Founded 1980
Chair:        
Secretary: 
Treasurer: 

Graham Smith
Jan Thompson
Graham Mumby-Croft


FROM KYIV to PORT ST MARY

This article first appeared in the Stonyhurst Association Newsletter in July 2022. Brendan and Barbara O’Friel are hosting a Ukraine family in the Isle of Man. This is the story of the challenges and difficulties of our families’ journey from Kyiv to our Flat in Port St Mary – and the part played by members of the Stonyhurst Association.

PART ONE – THE JOURNEY

In 2018 there was a debate about accepting Syrian Refugees onto the Island which resulted in a decision not to take any – although the Island made a large financial contribution towards refugee relief.

In 2022, following substantial changes to the political leadership on the Island, the response to the Ukraine refugee crisis was very different. The Island’ s Government agreed to set up a “Homes for Ukraine”
scheme in March 2022 and invited Manx residents to open their homes to refugees.

For some 15 years, we had owned a “holiday flat” on Port St Mary Promenade used largely for our visiting friends and relatives. It seemed to us that this could be ideal for a refugee family. The flat had a large “attic” bedroom – much loved by grandchildren – so could take a family with several children.

We applied to the Manx Government to have the flat inspected – it was quickly accepted and I was subjected to yet another DBS check.

By mid-April we were wondering how we could find a suitable family. We thought it most unlikely that any one in Ukraine would have heard of the Island and –if they had - it would appear to be a very long way away. Our son Francis (OS) – living in Devon – kindly took charge of searching on Facebook – a task well beyond me!

Meanwhile “our” family living in Kyiv decided in mid-April that they had to leave Ukraine for the future of their 3 small children. The Government of Ukraine allowed the fathers of families with 3 or more children to leave the country. So our family loaded up their car – and a roof box – with a few possessions and headed for the Polish Border. Once across the Border they started looking for hosts. They had a contact in the Isle of Man who posted their details on the Manx/Ukraine Facebook and Francis spotted the post and alerted me to the possibility of us having found our family.

We agreed that we would host the family and started on the visa process. Francis did a magnificent job in getting these completed and in to the Home Office by April 25th. We settled down to wait for a result.

On Island the local Ukraine community – a group I had been totally unaware of - set up a great “networking opportunity” at a coffee morning/lunch event in a Church Hall at St John’s. We learned that there were some 25 well established Ukraine residents on Island and about 30 refugees had arrived – many to join families under the “family” scheme. We met lots of people – including key organiser’s within the Ukrainian Manx community - which proved very important over the following weeks.

The visas finally came through for the children late on 30th May. The parents “permission to travel” appeared a few days before. It was very difficult to find out how long visas might take to materialise – there was a suggestion of 10 days – but 36 days seemed a very very long time. Needless to say we brought what pressure we could to speed up the process.

Our family meantime had moved to Warsaw and found temporary accommodation in an office block,

certainly far from ideal with 3 children under 11. Communicating with them was difficult as they had limited English – but the “google translate” and similar devices helped us all to get messages across.

Getting the family and the car from Warsaw to Port St Mary was a challenge. The lengthy visa delays meant that the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company was in the middle of its annual peak of transporting over 10,000 bikes to the Island for the TT Races. There was no spare capacity for our family.

But first they had at reach the UK. Stena line – Hook of Holland to Harwich - offered free daytime passage for refugee families – and their vehicle. But no bookings could be made until the Visas were available. On Tuesday 31st Stena told us that they had no room after Thursday 2nd – because of peak holiday traffic. So there was a frantic scramble to encourage the family to start driving across Europe to Hook of Holland for the 1400 sailing to Harwich on 2nd June.

Earlier in May, I had decided that we needed to try and seek broader help with the task of getting our family safely to the Isle of Man. We were uncertain as to their financial position – but we knew they were living on their savings and on charitable support from their Polish hosts.

On 5th May the Stonyhurst Association was circulated with a letter explaining the problems. Essentially we wanted support for our family “on their journey”. The response was remarkable, speedy and effective. It enabled us to put in place free accommodation for the family on their journey. Offers of accommodation in homes; provision of a free stay in a Rotterdam Hotel; offers to guide our family in unfamiliar places and offers of financial support all quickly appeared. This was especially helpful as ferry congestion caused by the peak TT Race traffic meant they had to wait for additional nights in North West England.




















When they arrived at the Pierhead, there was an issue about their Roof Box and the head room on Manannan – but the staff were great and solved the problem quickly, removed the box, transported it on the ferry’s luggage wagon and restored it to the car’s roof in Douglas,

At 21.00, I was waiting for their arrival at the Sea terminal in Douglas with Karolina Davison, a Ukrainian who had married on the Island and a great “networker” for the local Ukraine community. Much frantic waving when they finally appeared – the roof box was very useful for identifying their car! Karolina was able to greet them in their native tongue and demonstrate that they were joining an established community. Then we set off – slowly - for Port St Mary and installed the family safely into our Flat about
10.30.

So despite the difficulties and obstacles, our family are safely in Port St Mary. The two shipping companies were helpful. The successful outcome was the result of the combination of the support of the Stonyhurst Association with our family in anticipating and overcoming problems. To see three small children from Kyiv running down Chapel Beach into the Irish Sea at Port St Mary on June 7th – a lovely hot day - was a small indication of how our combined efforts have produced a very worthwhile result. ( PHO TO OF 
 C HILD R EN WIT H B &B ) 

Brendan O’Friel
June 15th 2022

In Part Two - Brendan O’Friel will provide an update on how the family are settling into Island life. Readers may be interested in the link to an ongoing fundraising effort for essentials for our Ukraine family:- https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/adrian-shaw-123?utm_term=dxaN7KDm5


Issue 87 Autumn 2022
The family set off from Warsaw on 31st May with 2 overnight stops and arrived safely for the Stena Line crossing on June 2nd. After a night in Harwich, they travelled up to Lymn in North Cheshire to stay for 3 nights in an apartment. This enabled my daughter Mary to visit them – the first direct contact with our family. We received our first pictures of the family and Mary was able to tell us how they were coping with English speaking. 

Meanwhile on Island, we had appealed for support for our family in our parish newsletter and - by talking about our plans with members of our local community - preparing the way for the arrival of our family. Gifts started to arrive in our porch – a child’s bike and scooter for example. Meanwhile the Manx Ukrainian Group were collecting children clothes and bringing them down to our Flat.

On Monday 6th June the family were booked on to the 18.15 sailing from Liverpool Pierhead to the Island on the Fast craft Manannan. The ferry was very full with hundreds of TT bikers.