‘The whole town has responded amazingly’
WHEN Consett councillor Kathryn Rooney decided to collect a few things to send to the Ukraine, she asked on Facebook if friends and family wanted to help her out.
Four days and four trucks later, the County Durham town has pulled out all the stops, with so many donations that’s it’s taking a team of 60 volunteers to sort through it and box it up ready to go.
From pubs collecting clothes to local transport companies helping to move the donations to Poland, the whole town is pulling together to help the people in war-torn Ukraine.
“I was watching the news and, like everyone else, I was horrified and just felt I had to do something, said Kathryn, 51, a mum of three, who is a Lib Dem councillor for Consett North ward.
“I thought I might try to get a few things together, and it has just snowballed from there into something massive. Tesco and Morrisons in the town are collecting for us, most of the primary schools, a lot of local shops, the list just goes on and on.
“And a special mention must be made for The Derwent Walk pub, in Ebchester, whose owners have been deluged with so much stuff they can barely get through their hallway.”
Durham European Couriers, on the
town’s Number One Industrial Estate, is providing transport for the first articulated truck of supplies, which will leave Consett on Wednesday.
Firefighters from Consett Station are helping the volunteers pack the trucks with the supplies, which are being stored at St Mary’s Church Hall, Blackhill.
The first truck is going to Elk, in Poland, which is the home town of Joanne Soulsby, a Polish woman who owns Moon jewellery shop, which started in Shotley Bridge before it moved to bigger premises in Durham.
“Joanne knows people in Elk and the goods are being directed to refugee camps near the town, and also to Polish families, who are taking in Ukrainian refugees as they flee their homeland,” said Kathryn.
The second truck is being funded by Freight2goeurope, which is owned by a Polish national, and that load is going to the Ukrainian border, where it will be taken by the Red Cross and distributed inside Ukraine.
“I am now appealing for money to pay for freight for the next loads, which will also go to the border.
“Transport is around £2,400 per truck and I have just about enough for a third truck, but looking at the donations that keep on coming, I think there will certainly be a fourth truck, which will need to be paid for.
“My sitting room is full to the brim with the donations that are arriving every day from Amazon, including one from a man in America, who donated more that £300 worth of items.
“We have had to call a halt on clothing donations for the moment, but we still need pots and pans, cutlery, bedding, cleaning products, non-perishable food, pasta, cereal, tins. Also urgently needed is nappies, baby food and toiletries.
“Elddis Transport, in Delves Lane, has supplied us with lots and lots of boxes, but we still need more, so if anyone has any, that would be a great help.”
Kathryn, a youth worker, says she is overwhelmed by the support she had had from the whole town.
“All of Consett has responded amazingly, and wider County Durham as well,” she said. “My fellow councillors in Witton Gilbert and Neville’s Cross are also collecting to put on the trucks, so there may be more yet!”
Donations and boxes can be dropped off at St Mary’s Church Hall, Blackhill, DH8 8LP, from 10am to 2pm Monday and Tuesday, and Kathyn can be contacted on 07880 176492.