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School helps replace ambulance wrecked in Ukraine

Martin Heath
BBC News, Northamptonshire
Martin Heath/BBC A line of school pupils along with a female vicar to the left and the school chaplain to the right. Also in the picture is Steve Challen, aid volunteer. They are standing either side of the open doors of a yellow ambulance, which can be seen to be full of medical supplies. There is a blue and yellow flag in front of the ambulance with Cyrillic writing. There is a school building to the right with "Welcome" above the door. Martin Heath/BBC
The SVP group (complete with canine member) have fundraised for the replacement ambulance

A group of school children has raised £1,000 to help fund an ambulance to replace one destroyed during shelling in Ukraine.

The vehicle has been filled with medical supplies by a group in Towcester, Northamptonshire, and driven into the country.

Pupils from Thomas Becket Catholic School (TBCS) in Northampton staged assemblies for each year group, organised a non-uniform day and sold sweets and trinkets to raise the money.

The ambulance arrived safely in Lviv on Tuesday.

More than three years on from the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. members of the St Vincent Paul (SVP) group at the school wanted to do something to help because they were worried people had started to forget about the conflict.

"It was about a year and a half ago when we first started thinking about it," said Jack from the SVP group.

"People were just not thinking about [the war] any more and we realised we needed to be raising awareness about it."

A fundraising drive began and soon hundreds of pounds was raised for a school in Ukraine.

Martin Heath/BBC Five school pupils, four of whom are dressed in a school uniform with black blazer and tie. The boy on the left is wearing a burgundy shirt and glasses. The girl net to him has long blonde hair, the next girl has short dark hair and the third has brown hair tied back. The boy on the right has short blond hair. There is a yellow ambulance behind them with its side and rear doors open.Martin Heath/BBC
George, Keeley, Becky, Summer and Jack are all members of the SVP group

Summer from the SVP group said: "We're a secondary school - we can relate to what the youth go through.

"We have so many opportunities [at TBCS] and we don't realise how lucky we are so we wanted to raise money for them because every kid deserves the opportunity to do what we do here."

Martin Heath/BBC Steve Challen with short dark hair and glasses wearing a blue shirt and looking at the camera. He is standing next to an ambulance which has a notice on the rear door with a Union Flag, a box with white writing and a green background saying AMBULANCE AID, there is another box which is blue and says TOWCESTER and a third which says "THOMAS BECKET SCHOOL NORTHAMPTON"Martin Heath/BBC
This is the seventh ambulance that Steve Challen and the team from Towcester have filled and driven to Ukraine

The group met Steve Challen, a volunteer from St Lawrence Church in Towcester, when they were deciding on the best way to help Ukraine, and he told them about the ambulance.

Mr Challen said: "When I showed them this video we'd received of an ambulance that had been damaged in some shelling, they wanted to do more and help with the ambulance fundraising."

Tetiana Rudnik An ambulance on which any paintwork has been burned off by shelling. There are signs of scorching across the plain white body. Glass has gone from the windows and there appears to be little left of the inside of the vehicle. There is a bare tree in the background.Tetiana Rudnik
This ambulance was destroyed in shelling near Kharkiv

The group organised assemblies to let the whole school know about the lost vehicle, and another massive fundraising campaign began.

Becky from the group said: "We had stalls at break and lunch, we were selling raffle tickets and sweets and cupcakes.

"We had some bracelets and keyrings as well that were for Ukraine and, with our mufti day, everyone wore yellow and blue to show solidarity with Ukraine."

Martin Heath/BBC Becky with short dark hair smiling at the camera and wearing a black uniform blazer and white shirt with black tie. She is standing by the side of a yellow ambulance, in which several metal crutches are stored vertically.Martin Heath/BBC
Becky from the SVP group stands beside some of the donated crutches in the ambulance

Before long, another £1,000 had been raised and the replacement ambulance headed to Ukraine.

Mr Challen said: "They were just so professionally well organised, it was absolutely incredible.

"If only other schools would come on board and do something similar."

Tove Benefice Alex Donaldson with short grey hair wearing a dark T-shirt and blue jeans smiling at the camer, handing keys to Tetiana who has long blond hair with sunglasses on her head, wearing a white top with red and grey floral designs. They are standing in front of the yellow ambulance.Tove Benefice
The ambulance has been handed over to a contact in Ukraine

After a battle with border guards over paperwork, the ambulance crossed the border on Tuesday and was handed over to a local contact.

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