Month: January 2023

A Warwick restaurateur is appealing for sponsors to delve into their ‘pockets’ and help give both his sons the best ‘shot’ at realising their sporting dreams.

Hosoun Miah, who has run Warwick Spice Indian restaurant in Smith Street for 23 years, is looking to raise £50,000 to help fund costly snooker academy training for his sons Hamim and Halim.

The talented brothers, aged 21 and 20 from Small Heath in Birmingham, are rising stars on the British and international snooker circuits with a host of championship titles and trophies under their belts. Hamim also qualified as a WPBSA snooker coach last year in schools and colleges.

But ambitions of making it on the professional stage could be in the balance unless their parents, who have already invested more than £200k in developing their careers, can pocket enough sponsorship to support the siblings’ snooker careers, and have just launched a Justgiving page to raise the £50k needed.

Hosoun explained: “I first gave them a small snooker table when they were just two and three years old and they never looked back. Then as teenagers it all became very serious and being able to compete against one another helped bring them on. They are extremely competitive with one another! Now they are both flying, regularly beating ex-professional players with years of experience.”

Hamim comprehensively beat four-times World champion John Higgins in an exhibition match recently and just this month achieved the maximum 147 break.

He is currently enrolled in a snooker academy in Sheffield but both brothers are working hard to break through into the top rankings required for entering professional competitions.

Hosoun added: “Obviously, developing a career in this most demanding of sports is costly. Simply attending tournaments and gaining ranking points requires time and expense for the boys to travel and stay away from home. Clothing and equipment also see the costs mounting. A typical season costs in excess of £12,000 to allow competition at all significant events.

“We are struggling to keep supporting Hamim with his living expenses and Halim also has aspirations to get a place at the academy, and we want to enable them to take that last stride to becoming fully professional snooker players. They are both knocking on the door and are highly rated by the sport’s governing body, but we need help to keep them moving forwards.”

A self-confessed snooker fanatic himself, Hosoun said: “I gave the boys a small snooker table when they were just two and three years old and gradually increased the sizes of the tables they played on as they grew older. I even had a stool made to enable them to reach the top of a full-sized snooker table!

“The whole family is mad about snooker and I too was a great player in my day. I have lots of tournament trophies to my name but couldn’t make it to professional level because I didn’t have the financial backing – but I want to fulfil my dream through my sons.

“They both have immense talent and experience and are very close to becoming professionals and I’d hate for financial constraints to get in the way of those dreams.”

To donate visit here or to enquire about sponsorship contact Hussain at: hosoun@hotmail.co.uk

Hamim Hussain said: “Snooker has always been a massive part of our lives. Having the extra support could potentially take my brother and I to that next level we’re striving for which is to turn professional and be among the world’s best snooker players. Thank you so much to anyone who can help make our dream a reality.”

Snooker is also the theme of a charity night at Warwick Spice on March 14^th when guests will be invited to dine with snooker legend and six-times World Champion Steve Davis OBE.

An Evening With Steve Davis, which returns to the restaurant for the third time, will be raising money for local children’s charity Molly Ollys.

More information and tickets available here

Ukrainian refugees pulled together in honour of their fellow citizens back home when they took part in an emergency food packing day in Coventry at the weekend.

It was all hands on deck at The Halo Centre in Binley when around 30 Ukrainians were among scores of volunteers at the event, organised by Feed The Hungry, on Saturday.

Led by the charity’s volunteers, it generated 500 parcels, each containing a mix of milk, cereal, coffee, pasta, pasta sauce, passata, juice, flour, tinned peaches, rice pudding and tinned vegetables.

The 38 Ukrainian volunteers came from Coleshill Manor – a former disused office complex in Sutton Coldfield that was redeveloped to rehome the refugees who, for the past eight months, have been supported and cared for by Mosaic Church, Coventry.

Coleshill Manor Project Manager Neil McElvenny said: “Working in collaboration with Warwickshire County Council we manage the Manor as a shared accommodation with supportive living, we assist our Ukrainian friends working together to help integration into the local community, with schools admissions and find work to help support their families here and in the Ukraine.

He added: “This small contribution is supporting their fellow Ukrainians still living in a war zone which is very challenging as the winters in the Ukraine are traditionally very cold experiencing anything from -4 to – 15+ without heating and lighting is beyond our imagination and we can only guess how difficult this is!

“As we are all aware, the war in the Ukraine is not on a traditional battlefield, it’s in the cities, towns and villages, impacting on the civilian population every day. Our Feed the Hungry programme will help 500 families with a week’s worth of essential items and food, however, more than that we feel it’s sending a message of hope and support in a small way.”

The packing event was timed to coincide with the Ukrainian Christmas celebrations which don’t end until next week and followed a similar event the previous evening involving IDY Youth group from Mosaic Church.

Feed The Hungry Director Canon Gavin Kibble MBE, said: “Over the last year Feed the Hungry has been involved with supplying humanitarian aid directly into the Ukraine, Romania and Moldova to support Ukrainian refugees. Locally we have supported many Ukrainian families through our Warwickshire based pantries with both food and clothes.

“One of team, Chloe Scanlon, who works at our Lillington Pantry suggested this packing event as part of the Ukrainian Christmas celebrations and this idea was taken up by a large community of Ukrainians living at Coleshill Manor.

“We think this is a unique event where Ukrainian families who have had to escape their country due to war, often leaving loved ones behind, are able to support other families in Ukraine.”

Volunteers at Feed The Hungry continue to appeal for donations to keep pace with escalating demand as thousands more Ukrainian residents prepare to flee the country which has been ravaged by war since February.

Through its network of six international offices and warehouses, the charity has so far delivered over 105 containers or lorries each containing 2,090 tons (2,730 pallets) of aid, into the heart of towns and villages with internally displaced refugees right across Ukraine and Moldova.

People can support this effort by sponsoring either a full pallet or a number of food parcels. Donations will help to provide resource and defray the cost of shipping in order to get the parcels to people who have lost everything.

Further information about how to support these events or donate, can be found here

CASE STUDIES

Oleg Mayyukhov

Oleg moved here from Kyiv six months ago after his wedding. Officially married before the war, they planned for the wedding itself to be in Kyiv in May but had to change their plans and got married in Brussels where his wife’s family was displaced to.

“The UK is doing so much for Ukraine. It was one of the first countries to react to this conflict and offered support and we want to help Ukrainian people too and this is our way of contributing because we love our country.

“This brings at least some help for 500 families. It’s more than just bringing food, it’s a big message of hope. Even those people who had to leave the country are still with Ukraine.

“Everyone here is full of enthusiasm and encouraged and it’s a privilege for us to be able to make this contribution. We’ve been living as one community at Coleshill Manor for a while which helps us work better together.”

Alina Kozina

She has been here since June with her mum and five siblings. Their houses were destroyed and a lot of their friends died.

“It was terrible times. I really respect Ukrainian volunteers and I wanted to be part of this. It’s also good to help people. It doesn’t matter who they are, Ukrainian or African. We believe in our heart that everything will be OK.”

Taras Dombrovskyi

Here with his wife, daughter, parents, sister, grandma, 83, and mother-in-law and her nephew.

“Here we are secure and blessed by amazing people taking care of us.

We try to take any opportunity to help Ukraine. For those Ukrainians who live near the front line in areas where supply is complicated, it will be vital for them, especially in the small villages. This is why we decided to be a part of it because for some people it could be the last hope.”

“It’s like Shipston Home Nursing wrapped a blanket around our family in the very darkest of days,” said Jo Carroll, whose mother Sue passed away in August – in a year she describes as their own ‘annus horribilis.’

Jo and her friends and family have since raised more than £7,500 to give back to the charity which she says acted as her ‘guardian angel.’

Sue was a very active and healthy 78-year-old until she fell ill in April last year, eventually being diagnosed with multiple cancers (brain, bowel, liver and lung). She was sent home from Warwick Hospital, with the news that she had “days – at best weeks” – left. Her cancer was so advanced palliative care was the only option.

Jo, who runs Winchcombe Farm in Upper Tysoe with husband Steve Taylor, said: “We were in complete shock. It’s difficult to recall the feeling of utter devastation and the helplessness of not knowing what to do and where to go for help. We all knew what the final outcome was going to be but had no idea of how we would survive the journey.”

It was the latest bitter blow in a what has been a challenging year for the family. In the same month as Sue’s diagnosis, they began grieving the loss of Steve’s 86-year-old mother, Liz, following her 12-month battle with lung cancer.

Backdrop to their grief was the family being forced to spend most of the year living in temporary accommodation after a fire ravaged their home in January. Steve collapsed while trying to contain the blaze and suffered a cardiac arrest.

The family finally moved back home in September a few months after Steve underwent a triple heart bypass.

It was at the suggestion of a friend that Jo, 52, contacted Shipston Home Nursing to help care for her mother.

She explained: “The nurses and carers team became our ‘guardian angels,’ helping us every step of the way, and I sincerely believe that we wouldn’t have survived this period without them.

“As expected, Mum deteriorated very quickly and our biggest problem became night times – She was very restless, couldn’t sleep and became very confused as the brain cancer and seizures got worse. She couldn’t be left alone. Medication failed to help and we very quickly discovered that even with three of us – Dad, my sister and myself – providing 24-hour care was almost impossible.

“It was peak season running the holiday lodges so it was impossible just to stop working. I also have young children, one of whom is severely autistic, so already have extensive carer responsibilities.

“We tried almost 20 care agencies trying to find a waking carer, but to no avail.  Shipston Home Nursing stepped in to help us, providing a carer from 10pm to 7am every night they were able.

“This made the most enormous difference to us – the world is a much better place when you can have a good night’s sleep and at least you feel like you can cope with whatever the next day will throw at you, when you’ve had some rest.”

Shipston Home Nursing, which last year marked its 25^th anniversary, offers day and night care for patients which is provided free-of-charge to the user, funded by charity donations. This provides a lifeline to many families who are navigating their way, dealing with a terminally ill relative at home.

Jo added: “They are amazing people – for all that they do and the difference that they make. Their person-centred approach ensures a seamless service but it’s not just about the care, it’s the people working for Shipston Home Nursing who are pouring their hearts and souls into their job.”

The Carroll family has set themselves a fundraising target of £10,000 to say thank you to Shipston Home Nursing and make sure that other local families can have the same support they received.

 

Sue’s seven-year-old grandson, Bob, himself recently raised £235 by charging people to sign his plaster cast after breaking his ankle. He said: “I’m really pleased that I’ve raised such a lot of money for the people that helped my Nanny. My mum and dad are very proud of me and I’ve been very brave, because it hurt a lot.”

Jo added: “Shipston Home Nursing walk alongside many families dealing with terminally ill and can only do that with the continued support of the local community and businesses.

“A good deed brightens a dark world and we can’t pay back kindness, but we can pass it on. We pledge to do all that we can to help Shipston Home Nursing continue their invaluable work for local families like ours, who make a difference that is immeasurable in words. For that, we shall be forever grateful”.

Kate Bamford, spokesperson for Shipston Home Nursing, said: “We are enormously grateful to Sue’s family for sharing their story. In doing so, they help us to raise awareness of Shipston Home Nursing. We offer free home nursing to people with life-limiting illnesses in Shipston, Wellesbourne, Kineton and surrounding villages and it’s so important for us to let those who need us know that we are here.

“Our thanks go to Jo, Steve and the rest of the family for their kind words and their ongoing support. And, of course, to Bob – one of Shipston Home Nursing’s youngest fundraisers!”

To donate visit: https://www.shipstonhomenursing.co.uk/donate/

Shipston Home Nursing can be contacted online at www.shipstonhomenursing.co.uk or by calling 01608 664850.