The week before the Burnley game Anthony Biddulph was on a business trip in Finland looking forward to getting back to spend Saturday with his two daughters in the family section at Brentford. He got an unexpected call from his brother Richard who told him: ‘I’ve organised a consignment of aid which I am going to drive to Ukraine on Wednesday, I could do with a co-driver, what about it ?’. Anthony agreed: “it was as spontaneous as that”.
He is a very active 55 year old. A former police officer turned commercial property businessman, he’s also a magistrate, a qualified assistant referee who still runs the lines at amateur games and an FA appointed chairman of disciplinary appeals. He’d just agreed to what would turn out to be an exhausting, exhilarating and often emotional roller-coaster of a trip.
Waiting at Heathrow was his brother with a motorhome towing a large trailer filled with three tons of food, tons of nappies, medicines. They set course for a non-stop drive to the Polish-Ukrainian border, taking turns to sleep in the motorhome.
Anthony Biddulph with his brother’s motorhome and trailer
“At the Polish-Ukraine border we were directed to an industrial estate where charities were using warehouses to sort and distribute supplies. It was busy, international volunteers from Poland and Ireland and elsewhere all putting their hands to the wheel to unload and reload. Some of the aid went into Ukraine, the rest went to refugees arriving at the border.”
Recalling the trip this was one of several moments in our conversation where Anthony had to pause to gather his thoughts amidst the emotional memories. “There was a stream of humanity crossing from Ukraine into Poland on foot, often in temperatures of minus ten at night. We were told of the bodies which were found in the morning of those who never made it through the night.”
The scene at the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Anthony and Richard thought their job was done but another extraordinary episode was about to begin. “We were going to drive back to Britain and we had four spare seats in the back, the least we could do was take four refugees and drop them off somewhere en route. We were sent to a shopping centre where a reception centre for refugees had been set up. Drivers could register and be allocated refugees. All the vacant units had been turned into ‘holding pens’ for refugees going to meet up with relatives in different countries. Refugees wanting to go to Germany would be directed to, say, Unit 10 and to Scandinavia to, say, Unit 2.
A sign in a shopping centre shows refugees and drivers how to link up
“I tear up now thinking back about it, it was unlike anything I have ever experienced. We thought as we were going home through Germany let’s go and say ‘we’ve got 4 seats available’. 4 people said they wanted to go to Berlin so we said ‘come with us’. But other refugees started saying ‘take us, take us’. We explained that we only had 4 seats, ‘take a look there is just no room’. Then a bunch of kids scrambled in, followed by mothers and grandmothers. Soon kids were fast asleep under a duvet, others climbed into a double bed above the cab, I turned to my brother and said ‘let’s just go’ so we did. It turned out we had 12 people on board.
“At the first service station there was a Burger King so I went in and ordered ’14 Whopper meals please’. As the refugees started eating you could just hear happiness, that lightened the mood. Using Google Translate it became clear the 12 refugees had 3 different end destinations after Berlin. We thought we can’t just throw them out into the night at Berlin railway station. We will take them to where they want to go, family members were waiting, and we’ll give each group 500 Euros to get them through the first few days.’
Richard Biddulph (left) with a refugee family heading for Paderborn meeting a relative (right) at a petrol station near the Polish-German border.
“The first family were heading for Paderborn – we dropped off five people at a petrol station late at night where a relative was waiting. It was a very emotional moment. I spent the night, happy, then in tears, happy, then in tears.
“Second stop was just outside Potsdam at about 1a.m in a supermarket car market where a car was waiting for a mother, a child and one other relative.
Richard (left) with a family from Kharkiv being reunited with family in Magdeburg just before 5am on Saturday morning.
“Third stop was Magdeburg for a grandmother, a mother, the mother’s sister and 3 children. Just the sweetest, most gentle, lovely six people .They were from Kharkiv, devastated by the Russians. They had left behind a 19 year old son because all the men have to stay. It was very clear they had said their goodbyes to him and while they hoped to meet again they knew there was a chance they never would.”
All the time Anthony was keeping an eye on the clock and the satnav journey calculator. “I had calculated that after this drop off we could get to the Brentford Community stadium at 2pm before the Burnley game. But it turned out the grandmother in this group was nothing to do with the others and she really wanted to go to Hamburg. So we drove her to Hamburg and dropped her off. She gave me and my brother a big hug,”
Richard and a grandmother reunited with her son at 8am in Hamburg
It was now 0800. “It meant we would miss the game but so be it. My wife deputised for me taking the girls.” Anthony was able to follow the match on BBC Five Live as he and his brother drove to the terminal to enter Eurotunnel. “While I was doing the paperwork Ivan Toney scored the first goal. I just jumped into the air.” He finally got home outside Salisbury just in time to watch the goals on Match of the Day.
Anthony, who grew up in Chiswick, has been a Brentford supporter since watching the Bees play Cambridge in September 1974. “We won 1-0”.
He’s a regular contributor to the Griffin Park Grapevine message board and when he saw a thread ‘War in Ukraine’ during his journey he decided to offer updates on his progress. “The reaction was astonishing”.
GPG messages back to Anthony included: ‘incredible effort- you have my utmost respect’, ‘you are the very best of British.Beers waiting’, ‘absolutely outstanding effort’, ‘if I could shake your hand, I would be honoured’ and ‘this is probably the most amazing story I ever read’.