On Wednesday 19 November, Convoy4Ukraine had the opportunity to talk about their work, hosted by Royston and District Motorcycle Club, of which Rik is a member.
This was a “friend-raising” event held at the Royston Bowls Club, intended to increase awareness of a local charity and to connect with people who might be interested in supporting C4U in different ways – whether through donations, publicity, sourcing and maintaining vehicles, or even joining us on convoy. These events also tend to be mini-reunions from previous convoys (it was nice to see Massimo from Convoy #10 and his partner Maria), and a chance to meet new drivers and co-drivers for the next convoy for the first time – shout out to Pete Halasowski and Andy Munday!
The evening was attended by members of RDMCC, Royston Bowls Club, friends and family who had supported Convoy #10, and special guests: local Ukrainians Anya, with her son Gleb, and Cllr Luke Haugh, the Mayor of Royston.
Left to right: Tom, Luke, Guy, Adam, Jamie, Rik, Anya, and Gleb.
We took the opportunity to drive one of the ambulances that we’ll be taking out to Ukraine in February down to the venue, though sadly it was too cold to show people around.
The evening started with a talk by Tom, who explained his own motivations for founding the charity, rooted in his experiences meeting two Ukrainian mothers – one in the UK, through the Homes for Ukraine scheme, and one in Lviv. He began the talk with a number, 19,500, at the end explaining its significance: this is the number of children that have been stolen from Ukrainian families by Russia, to be “adopted” and brought up as Russian. To date, only around 1,000 have been recovered.
Following Tom’s talk, Rik talked about the convoys from his perspective as a mechanic – which types of vehicles we aim to buy, which we avoid, some of the problems (“learning experiences”) we’ve had along the way, and of course the indispensable help given before and during convoys by our two legendary Hungarian mechanics, Akos and Máté, who enjoy nothing better than fixing engines in the company of a beer or two.
After the talks, we enjoyed a chat with our hosts and guests and ate some very welcome sausage rolls provided by the Bowls Club. Thank you RDMCC members, Guy Moody, Alan Evans and Jim Grieg for hosting us, and to everyone who attended!
If you’d like to support our next convoy, please sponsor one of our drivers or consider donating the cost of a key item!