Appeal for goods to fill lorry in annual aid convoy

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A UNION rep is asking for help so he can fill up a lorry of goods to drive to eastern Europe.

Francis Banks, a BT worker and full-time branch secretary with the Communication Workers' Union for Devon and Somerset, is once again taking part in the Communication Workers Union Humanitarian Aid annual convoy.

The charity, which is working with Save The Children, will be taking 10 7.5-tonne lorries to various orphanages, schools and hospitals in Lithuania.

The vehicles, along with fuel cards and insurance, have been provided by the union's two main employers, BT and Royal Mail.

The CWUHA has been organising convoys to eastern Europe since 1995 when it responded to an appeal from local trade unionists living in war-torn Bosnia.

Since then they have not only delivered aid but funded projects in Tanzania where they provided electricity and built extra classrooms at the Kilima Hewa School, allowing children who have to work during the day to obtain an education by enabling them to go to school in the evening, delivered tons of clothing to street children in Mongolia, aid to families affected by the tsunami in India and Pakistan and the delivery of clean water to a school in Africa.

This is the fourth time Mr Banks has been a driver on the convoy. In previous years he has visited Bulgaria twice and Moldova.

This year with his co-driver Brian Rudman, a postal worker from Cheltenham, he will be going to Utena, Lithuania, where his lorry will be delivering aid to a large orphanage, where they are setting up flatlets for their teenagers, where they can learn life skills and a trade before moving on into the outside community.

The convoy, which is made up from vehicles from all over the UK and Ireland, meets up in Newcastle on September 7 to get the ferry to Amsterdam.

It will travel through Holland, Germany and Poland.

He said: "We expect that it will take about six to seven days to get to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where the lorries will split up to deliver the aid to their respective destination.

"We will then meet up again to return back to the UK.

"In the past, Herald Express readers and local businesses have been fantastic in the support that they have given us, and this year I hope it will be no different.

"We have been given a wish list of items that we have been requested to collect.

"We are looking for bicycles, educational games, small music centres, MP3 players, blankets, a large clothes dryer, curtains, bedclothes and towels, skates, helmets for kids and teenagers.

"The items do not have to be new, all we ask is that they are safe and in good working order. We are also looking for jackets/coats for teenagers, jeans and shoes, although for hygiene reasons, we are only allowed to take new items of clothing. If anyone has any of these items or wants to donate something towards the cost of buying those which we cannot source by donation, then would they please contact me."

Mr Banks can be contacted on 01392 490210 or 07802 220638 or at francis.banks@btinernet.com when he will be able to arrange for collection.

For more information about the trip, log on to www. cwuha.org