Warwick volunteers receive emotional welcome after their 1,200-mile drive to help people in Ukraine and Poland

After travelling 1,200 miles, volunteers carrying aid from Warwick were given an emotional and heartfelt welcome by Ukrainian and Polish people.

Drivers Isabel Langdon and Nick Warden drove more than 27 hours to the Polish and Ukrainian border with an ambulance had been bought by members at Warwick Boat Club (WBC).

Isabel said: “We arrived on a Sunday morning to a huge welcome. The people could not have been nicer and were very appreciative of our efforts to bring the vehicle and our medicals supplies to them. I have to admit to shedding a little tear or two as at that moment we knew we had made a contribution so important to helping the Ukrainian people fighting a dreadful war.”

South Warwickshire tennis is playing a major part in obtaining ambulances and much needed medical equipment and supplies to send to war-torn Ukraine. The WBC members played marathon tennis over a weekend raising more than £14.000 to purchase the WBC vehicle via a just giving page set up by organisers, Ambulance Aid. Stratford on Avon Tennis Club held a fundraising event at the weekend, and more local tennis clubs clubs are expected to follow suit.

Of the 90 or so ambulances that have been donated by the UK, the WBC ambulance was the tenth locally funded Ambulance Aid, provided by partner Medical Aid, to go to Ukraine. Many have gone close to the front line and sadly, one ambulance that saved hundreds of lives was destroyed while parked outside a hospital. There have been over 500 similar attacks on medical services in the past eight months.

Isabel did more than just drive. She has packed ambulances with supplies prior to her own trip. She also raised over £700 by taking part in the Two Castles run which paid for the fuel for the WBC ambulance journey. She and co-driver Nick had to take one hour shifts during the journey as it was cold and impossible to sleep wedged between parcels.

Isabel said: “Being originally from Colombia I wrapped myself up as warmly as I could. South Americans are not good with the cold.

"Nick and I agreed this small discomfort was nothing compared to what people were suffering in Ukraine. We struck up a good relationship and he offered to drive first, knowing I had got up at 3.30am so that we could catch the early Eurostar.”

Isabel, whose day job is running a company importing and distributing alpaca wool, got involved in Ambulance Aid after meeting Dr. Tania Hebert, a Ukrainian born GP from Warwick working in Coventry, through her Rotary Club.

”I was asked to be a driver several weeks ago and readily agreed. I am so glad I did it. There was some trepidation but once we had started all worries subsided,” Isabel added.

She said that it was essential to develop a good working relationship with her co-driver and despite the discomfort, they remain good humoured.

“All credit to Nick… I would do it again,” said Isabel.

Tony Muir, an NGO and Australian intensive care paramedic, says the ambulance has arrived safely in Kyiv and says the contribution by Warwick is really important to the work being done by health workers in Ukraine.