Penryn man Charlie Hammerton to support Ukraine war children in Poland

Charlie Hammerton currently runs mental health wellbeing sessions for children here in Cornwall, as well as bushcraft parties for birthdays and schools, through Adventure Bandits.

He now hopes to use his skills to support children crossing the border from Ukraine into Poland, seeking refuge.

Charlie told the Packet: "I'll be delivering some aid and taking my stuff with me and setting it up on the border, then doing that for as long as I can.

"I'm trying to do it all through donations from Falmouth.

"I'm not going to be sitting down and doing therapy – I don't even speak Ukranian. It's respite; a friendly face to do kid activities together, before they head off, while their parents are collecting themselves and supplies they need.

"It will be marshmallows and hot chocolate, colouring books – safe things they can be welcomed with, something familiar, which is the language of compassion.

"Even for those children that haven't seen war, to be picked up and driven across the border in the middle of the night, it must be confusing."

One of Charlie's bushcraft parties for children locally Picture: Adventures with Charles Hammerton

Charlie, 27, will work until 3pm tomorrow (Sunday), then get in his vehicle and drive. He hopes to get the ferry at 11pm tomorrow.

He will picking up aid specifically relating to children and their mothers from the various collection points locally.

He also plans to set up an online fundraising page, for anyone wishing to support him on his mission.

"Donations are welcome; it's not going to be cheap driving out there. I've got the money to do it, but if people want to seer where their money goes I will be showing what's happening and what the conditions are like from the ground," he added.

The Packet will add the link to the donation page when it is set up.

You can follow his work in Poland through updates in the Packet, and via his Facebook page, Adventures with Charles Hammerton.

Charlie, who used to live on a boat in Ponsharden and now lives in Penryn's College Woods, last featured in the Packet back in 2019, when he wrote a book about the struggles with depression that led him to travel the world with his pet ferret, Bandit.

After his mum passed away in 2017 from motor neurone disease (MND), then 25-year-old Charlie decided to ditch his nine-to-five job and take up a life of adventure and charity. Together with Bandit they hiked the length of Hadrian’s wall raising money for MND research, walked the battlefields of World War Two for PTSD charity Combat Stress and drove from the Norwegian Arctic to Sicily in a camper van for Save Our Soldier.

READ MORE: Falmouth youth worker Charles Hammerton publishes self-help book