A LORRY load of aid left the Gaeltacht village of Baile Mhic Íre on Saturday, headed to the Ukrainian border with essential supplies from people throughout Cork, and arrived, as expected, at its destination on Tuesday evening.
n the cab of the Christy Lucey Transport truck were two veteran drivers, Páidí Twomey of Cúil Aodha and Tomás Hughes from Baile Mhic Íre.
Alongside the truck was a van pulling a trailer, both full of more supplies. It was being driven by Paul and Kevin Twomey, Páidí’s two sons. Paul was driving a Twomey Precision Engineering van.
The collection has been going on at locations around west Cork and in the Gaeltacht since early last week, and the building which housed the TSB bank in Bandon was used to store the material collected before it was loaded on Thursday.
There was so much material collected – more than 50 pallets, including two pallets of battery packs for mobile phones to enable Ukrainians to remain in touch with their relatives – that a van will accompany the truck on the 3,000km journey.
“’There’s a lot after happening in a few short days since the effort got underway and while we initially thought it would be a challenge to get a pallet or two of stuff, within hours we were getting pallets from everywhere,” said Kevin.
“I spoke with my father, Paudie, who’s a truck driver, and he made a call and, by that evening, we had a truck.”
“We’re really grateful to Christy Lucey Transport because, thanks to them, we can get much-needed material to the people in Ukraine,” Kevin added.
Jimmy Lucey of Christy Lucey Transport outlined the route: “They left on Saturday and headed to the ferry, and they were in Le Havre on Sunday evening.
“From there, they headed to Warsaw and arrived in the Polish capital on Tuesday.”
On Tuesday, the following despatch was posted on the Twomey Precision Engineering Facebook page:
“After a long journey filled with emotions, our fantastic drivers have crossed the Polish border and managed to deliver urgent medical supplies to a donation centre in Warsaw which, in turn, will be heading for the area, around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant in Ukraine.
“The West Cork Convoy are now heading into Sicz at the PL-UKR border to offload the remainder of the load and the full artic truck.”
As well as the battery packs, sleeping bags and ground mats, there are medical products, hygiene products for young and old, and nappies for infants.
“We got a lot of help from the likes of Rónan Twomey Precision Engineering and Cracked, a café in Bandon, while Cork Lord Mayor Colm Kelleher sourced some pallets for us.
“We spoke with County Council Mayor Cllr Gillian Coughlan, and she secured the old Permanent TSB premises in Bandon, which we used as a drop-off point.”
Kevin’s aunt, Noirin Hamilton from Cúil Aodha, also got involved, and she sourced some more pallets of material.
Folláin Foods from Baile Mhúirne sorted out three pallets of material.
“We will be taking great care,” said Kevin.
“It’s important to show the people of Ukraine that the people in Cork want to help, and we’ve got a lot of material for them.”
He added that this probably wouldn’t be the last trip to bring material support to the people of Ukraine.
He suggested that what was most needed was battery packs for phones, and medical and hygiene products.
“We definitely don’t need clothes,” he said. “Some people, with the best will in the world, may empty out their wardrobes but it’s not what’s needed and, in fact, adds to the work we have to do.”
