“A very intense and humbling experience”

Many organisations and individuals across the UK are going above and beyond to help those affected by war-torn Ukraine.

Leek councillor Roy Molson has been running a drop-off point at Bank House in Leek for donations to help Ukrainians, since almost the beginning of Russia’s invasion last year.

Now he has gone one step further as he has been joining in on convoys of vans filled with aid items, in getting them to Ukraine.

For his latest trip, Roy was part of a convoy of 30 vehicles, along with fellow driver from Leek, Linda Ball who made her first trip.

Linda told the Leek Life Magazine: “It was a very intense and humbling experience.

“Five days of a very steep learning curve, with a group of gutsy amazing people.

“Great sense of achievement, but awareness that it is a drop in the ocean.”

Roy told us more about the trip which took them into Ukraine to Lviv: “Lviv is a long way from the front line, but the Russians attack it frequently with missiles, especially the power plant and distribution equipment, which are becoming more difficult to repair.

“In Lviv life seems to go on as normalsupplies seem okay but of course prices have gone up.

People in Lviv are living a strange and stressful double life - on the one hand the cafés are all open and also the shops, but the city is alive with the sound of generators on lots of the streets.

“They are following the Power calendar which should give them three hours of power, three hours of no power and three hours of possible power.

“In reality the power cuts happen more often than that, sometimes not for too long, and this makes normal processes difficult - phones, cash machines, card machines, internet and so forth.

“Everywhere it seemed to us that people wore silent and serious looks on their faces, except in the relaxing snugness of the cafés.

“Many buildings have thick plywood or

Established over 40 years and trained by former police ofcers sandbags covering windows at ground level, and most statues are wrapped in protective padding. The statues in the four fountains in each corner of the main square are completely hidden and their screens say “we will be back after our victory.”