Daffodil tribute highlights plight of mothers in Ukraine

Thursday 31 March 2022

A local church has raised more than £1,500 to help people in Ukraine, with its latest service highlighting the plight of mothers in the country with a touching daffodil tribute.

On Mothering Sunday, more than 50 people gathered in St. Clement’s Church’s meadow, which is planted with more than 40,000 daffodils and is the only natural churchyard in Jersey.

At the front was a large cross in a wire mesh frame “rather like the original Battle of Flowers floats”, explained Canon David Shaw, the Rector of St. Clement with St. Nicholas.

“In beautiful weather accompanied by the birds singing, flowers were picked for mothers and also to make a huge yellow cross, with the flowers representing payers for the mothers of Ukraine.”

Pictured: The cross was made from wire mesh frame and decorated in daffodils. 

The tribute to mothers in the war-torn country came about after one of St. Nicholas’ regular fundraising Lent lunches in Caldwell Hall featuring “homemade soup, bread, cheese, fruit and lots of chatting” in the lead-up to Easter.

They are held each Thursday lunchtime from 12:00 until 13:30 leading up to Easter and aim to help “all sorts of causes”. 

Those at the lunches discuss all types of issues in the world and choose which one they would like to raise money for. At last week’s lunch, they discussed the war in Ukraine and decided that Sunday’s service would honour mothers in Ukraine. 

The lunch itself generated more than £200 for the Bailiff’s appeal for Ukraine, bringing the total raised so far by St. Clement and St. Nicholas to more than £1,500.  

Pictured: One of the regular Lent lunches was dedicated to Ukraine.

Those donations will go towards the Bailiff’s Fund for Ukraine, whose total stands at just under £2m. The funds will be distributed between different organisations providing lifesaving assistance, vests and helmets in addition to trauma kits. 

Canon Shaw said he hoped “more will be raised before Easter” for Ukraine, but fundraising for local causes is also continuing.

This week, St. Nicholas will be hosting one of the lunches “to raise funds for the Scout group at St Clement, Malindi, Kenya, and on Thursday 7 April it will be for Mission to Seafarers.”