Families from St John’s Church are hosting families from Ukraine who have joined with new friends in Shirley as part of the community, enthusiastically taking part in worship and social activities. They were here to share the Queens Jubilee celebrations and a Parish picnic and now regularly attend the church tea room on Sunday afternoons.
Shown here wearing some national clothes and sampling a St John’s cream tea are: Yurii, Vova, Sophia, Oksana, Maria and another Oksana together with hosts from Shirley: Barbara, Janey and Karen
Additional note from Karen Dovey (wife of Revd Andy Dovey, Senior Chaplain CUH )
“Our guest family come from Odesa, Barbara’s family are from Lviv and the visiting family are from Kyiv. They have all worked hard to get all their documents sorted and several of them have schools sorted out, the youngsters are working in cafes or pizza shops. Their hope has always been to go back to their homeland, but plans to return change weekly as the situation gets more difficult This is one of the best things we’ve ever done as a family “
Bernard Maguire, Verger St. John’s Church