Chris Thomas, the well known brass band writer and presenter will soon be taking to the road for a very different type of musical trip.

As Chairperson of Leamington Music which hosts a critically acclaimed annual festival in the spa town, he will be supporting the work of Belveder CIC, a charitable organisation which purchases decommissioned UK ambulances and drives them to the border in Poland, where they are collected by the Ukrainian military.

Chris will be joined by Leamington Music's Artistic Director, Helen Beecroft, with the duo linking up with a small convoy to drive the ambulance across to Poland over 3 days before it will be picked up to be taken to the front line.

Incredible work

Chris told 4BR: "Leamington Music not only brings world-renowned classical musicians to perform in Leamington and Warwick, but we also fund educational outreach to primary schools and raise money for organisations that do incredible work for others such as Belvedere CIC.

We've been working hard to raise over £7,000 to be able to purchase an ambulance — and now we have to get it out to Poland, so if anyone can help please we would be so grateful. We hope to make the journey at the end of October before the winter weather sets in fully."

Saving lives

He added: "So far nearly 70 ambulances have been purchased and driven over in this way, stocked with medical supplies including dressings and also, particularly at Easter and Christmas, with presents for children in war affected areas of the country.

Since 2022, between 10,000 and 20,000 lives of soldiers fighting to defend Ukraine have been saved by these ambulances and the supplies that they have been stocked with."

We've been working hard to raise over £7,000 to be able to purchase an ambulance — and now we have to get it out to Poland, so if anyone can help please we would be so gratefulChris Thomas

Concert

In September, Leamington Music will be staging a concert by the world renowned Coull String Quartet at All Saints Parish Church, Leamington to raise money to donate to the Belveder charity.

Chris added: "All proceeds from ticket sales, programmes, refreshments etc will be donated wholly to Belveder with the aim of purchasing fully or at least contributing heavily to the purchase of another ambulance.

To support

Go to: https://www.leamingtonmusic.org/ and click on Ambulance Appeal button