Ambulances driven from Hampton Lucy are now being used to help people in Ukraine

Ambulances and medical supplies driven from Hampton Lucy are now in use in Ukraine after a big send-off from local children and a 20-hour drive.

Snitterfield and Hampton Lucy children had created cards with messages of support.

Photos from Ukraine have been received of the medical supplies in the ambulances being unloaded and of the cards being opened.

There was a message received from a Ukrainian to say how important the donations and cards are for them. They said: “It is an amazing feeling to know that you [the British] support Ukraine even from a different country.

“Thank you for what you do, this is really very much appreciated.”

Alf Rajkowski and Mark Pritchard Jeffs donated the ambulances and drove them from Hampton Lucy to the Polish Ukraine border with co-drivers, Bogdan Letkowski and Richard Timmis.

They drove 2,100km across six countries (England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Poland) to arrive at their destination on April 7.

The two ambulances were handed over near the Polish border to an ambulance service that crossed the border into Ukraine.

This was coordinated by Medical Aid Ukraine and through Make a Difference UA. The four drivers flew home to the UK on April 8.

Tania Hébert, a Ukrainian-born GP and coordinator of Medical Aid Ukraine in the West Midlands, has been working around the clock with a team of volunteers to stock the ambulances with medical supplies from the region.

She said: “These ambulances have gone to places that are under constant attack. I’m so grateful for the donated ambulances.

"It’s made so much of a difference especially to the civilians being injured by the terrible shelling.

“Only yesterday another ambulance donated to the charity was bombed and destroyed, near a Ukrainian children’s hospital."

Ambulance Aid’s mission is to deliver medical supplies where they are most urgently needed in Ukraine using ex-NHS ambulances.

Ambulance Aid is crowdfunding to buy more de-commissioned NHS ambulances. The JustGiving page has raised more than £19,000 and more funds and donations are needed.

To donate go to: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ambulance-aid-ukraine