Let’s make Edinburgh’s virtual taxi parade happen for the kids – Hayley Matthews

One of my fondest memories whilst working at STV Edinburgh was filming the city’s annual taxi outing for children with special needs. What a day it was in the summer of 2015 as we turned up early in the morning getting ready to see the taxis driving in to line up. There was a great feeling of excitement and it was clear that the message was just about the kids having fun on the day.

As we stood on the main float and prepared to film the event, Keith Bell, secretary and organiser of the outing, was in high spirits as all the kids started to turn up. They all had on the most colourful outfits I’d ever seen. We had everything from princesses to superheroes and every other costume in between.

The taxis drove in all clad in bright balloons and the drivers I could see were all beaming from ear to ear with delight at their efforts. It truly was a beautiful and heart-warming sight. What a huge amount of effort was going in to this day from all parts and what fun!

I stood beside Keith and his fellow water skooshers as we made the final call to everyone that we were about to head down into the city centre for a massive water fight with the public, honking horns and generally having a blast! All the kids were so excited and it felt even more special than Christmas Day to be honest.

Keith’s energy was electric and you could see the buzz he got from making sure all the kids were having a great time. As we started to pull away and the music blasted out from the main float I was passed the biggest water gun ever! The inner kid in me grinned at the thought of what I could do with this to innocent bystanders – oh the joy.

Keith was singing and playing music all the way down to Luca’s in Musselburgh and I joined in with my version of Amy Winehouse’s Valerie. The Lord Provost at the time, Councillor Donald Wilson, was standing giggling beside us. It all felt very surreal but it was one of the best days at work I’ve EVER had!

There was an unspoken rule: everyone had to make a fool of themselves and have as much fun as possible. Everyone in the street was cheering and it was clear to see that Edinburgh was giving its full support to the taxi outing that year, just like every year.

So you can imagine my sadness when learning that this year’s annual Edinburgh Taxi Outing is not going ahead due to the coronavirus.

The one day when everyone looks forward to standing outside and watching the taxis go by honking and beeping with kids cheering won’t be happening.

I messaged Keith because I’d seen a few posts he’d written about trying to organise a virtual taxi outing for the kids this Tuesday, 9 June. He’s on it and is asking if there are people along the route that have pictures from previous outings then it would be great if you could join in for the kids and tweet your pictures in real time as the route would be happening.

You can get involved on Twitter @OutingTaxi which is the Twitter feed for the 2020 virtual Taxi Outing.

Keith and the guys are trying to make it as real as possible for the kids so any help and support would be appreciated.

So come on Edinburgh, you always get behind the taxi outing, let’s not make this year any different.

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