The University of Worcester has donated 300 sets of bed linens to hospitals in war-affected regions of Ukraine.

The duvet covers, pillowcases, and bed sheets, weighing more than half a tonne, were taken by van to the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions in recent weeks, as well as to a children’s hospital in Kyiv.

The university accommodation is used to host many different groups when the campus is vacated by students out of term time, including summer schools and sports groups.

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The linen that is used for these guests is laundered and inspected between each use, and eventually needs replacing.

Caroline Hornigold, cleaning services manager at the university, said: "The linen had been very well used by us for our guests and needed replacing; but we all felt that it all had a couple of uses left in it, and that someone could have made some use of it.

"We hated the idea of throwing it away."

Tetiana Andriienko, a member of the cleaning services team at the university, has lived in the UK for three years and organised the donation.

She said: "When I saw we had the linen which we couldn’t use anymore, I knew we could find someone in Ukraine who could find a use for it."

"I spoke to some contacts I have at the newly formed Ukrainian Community in Worcestershire group, who said they could help get it out to hospitals."

"My husband and I started moving all the linen to our house, where we counted it, and put it all into bags, and then I found someone through the local network who could transport it."

She added: "Because we donated through a small group, I got to hear about where it went.

"The team who received it called me to say how much they appreciated the gesture, and that was very emotional."

For information on courses at the University of Worcester, visit www.worcester.ac.uk or for application enquiries, call 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk.