The Times - UK (2022-03-15)

the times | Tuesday March 15 2022 11

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Some are offering bedrooms. Others

intend to rent entire houses.

As the government opened a formal

sponsorship scheme yesterday, Britons

found a variety of ways to offer safe

haven for Ukrainian refugees.

Groups have sprung up to help con-

nect would-be hosts with those in need

of accommodation and sponsors.

More than 35,000 people registered

for the government’s scheme on the

first evening it opened, while charities

have collected thousands of names

from individuals, churches, whole

neighbourhoods and businesses keen

to help.

Williams Jet Tenders

A company working on

luxury yachts is planning

to rent a home for

Ukrainian refugees and

offer people work, as

thousands of Britons

offer to host people in

their homes.

Mathew Hornby and

his brother, John, who run

Williams Jet Tenders

which supplies smaller jets

and ribs for yacht owners, said as

a business they want to help “in any way

possible”.

They signed up through the Sanctu-

ary Foundation, a project by the charity

leader Krish Kandiah, above, which has

collected more than 17,000 names for

potential visa sponsors, supporters and

hosts for refugees.

“We realised, like many people, when

we saw the distressing TV images of

what is happening on our doorstep, that

we had to do something,” Hornby said.

The firm and its owners hope to offer

both housing and work to Ukrainian

refugees, he said, adding they were pre-

pared to give “really anything” to help.

“We are preparing to rent a house as

a business, which can then be used for

refugees,” he said.

The Hornbys do not have any named

Ukrainian friends so are hoping to be

matched with people in need, either

privately or via government or charity

organisations. The Sanctuary Founda-

tion is seeking to set up a matching pro-

gramme working with charities across

Europe.

After the business made their offer

public, a local hospital got in touch and

said it had been contacted by medical

facilities in Poland which were taking in

refugees requiring dialysis and needing

help. They are now trying to find out

whether they can work with the hospi-

tals to support people in need.

He encouraged other people to sign

up as hosts or help in any way they were

able to. “I would just say, put yourself

and your family in the position of being

driven out of your community and your

home, and your lives and your country

being at direct risk,” he said.

Kerry Corley

Kerry Corley, 28, and her partner Do-

minic, 30, are offering their spare room

in a house they recently bought in St Al-

News

of Ukrainians housed in Britain

Open hearts and

doors for war

refugees in need

Emma Yeomans, Matt Dathan bans, Hertfordshire. Dominic currently

uses the room as a home office so will

move downstairs to free it up.

“We feel lucky that we have been able

to buy a house and at the moment we

have more space than we need so we’re

in a position to help,” Kerry said.

Dominic said: “We’ll find space

somewhere else in the house. I’ll work

in the shower if I have to.”

However, the couple do not know

any Ukrainians. The closest link is a

colleague of Kerry’s brother, who will

help try to find people who need a

home, but they hope the government,

local council or charity will help match

them with somebody.

They have offered to take in an adult

or a couple for between six to nine

months but are hoping for more

information on what hap-

pens after that period.

Dominic said: “It

might be an awkward

situation in six months

— we want to know

what the government

or local authority will

do after that to help

them move on.”

Dan Edwards

Dan Edwards, 35, knew from the

first day of the invasion of Ukraine that

he wanted to help, however he was able

to. Edwards, a warehouse worker from

Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, decid-

ed to offer his spare bedroom, and

found a Facebook group where people

were posting offers of accommodation

for refugees.

“I posted that I had a spare room and

wanted to help out and then there have

been Ukrainian people posting today

asking for help,” he said.

Since he has only one room, he was

unable to offer it to a couple of families

who reached out to him. Instead, he

focused on finding either a single adult

or a mother and child.

“I connected with a lady called Daria

and said she could have the room,” he

said. “I told her about the new scheme

and we just needed to wait for more

details. I will stay in contact through the

week and then we will try to get the visa

sorted on Friday.”

Jacqui and Jimmy Gillies

Jacqui Gillies, 57, and her husband

Jimmy, 60, have a double bedroom in

their home in Washington, Tyne and

Wear. “My husband and I have been

discussing this since people started

leaving Ukraine”, she said. “We believe

that at any time this could be us or our

family and would hope that someone

would be there to help us. I never

thought I would be doing this in 2022.”

They are open to hosting anyone and

are considering how they can adapt the

house to make sleeping arrangements

work for different family sizes. “I think

they [the rooms] will be suitable for a

mother and children,” she said.

She encouraged other people to offer

up rooms if they are able to, adding:

“People must think about what this

actually entails. Be prepared. Be posi-

tive. Be kind as it could have been you.”

A little girl looks after her baby sibling at a refugee centre in

Poland. New homes could await in Britain where Kerry Corley

and her partner Dominic, above, have a spare room in their

home. They feel lucky to own a property and want to share it

with someone in need. Mathew Hornby, below right, and his

brother John, plan to offer a house and jobs to new arrivals.

LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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Julian’s breakfast-time small talk.

Sir John Redwood (C, Wokingham)

narrowed his eyes and wondered if

these Ukrainians would be given

tenant rights. A host to avoid,

perhaps. Kindly Rachel Hopkins

(Lab, Luton South) cried: “Luton

welcomes refugees!” But will

refugees welcome lovely Luton? Liz

Saville-Roberts (Plaid, Dwyfor

Meirionnydd) began by speaking

Welsh. I think. Unless she is already

practising her Ukrainski.

Tory and SNP members were

upbeat about Gove’s plan but Beth

Winter (Lab, Cynon Valley) called it

“shocking, really”. Winter is seldom

sunny. Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

(Lab, Slough) ranted that the

government was “quite franklee

paffetic” and showing “callousness”.

Dhesi blurts out these formulaic

diatribes at such speed, whole

syllables are lost overboard.

“Shamefully” became “shamely”.

Gove had been forced to come

“kickin’ and streamin’” to the

Commons to unveil a “day-barkle”.

Gove had until this point treated

questioners with his usual treacly

courtesy but he seemed to spot that

Dhesi is one of those people even

Labour colleagues find tiresome.

“Can he just chuck it with the

partisan nonsense?” snapped Gove,

to wide satisfaction. Tim Loughton

(C, East Worthing) accused Labour

of being “on a scavenger hunt for

the negatives”.

Earlier, Crispin Blunt (C,

Reigate) created a frisson with an

urgent question about Saudi

Arabia’s execution of 81 prisoners.

Boris Johnson is expected to visit

the kingdom soon. The Foreign

Office showed how seriously it

viewed these executions by

choosing Amanda Milling as the

minister to answer MPs’ concerns.

Such was her expertise that she

was about to say “Riyadh” but

realised she had no idea how to

pronounce it so gave up. Her

performance, which lasted a

toe-curling half hour, consisted of

two or three prosaic non-answers,

repeated with much darting of

resentful eyes. The stonewalling

was quite dreadful. British-Saudi

relations must be in a much

bonnier state of repair than one

thought.

living-saint routine and scooted

round to her back benches to show

Mike Kane (Wythenshawe)

something on her mobile telephone.

The normally constructive Kane

accordingly stood and told the

House that an ITV journalist was

tweeting that Gove’s blessed website,

tsk, had already crashed. Gove was

momentarily stumped until there

came, from behind him, a baritone

roar worthy of Brian Blessed. “No it

hasn’t!” boomed Alicia Kearns (C,

Rutland & Melton), explaining that

she was on the website at that very

moment. Kane looked cheesed off

with Nandy for selling him a pup.

For any Ukrainian watching,

which MPs had the makings of

friendly hosts? Sir Roger Gale

(C, North Thanet) was, like Gove,

wearing a Ukrainian-themed tie.

However, lodging chez Gale might

not be entirely relaxing. Like Mount

Etna, the puce-faced old boy steams

constantly, forever on the brink of

furious eruption. Julian Lewis (C,

New Forest East) asked about taking

in academics. That made sense.

You’d need at least a master’s degree

in political science to keep up with