The day started in the parish church of Sts. Volodymyr & Olha
where Fr. Davyd Senyk and Fr. Mykola Matviyivskiy conducted
a litany of gratitude service in front of a packed assembly
of Sumivtsi, parishioners and guests. After the service,
Sumivtsi filed into their local ranks alongside the church
where they were cordially welcomed by the Chairman of the
Wolverhampton branch of CYM and Komandant of this year's
regional rally Mychailo Fedyk. In his opening speech Mychailo
spoke of Wolverhampton's first ever staging of the Rally in
this their 60th Anniversary Year, "A day in which the very
founders of our Youth Association would have been proud of,
a wonderful moment that is now written into the pages of our
history". This was followed by the Svyatochnyj Nakaz read by Ira Woron.
It was a huge honor to have Bohdan Prychydnyj, the President
of the Youth Association of Great Britain present who
welcomed all, and congratulated Wolves on the organization
of
the Rally and wished all artists success in the competition.
The official opening ceremony closed with each oseredok
joining the parade march round the church of Sts. Volodymyr and Olha.
The concert/competition portrayed the beauty of our Ukrainian
culture. All performances were of the highest standard and gave
great pleasure to the audience.
The results summary of the competition :- Wolverhampton 2
first places from 3 entries, London 6 first places from 9,
Nottingham 4 first places from 9, Derby 3 first places from 3,
Coventry 1 first place from 1 and Waltham Cross 1 first place
from 2. Many congratulations to all the winners and may God
bless you with success in the National Finals in July.
Even outside of the competition the air was filled with music
and song with impromptu performances. During the evening 2 stars
from Chorna Rhoza kept the crowds entertained into the night,
others watched and cheered on the World Cup match England v USA
on the big screen, a memorable day was had, one I'm sure that
will remain with us and be talked about for many a day.
Many thanks to all the artists, those that helped and contributed
into making it a very special day. To all our guests - without
you the day would not have been possible.
"As long as you live - dream and search" - Wolves dreamed and
they proudly found.
Mychailo Fedyk - Head of CYM Wolverhampton
