Ukrainians Come Together For Christmas Party

Ukrainian families enjoyed a special Christmas party together last week at Trinity Hall on Harpsden Road organised by MotherSisterDaughter.

Henley Youth Choir sang carols including two Ukrainian ones that brought the house down with many guests in tears, sharing hugs and sighs of pure joy.

Father Christmas (David Eggleton) arrived to give all of the children their presents as well as their parents. Gemma Birch, founder of MotherSisterDaugther said, “Due to the incredible donations we received we were able to give each child a lovely set of age appropriate gifts, all beautifully wrapped by one of our fabulous volunteers (Kay) and all of our ladies received new pyjamas and slippers as well as some extra little bits in their goody bags.”

The hall was dressed beautifully by a team of wonderful volunteers (Gaynor, Vicki and Iona) and the guests enjoyed a lovely festive dinner of pizza(!) and some wonderful ‘Cook’ desserts were feasted on. Gemma added, “It was important that they all sat together and shared a meal together. The children were treated to traditional parties games of pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey and flap the kipper (the latter being hilarious if you’ve never played it before), all made and created by the wonderful Diana Barnett who has organised and set up all of the English courses that our Ukrainian friends have been assessed and registered on; learning English is fundamental in them being able to get jobs and moved forward to what she has achieved has brill been incredible. The evening was truly wonderful and the atmosphere just fabulous. Sadly not all of our friends could be there but it was lovely to see so many familiar faces and friends and to see some of our amazing hosts as well.”