A 143-year-old school which has recently closed has donated clothes to be sent to children in Ukraine. 

New Forest for Ukraine has accepted the donation of 6 pallets worth of school clothes from Belmont School which has recently announced its closure. 

The clothes were dropped off by several people involved with the Belmont with three loads of donations given by the school. 

The clothes will be shipped out on January 16 to Chervongrad, Ukraine and will be distributed within the country to children in need.

A spokesperson for NFFU, Paulina Cruszka, said: "Clothing is so important to children who have lost everything. It's -20 degrees in Ukraine right now so if it's snowing and they get wet, they don't have the facilities to dry their clothes or buy new."

Belmont School in Surrey has had to close after a fall in full-fee-paying pupils and increased operating costs. 

It has around 200 places for a mixture of day pupils and boarders and was founded in 1880 in  London before moving to its current site in 1957. 

The shipment will contain 52 pallets of items including cots and toys for orphans. 

NFFU recently shipped out other items to Ukraine at the beginning of the new year and is currently being distributed to civilians stuck in the war-stricken country.

Paulina said: "There were lots of hold-ups as lots of people were celebrating Christmas at the beginning of January so those who distributed from Nova Poshta, a shipping company in Ukraine, were on holiday.

"We've got a great logistic company that helps us called Logiscom who helps us ship the clothes for a reduced price. They take it to a depot on the Polish-Ukranian border to get into the country."

NFFU has sent items to Ukraine since the start of the Ukraine War in February 2022.

The charity stated shipping clothes in cars but has now grown to monthly scheduled articulated trucks which carry up to 10 tonnes of humanitarian aid.  

She added: "NFFU has changed and expanded hugely since the first week of war. When I started there were two of us but now have over 100 volunteers."