YORK is gearing up to be ready to welcome Ukrainians fleeing the horrors of the Russian invasion of their country.

Charity York City of Sanctuary is setting up a register of York people willing to offer Ukrainian people a place in their homes. City of York Council, meanwhile, has set up a dedicated web page - york.gov.uk/UkrainianRefugeeSupport - which directs people to ways in which they can offer support.

It says it is ‘working with partners and established networks... to ensure we have the right support in place’ once evacuees do begin to arrive.

The UK government’s slow initial response to the crisis, which saw desperate evacuees, even those with relatives in the UK, struggling to get visas, left many feeling frustrated.

But the 'Homes for Ukraine' scheme announced on Monday, under which 'sponsors' who offer a home to a refugee from Ukraine will receive £350 a month, should now mean evacuees from the war-torn country will soon start arriving. 

York does have a record of offering sanctuary. We took in refugees from Syria, and while so far we have taken in very few from Afghanistan, that will hopefully change.

The time recently when we most obviously lived up to our reputation as a city of sanctuary, however, was probably back in 1999. York took in scores of Albanian Kosovar refugees fleeing ethnic cleansing in Kosovo during the Balkans war.

York Press:

Evening Press editor Liz Page, right, holding the newspaper’s Albanian front page on June 18, 1999

They were put up in two hostels, one in New Earswick and one in Acomb. The Press produced a special edition of the newspaper with the front page printed in Albanian, which was distributed to every room in the two hostels. “Mire se Vini!” (Welcome to York!) said the headline.

During their stay, the children went to local schools, and families got to visit Flamingoland and the Great Yorkshire Show, and watch both York City and the Wasps play. They even enjoyed a special Christmas Party.

Small enough gestures, but they showed that this was a city which cared. Let’s hope we can show the same care to desperate people fleeing Ukraine when they arrive.

York Press:

Kosovar refugees at York City Football Club on July 28, 1999

 

York Press:

Merita, Ardita, Shukrije, Vlora, Shemsie, and Mirsim, refugee children from Kosovo, at Queen Anne School in July 1999