From May-August 2022, Love’s Farm House hosted weekly support sessions for Ukrainian refugees who settled in and around Love’s Farm under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.

The sessions were organised by Lara Davenport-Ray and the Love’s Farm Community Association, following the fantastic response of Love’s Farm residents who opened their homes to people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Our Ukrainian guests gathered every Friday to have lunch together, sampling British food – the fish and chips takeaway went down very well – or clubbing together to make traditional Ukrainian favourites such as borscht.

Lunch was followed by support sessions run by local residents, who volunteered their time and skills to help our Ukrainian friends adjust to British life. These included a weekly English language class, money & benefits advice and CV & careers support. There were also field trips to get to know the local area. The Mayor of St Neots, Ben Pitt, came along to a session to welcome our Ukrainian guests and give them some information about the town.

The weekly sessions at Love’s Farm House have enabled our Ukrainian friends to build a strong and supportive community who are now able to communicate and meet socially without the support of an external organisation. Most of our guests have integrated well into the Love’s Farm and St Neots community, with many now attending work and school during the week. Formal English language tuition routes have also commenced. This means that attendance numbers have declined and it’s time to bring our Friday afternoon sessions at Love’s Farm House to a natural end.

We are very proud of how welcoming and supportive our community has been and we know that this has been a great opportunity for us to develop strong friendships with our Ukrainian guests. Many of them are now attending other regular activities at Love’s Farm House and meeting new friends. Thank you to everyone for making Love’s Farm such a great place to live!