A building company which received thousands of pounds worth of donations for Ukraine in less than 48 hours has set off to hand deliver them in Poland.

Dartford Valley Rugby Club paired with Callisto Construction to work as drop-off points and appealed for sleeping bags, blankets/duvets, ladies' sanitary products, children's clothing, medicine, first aid supplies, warm shoes and clothing.

Workers tell of their reaction to the appeal

The firm's office in Horton Kirby was taken over with bags of items and they are now looking for alternative storage units in hopes they will be able to make a second delivery trip in a few weeks.

The sports club was also overwhelmed by the support with their bike hubs and two changing rooms being filled within hours.

Director of Callisto Bramwell Martin said: "The response has been amazing, overwhelming. We could not take another thing if we tried and I will just say keep keep the response up.

"People want to give and feel they are giving directly to the people of Ukraine and this is exactly what we are doing. We are giving directly to Ukraine and to the people that are being displaced.

"When giving money to charities, we in this country, often get quite concerned that the money does not go to the people and maybe that is wrong and maybe that is right."

They will be driving six vans to the border and working with groups already out there to make sure they go where they are needed.

The 55-year-old from South Darenth added: "We have a number of Lithuanian and Ukrainian people that work for us with major links to the country and as such when we were approached by one of our employees if we could support we offered what we could.

"We offered vehicles and people to drive and now we are going to convoy to the Ukrainian border into Poland and we have linked up with an NGO out there.

"We are going to try and provide what we can. We are in the business of building people's dreams with their dream homes and things and with the Russian war machine trying to destroy people's dreams.

"It is quite an irony that, what we do and what they are doing. It is a horrible thing to see."

Due to the amount received, the company had to take four vans to the British Red Cross to help as they did not have enough space for them all.

Vilius Domarkas – who is originally from Lithuania and will be one of the drivers – approached Callisto to see if it could help in his appeal.

The 33-year-old said: "Back in 1991, Ukraine helped and supported us and I thought this is the day to pay it back. This is the way to help them.

"I thought I would be single man with a single van and maybe half of the loads and that was my dream really. I had never even imagined this.

"My wife and I set up an Amazon wishlist and every other minute I was getting a notification.

"I saw eastern European names, Asian names and English, I have seen all sorts of names in there and that just means the entire world is coming together to help.

"I cannot really explain how I feel because I do not even know how I feel. One minute I am happy, one minute I am emotional and the third I am stressed about how will I manage it."

Vilius headed out on the roughly 14-hour journey yesterday afternoon in the hopes to reach the border this morning.

He will be updating his Instagram and TikTok with his journey @Fatmen3.3 and Callisto will also be following their crew and posting @callistoconstruction on Facebook and Instagram.

A clothing appeal by Atik Dartford also saw huge amounts of support.

The nightclub in Essex Road was collecting donations yesterday to support the British Red Cross and in just four hours had been sent more than 1,200 bags.

General manager Jordan Craine said: "We have been blown away by the response to our Ukraine refugee appeal and the overwhelming generosity of local people.

"Our sister venues in 16 towns across the UK have also been inundated with donations, with more than 5,000 bags of clothes and essential goods collected in total.

"We are now working directly with the British Red Cross partners in Poland and thanks to the kindness of Real Estate Removals in Tamworth, we will be driving these items directly to where they are needed."

The club also donated unclaimed lost property items, including coats and jackets, to the collection.