Shropshire duo tell of their harrowing relief trip to Ukraine border

Julian Barnfield, 58, from Whitchurch and Ben Angell-James, 51, from Shrewsbury, say the harrowing sights that met them have made them determined to carry on fundraising to help the Polish refugee camps.

They said they have been left frustrated that they have been unable to bring refugees back with them because of red tape.

They were part of the Ukraine Equestrian Aid group that took nine large horse boxes from Knutsford, in Cheshire, to Chelm on the Polish border, a 1,000-mile journey.

Mr Barnfield, a director of Elite Kennel Fertility, said he had been looking at ways he could take a lorry to the border when he saw the Equestrian aid group on social media.

"In a matter of days we had nine lorries," he said.

With co-driver Ben they were loaned a lorry by Mary and Richard Cambray and the Shropshire equestrian world and local companies donated everything from money, medical supplies and sleeping bags to tyres and a tank of diesel.

Ben, technical and quality director of Asbestos Consultants Europe, said his company and parent company had been amazing.

But the pair said it was the people of Poland who were phenomenal.

"We had an incredible interpretor, Jacek, known to the team as Jack, and we went to the refugee camp at Chelm," Julian said.

"It was so harrowing. The sports hall now houses women with their children and what was so tough was that it was completely silent. They looked totally shell-shocked.

"What brought it home to me was that a month ago they were living the same life as me and then all of a sudden they had to leave fathers, brothers, husbands behind."

As the aid was unloaded from their lorry the medical supplies were immediately transferred to vehicles to take over to Ukraine.

"They were so grateful and it went flying straight across the border."

Once the rest of the aid was unloaded - the largest amount of aid in one delivery to the camp - while some to the drivers had to return back to the UK because of work commitments, Julian and Ben said they then drove to a huge warehouse that supplies cash and carry outlets in Poland.

"The Equestrian Aid Appeal had raised more than £45,000 and we were able to do a supermarket shop of monumental proportions, spending £7,000 on food, water, baby things, everything needed by the refugee centre."

They then moved onto the city of Poznan to a larger camp, house in a former Covid hospital.

"We did the same there and did a huge shop for them. There were about 850 people sitting on rows and rows of beds."

The two men had hoped to use the horse lorry to bring refugees back to the UK.

"We decided on horse boxes because they have somewhere for us to sleep and also facilities for bringing people back. But the paperwork is just taking forever and sadly we couldn't bring anyone out. That was a tough realisation. There were two teenage boys, whose mother had been killed, who had a place to come to in Shropshire. But we couldn't do anything to help because of the paper work."

Both say they realised they can not keep driving back and too to Poland but are determined to keep helping.

Ben said: "We can't keep travelling 2,000 miles but we have made contacts with these two refugee centres and we can keep sending money to them to ensure they continue to help the people of Ukraine.

"This is not something that is going to end next month, in six months or even in a year - these people will need help for a long time."

They said the wanted to thank everyone who had donated and were continuing to donate to the appeal and to all those in the UK who had helped with the collection of aid and the logistics of getting the convoy to the border.

To make a donation visit www.gofundme.com/f/ukraine-equestrian-relief.