A Dartmouth grandmother and Rotarian has left the confort of the South Hams and gone on a humanitarian mission to deliver aid to war torn Ukraine.

Mary Burden’s 3,000 miles journey across six countries took almost a week.

She drove a pick-up truck taking goods to Lviv which is the largest city in Western Ukraine.

The trip was organised by the charity Pickups for Peace (PFP).

It was an endurance as she drove for long hours and suffered from sleep deprivation, this coupled with the dangers of the war itself. The conditions on the road were hazardous and included blizzards.

They took a wrong turn at one point and ended up at a road blockade manned by soldiers.

Mary only told her husband of her plan to drive into a war zone a month in advance.

Members of Rotary clubs from Bishops Waltham and Wrington also took part and the Rotary supplied two vehicles as well as coats, blankets, boots and generators.

Mary said: ‘’We drove for 20 hours on day one and met up with other British drivers in Poland before our trip across the border and into Ukraine the next morning.

The idea was to hand over the contents of the pickups to local Rotarians then leave the vehicles themselves in Lviv where they would be used to transport aid to eastern Ukraine.

Mary added: ‘’Lviv is beautiful and it was so sad to see all the boarded up stained glass windows and covered statues in an attempt to protect the heritage.

‘’On our way to meet with Natalya the next morning we were asked to wait in the road. There was a soldier’s funeral starting in a church ahead of us and out of respect people were expected to give the mourners some space.

Mary contined to be reminded of the reality of war:

“We were taken to a new Military Cemetery which was the most emotional part of the trip.It felt disrespectful to take photos and I spoke to our guide before taking any. His reply was “please take as many as you can and when you get home show them to as many people as you can, we need the outside world to know what is happening here”.

Mary, who is President elect of Dartmouth Rotary, is happy to give talks about her trip and can be contacted on 07880 705324.