Run 36 – Brass Band Aid, May 2025

On the 19th May, Andy set out on a solo run – Tony was not able to join him on this occasion.

The first delivery was to drop off another Electric Wheelchair on behalf of East Sussex for Ukraine – this took place in Vinnitsya where Andy met up with Valentyna’s Son and Daughter. Huge thanks to them all for the accommodation overnight which was much appreciated after a log solo drive!

After a good night’s sleep, it was back on the road to firstly visit our good friend Volodymyr. He is an amazing guy who is tireless in his work to support his country. At least once a week, he will be found in Independence Square in Kyiv trying to raise money to but drone detectors for front line use! We had a number of donated CB radio items kindly given by Michael Kobarenko together with used vapes – these have a number different uses out there!.

From here, it was just a short drive to meet up with another dear friend, Taras the Priest. In addition to having his own church, Taras is also now a military padre and very generously gave me his unit patch. He also gave me additional aid to take forwards: nutrition drinks, water, nappies and some cakes!

Candles, from AgeUK. Trench Candles, made by Shirley from Brighton & Hove City Brass together with hygiene items for the guys in the local military hospital.

I was also able to pass on a number of wooden Bethlehem Crosses kindly provided by Dee Johnson from Holy Cross Church, Uckfield. Taras will be giving these to seriously wounded soldiers who need spiritual help towards the end.

It was then a 2 1/2hr drive to Kropyvnytskyi where Andy was based for the next 4 nights. First up was to meet up with Anton for a meal and to plan when we would head out to the orphanage.

The next day started with the Orphanage visit:

With new arrivals since we were last here, this home gets through a massive 200 nappies/incontinence items every day and rely heavily on donated aid. It was a lovely sunny day so we were able to meet some of the kids who were dining outside when we arrived.

We then went back to the hotel to meet up with Mr. Air Defence – we have supplied a number of items for his team and this time, had a laptop, from Dee Johnson, and an Android notebook from Matthew Briggs. These will both go to their HQ in Kyiv to have special software installed that the teams on the ground use when tracking and taking out drones and missiles.

The unit kindly made a thank you video too:

With a drive down to Zaporizhzhia early the next day, Andy took advantage of having a bed for a good sleep ahead of 2 10 hr driving days ahead of him!

There were 2 aid drops to be made here – the first one was to the ecofriendly.zp charity with Alina and Jimmy. Always a pleasure to meet up with these guys who go the extra mile to deliver right up to zero line!

Much of this delivery came from Mike Kifford Gray who has been a long time supporter of Jimmy plus Mike Kobarenko.

The contents of Mike’s boxes left Jimmy speechless – this is a rare occurrence! Pop over to his page to see what was included: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DamitzD6h/

From here, Andy went to visit Nataly and the Himars Charity.

One thing that always impresses me about both of the groups in Zaporizhzhia is that they deliver out to where it is needed very quickly! As Mykee Hockham also delivered there this week, there was a huge amount of aid ready to go and Nataly wastes no time!

It was then time to head back to Kropyvnytskyi for another early night ahead of a trip to meet up with “I Will Help” in Odesa. As Tony wasn’t on this trip, Andy decided not to stay overnight in Odesa so this was to be another day trip.

Huge thanks to Medi Tech Trust for once again supplying the bulk of the aid we delivered.

Prior to this trip, Damon Warren in the UK had helped the team out here with the supply of some drone batteries – the flag in the video is from the unit he helped and will be presented to Damon when he is there in a couple of weeks.

Andy also handed over £420 in UAH to Olexander from the sale of some artefacts we took on the last trip. Readers may remember the wonderful tank model which was successfully auctioned at the VE Day event in Eastbourne organised by an old music pal, Rick Bonner.

Whilst I was in Odesa, Mykee Hockham and Karl Harrison were also on their way to Ukraine and we had hoped to meet up at some point. As it turned out, we both hit a roundabout outside of Krop within minutes of each other! Whilst they went on their way to Dnipro, Andy returned to the hotel for his final night in Krop.

Before leaving the next day, a number of things happened. First of all, we met up with Andreyi who drove my old van to the border so that I could correctly import it.

We then went to meet one of the founders, along with Anton, of the Charity “Help from the Heart”. Known as “Mr. Happy”, Andy was aware that Damon had presented his regimental flag on a previous visit and that this was on the wall in Mr. Happy’s office. It seemed fitting therefore that Andy’s battalion flag should also grace the walls of the office!

Finally, it was time to meet an old friend and for Andy, a real highlight of this run. Regular followers will know of the plight of Andy’s old van which suffered a terminal engine issue in Ukraine last year. Thanks firstly to Anton who rescued us and his team of mechanics who diagnosed the issue. Andy decided that the best thing was to donate the van to the military and donate £1000 to get the engine rebuilt – Dmitri and his team managed to do this as can be seen in an earlier post.

It was then passed to another volunteer team working on behalf of the military unit who will receive it to raise the funding for converting it into a medical rescue vehicle that will operate between the initial first aid posts and the next level. This work is now complete and it is with pride that Andy went to see the finished article! To know that from the original disaster, the van will now be living again and saving lives is a magical feeling.

Some final thoughts before starting the long journey home:

The border crossing was around 4 hours mainly on the Ukraine side! Firstly, all computers were down and then they were questioning some more artefacts that the Odesa folks have given me to sell for them! As it turned out, the Polish side had no issue at all with them!

Some weather and traffic issues slowed me down a lot and included a diversion through the centre of Brussels but it was good to get on to the ferry at Dunkirk. Some final thoughts on the run from Andy.