Stirling rallied to give a moving farewell to a Ukrainian woman who settled in the region after fleeing the Russian invasion.
Olga Borovska, 70, from Kyiv, passed away at Forth Valley Royal Hospital after a short illness - with her only relative, a son, still in Ukraine.
However, the people of Stirling joined with the local Ukrainian community last week to mark her life with an emotional funeral in St Mark’s Church, Raploch.
Around 75 people attended the touching service, which was conducted in both Ukrainian and English and livestreamed back to Ukraine.
The Rev Barry Hughes, who led the service, invited members of his own congregation and other locals to ensure she was given “a good send off, even though she is far from home”.
In a tribute, Olga’s son spoke of her love of Scotland, and described her as “the best mother in the world” who was “determined to maintain her dignity and independence despite the desperate sadness of seeing out her last few months away from her home and family”.
Born in 1952 in Mykolaiv, a small town in Southern Ukraine, Olga moved to Kyiv in 2018.
But in June 2022, a few months into the Russian invasion of her country, she arrived in Scotland under the Scottish Super Sponsor scheme (Warm Scottish Welcome) and went directly to stay in the Killin Hotel.
She soon became a popular member of the community there.
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Said to be very supportive of the younger guests, she got involved in making traditional Ukrainian crafts which were sold at Killin Highland Games to raise money to support Ukrainians back home.
She later moved to Dunblane Hydro where again she became a popular member of the community.
Keen to learn English, she spent her time attending classes and picking up vocabulary from a phrase book she’d always carry around with her.
Olga had desperately wanted to return to Ukraine but sadly this wasn’t possible.
However, her ashes will be returned to her son to be scattered in her birthplace when possible.
Rev Barry, who was asked to help when it became clear Olga required end of life care, told the Observer it was a “special privilege” to conduct the service as he praised local people and council staff who made sure a fitting tribute was paid.
He added: “There were folk from my own congregation but also others I didn’t know. It was lovely and fairly busy.
“Olga was here pretty much on her own apart from other Ukrainians who had travelled here.
“We had Ukrainian music at the service and everything I said in English was translated.
“Jonathan Sharp from the council’s resettlement team read the eulogy on behalf of the family and spoke. Everyone said afterwards he spoke absolutely beautifully of what he knew of her over the last year, having also spoken with her son in Ukraine.
“He did her proud.
“I ended by thanking everyone and the end was very emotional because we played a piece of Ukrainian music, ‘Plyve Kacha’, which means a lot to the Ukrainians. Apparently it would be like playing something evocative like ‘Caledonia’ for Scots.
“By the end it wasn’t just the Ukrainians who were in tears.
“Funerals are always fairly emotional and incredibly sad. Probably like every minister I try to make every funeral unique and perhaps had even more reason to do so on this occasion. Like most funerals in Raploch we went to Vinnys afterwards and we had a good chat with some of the Ukrainians and the council staff.
“It was a privilege to be able to do this for Olga. It is always a privilege, but there was something very special about this.”
Giving insight into her life before the war, Olga’s son said his mother came from a family of history teachers but, after finishing school and technical college, she worked as a fabric cutter for many years.
“She raised me, her only son, herself, providing a warm, loving home in difficult circumstances,” he added.
“Life was hard. She worked hard even beyond retirement. She constantly helped her parents and me. She was a kind, caring and sensitive mother and popular person in her local community. She was a cheerful, hardworking person and the best mother in the world.
“She loved to travel the world and during her life she visited many European countries.
“She really stood out for her strength of personality, reliance and her warm heartedness.
“She was determined to maintain her dignity and independence despite the desperate sadness of seeing out her last few months away from her home and family.
“She was fiercely proud of Ukraine and loved to share her memories from back home and her insights having lived through so much.
“She would often discuss her love of Scotland and in particular the drive from Killin to Dunblane and the green and hills.”
