A LORRY set out from Oxfordshire to Poland carrying three tons of food and medical supplies in December 1981.

The £7,000 'mercy cargo' was from a 24-hour collection which was shipped out to be included in a Red Cross convoy.

It was the Rev Stephen Thomas [pictured], minister of the Baptist Church at Cote, who led the urgent appeal for help in the wake of martial law in the country.

At the time of the appeal the then-US President Reagan denounced Russia as a 'force of tyranny' in Poland and ordered economic sanctions against the military government there.

He said in a televised address that Moscow would be made to pay dearly for its 'crime' if outrages under martial law in Poland continued.