Usually the boot and back seats of Peter Terry’s 12-year-old Citroen Berlingo are full of golfing gear.
But come the start of next month, instead of packing for the fairways of Keswick Golf Club, the 70-year-old expects his seven-seater to be chock-a-block with medical supplies.
Peter, of Chestnut Hill, is plotting a one-man mercy mission to a refugee centre in eastern Poland.
Ahead of his nine-day trip, he echoed the feelings of many in Keswick when he said: “I’m just driven by a desire to do something to help.
“It’s the basic fact that many people there have not got anything, even the most simplest things we take for granted like paracetamol or ibuprofen.”
Ahead of him lies a long ferry journey from a north east port, either Newcastle or Hull.
On the continent, it will then take three days of driving through the Netherlands, Germany and then across Poland.
He is heading to where more than a million refugees — mostly women and children — have fled the Russian bombardment since Vladmir Putin ordered a mass invasion of the neighbouring country.
Peter, a retired electrical engineer from Keswick, who featured in the Reminder last week talking about his time working in Ukraine, has regularly driven between Keswick, Italy and Crete, and even has a left-hand drive car.
He said: “I just felt that having been to Ukraine, seen Ukraine and knowing the people, I just really ought to do something. I’m prepared to put up my own money to fill up the car, go across and drop stuff off. It was a desire to just do something rather than send a few bob in.”
Peter is keen to avoid taking donations which end up sitting in a warehouse or a refugee centre.
He is determined to hand-deliver urgent supplies from Keswick directly to those who need them most.
Before he goes, he intends to link up with a West Cumbrian pharmacist to check what will be in demand. Because it is a charitable mission, he has sought advice on how he can overcome the bureaucracy now faced by hauliers exporting goods from the UK to the EU.
Peter said: “As long as I have got a listing of what’s in the van, I can show that to customs and immigration.”
Peter has stressed that he plans to concentrate on high-value small items to maximise the space in his car. That means no clothing, foods or bulky items — but the very basics.
Medical dressings, syringes, milk formula and Calpol, right down to off-the-shelf painkillers.
He said: “I want to be sure I am going to be dropping the stuff off where it will be used. It needs to be stuff that is immediately useful. I will be looking for small-sized high value items — over-the-counter medicines and equipment, and items for babies, but not nappies.”
With details still being arranged and many calls to make, those wanting to support Peter should see the Reminder on Friday.
By that time, he hopes to have a donation point established in Keswick where people could drop specific items off, although he has emphasised the need for small medical items only.
He is also planning to establish a bank account for those who simply want to make a cash donation. Peter hopes to be accompanied on the trip and may even pair up with another vehicle heading to Poland.
