Ossett firms come together donating mattresses to Ukrainians

Two Ossett-based firms have come together to donate mattresses to Ukrainian refugees in Poland.

Health and safety specialists, OJ Health and Safety, and mattress manufacturer, The Sleep People, teamed up to produce, donate and arrange the transportation of 100 mattresses to Poland.

With millions of people displaced from their homes in Ukraine, TV images quickly showed women and children taking refuge in Poland, where they were welcomed with open arms. It became clear that mattresses were needed to enable people to have somewhere to sleep off the cold floor, and OJ H&S director Martin Blythe reached out to The Sleep People, who they have provided health and safety services to.

Directors Tim Hargreave and Damian Flynn were keen to help and, together with OJ Safety, agreed to supply 100 mattresses to the aid.

Martin Blythe commented: “It became obvious that the logistics of delivering the mattresses directly to Poland was tough and that other aid agencies had already established effective supply lines to the Ukraine refugees.

“We reached out to one of those charities who were at that time operating from the Polish Catholic Centre in Leeds and eventually finalised an agreement to supply the beds to a relief effort working out of Halifax.

“The branch manager at SIXT UK in Leeds, Adam Shone, very kindly donated a vehicle to assist in the transport from the factory to the hub and, we collected the mattresses from The Sleep People and transported them to Magda and the team working out of Uni Express in Halifax. They were then palletised and loaded onto a HGV bound for Poland, together with many other donations of food, clothing and toiletries.

The mattresses are ultimately bound for a reception centre in Klodzki, where 200 Ukrainian women and children war refugees are expected later this week.