Brass Band Aid for Ukraine are pleased to support Ukraine Fundraiser 2022 by hosting these reports on each of Mike’s aid runs!
- Preparation for Run 40 – Ukraine Fundraiser 2022
Plans are already well underway for the next run and I can now announce that we have been donated a VW T4 which will be going to Ukraine as soon as it has been prepared. Many thanks go to Guy Ticehurst for his work in securing this valuable donation and also a massive thank you… - Run 37 – Mike & Karl, May 2025
Before any run can take place, there is a lot of activity to both collect aid and raise funding for the run!A massive thank you goes to Winterton and district Lions along with the people who attended the coffee morning at Winterton Rangers yesterday. Your support is greatly appreciated. I now have the peace of… - Run 34 – February 2025
Run 34 sees the return of Karl plus another great aid runner, Steve Lelow! The van was full to the brim as you can see below! First port of call was Harwich – Mike likes this route as it gives him a chance to sleep! The first stop on this run was to be at… - Run 31 – November 2024
02:00 and run 31 starts. As you can see the Silver Beast is rammed full of aid. Many thanks to all of you that have donated both aid and finances to make this possible. You are all heroes. Slava Ukraine A little update from yesterday. Today marks 1000 days of full scale war in Ukraine…. - Run 29 – August – September 2024
Run 29 was planned to be a major step forwards for us in finding new people in Ukraine that need help! We are extremely grateful to Damon “Wozzer” Warren who suggested that we join his extended convoy and get to meet some of his key contacts – an epic trip was envisaged but it turned… - Run 27 – June 2024
Hot on the heels of Andy’s run, Run 27 was another run out to Zaporizhzhia! Accompanying Mike this time were Guy, one of our founders from Weeze and Anna Pukas James who is a key fundraiser for us in the North East! Once again, the Ladies of the Brigg Inner Wheel had been busy knitting… - “Together we are stronger” – Jimmy’s new wheels in just 9 days!
On the 10th April, we received an urgent special request. James Kaprini, our contact in Zaphorhizia, found himself in need of a 4×4 vehicle due to a catastrophic failure of the vehicle which, for the last 18months or so, has served him well delivering aid to frontline areas. The lack of a vehicle seriously impacted… - Run 25 – March 2024
Run 25 was another excellent run with both vans involved! Prior to the run, there was a lot of activity at both ends of the country! Thanks to Michael Kobarenko, Mike had a lot of aid donated by Ukrainians In North Lincolnshire ,which was to be delivered to a specific charity in Zaporizhzhia, together with… - All Saints Belton Fundraiser, 2nd March 2024
Huge thanks to Anna Pukas James and her team of volunteers for facilitating a fund raising event at All Saints Church in Belton today. A massive sum was raised towards our costs of transporting aid over to Ukraine. Our thanks to all those who donated today! We were delighted to have Nick Fletcher MP in… - Run 24 – February 2024
Run 24 once again visited Zaporizhzhia in South East Ukraine. Because of the new customs rules, we have to be much more detailed in our paperwork and Mike, Annie & Andy spent a weekend compiling an inventory of our current aid located in Winterton to add to what we have in Brighton. Annie was amazed… - November 2023 – Mike speaking at a benefit concert held by the Ukrainians in North Lincolnshire group.
- Run 22 – October/November 2023
Mike is joined on Run 22 by a legend in the Ukraine humanitarian aid world, Mr. Andy Cropper. Andy has been a staunch supporter of the Brovary based charity and has also created comfort boxes for the soldiers -some of these are on board for this run together with more medical aid from both Andy… - UNESCO Accreditation for Mike & Annie Hockham!
We would like to announce that Mike & Annie have been recognised by UNESCO as official aid workers in Ukraine. A massive thank you to those involved in making this happen – they had absolutely no idea this was coming!. In addition, whilst in Lviv on Run 20, they both received another certificate of appreciation…. - Run 20 – September 2023
Run 20 was one of the biggest runs we have undertaken to date! Using 2 vans and a trailer, we took around 2.5T of much needed aid to Kyiv and Zaporizhia! It was also the first time that Mike, Andy and Guy had been on a run together!We were also joined by photo journalist Frank… - Run 18 – July 2023 – Mike & Annie
Run 18 is now underway! Immediately prior to leaving, Mike & Annie collected more aid: Many thanks to Elaine’nAndy Cropper and our friends at United for Ukraine for their significant contribution to our load. They arrived four hours earlier than their planned crossing because an earlier crossing was delayed, straight through customs without any problems… - Runs 17 & 18 – Collecting donated aid!
Hard to believe that this will be the 17th run for Mike and the 5th for Andy! Aid collection is well underway in both Winterton & Brighton areas! Huge thanks to Anna Pukas James and Kristina Pukas Cousins together with the residents from the Isle of Axholme. And in the South, huge thanks to Terry… - News from Ukraine Fundraiser 2022 in Germany
In light of the flooding in southern Ukraine we are pleased to announce that our German branch have secured transport for our stock there to travel to Kherson region this coming weekend. Many thanks to Guy and Liza and not forgetting Elmar Freikamp for making this possible. On Friday Elmar,Guy and Liza arranged for Goch… - Run 16 – May 2023
No sooner are we back from run 15, it’s non stop now preparing for run 16! The team were busy at Ukraine Fundraiser 2022 HQ over the weekend making sure the van was good to go and adding the first part of the load. Mainly medical items, our huge thanks to Anna Pukas James, Kristina… - Lorna speaking at Winterton Lions event
- Run 15 – April 2023
This will be a milestone run as it is the first time that we go with an additional van and with that, our capacity has now doubled! Huge thanks to Mike and Karl who prepared Andy’s new van for its maiden run into Ukraine! We will update this post as the run gets underway! Between… - Run 14 – March 2023
Run 14, or run 13 from the UK!, is now well underway and the team have safely arrived in Brovary after a non stop drive all the way from Weeze in Germany”! This run includes for the first time, aid collected in the Sussex area under the banner of “Brass Band Aid for Ukraine”, together… - Run 13 – February 2023
It’s all hands on deck today (30th Jan) as the team have to sort, package and weigh each box – we need to do this for the Ukranian customs forms when we get to the border later this week. The run is well underway now having started with a non-stop drive through snow in Germany… - Run 12 – December 2022 January 2023
Run no.11 started with the collection of aid from our friends at Help Ukraine BAMK UK in Milton Keynes and personal donations from other benefactors. What made this trip special was the kind donation of a van which was to be taken to Zaporizhzhia where it is now being used as an ambulance by the… - Run 11 – December 2022
Run 11 was an eventful one for our van – but more of that later! On this run, we were taking aid provided by our friends at BAMK, UK Aid for Ukraine and other private benefactors to Marina at “Future of Children of Ukraine”. This included out much needed aid, blankets food and more than… - Run 10 – 4th-20thNovember 2022
Firstly we delivered to our friends Steel Ray in Lviv with much needed medical and surgical equipment which then is distributed both to civilian and military medical facilities throughout Ukraine. We then reloaded both the van and trailer for onward travel to Kyiv area delivering to our contact Марина Вячеславівна where we then assisted her… - Run 09 – 3-18 October 2022
After an epic drive across Europe from Weeze to Uzhhrod we had may issues on our border crossing on the Slovak side which then resulted in problems entering Ukraine. We left Weeze just after 02:00 and arrived at the border approximately 21:00. We then spent nearly eight hours crossing the border arriving at our donated… - Run 08 – 25th August – 6th September 2022
We crossed the border at Medyka early Sunday morning and spent seven hours doing so and then a quick stop in Lviv to see a friend we then set off on the 400 odd mile drive through to our delivery point just outside Irpin near Kyiv. I’m sure you’ll remember at the beginning of the… - Run 07 – 28th July – 8th August 2022
Rather than write about what we took on this trip, here’s Mike to tell you what was in the van! Huge thanks to Anna Pukas James who last Saturday together with Kristina Pukas Cousins, hosted a Ukraine Fundraiser in Epworth. We laid on Ukrainian food, Richard Cousins barbecued his home-made sausages and the weather was… - Run 06 – 21st June 2022
Drop done – all safe and sound! - Run 05 – 13th May 2022
Meet your drivers for this run: Mike & Guy! After a delay at the border, they finally made it through to Ukraine! How better to describe run no.4 than to use the words of Anna Pukas James, a great supporter of ours, who accompanied Mike and Guy on this trip to Lviv: What a remarkable,… - Run 04 – 23rd April 2022
This run took aid from Germany and following a hearty breakfast with our good friend Elmer, it was on to Frankfurt for the first collection. Apologies for this one being on its side – we assure you, the team were upright! On the way home! - Run 03 – 14th April 2022
Easter Monday and back in Weeze after delivering run #3 to the Ukrainian border at Budomeirz a very rural crossing north of Przemysl with a 3.5t limit to and on the border it seemed an effective way to get targeted aid across. I have to say the border seemed disconcertingly quiet but we arrived on… - Run 02 – 30th March 2022
Once again, we were taking aid on behalf of BAMK in Milton Keynes. A delayed start after the van needed some repairs, we collected further medical aid from Elmar Freikamp near Weeze: Our Germany team have been very active in securing donated aid for this trip so a big shout out to: Cyriakus Apotheke in… - Run 01 – 16th March 2022
And so it began! Run no. 1 and a first outing for “Renee” the van! First stop was to meet the folks at BAMK who were providing aid to go in the van. In the early days, we went via Dover – something that has changed since then. (We now mainly use Harwich to Hook…