Ayr taxi drivers have donated their time and effort to take children and young carers at Whiteleys Retreat for a day out at Blair Drummond Safari Park.
Rodney Harris, who works for Ayr Premier Taxis and owns the Venga Party Taxi, had an idea to organise something similar to the famous Glasgow Taxi Outing.
Together with Ayr Premier Taxis owner John Kelly, chairman of the local Taxi Owners Association Richard Colville and owner of A to B taxis Thomas Lindores, they decided to start Ayr Taxi Day Out.
In 13 weeks, a group, with help from local community and businesses, fundraised £2,750 to sponsor a trip, with all extra funds going towards Whiteleys Retreat in Ayr.
Rodney, John, Rikki and Thomas, along with 14 other taxi drivers, took 39 children and 22 adults to Blair Drummond Safari Park on Sunday, December 8.
On the day, families met with taxi drivers at the Riverside Arena in Ayr and left for a trip at 10am, with a Police escort.
All passengers were dropped off at Blair Drummond Safari Park and got to spend 3 hours there.
Rodney said: “I am absolutely overwhelmed to say that we have made £2,750 and there is still money to come in.
“My highlight of the day was seeing all the taxis leaving the car park and the people that sent us off.
“To pull it off in 13 weeks feels brilliant.
“We went the full way round the safari park to see all the animals and they didn’t let us down, they were really close to all taxis.
“We are already thinking about what we can pull off next.”
John, who has owned Ayr Premier Taxis since 2008 and has been in the taxi trade since 1993, added: “The highlight is easy, it was seeing so many happy children on a day out.
“We were very lucky with the weather as it was dry, bright and not too cold.
“We met at the Riverside Arena in Ayr at 9.30am and 18 taxis left at 10am with a Police escort. Many thanks to Police Scotland for this.
“We travelled in convoy up the Whitletts road, passing many well wishers on the way, and then on up to Blair Drummond where we arrived at 11.30am.
“We went straight into the Safari experience and then dropped our passengers off in the park at 12.20pm where they got to spend 3 hours. We started the return journeys at 3.30pm and were back in Ayr for 5pm.”
John continued: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people and local businesses that got involved and donated to the event to make this possible and to the drivers that gave up their time to make the day special for the children.”
Ayr Taxi Day Out group hopes to fundraise £3,000 for Whiteleys Retreat when they close the GoFundMe page next week.
Whiteleys provides free respite breaks and extended support for children, young people and their families with cancer or a life-altering illness across Scotland.
Maxine Allan, Chief Executive and Founder of Whiteleys Retreat Charity, said: “For me, it was incredibly emotional seeing all the taxis coming together to collect the children and their families. The children were so excited.
“The event went very well. The children couldn’t stop talking about everything they saw on the day. They loved travelling in convoy to the park and meeting Santa and all the animals.
“We’d love it to be an annual event although next year we may choose a different time of the year and maybe explore different places to visit.”
Maxine added: “I would love to give a huge thank you to Ayr Taxi drivers for their kindness and extreme generosity in coming up with this big hearted idea. I would also like to give thanks to the local business community to help support the day out.”
To help with donations, please visit here.
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