A big-hearted community team is poised to embark on a mercy mission to Poland to deliver vital aid collected in Tameside for Ukraine.

We recently reported how Tameside businesswoman Emma Jones and the Ashton Waterloo Community Facebook team members Lee Woods and Dave Howarth had teamed up to support the Ukraine Emergency Appeal.

They began collecting vital items for the appeal to help those fleeing the Russian invasion, with Emma’s business Perry Jones, at 300 Oldham Road, acting as a donation point. All three have also collected donations from those who could not deliver direct.

“We were thrilled with the initial donations within 24 hours of our appeal going live, which was just fantastic,” said Lee.

“But then it’s just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and more and more people have been turning up with donations.

“For a while we were literally just overwhelmed, not just with the generosity but with the actual volume of donations,” he added.

Emma said they had received donations not just from the general public but also from schools in Tameside and even Oldham.

There have been generous donations from a nursery in Ashton, while other items have come from Stockport too, plus local stores including Tesco Express and Morrisons have made donations.

She said: “We have literally just had hundreds and hundreds of people turning up.”

Dave added that there had been a ‘massive’ response to the Waterloo community Facebook page as well with residents being ‘incredibly supportive’.

Items delivered include a small mountain of nappies, baby wipes, vital first aid kits, medicines, clothes, towels, blankets, bedding, sleeping bags, toiletries and items for babies. One lady had even donated a bag full of knitted hats and gloves.

“We’ve had brand new children’s clothes which people have specifically gone out and bought and even brand new toys,” added Emma. 

The trio’s original plan was take donations to the North West branch of the Polish Integration Support Centre.

However, they then learned that the centre itself had been overwhelmed by donations and so was not able to accept any more.

“It became apparent then that because of the generosity not just here but across the whole of the country that everyone seemed to be struggling processing the donations and then getting them to where they needed to be.

“At first we joked about taking it ourselves, but then as we became more aware how people were struggling themselves to sort the aid, that initial joke has become more serious and we just thought, why don’t we take it ourselves?”

Dave added: “We looked around all the distribution centres in the area and nobody was taking stuff at all, so we were left with an easy decision.”

Stating that they wanted all the donations they had received to get to where it is needed most on the frontline in Poland, they will be hiring a van this week, loading it up and heading for the Polish / Ukrainian border.

The team has been in contact with the Ukrainian Centre in London who have helped provide the necessary paperwork to cross Europe and contacts in Poland.

Emma added: “Our worst fear was having the donations sitting in a warehouse here for weeks or months when they are needed there so desperately.

“So we want the community to know we are going to physically take the donations there ourselves.”

They will be reporting back on the journey through the Waterloo Facebook page and live streaming so everyone can see their donations have landed safely.

They will be loading up a 3.5 tonne Luton van this week, with Lee, Emma and her brother taking it in turns to drive non-stop across the Continent with the charitable delivery.

They expect to be on the road for a full two days, stopping overnight in Kent before taking the ferry across the Channel the next day and heading to Lubycza Krölewska, which is just five miles from the Ukrainian border. 

It’s 60 miles north of the Polish city of Przemysl, and just 50 miles away from the Ukrainian City of Lviv. 

Meanwhile, hundreds of boxes of donations collected at the Ukrainian centre on Stockport Road in Ashton have been packaged up to be transported out to Ukraine. 

Dozens helped at the centre to ferry the vast number of donations onto a lorry ready for transportation.

We reported recently how everyone at the centre had been literally overwhelmed by the volume of donations.

Stefan Wolowiansky, chairman of the Ashton branch of the association, said: “Five-hundred and eight boxes have left the centre to go to Ukraine to help all the people suffering or who have had their lives turned upside down.

“We would like to thank everyone in the community, the members, all our friends and family for supporting us with humanitarian aid.

“We stand with Ukraine.”

A small army of volunteers have been busy at the centre collecting and sorting the items and packaging them and creating an inventory for transport.

“The amount of work involved has been huge but there has been wonderful community spirit - so thank you,” added Stefan.

He added that the centre community will be happy to welcome and support any refugees from Ukraine if they arrive in Tameside and to help in any way they can to support them alongside the local authorities.

These are dark, emotional and worrying times for Stefan too, who has relatives in Ukraine.

Some are not far from Kyiv but are staying in the country.

Stefan said he had managed to make contact with family members but there had been many tears and lots of emotion.

“They are safe at present, but can hear missiles and are going into bunkers. They are scared and in tears, but they say if the Russians kill them, they will have died in their homeland.” 

Images and video by Nigel Wood

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