Trip was in doubt after a fractured skull on the lathe

He was making the figures he sold to help raise funds for the trip, when a lump of wood flew off his lathe at 40mph and smashed into his forehead, fracturing his skull and causing his sinus cavity to cave in.

‘It happened about three weeks before I was due to leave,’ said Mr Laine.

‘A big chunk exploded off and hit me on the head. It was lucky it hit a thick bit, or I might have had brain damage.’

Mr Laine had nine stitches in the wound after being driven to the Emergency Department by his son.

‘This was actually my second fractured skull as I was run over by a car as a child. It was touch-and-go whether I’d make it to Ukraine, as right up to the day before I left I was still having vertigo.’

Mr Laine started making items to raise money for charity in his workshop at Christmas 16 years ago after his sister-in-law died from cancer.

‘For the last five or six years its been mostly snowmen, although I also make the odd bit of furniture out of old bits of aircraft. Every spare minute in November and December I’m out here, and every year I think I won’t do it again, but I always start.’

The snowmen are made out of scrap pieces of wood and sold at various fairs, and through RH Gaudion and Acorn Interiors.

‘I’ve never added up what I’ve raised over the years, but I made about £1,500 for Ukraine this year from about 120 snowmen and some furniture. I normally make about 180 but the accident stopped me for a bit.’

Mr Laine hopes to return to Ukraine in February with another consignment of aid if he can raise enough money.

‘We are talking now to contacts in Ukraine about what they need. We learned a lot from our first trip in terms of the logistics and getting across the border and that will hopefully make it easier this time around.’

Mr Laine said he was not 100% sure if he would make the snowmen this year, but said he had bought a new safety helmet just in case.

n Marc Laine’s latest Ukraine appeal on JustGiving is at bit.ly/3G6kmlh