After two years of inactivity due to Covid, the “My Streets” walking tours recommenced yesterday with a guided tour of Drogheda for a group of Ukrainian refugees who have taken up residence in the Drogheda area in recent weeks.
Tour guide Cyril Carter commenced the tour at St. Peter’s Church in Drogheda and enthralled his guests, mostly women and children, with the story of Saint Oliver Plunkett and his persecution and ultimate death by being hung drawn and quartered.
Perhaps not the cheeriest of topics for his audience who have so recently fled the attacks by war criminal Vladimir Putin’s army and experienced such barbarism in their own country but it was taken in good spirit and the tour moved on.
The next stop was at the Augustinian Church in Shop Street and then the party of some 20 or 25 people moved on to Laurence’s Gate where local historian Sean Collins took over as giude to give the visitors a pottted history of the town.
Freed from the confines of the religious surroundings the chat was more animated but still a little difficult due to the language barrier. Hopefully this difficulty will be eased as the refugees are already learning English thanks to the LMETB.
Several of the refugees told Drogheda Life of their flight from various cities in Ukraine. Marian Leytvyniuk who is now staying at the Neptune Hotel had travelled by bus from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with her three children.
Marian said that her husband Stanislav had stayed behind to play his role in support of the army against the Russian invaders. She said that she had been in phone contact with her husband but she and her children were very worried for his safety.
Anastasia Kovalemko, who arrived in Ireland on March 29th told Drogheda Life that she had lived in an apartment in Irpin which is in the Kyiv region but she had seen photos of it in ruins after being bombed.
Anastasia travelled across Ukraine with her four year old daughter Diana to Sofia in Bulgaria where her mother had been stranded for many days on her way back from Russia where her husband was dying of cancer.
Anastasia, her mother and Diana area all now staying with friends in the Avourwen housing estate in Drogheda. She said that all through this terrible experience she had thought to herself that something good must come out of it.
“That something is Ireland” she said, “I have read a lot about it before and often said that I must visit someday. Now I am here and I am safe at least.”
A spokesperson for My Streets walking tours said they were delighted to kick start the tours of Drogheda after two years with this free tour for the Ukrainian refugees.
“My Streets has also recommenced working with those at risk of homelessness and have commenced a number of programmes to build resilience among young people.
“We have ambitious plans for the year ahead and are particularly grateful to the Amazon Web Services Fund for Drogheda that has helped us get back up and running.”
