Safely back from Ukraine
Monday 12th August 2024
Jaq Croft and Conal Cunningham get to Ukraine
On Thursday 25th July, Hampton Wick residents Conal Cunningham and Jaq Croft set off to drive to Ukraine in Conal’s old music studio van stuffed full of life-saving aid supplies.
The journey started with send-off at the Ukraine embassy in London, where Conal was invited to speak to the media. Shortly afterwards they were asked to detour to Brompton Hospital to pick up some out-of-date cardiovascular kit – and they never saw the convoy again! Their instructions had been along the lines of “head for Ukraine” so that’s what they did.
There followed a gruelling drive through northern France, Belgium and Poland, taking naps in the van, which unfortunately lost its 6th gear somewhere on the way. A bright spot was when they found a restaurant which happened to serve Jaq’s favourite Prosecco and elderflower!
It took four hours to get across the border as they grappled with Cyrillic script, wrong paperwork and 32 degree heat. There was a warm welcome for our intrepid pair when they arrived in Lviv – they were taken to an “English pub” with portraits of Churchill and the Queen on the wall!
The van somehow survived a further 5 hours of driving East and the medical supplies, sleeping bags and warm winter clothing were safely unloaded. Conal went even further in the cause of UK-Ukrainian friendship by handing out Sex Pistols T-shirts!
The return journey (without the van) was equally eventful, with our pair being rescued by a random stranger who offered to drive them from Lviv to the border.
Jaq and Conal report that they saw many soldiers with newly bandaged amputated limbs. Many British Ukrainian Aid volunteers do trips like Conal and Jaq’s regularly, taking desperately needed aid supplies. You can support them by donating your vehicle through the Ulez scrappage scheme as Conal did, or by donating money to Vehicles4Ukraine or British Ukrainian Aid.
We’ll be publishing the full story of Conal and Jaq’s brave journey in our next Hampton Wick Magazine which will be arriving through your letterbox at the end of September.
