I have discarded my cloak of comfort and volunteered to drive for the Oxford based Eden Aid charity (www.edenaid.org) and very soon I expect to be part of a team driving minibuses to the Poland/Ukraine border to deliver vital medical and humanitarian supplies and return with vulnerable refugees and their pets to host families in the UK.

I have set up a JustGiving page to raise funds for this fantastic cause delivering aid and transporting people to new beginnings.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/richard-hancock5

Please have a look and a read (it’s not long!) and if you feel you could donate anything at all I would be thrilled.

Thank you.

I am indebted to Mark Tucker for sharing a link to this picture of Spencer. After much research into this cousin Spencer’s WW1 experience and sad end, after following his footsteps at Passchendale, and having had the privilege of representing him in 2017 by special invitation as a descendant at the Passchendaele 100 Memorial Services at the Menin Gate and Tyne Cot Cemetery, it is at last wonderful to be able to put a face to the story. The picture comes from The Virtual War memorial of Australia.

Spencer’s story can be read on these two pages in this blog: Spencer Parkes and Spencer’s final days.