WAVUS launch event, update December 2022

Community, Democracy and Local Affairs, Health and Social Care, Homepage, Social Activities

On Thursday 3 November, The Wendover & Villages Ukrainian Support group (WAVUS) held its launch event in St Anne’s Hall, with nearly 100 hosts, Ukrainian guests and supporters. After a glass of wine, we heard a presentation from the Chair, Andrew Burnett, about the formation of WAVUS, the support we hope to offer, our need for volunteers and the launch of the new website wavus.uk. Following a toast (with vodka) to Ukraine and our Ukrainian guests, a committee member, Tania Orlova, then gave us some insights into the history of Ukraine which helped explain the current conflict. Finally Svitlana Syrotian from Buckinghamshire Council spoke about the support available to both guests and hosts (in English and Українські).

The chairs were then cleared away and we were treated to a wonderful spread of Ukrainian canapés whilst everyone had a chance to meet others. Though canapés are not part of the Ukrainian tradition, the team came up trumps and the food ranged from borscht to blinis with everything in between.

Our thanks go to David and Marion Payne and their guests Myla, Iryna, Orla and Kate. Also Jenny and Trish. A big thank you to Tanya, Julia and especially Luda Martyniuk who worked so hard for several days. Ladies the food was magnificent! This event could not have happened without the generous support from Wendover & Stoke Mandeville Parish Councils grants.

The Next WAVUS social event will be a Coffee and Chat gathering on Wednesday 14 December in the Christian Centre, Aylesbury Road from 10.30 to 11.45 am. Ukrainian Guests, Hosts and interested members of the Wendover and villages community are welcome. Please RSVP to info@wavus.uk. More social events will be arranged, so watch the website for further details.

In order that we can provide support, we will be reliant on volunteers to help us. We particularly need help with running our social events, form-filling and other admin, transport, English lessons and mentoring/buddying. We have had many offers of help already, but in order to manage this we are asking all hosts, Ukrainian guests and everyone who would like to support us in any way to register with us. This allows us to hold your contact details legally and get in touch with you as appropriate. It’s easy – just go to the Join Us page on our website wavus.uk/joinus.html.