Bells to ring in support of Ukraine
The sound of bells will ring out from Nelson Cathedral on February 24, marking two years since the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces began.
“Starting at 9am, the bells will ring for 24 minutes,“Tautoko Ukraine Charitable Trust chair Kate Mann said.
The bell ringing was part of several other events planned for the day.
Mann said the trust has sent $50,000 in aid to suffering Ukrainians this year; $100,000 last year.
The trust was in regular contact with Ukrainians living in the hardest hit cities, she said, and any money they raised was sent immediately to the war torn country.
“We paid for a mobile kitchen to deliver food and hot meals.”
However, the driver died after going over a landmine.
“We’ve sent funds to his family,” Mann said.
Few refugees had come to Nelson since the conflict began, and women, who did, in most cases, have returned to their families in Ukraine.
“The Ukrainians are very resilient but the they need to continue to be supported. We need to keep helping them.”
Organising a photographic exhibition with images taken by professional photographers at the front showing hospitals, destroyed buildings, old men, and women caught up in the destruction had been a “heart-breaking project,” Mann said. “It has taken a toll on me.”
“We also had a photographic exhibition of Ukrainian children thanking Nelson. They knew New Zealand and Nelson was helping the,. It was very touching.”
After the bell ringing, as part of the Summer Sing Fest 2024, Mann said at the top of Trafalgar St, the Nelson Civic Choir would sing a Ukrainian song that had become almost a national anthem signifying the Ukrainian people's aspiration for independence. The song has been arranged in English and Ukrainian by music director Jason Balla.
In the evening, at 7pm, a documentary, The War of Chimeras, would be screened in the Suter Theatre followed by a discussion and Q&A.
The entry charge was $20 to support the Tautoko Ukraine Charitable Trust.