Ukrainian children have a ball at Ashton ten-pin bowling

Tameside Rotary took some lovely Ukrainian children ten-pin bowling, with money allocated from rotary district, and they had a ball.

Tameside Rotary were awarded district money with the sole use for Ukrainian refugees only. With the help of the Ashton Ukrainian Association on Stockport Road, a group of parents and carers were contacted to ask if their children would like an afternoon of fun and a distraction from the constant worry of some of their families members being at war by having an afternoon at Hollywood Bowl, Ashton Moss.

President Steve Knowles thanked Amy, Becks and Yasser, who lived in Ukraine himself for 10 years, for their help and kindness donating juice, balloons, sweets and a bowling pin keyring for each of the children. Georgina at Starbucks was also thanked for making the adult gifts so well presented.

Organiser Past President Angela Robbins would like to thank Past District Governor Mike Wilson BEM for allocating the funds to the Ukrainian guests. She said some of the Ukrainian parents had not met before so it was great for them to get together and swap stories and experiences. Tameside Rotary said the thanks they received was "so heartfelt", it was "absolutely [their] pleasure." 

A thanks was also extended to Petro Rewko MBE at AUGB - Ashton for help with emails and communication and Oksana Wenger for some translation.

Tameside Rotary is now working on raising funds to purchase an MoM baby incubator to send to Ukraine that works off a car battery and therefore ideal for war zones where power cuts are frequent occurrences and they can even be used in bomb shelters.

The premature birth rate is much higher in countries such as Ukraine. If you can help by donating money, please watch this space for further details to be published shortly.