 6 March. The event celebrated the contributions of women in military service, bringing together veterans, serving personnel, and supporters.
A significant moment came with the attendance of the first female Brother from the Lord Leycester, a milestone reflecting the growing recognition of women in military traditions.
Guests were treated to a lunch before hearing from two distinguished World War II veterans, Dorothea Barron and Ruth Bourne. Bourne, a former Wren, served at Bletchley Park, working on Alan Turing’s Bombe machine to break the German Enigma code. Barron, a wartime visual signaller, shared her experiences of critical communications work.
Both women were bound by the Official Secrets Act and kept their roles confidential for decades. When Bourne eventually revealed her wartime service to her husband, his response was, “That’s nice dear – what’s for tea?”
Other esteemed WWII veterans in attendance included Marie Scott, Ruth Barnwell, Elizabeth Green, Robbie Hall, and Patricia Owtram, each of whom played a vital role in the war effort.
The event reinforced the importance of recognising the service and sacrifice of women in the armed forces, past and present.
Jan Brodie-Murphy, a Brother from the Lord Leycester, said: “As a veteran and Brother of the Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick I was thrilled to be a part of this day. It was a revelation to learn from these lady WWII veterans what their war was all about, very different to what you read in the history books. When you have a roomful of military women few can get a word in, but you could have heard a pin drop when Ruth Borne and Dorothea Barron, related their war memories we all learnt so much.”
Keely Allen, Taxi Charity, said: “Thank you to all the assembled ladies for showing the boys how it’s really done.”
