Nottingham Forest Football Club has thrown its support behind a Hucknall businessman's bid to help Ukrainian refugees.

Ben Marshall along with a group of close friends including Forest footballer Joe Worrall who is also from Hucknall, launched Sleep1000 last week.

The aim of the campaign is to collect as many thermal sleeping bags and blankets as possible to deliver to Krakow in Poland where refugees are continuing to arrive from Ukraine nearly three weeks since the Russian invasion began.

According to UN figures, 1.7million people have fled from Ukraine into Poland and that number is continuing to rise on a daily basis.

People wishing to donate to the cause have two choices, either drop new or used sleeping bags off at a range of drop-off points in and around Hucknall or donate a monetary contribution by accessing Sleep1000's Just Giving page which can be found here.

Nottingham Forest has now confirmed that the City Ground will act as a drop-off point tomorrow evening (Wednesday 16 March) before the Reds play fellow play-off hopefuls QPR in the Championship at 7:45.

Some members of the Sleep1000 team will be behind the Brian Clough Stand with an empty van near to the usual location of the fan zone. From 6:15pm, right up until kick off, fans will be able to put their donations of sleeping bags and blankets in the van to help the cause.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, Mr Marshall said: "The support from everyone at the club has been fantastic.

"In times like this, what's important is that people use the resources that they have available to them. We have vans, people and time, the club and players have massive reach and influence and when combined, it works really well.

"Certainly, in the case of the lads from Forest that have been involved, I know they've been genuinely moved by the footage they've seen but also by the generosity that people have shown. It's been an incredibly humbling 7 days for them as it has us all."

The team intends to drive the vans to Poland next Monday (21 March), meaning there are only a few days left for people to donate.

For more details about the campaign or a list of alternative drop-off points, please see the Sleep1000 Facebook page by clicking here.