Ukrainian refugee family finally arrives to their new Harrogate home

A Harrogate husband and wife have taken in two members of a Ukrainian family but say the “crazy amounts of red tape” meant it wasn’t an easy process.

David and Clare Price live in North Rigton and, after seeing the atrocities of war in Ukraine, wanted to try and help.

The pair said the most difficult part was finding a family to match with. Mr and Mrs Price spoke to multiple families but chaos at the Polish border meant they’d lose touch with them as they were forced to move.

Instead the pair found a family through word of mouth when a Harrogate-based lawyer who was trying to find homes for her family, heard of their offer to help.

Mr and Mrs Price have taken in a grandmother and young child from one family – the mother and other young child went to another Harrogate home.

The refugees have been living with Mr and Mrs Price for two weeks now.  They have found a Harrogate primary school for the children to attend and are hopeful their three-year visas will be confirmed this week.

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Mr Price said the British government should make the process easier:

“We couldn’t look away from the images on TV, we knew we had to help. We are fortunate to have space in the house to accommodate people but the process wasn’t easy.

“Our government doesn’t make it easy like others, we should be helping as many people as we can.”

Despite the struggles, Mr Price said it hasn’t put him off offering his home to more refugees. He said once their current house guests have found rental accommodation locally they will be looking to house more Ukrainians.

In the meantime, he is showing the whole family around the Harrogate district which they describe as “gorgeous”.

He said Harrogate and Knaresborough, in particular, have numerous support groups set up for refugees to allow them to talk to each other and share any feelings.

Mr Price, an author and public speaker, added:

“You don’t get trained for this, it’s a lot for people to take on because the families you take in need a lot of support. It’s an incredibly heartbreaking time for them.”

Bus leaves Knaresborough on 1,550-mile mission to help Ukrainians flee

A van has set off from Knaresborough to transport Ukrainians out of the war-torn country to safety.

The 34-seat bus has been provided by two Harrogate district businessman, Mark Smith of The HACS Group and Ray Allott of Chimneycrete.

Mr Allott had the idea after a chat with a friend called Pavl in Poland.

Pavl said he was using his car to drive 39 miles from his home to the Polish/Ukraine border each night to transport people and supplies.

Mr Allott wanted to do all he can to help so, with support from Mr Smith at HACS, he acquired the bus.

He set off from Knaresborough yesterday afternoon to drive 1,550 miles to Ukraine.

The bus will then be left in Ukraine to be used to help refugees get to safety. It is currently packed with generators and radios, donated by local supporters.

Once it reaches the border it will be handed over to local activists to help get women and children out of Ukraine to other European countries, including the UK.

Mr Smith said:

“It was all Ray’s idea, as soon as he asked I just said ‘yes’. We’ve got to do something and do it fast, there’s plenty of people that need help. Our aim is to get as many people as possible out of Ukraine or further from the Polish border into mainland Europe.

“We’ve put a tracker on the bus too, to see how often Pavl is going into Ukraine then we can send over sufficient funds to cover petrol costs.”

Mr Allott has set up a justgiving page for people to donate to. Money raised will be used for petrol and supply costs. So far it has raised more than £3,000.

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Ray Allott