Wax from Braintree bees donated to Ukrainian soldiers

Joyce Wells, pictured extracting honey, said she was "delighted" to be helping the soldiers in Ukraine

A group of beekeepers have donated more than 17.7 stone (113kg) in beeswax for the war effort in Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers have used the wax as candles on the front line.

The Braintree Beekeepers' Association in Essex have donated 350 briquettes of wax and 60 beeswax pillar candles.

"I am delighted that I have been able to help in a small way," said Joyce Wells, from Witham, a committee member at the association, who has been collecting the wax.

"We have Ukrainian refugees living locally who have thoroughly enjoyed being with the beekeepers and we have taken them to our hearts."

Beekeepers across Braintree donated raw blocks of beeswax

Ms Wells, a 68-year-old school nurse, employed a Ukrainian refugee as a cleaner, who was already coordinating small parcels of essentials being sent to her home country.

The wax delivery was sent in January, and since then, more beeswax has been sent to members of the Toloka Volunteer Movement in Chernomorsk on the Black Sea.

Sixty pillar candles were sent to Chernomorsk in Ukraine as part of the first delivery

The candles are shipped onward to front-line soldiers, such as in Kerson and Bakhmut, who typically use them as a source of light and for heating food.

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Bridget Mudd from the Essex Beekeepers' Association, sourced a paraffin wax mannequin from a friend in Gloucester, that was also broken up and sent to Ukraine.

"It all just came about by accident really," said Ms Mudd, also from Witham.

"The callout was put out to beekeepers and wax arrived in all shapes and sizes and in all sorts of conditions."

A Ukrainian refugee in Witham, was sent this image of the soldiers using the Essex beeswax