Tom Lackey apartment officially opens at Lioncourt Homes development

Family and friends of the late Tom Lackey joined members of Lioncourt Homes to officially open ‘Tom Lackey Court’ at the housebuilders Poppy Fields development in Shirley. The apartment block has been named in honour of the popular wing-walker who raised more than £1.5 million for charity before he died last year aged 96.

Mr Lackey was born in Birmingham in 1920 and after school joined his father’s building company. He met his wife Isabel during the war and they later brought up their children at a home on Haslucks Green Road situated next the Lioncourt Homes Poppy Fields development.

Colin Cole, Chief Executive of Lioncourt Homes said: “It was an honour to welcome the family and friends of Mr Lackey to our development to officially open ‘Tom Lackey Court’. Tom was an incredibly inspiring man who achieved so much in his life and raised a significant amount for so many charities. He was a prominent figure in the area in which we are working, and we are proud to have named the apartments in his memory”

Anne Joynson, Tom Lackey’s daughter said: “I was surprised and indeed honoured to be told about the apartments in my father’s name. He would be so pleased to see them and the apartments nearby in the name of the aeroplane on which he performed his many wingwalks. The site itself has great association with both my father’s business and home life over many years. We are grateful as a family to have been invited to declare the apartments officially open and for Dad’s very good friends, Les Cattermole and Alfie Allen to join us on this very special occasion. We wish everyone who resides in these wonderful homes a very happy time.”

Tom took up flying and wing walking at the age of 80. His wing walks have included Crossing the Channel to France and back, a wing-walk from Scotland to Northern Ireland, a trip from Penzance to the Isles of Scilly and two circuits of the Rock of Gibraltar. In 2011 he was presented with the award of fund raiser of the year in the ITV show “Pride of Britain”. Tom performed his last wing walk at the age of 96 and he holds the Guinness World Record of being the world’s oldest wing walker.

Poppy Fields offers a range of 2, 3 and 4-bedroom family homes together with 1 and 2-bedroom apartments. There is selection of 16 different house types from the latest range of five-star quality Lioncourt homes. The development represents part of the final phase of the ‘New Heart for Shirley’ initiative, which has enhanced even further the surrounding area.