Ukrainians are united by music
Hurst: Charity hosts Eurovision ‘watch-along party’
A Hurst-based charity that helps families in need hosted a Eurovision Song Contest ‘watch-along party’ for 250 Ukrainians on Saturday night.
With support from the National Lottery Community Fund, crisis response charity, The Cowshed, was able to bring to life the competition’s theme: ‘United by music’ with an evening of food, song, fun and celebration.
At the charity’s Hurst headquarters on Friday, 20 volunteers gathered to lend a hand, adding last-minute, handcrafted touches in a bid to bring some joy to families who have been through such hardship.
Children’s party packs were assembled (full of chocolates, toys, watches, colouring pens and a Ukrainian story book) and official, branded wristbands and programmes were put together as well.
Over a kilometre of blue and yellow bunting was sewn and vases of sunflowers and trollies of pick and mix sweets were all added to give a special welcome to the guests viewing the competition’s grand final together at Reading FC’s conference centre.
Helping the charity to put on the event was mum-of two Yuliia, who is now
working for The Cowshed as a referrals supervisor.
After fleeing war-torn Ukraine with just a suitcase, Yuliia once called upon the charity’s help and understands how families feel.
She said: “It was a really tough time. We didn’t have time to prepare anything and we didn’t know what was waiting for us in the future.
“It felt like our world had crashed in the blink of an eye. But we didn’t have much chance to think about it. I was thinking about my children and their safety. That was really important.”
Like many of the 1,000 Ukrainians who have received support and donations of clothing, toiletries and other essential items from The Cowshed, Yuliia and her children feel at home here in the UK.
“Initially it was difficult for all of us to get used to a new lifestyle, especially for me, being 40, to start my life from scratch, but in that time you don’t analyse – you just follow the situation.
“The Cowshed supported us and helped us with all the necessary items including clothing, bedding and toiletries. We felt such huge support from them. We felt that we are not alone.”
Getting the Eurovision watch-party in full swing was Rebecca Mole, head of fundraising at The Cowshed, who said that although the war is still going on, a party was a way of showing solidarity.
She said: “We do a lot of events in the community, including events for refugees, and we thought it would be really lovely to do something specifically for the Ukrainians and Eurovision is a perfect opportunity to put together a party.
“We are very, very fortunate to have had lottery funding and we’ve put a lot of love and a lot of effort into making sure it’s extra special for them.
“We know that most Ukrainians would absolutely love to be celebrating the Eurovision back in their own country, for obvious reasons they can’t do that, but we want to try to give them an event to show that as a country we’re still here, still supporting them and we’re still behind them.”
National Lottery players raise more than £30 million every week for good causes throughout the UK. For more information, visit lotterygoodcauses.org.uk