Ukraine war: Clacton ambulance aid convoy 'changes lives' of volunteers

Volunteers who fundraised to buy three ambulances and pack them with medical supplies for Ukraine said the trip from the UK "changed us all".

Andy Morgan, from Clacton, Essex, and others used their own money and fundraised to buy the ambulances.

Over the weekend they delivered the supplies and left the ambulances with medical teams in the city of Lviv.

"What we thought would be a simple journey has instead changed our lives," Mr Morgan said.

Together with friends, he set up the not-for-profit organisation Ambulance Aid with the aim of raising money to buy and equip one ambulance - but, "overwhelmed" by the response, they raised enough for three ambulances and a 4x4 support vehicle.

"We listened to what the needs of people were, and came up with this idea," Mr Morgan said.

All the vehicles were branded with red crosses "to make them as safe as possible for use out there", Mr Morgan said.

Every ambulance was "packed to the roof" with items including medications no longer being used by NHS trusts, sanitary products, hand sanitising gel, and cleaning products, he said.

The convoy crossed the channel at Dover on Friday - their fares and other expenses were waived by the ferry company, and fuel costs for the long journey were covered by donations from supporters.

One touching donation was a large tub of sweets intended to be shared among the ambulance drivers on the journey - but posting on Facebook, the team said the first sweets were given to a little girl, seen walking on the side of a road in Ukraine with her mother, and the rest were "used to sweet-talk the soldiers at check points".

Once in Lviv, they went to the city's opera house - a prearranged point agreed with the Ukraine medical battalion - and met a group of civilian doctors and medics, who would ensure that supplies were taken where needed, and who deployed the ambulances to Kyiv and beyond.

"We had acquired some material used to protect against glass and other debris from explosions - the seamstresses at the opera house are used to making elaborate costumes, but instead they are turning this into protective blankets for people," Mr Morgan said.

Speaking about the journey on his way back to the UK, Mr Morgan choked back tears as he recalled seeing so many displaced people walking along roads.

"It's upsetting - you've got toddlers walking, old people in their 70s, 80s... they should be being cared for, they've walked miles and miles to get to safety - some of them, hundreds of miles.

"It's really sad - this shouldn't be happening in this day and age - it shouldn't be happening."

He said the mood of the volunteers changed dramatically during the trip to and from Ukraine.

"When we were driving down, we were quite elated, that we'd achieved something - we felt quite pleased," he said.

"But then, when we actually got to Poland the reality dawned on us of why we'd done it, and what we were doing it for.

"The team that went in, came out quite sombre, quite subdued, sad."

He is now preparing to fundraise for more ambulances.

"It's been phenomenal, the support we've had is just unbelievable," he said.

"But what we saw hit us all in different ways. I feel we've done something that will make a real difference, and doing it has changed our lives."

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