Dear Committee Members, Friends and Supporters, I would like to start by thanking everyone who has supported the London Taxi Drivers’ Charity for Children over the past 12 months, namely our benefactors and sponsors, members of the public, our volunteer taxi drivers, committee members who give up their time so generously, and I would also like to thank our patron Her Majesty Queen Camilla. I would also like to take this opportunity to say a special thank you to former committee member Bob Bush who passed away in 2023 and who thought about the charity right up until his passing. I would like to thank Her Majesty Queen Camilla for her ongoing patronage and for granting myself and Michael Son BEM a personal invitation to Clarence House where we sat down with Her Majesty to discuss the charity moving forward, and our 100th anniversary in 2028 over a cup of tea before leaving her in a positive mood for what options the palace may be able to help with.
The LTCFC has again had a productive year in 2024 with our usual annual events, outings and appeals. We continued to take schools on water activity days, kayaking and paddle boarding. The school’s feedback tells us that these activities are invaluable in the confidence-building in the children from their SEN units, and are events that they would not otherwise get a chance to take part in. Also, a big thank you goes out to the Docklands Sailing & Watersports Centre and their fully trained staff for making this a success.
In June we held our annual summer outing, visiting the Hertfordshire Zoo for the second year running, this was done again due to feedback from schools and we are pleased to say we have made arrangements to do the event again this year with the Hertfordshire Zoo on Wednesday 9th July 2025. We will again be leaving from the ASDA store on the Isle of Dogs who have been most helpful in letting us use a section of their car park and providing breakfast for drivers before departing.
A big thank you must again go to Sean Paul Day from London Taxi Radio who recorded and produced a short film entitled “Then and Now” which was entered and won the International SYN awards, of which the whole of the taxi trade should be proud of, showing what the London Taxi Drivers’ Charity for Children has done for children since 1928. The LTCFC were asked to take part in a TV documentary about the Taxi Trade which was due out last year but has not yet made it to air. I have now seen the program in parts, and I have been told it should be aired this year, so hopefully everyone likes it.
Throughout 2024 the LTCFC got involved with quite a few appeals to help children, families and schools that were not in a position to arrange things themselves, these included toys for the St Andrew’s School and outdoor storage units to keep them in, a specially designed car seat with built-in neck brace for a disabled child which will help the parents take them out for many years to come, a wooden playhouse for the Crofton School, a new wheelchair for the Franklin family, and two large projects have been cleared by the committee for two separate sensory rooms one for Leverton School and the other for the Hatton School, which will be started soon.
We held our annual Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House on Park Lane to whom we are truly grateful as all the staff go above and beyond, not to mention the volunteers, helpers, and family members. Again this year we had over 600 children, 300 carers and teachers who were entertained by singers, dance troops, face painters, magicians, and this year the Scots Guards who were led in by two robotic dogs to the joy and fascination of the children and adults alike. The children finished the day this year by leaving via a grotto full of toys donated by the toy manufacturers, for which we are truly grateful.
Last year we welcomed two new members onto the committee, and I am pleased to say Louise and Stuart have fitted in well and have worked very hard for the charity and hopefully enjoyed what they have been tasked with. I would like to say thank you to everyone from the bottom of my heart, that’s committee, volunteer helpers, benefactors and especially my wife for without her backing I would not be able to commit as much of my own time to the charity. I am again looking forward to a successful year for 2025 as Chairman of the London Taxi Drivers’ Charity for Children, and hope and encourage all that attend events to encourage others to join in so we can go bigger and better for all the children that are not as fortunate as our own.