Hucknall church providing safe meet-up point for Ukrainian refugees at its weekly coffee mornings

Hucknall Central Methodist Church, on Baker Street, has been running its weekly coffee mornings each Friday since the sessions resumed after the Covid-19 pandemic.

But now, it wants to make the sessions a focal meeting point for Ukrainian people and wants to spread the word around the town, particularly to anyone affected by the war, that the Hucknall community is now providing a vital meeting point for them each week.

Rev John Wiseman, priest at the church, said: “The coffee mornings are for Ukrainian people coming here or who are here who wish to meet up with others.

"They can come along on Fridays and hopefully there will be other Ukrainian people.

"We have done four so far and so far we haven’t had any refugee families come along yet.

"However, we have had a couple of Ukrainians already here in Hucknall who have come along to help with aspects like translation and help provide support and advice on anything Ukrainian people or families who do come along will need.

"We are promoting the coffee morning on social media and via the Ukrainian Centre in Carrington as they may be aware of people who are out in this neck of the woods.

"What we’re hoping is that people will now be able to spread the word to any Ukrainians they know who have arrived in the area that here in Hucknall we are providing this event each week for them to come along to and get any help or support they may need.

"That’s certainly the hope we all have.”

The coffee morning support is the latest in several activities and actions people of Hucknall have taken to help the people of Ukraine.

These have included a group of town pubs and businesses collecting aid items for Ukrainian refugees in Poland and a team of volunteers from West Hucknall Baptist Church driving to Poland with further aid as part of a project called #Sleep1000.