Summer holidays at Holy Trinity Cuckfield

The summer holidays are nearly here and, as usual, we are busy planning events for children and their families during this time. For the whole of the holidays there will be a trail around the churchyard, exploring different memorials. You will be particularly looking for different symbols that are the clues to a hidden message.

The beginning of the holidays will see the return of the Theatre Club. Meeting on the mornings of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 24th – 26th July and Thursday afternoon, 27th July, we will create and perform our very own musical production ‘In My Shoes’.

On Sunday 6th August there will be a Family Praise at 11.15am to which all our families are invited.

Later in August, on Saturday 22nd, we will be holding another family sports day at Holy Trinity School, which promises to be another fun filled afternoon. There is more information on the posters. Do come and join the fun.

Holy Trinity Primary fundraise for Ukraine Appeal

Parents, pupils and staff from Holy Trinity CE (A) Primary in Cuckfield have united to raise money for humanitarian causes in Ukraine. Over fifteen hundred pounds has been collected through a variety of fundraising activities and a parent has personally delivered aid to the Ukraine border.

On Wednesday 27th April, staff and children donned blue and yellow – the colours of the Ukraine flag – in return for a donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukrainian Appeal. Generous parents and carers donated over £800. Holy Trinity’s headteacher, Ann MacGregor, said of the fundraising: “As a school, all of our hearts have been touched by the suffering inflicted on the Ukrainian people, particularly the children. This cause felt particularly ‘close to home’ as the maternal grandparents of one of our pupils are still resident in Ukraine, although, thankfully, have remained unharmed up to now.”

Parent, Hannah Pring, took a ‘hands on’ approach as the news of the devastating impact of the conflict reached the UK. Her daughter, Annabelle, is in Year 5. At the end of March, Mrs Pring drove with five colleagues through Poland to the Ukrainian border to deliver humanitarian aid. The trip was completely unconnected to Mrs Pring’s work as an insurance broker, but the colleagues felt they ‘needed to do something’ and one had a friend who was already giving help at the border. Between them, the team worked out which items they thought would be most in need and what would really make a difference. Mrs Pring said: “We collected boxes and boxes of donations outside our house in Cuckfield and I am so grateful to everyone who brought donations to our doorstep. These donations were combined with donations from my work colleagues, and we filled two vans with nappies, baby milk, toiletries, sanitary towels, sleeping bags and other much needed items. It was a 2350 mile round trip and we spent nearly three days solidly driving there and back.“

Hannah’s children, Annabelle and River, accompanied their dad, Andy, to Balcombe station to see their mum off. Asked if she had any misgivings about the trip, Mrs Pring commented: “I did not feel worried about what would happen on the trip, I just felt motivated to keep going by focussing on the desperate need and knowing that I was playing my part, although I did miss my family very much!
“The day after we returned, we received a WhatsApp [message] to say that, already, the donations were being distributed and that people who, the night before had nothing to cover them as they slept in the refugee welcome centre, had been able to sleep a bit more comfortably and cosily. That made it all worth it.
“What struck me the most was that after entering France, we drive along one road, that motorway took us through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, and continued into Ukraine. At no point along this road were there any hard borders to cross. The Ukrainians are truly our neighbours.”

Mrs Pring has been inspired to continue her amazing humanitarian efforts. She said: “We have now heard that what is needed more than anything, by the contacts we have there, is decommissioned ambulances and medicines, so our next plan is to fundraise to purchase a few of these and drive them over to the border to be collected by aid workers operating inside the Ukrainian border.”

Nadia fundraises for Ukraine in Cuckfield

Ukraine has been an independent state since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. At the time of writing, and according to data collated by the United Nations, there have already been almost 3,000 civilian casualties, more than eleven million refugees fleeing the hostilities, and over £400m given in UK aid alone. As the fighting continues, more and more doors are opening up across Britain from individuals and families welcoming those trying to escape the conflict. Dozens of charities throughout the UK have raised huge sums of money in support of the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Social media is awash with fundraising pages illustrating ways in which we can do our bit to help. Local businesses and everyday people are all also getting involved, from sporting events and quiz nights, to auctions, charity concerts and lottery raffles. And some are baking cakes. Nadia Clay is a former Ukrainian national and at the end of March she held a bake sale in the centre of Cuckfield. She, her Slovakian friend, Zoya Karcova, and her eldest son Max helped to raise over £1,000 for the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. Apart from Zoya and her baking a lot of cakes, many were also kindly donated by local people as well as parents of pupils attending Holy Trinity school. “I have so many people to thank and don’t quite know where to start. The list is long and rather than thank people individually I’d just like to say, ‘thank you so much to everyone who got involved and to all those who turned out on the day; you know who you are’.”

Nadia has lived in the UK for over eight years now. Max went to Warden Park, her youngest son, Alex, still attends Holy Trinity School and was baptised in the local church. Also, she was married in Cuckfield, so she knows the village and the people that live here very well. But Ukraine will always be close to her heart. “There are so many people, especially in Eastern Ukraine, who have fled their homes who now face the challenge of completely rebuilding their lives and starting all over again.”

Nadia grew up in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, 600km west of the capital, Kyiv. “I am from the Oblast Mountain region not too far from the Polish border. It is very green with many unique villages nearby. It is also very close to Bukovel, the largest ski resort in the whole of Ukraine. It is very beautiful there.” Both of Nadia’s parents still live in the Ivano-Frankivsk, and neither one of them wants to leave, even if the fighting spreads. “My father and mother are both elderly now. My dad doesn’t want to leave the home that he’s lived in all of his life. My Mum feels the same way. Every day I worry about them, about not being able to see them again, or my friends. We were supposed to be visiting them later this month but that’s not going to happen now.” The sense of helplessness Nadia feels, not only for her family, but also for the Ukrainian people as a whole is clear.

Even from our quiet corner of Mid Sussex, we must all hope for peace. Plus, of course, there are many ways to support the people of Ukraine, both practically and financially.