Run 41 – Brass Band Aid – October 2025 – Brass Band Aid for Ukraine

Prior to any run, there is a lot of work to do! First up for this run, we had to get the van through an MOT, which included resolving the dpf issue that started on the last run!
Huge thanks to Tony and his son Chris for all the work done on the van in preparation for its MOT! Transmission leak fixed, oil and oil filter change and new front brake shoes.

Also thanks to Chris, the dpf issue was resolved by his contacts at Lushington Motors who also completed the MOT. Huge thanks to them!

Then it was onto filling up the van with aid! Andy visited our friend Dickie Bonner to collect aid he has provided together with some specialist aid donated by The Chaseley Trust in Eastbourne – huge thanks to Dickie for facilitating this! https://chaseley.org.uk. This included 2 specialist wheelchairs for spinal injuries.

Next up, another aid collection from our friends at Medi Tech Trust. Huge thanks to Stuart who does an awesome job packing and weighing all the aid which included a lot of medical aid for our charity partner in Odesa and a lot of incontinence items for our orphanage.

Another amazing aid donation collected! 8 spinal braces kindly donated by Worthing Hospital via our good friend Jen who works there. These will go well with the spinal wheelchairs we picked up earlier!

Huge thanks to Valentyna Skoromets of Eastbourne for Ukraine, for a huge donation of medical items for front line soldiers including Tourniquets, compression bandages, chest vents and much much more!

These boxes contain items that are urgently needed on the front line – here’s a peek inside them:

Here’s what Valentyna had to say:
What is in the boxes and why we are doing this???
When injuries happen, the first few minutes are critical in determining the outcome.
Quick and effective administration of First Aid can mean life or death to those injured.
Most of us associate First Aid with cardiac arrest, choking etc.
In Ukraine this is injured, bleeding victims of constant explosions and shrapnel.
Civilian and military emergency services are struggling to deliver an immediate first aid response not only because of the dangerous condition they are working in, but also because of the shortage of First Aid Products. By raising funds, purchasing and sending to Ukraine war zone these life saving products we are trying to make a real difference in emergencies and give someone a chance to survive and return home to their families.

We are deeply grateful to all of you for continuously supporting us and potentially saving lives. THANK YOU https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfu…/valentyna-skoromets…

The final aid collection before heading out on Friday was a visit to Kevin Woodhams who has been working his network like a Tasmanian Devil! This huge amount of aid is only part of the story – he also guides me to free stuff on Facebook that I may have missed! Huge thanks Kevin!

And so it began on 10th October at Dover!

First update from Marienborn, the former inner German border:

And then, our favourite game, border bingo! This was not a short crossing time and originally, it was thought the new biometric capture at the Polish side weas to blame. In fact, they hadn’t yet put that in place (we had that pleasure to come!). The main cause was poor queue management that was allowing a lot of queue jumping to go on.

This delay had a knock on effect of not being able to reach the hotel (kindly donated by Valentyna) before curfew. A few hours sleep in the van in Ternopil was the end result.

The next day, Andy was able to complete the first leg and arrived in Kropyvnytski where our good friend Anton had booked the hotel for a couple of nights. A lovely meal with Aton and Liza then a great nights sleep!
The following day started with the aid delivery to the orphanage:

On the way back, we dropped in to the Ukraine State Aviation Flight Academy where Anton is now a student and Lyza is on the teaching staff! Lyza arranged for a guided tour of the museum there – some fascinating insights into Ukraine aviation history!

After this, it was time for a visit to Mr. Painter (Dmitri), our favourite mechanic, to find out why the key fob stopped working and why the airbag warning light was on. It turned out to be the auxiliary battery was at the end of its life and needed replacing. This is much cheaper in Ukraine and my thanks to Mr, Painter for diagnosing this and then fitting it!

I couldn’t visit our friend Taras the Priest this time as he was in Kramatorsk with his unit but instead, sent some aid to him via the Nova Poshta service. This was mainly items for soldiers in hospital such as socks, toothpaste, t/shirts etc. Thanks to all who donated those items!

I also couldn’t fit in a trip to Zaporizhzhia this time – we had aid donated by Mike Kilford Gray which I sent down via the excellent Nova Poshta service.

Jimmy made an excellent video going through the items he received which gives a good idea of what to buy if you are considering purchasing such aid in the UK.

Andy was up early the next day for the run down to Odesa and our charity partner there, “I Will Help“.

Whilst there, the charity President, Olexander, invited me to join him at a conference in the city. This short video explains more:

As I needed to be back in the UK by Saturday, I left Odesa and drove directly to the border. Due to the curfew, this resulted in another night in hotel “Transit Van”! Whilst I was in transit, Anton went down to the Kherson region to deliver the front line aid to soldiers from 121 Division.

Whilst I was in the country, the Polish border implemented the new biometric process.

This was the longest crossing time so far and exceeded my personal “worst” by seven minutes. as I had a lot of time, I decided to capture what we go through when crossing from Ukraine to Poland in a series of video clips: