Four West Somerset good Samaritans have stepped up to offer accommodation for a woman wounded in the conflict in Ukraine.
Marina, from western Ukraine, has been temporarily housed in Watchet by Dennis and Shirley Allnutt.
The accommodation was hastily arranged by their daughter--in-law, Louise, a volunteer with the Taunton Homes for Ukraine Committee. Louise lives in Minehead with husband Zack Allnutt.
As well as arranging the Watchet accommodation for Marina, Louise and Zack have let their previous home in Neath, South Wales, to a Ukrainian family of nine who were living in a bus station in Warsaw.
Louise saw the plea from the nine refugees on Facebook.
She told the Free Press: “We were going to sell our old home in Neath, but decided to let it go for a better use when we read the plea on Facebook.”
She said the family of nine were ‘happily settled’ in their new home.
Marina, meanwhile, arrived from Ukraine courtesy of The Lions Club of Chipping Sodbury at the beginning of June.
Louise Allnutt explained: “When Marina arrived in Somerset, the couple who had agreed to host a Ukranian refugee in their home near Cheddar were still away on a cruise, so could not house her immediately.
“But I had a word with my in-laws, Dennis and Shirley and they immediately gave her a temporary place to stay.”
Marina, whose husband is fighting in Ukraine, managed to join a group of refugees whose four-day trek across Europe to the UK was sponsored by The Lions Club of Great Britain. Marina has mobility problems due a war wound she sustained through bombing in her home country.
She arrived in Somerset at the beginning of June but had to find temporary accommodation while her original hosts finished their holiday. It was at this point Louise Allbutt came to the rescue and found her temporary lodgings with her Watchet in-laws.
Marina was finally introduced to her Cheddar host family, Susan and Mervyn Puddy, on Monday at a celebration buffet lunch prepared by Marina at the home of Dennis and Shirley Allnutt.
Said Mr Allnutt: “We were only too happy to host Marina for a few days. She has been a marvellous guest and kept us constantly amused with her cheerfulness and generosity.”
Marina told the Free Press (speaking through an interpreting app on her phone): “Dennis and Shirley have been so kind to me. Also, the people of Great Britain have been so supportive in giving Ukrainians a new life.”
Her husband had to remain in Ukraine in the army along with Marina’s daughter.
Marina said: “I communicate with them every day and they tell me the shells are still falling on our homes.”
Another member of the Homes for Ukraine support group Kate Kennedy, also from Watchet, said goodbye to her first Ukraine refugee Anastasia after two months.
Said Kate: “She felt guilty being here and not being able to help her own people.”
So now Anastasia, a website designer, is back in war-torn Ukraine where she has set up her own charity to assist her fellow Ukrainians. But Kate and her husband Graham say they hope to welcome more Ukrainian refugees.