Here's how you can help a Fylde coast pubs firm fill two trucks of aid for Ukraine

Ross Robinson of Red Fox and Peacock, which runs The Queens Hotel, Lytham, The Eagle at Weeton, The Ship at Freckleton and the Lytham House, Lytham, said the suffering of the Ukrainian people at the hands of invaders Russia had prompted the action.

And he is aiming to rally the Fylde community to help him and his team fill two articulated lorries with 64 pallets of aid to drive to Poland on March 25.

Ross, who spent five years as a youth in Poland, will travel with the trucks from their start location on the Fylde coast to their end destination near the Ukrainian border.

The father of two girls and a new baby boy, said: “It’s become very hard to imagine what the people of Ukraine are going through and the suffering they endure on a daily basis having to flee their homes without a moment’s

notice and live in constant fear. Let’s do what we do best, and rally together as a community to help those in need.”

His team at the pubs will be accepting aid from Monday, March 21 to Thursday, March 24 between 9am and 8pm.

Ross said: “Based on guidance from people on the ground we are very specific about what is needed, when and where to deliver it. There’s stuff going over the border to Ukraine – delivered by a local logistics company and there are other items for those fleeing war making it over the border."

He said they were specifically looking for: hygiene and women’s sanitary products; sterile wipes, bandages and plasters, foil survival blankets, first aid kit; camping equipment such as billy cans, flasks, cutlery, pots and pans; chocolate bars and sweets; protein bars, flapjacks; batteries, portable power packs, charging power banks and USB Leads, torches, sleeping Bags, camp beds and camp chairs.

“All our pubs are selling ribbons made by staff and volunteers for £3 or a donation, adding a discretionary £2 to bills for the next two months and planning fundraisers like charity dinner and quiz nights.

“Our pubs are ideally suited to help. They’re located physically and emotionally at the heart of their communities, have storage in outbuildings and cellars and carparks which are ideal for drop offs. They’re also well versed in managing people and logistics.

"We also intend offering Ukrainians jobs in all of our pubs, should they be looking for work once they’re settled.”