Dear Members & Friends,
As you all know, we recently had a wonderful festival dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of the Independence of Ukraine. This was a magnificent day, full of joy, songs, dances, Ukrainian food and Kozak games. The sun was shining and everyone had a great time – adults and children – there was something for everybody – to listen to the concert, spend time at the jumping castle, try varenyky or cakes, buy something at our fair or simply enjoy company of friends with a glass of wine or bottle of beer.
We had numerous visitors far beyond members of our Ukrainian community and it was good to see that the day went like song with the most resilient ones staying until late. But all this magic would not have been possible if so many people didn’t contribute by putting in their time, resources and good will to the common goal. It was amazing to see so much good will and help.
We would like to say a big THANK YOU to everybody: the cooks and artists, those who manned the stalls and those who cleaned afterwards, those who erected & dismantled the tents for our fair and those who planned, shopped for food and organised everything – starting from filling our bar with drinks to making sure that restrooms had enough amenities – there was not a thing big or small that hadn’t contributed to the success of our event. So we want you to know their names:
Concert participants – keeping us entertained
Children:
Sofia Vitsentiy
Anna Bykova
Nazar Kovtun
Dania Mclntyre
Daryna Subota
Polina Ziuzina
Oleksiy and Thomas Haycock
Singing:
Larissa Brooker (John Woods – accompaniment)
Olya and Christina Venslavovitch
Anastasia Sukhinina
Inessa McIntyre
Svitlana, Vitaliy and Alla Yarosh
Daryna Subota
Music:
Billy Chai: Adam and Tomas Miljenovic, Stefan Moroziuk
Folk band: Stephan and Marko Chomyn, Yaroslav Vatslavyi , Adam and Tomas Miljenovic, Alla Yarosh
Vodohray:
Sonia Czebiniak-Semciw
Anna Shayduk
Victoria Kopyl
Ira Cropper
Olga Sashko
Adrijana Zukiwska
Olena Taylor
Choir:
Tomas Miljenovic
Kathy Miljenovic
Viktoriya Zahynayko
Sonia Czebiniak-Semciw
Fr. Martin Arnold
Fair participants – a delight to look and buy from:
Maryna Piontkovksa Jolly
Vera Bartolo
Jenny Bobeszko
Anna Savchenko
Maria Sitynsky
Natalia Balo
Yana Valerievna
Tomas Miljenovic
Maksim Potapovskyi
Fr. Martin Arnold
Euro Delicious
Cooking food – tasty creations we all enjoyed:
Daria Piskor
Mary Hughes
Marika Cuda
Irena Bongiorni
Olga French
Stephanie Neugebauer
Olga Chomyn
Nina Hanczaryk
Maria Ostash
Helena Petsheny
Jenny Bobeszko
Anna Bondar
Helen Tomkins
Daria Lowe
Anna Carynny
Olga Bilyk
Nataliya Murad
Olya Vitsentiy
Vitaliy Yarosh
Sam Miljenovic
Myckhaylo Kovtun
Cakes and biscuits – sweet life:
Olga French
Daria Piskor
Irena Bongiorni
Lida Berkar
Ludmila Kazandaeva
Maria Citinsky
And many others, whose names we regretfully didn’t capture!
Serving food – friendly faces:
Oksana Kovtun
Natalia Zuzina
Kateryna Basova
Olya Osypiw
Mikayla Hughes
Marika Cuda
Id Cuda
Irena Bongiorni
Daria Piskor
Mary Hughes
Nataliya Murad
Olya Vitsentiy
Irene Kurlak
Bar – keeping us hydrated:
Peter Bongiorni
Viktor Voytinov
Volunteers/handymen/handywomen – everybody needs them:
Stephan Chomyn
Viktor Voytinov
Olya and Wolodymyr Osypiw
Vadym Radetskyy
John Hodgon
Nataliya Murad
Stephen Dunchouk
Olga Bogochova
Bogdan Kovtun
Victor Litvin
Yevhen Kibrik
Tents – protecting from elements
Nick Dmyterko
Stephan Chomyn
Vadym Radetskyy
John Hodgon
Stefan Moroziuk
Viktor Voytinov
Stefan Piskor
Id Cuda
Stephan Smaha
Marko Chomyn
Jumping castle – a children’s delight
Stephen Smaha who organised the castle and together with Natalie Zuk and Sophie Smaha entertained children for the whole day
Kozak games judges – strict but fair
Ostap Kurlak
Kathy Miljenovic
Face painting – brining smile to children’s faces
Olga Bogochova
Kozak and Kozachka painting – for our amusement
Peter & Lyudmila Haycock
Official photographer – beautiful pictures:
Anna Savchenko
Planners and organisers – making things happen
Special thanks to:
Svitlana Yarosh who was the driving force behind the creation of the scenario and implementing it.
Adam Miljenovic for taking care of our sound system
Mary Hughes, Marika Cuda, Daria Piskor, Olga French and Irena Bonjiorni for all things related to catering
Viktor Voytinov – for being our crisis manager on all things that enable smooth functioning of our Community centre
Peter Bongiorni – for dealing with payments and extra things too many to mention here
Stephan Chomyn – for overseeing the whole project and making sure things happen – nothing too big or small for him
Olya Vitsentiy and Nataliya Murad – for their input in communications
Unfortunately, the day was so busy there were so many people who contributed, that it is quite possible that we have missed somebody – so for those unsung volunteers, please, accept our gratitude and apologies
Until the next time – Uprava