Welcome to the Rudloe and environs website.

Here you will find news, articles and photos of an area that straddles the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in north-west Wiltshire.

Contributions in the form of articles or photos are welcome. Even those with completely contrary views to mine!

Thanks to the website builder 1&1 and Rob Brown for the original idea.

Rudloescene now, in January 2014, has a sister, academic rather than anarchic, website about Box history here: http://www.boxpeopleandplaces.co.uk/

It contains thoroughly professional, well-researched articles about Box and its people.

Contact rudloescene through the 'Contact' page.

The webpage 'Ukraine - 2022' (Ukraine - 2022) gives some local history of Ukrainians in the Corsham area after WWII. It shows current initiatives (emails) from myself and Stefan Barbaruk (one of the Corsham Ukrainians) in trying to get national and local government to awake from their slumber and also recites some of Henry Marsh's (a notable neurosurgeon) Times2 article from 10th March 2022.

Seventy-five years on and it's deja vu with Ukraine under bombardment from a vicious, murderous, lying tyrant. Thousands are dead after just two weeks of Putin's onslaught which continues as I write (on 15th March 2022). While the Internet remains up in Ukraine, Stefan's relatives in the west of the country are keeping him abreast of the situation. Stefan has offered accommodation should they come to a decision to evacuate and make the journey across Europe. There is also a local initiative here in Rudloe to use Rudloe Community Centre as a 'hub' for refugees - this substantial, at present unused, building could provide (temporary) accommodation, a canteen and playspace. It has a kitchen and toilet facilities (of course) but would probably need showers installed which, in terms of the magnitude of the current crises (plural, remember we have spent £billions on Covid), is small potatoes. Empty accommodation in GreenSquareAccord's housing stock on Rudloe Estate could also be used to house refugees (according to locals, there are up to ten homes on Rudloe Estate that have been empty since last year) thereby, along with the Community Centre, making a local contribution to this, the most significant catastrophe in Europe since WWII. As Henry Marsh said in his 10th March article: It’s good for the country to rally together and by being hospitable we will all feel better about ourselves. Such an initiative would provide not only vital accommodation and support but would, as Henry Marsh suggests, revitalise the local community (and its Centre) in supporting others.

The 'letters' from Ukraine follow (latest first). Note the irony in the 13th March 2022 letter - "Stay safe":

9th July 2023 email

Dear Stefan and Peter,

As we mentioned yesterday, today we are on our trip to Kyiv and the nearby towns that were destroyed by Russian terrorists. We want to show you some photos that we took in Bucha and Hostomel. People in these towns suffered a lot and many civilians were killed here. You can see the attached photo of the memoir wall that is installed in Bucha with the names of civilians that were killed last spring by Russian soldiers. To be honest, we were shocked to see this in reality.

Hope that you are well, 

All the best, 

Oksana and Anton

Following the widespread attacks (some with hypersonic missiles) on Ukraine on 9th March 2023 which targetted, amongst many others, the western city of Lviv, Stefan Barbaruk forwarded the following 'letter' from his cousin in Lviv.

A January 2023 update following the drone and missile attacks on many cities, including Lviv, over the Christmas period. Once again, this information is from Stefan Barbaruk. On New Year's Eve, Stefan wrote:

I spoke to Oksana and her father two days ago, just after the Russian bombing. They are in the west of Ukraine, close to Lviv, which has not experienced the challenges of the east. Following the recent bombing which has increased from being sporadic, the family are experiencing power cuts of 6 hours on then 3 hours off. Hence, because of the cold weather, they are trying to live in and heat just one room. People are trying to purchase generators where thay can. Having said all that, with the support of the West, they remain extremely positive and confident that the Ukrainian army will succeed in this senseless war.

From a personal point of view, I have found talking to the family, who are in a war zone, from the comfort of our home, quite surreal. What is inspiring is that with all that's going on, they remain so positive and grateful for all the support they are getting from the West.

A December 2022 update (as well as the 3rd December letter below). Some months ago, President Zelensky launched an initiative, called United24, to raise funds for Ukraine. Anyone can donate and if the 'Make a Donation' button is selected, three options are presented for the destination of the contribution, theses are: Defence and Demining, Medical Aid and Rebuild Ukraine. The website is: https: https://u24.gov.ua/ where you may find a message from President Zelensky.

3rd December 2022

Dear Stefan and Peter, 

Thank you for keeping in touch with us. Hope you are doing well. 

We are quite well. I should admit that the last week was calm in terms of air raid sirens, we had just two of them, but there was no bombarding during them on the west of Ukraine. However, we still didn't come over the consequences of the previous attacks. As you know after the shelling we have a lot of problems with the power supply system and we have regular shutoffs of  electricity. Hopefully, the workers manage to recover it as fast as possible and now we have the schedule of when we have light (usually it is available for 3-4 hours per day) and we don't have it. So we try to turn the heaters on at that time to make it warm inside the house and to charge phones and some batteries to have the contact with each other. A lot of people especially small businesess bought generators, so city is full of noise because of them, but they help people to work and live somehow.

As a student I felt that the educational system suffered a lot because if this, as there is usually no opportunity to conduct efficient lessons now. 

However, we don't get upset, don't give up and we are sure that we will mange to go through this winter which is challenging but essential. Hope, that it won't get worse. We have almost adapted to the reality that we have, and we don't complain, as our soldiers and people on the east of Ukraine survive in much worse conditions. 

We still have all the food and supplies available in the supermarkets. We are thankful for that to other countries which exports it for us as we see a lot of imported products.

Our family as well as all Ukrainians are thankful for the support that we get from the UK. The military and political support that we get from the British government and the help that many Englishmen send to Ukraine and also provide for the Ukrainians there mean a lot for us. 

How are you? Hope you are healthy and excited looking forward to Christmas holidays. 

Pass best wishes to everyone in your families,

Oksana, Anton, Vira from Ukraine

22nd March 2022

Dear Stefan and Peter,

Hope you are all well. The situation in Ukraine is still very difficult and the biggest problem is aviabombarding. Hopefully, in our city it is quiet and we are still in safe, but yesterday, we heard sirens seven times, almost all of the day there was an air danger and we should have hidden in the shelter, as some nearby regions were hit by rockets. Today the situation today is more stable, the sirens were heard three times and the last announced danger was canceled just a few minutes ago and it is still safe here.

Nevertheless, we try to stay optimistic and positive. Out city is working, trying to support our Army as much as we can and organizing places to live for refugees from the eastern Ukraine. 

I should say, that the situation in the supermarket is becoming better and we can buy the necessary food. 

Every day we believe in our Army and pray for the victory for Ukraine.

So, how are you? How are Ella and Martha, are they going to school these days or are they studying online? And how is the weather like in England? As in Ukraine is is the real spring weather, which helps our soldiers, as it is warm.

Pass best wishes to each of your family,

Oksana and family

14th March 2022
 

Dear Stefan and Peter,

We are extremely thankful for such a great support. We value your help so much and you make us feel much safer. It is really easier for all of us to go through all this things knowing that you would help us when it is needed. It means a lot for us. 

You also asked about whether you may share the information you get from us about the situation in Ukraine. Of course, you may. It is a great pleasure that English people are with us. I would be really happy to help your friend and your local community learn more about what is happening in Ukraine.

This night we had long air raid sirens, which lasted 5 hours (the longest one from the beginning of the war). But hopefully the situation was quite. There is one more nearby region Rivne, which was bombarded this night and the TV tower was hit. Unfortunately, this is not the first case of bombarding this city and we believe that Russian soldiers do this to spread panic among people. Later during the day we had two more sirens, but they were short and thanks God everything was well. 

The situation in our city is better now. Today children at schools started their online learning. As well as I came back to my studies. I am going to finish my studies in the middle of April, and then after practice and final exams I expect to get my diploma at the beginning of June. There is a possibility that students would be able to cover everything online. Nevertheless, people in the west of Ukraine tries to come back to their work, which our government encourages us to do to support the economy of Ukraine.

We all hope and pray for victory and peace. 

Thank you for being in contact with us and for everything you do for us. We appreciate this a lot.

Best wishes,

Oksana and family 

13th March 2022

Dear Stefan and Peter, 

Hope you are well. Sorry, for not writing for several days. Today is the 18th day if was in Ukraine and to be honest these days were more tensed in our city. We hear sirens here several times per day and they lasted for 2-3 hours. This night was one of such sirens and unfortunately the Military Range near Lviv was hit. As the result 35 people died. Lviv is the next to us region. On the other side, the airport in Ivano-Frankivsk was bombarded, which is another next to us region. 

We really hope that the situation will become better soon, but the reality is really terrific. 

Also I should say, that the situation with food is becoming worse here. Just yesterday I was in the supermarket and a lot of shelves were almost empty. 

By the way, we still believe in our Army and pray for saving Ukraine and Ukrainians.

Stay safe 

Oksana and family