Hucknall #Sleep1000 appeal backed by Nottingham Forest star Joe Worrall wants sleeping bags and thermal blankets to take to Ukrainian refugees in Poland

The #Sleep1000 mission is being organised by members of West Hucknall Baptist Church and specifically aims to take at least 1,000 sleeping bags and blankets to Krakow in Poland, where many refugees have escaped to.

Several venues, organisations and schools in Hucknall have already joined the cause and, as the Dispatch went to press, more than £7,000 had been raised and 120-plus sleeping bags donated.

Well-known Hucknall man Ben Marshall is one of the organisers of the aid trip.

He said: “We have a Polish family at our church who are originally from Krakow and their home church back there is part co-ordinating the refugee effort.

“The Red Cross has donated loads of clothes and toys but there is nowhere to store them as every room is needed for people to sleep in them.

"So we are now looking to get as many thermal blankets and sleeping bags together to take straight there for people who need them now.

"It’s a very specific aid request this, we don’t want any toys or clothes, what we need are these sleeping bags and blankets.”

The group will be heading out to Poland on Monday, March 21, and already two vans are booked to ferry the aid and Ben hopes they will be able to get more as several local businesses have agreed to sponsor the vans.

Nottingham Forest skipper Worrall, who started his football journey at Hucknall Sports, has also given the project his support.

He features in a video produced to go along with the appeal, explaining the motivation behind the project and featuring footage of the plight faced by those displaced by Russia’s invasion.

Collection points in operation for #Sleep1000 include West Hucknall Baptist Church on Ruffs Drive from 6pm to 9pm on weekdays until March 18; The Griffin’s Head pub in Papplewick on afternoons and evenings; The Horse & Groom in Linby on afternoons and evenings; Nottingham Printing on Papplewick Lane in Hucknall during office hours; and the John Godber Centre on Ogle Street from 9am to 7pm Monday to Friday and Saturdays from 8am the 12midday.

Ben continued: “We’ve had confirmation that National Academy in Hucknall will be a drop-off point too and they’re also going to do a push to support this, as is Linby-cum-Papplewick School.

"If you’re part of a club or organisation, you can help by arranging to support us too.”

For details of other items needed by refugees or to get involved in the project, visit the initiative’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/sleep1000project/.

To donate to the cause through the group’s Crowdfunding page, click here.