Chris Tarrant has written a lovely exclusive feature for HELLO!'s Kind List Issue detailing his happiness at giving a Ukrainian refugee family a safe, warm home.
After his incredible act of kindness, the presenter has revealed now he and Jane have become godparents to the Ukrainian family's baby. "They have enhanced our lives," he said.
Seeing the devastating Ukraine war on the news spurred Chris to take action. Here is their story in his own words...
© Photo: Getty ImagesChris Tarrant and Jane Bird at the O2 Arena in 2011
Back in February we were at home watching the news in disbelief, like most of the world, I never ever thought I would see a war in Europe in my lifetime. Jane said: "We really must do something." That night we both agreed that we could take in a family. It seemed the very least we could do.
We heard of a family of three who had just made it over the border, the mum was 65, her married daughter was in her twenties and they had a baby girl of just six months. The husband is fighting in the Donbas.
They had had just a few minutes to leave their home, endure a nightmare journey across Ukraine, and the three of them were now sleeping on airport floors in Poland.
When they arrived, their exhausted smiles were more than reward. The mum knew none of our language and baby just gurgled in Ukrainian, but the daughter spoke some English. They were clearly traumatised.
Every time a plane went over, they ran indoors until I could convince them that it was not the Russians. They arrived with the clothes they stood up in, and one bag of baby essentials, but people are so kind. Jane rang a few girlfriends, and my garage quickly filled with coats, jumpers, skirts and shoes for the grown-ups and a mountain of pink baby clothes, toys, baths and car seats.
Our Ukrainians have really enhanced our lives. They are just plain nice, they keep insisting on doing things for us. They cleaned my study for the first time in years, our cleaner would never go near it. They even tidied my fishing shed, and that’s not been done for at least a century. I opened the door, and there were my rods in one neat stack, there were my floats, there were my reels.
At one point, we were told the mother had to produce her birth certificate. "They had to leave their home in five minutes," Jane almost screamed at them. "Could you find your birth certificate in 5 minutes?"
Above anything, they want to go home. They are happy and safe, but it’s only natural they should want to go back, it must be horrific watching the news to see what’s happened in just a few months to their beautiful country.
We became godparents to the baby and it's impossible to imagine that if she’d stayed behind, the Russians would almost certainly have put her on the front of a tank. Obviously, it’s not possible for everybody to take in these poor lost souls, but if there is any way you can help, please do.
Remember, they didn’t ask for any of this.
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