Living and leisure in Salisbury

Shopping on a restricted budget

Food shops

You will find that that you can buy similar products for wildly differing prices, dependent on where you shop. Many of our guests enjoy using the two Polish shops in Salisbury at:

Gosi, 62 Winchester Street (stays open late)
Taste the World, 92 – 94 Fisherton Street

The market, in the central square, takes place on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Supermarkets vary in quality and price, so it is difficult to give advice on which to pick. Aldi is often recommended on price, but is more difficult to get to without a car (it is on London Road, just off Southampton Road). Marks and Spencer and Waitrose are usually more expensive but would claim that they offer better quality products. Tesco and Sainsbury are both in the centre of town, with a similar middle of the range product range and prices.

The Foodbank and Salisbury Pantry

If you are suffering financial hardship, the Foodbank or the Salisbury Pantry can help. DO NOT USE THESE SERVICES UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES. Taking food from them reduces the amount of food available for people who really need it.

Foodbanks are for people who are going hungry, and the foodbank will provide three days of emergency food. You must show you are in urgent need before a voucher will be given to you. Vouchers are available from the Job Centre or the Hub and can be redeemed at one of the local foodbank centres in Salisbury, Downton and Amesbury.  This service is most likely to be relevant if you are not living with a host, and/or during the first weeks after your arrival before you receive any Universal Credit payments.  

Salisbury Pantry helps people on very low wages or struggling on benefits. Please consider carefully if this applies to you before you use it. It is a voluntary organisation, and needs to prioritise those in real need. It collects surplus food to offer a low-priced shop at its premises at 59 Catherine Street on Tuesdays from 10am – 3pm.

Users will need to register before they are able to do a weekly shop there. You will be required to make a £5 contribution, but will typically receive food worth £20 – £25. The system allows users to choose a number of items from a selection of tinned and other food such as rice and pasta, and additional fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, breakfast cereals and one or two frozen items. Sometimes they have toiletries available. If you need to use Salisbury Pantry, please note these points:

  • ask your host to help you sign up on line if you can at https://www.yourlocalpantry.co.uk/pantry-listings/salisbury-pantry
  • if you can’t, go in later in the morning when it is less busy and take a note with your name, address, phone number and email already written down
  • each person or family MUST shop individually. You should never go in as a larger group and only pay once.
  • Please limit the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables that you take, there are only limited supplies. The staff may have to ask you to reduce how much you take if supplies are short.

There are leaflets giving more information about both services available from the Hub.

Clothing

The Hub is unable to gather donations of clothing. The many charity shops will of course provide used clothing at cheaper prices, and Bemerton Clothing Exchange offers an exchange facility for under 12s on the first Saturday of the month at Bemerton Methodist Church, Roman Road, Salisbury SP2 9BH. You do not have to bring clothes to pick some up.

Insurance

In the event that a Ukrainian national with a driving licence needs to be insured on a car, A-Plus in Salisbury has been recommended, apparently sorting out the issue “when all online insurers failed”.

You may also wish to consider insurance for your pets. Petplan has announced it would provide insurance to Ukrainians arriving in the UK for free.

Churches

All the churches in Salisbury have provided a warm welcome to refugees from across the world, and the warmth of feeling has been evident for Ukrainian refugees.

Protopresbyter Bohdan Matwijczuk of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Churc has conducted two services at the Hub in the Methodist Church in St Edmund’s Church Street and hopes to make regular monthly visits. There is the opportunity to make confession before the services which take place at 11am on Saturday mornings. Future visits will be flagged via the Hub emails and on the this website.  

There is a monthly mass in Polish, held at 4pm on the second Sunday of the month at St Osmund’s Roman Catholic church on Exeter Street for those who speak Polish. This service is recorded and can be viewed at any time: see salisburycatholics.org/st-osmunds.

Salisbury Reds Bus Company

This bus company operates most bus services in South Wiltshire. This bus company no longer offers a one-off family ticket for Ukrainian families.

Timetables of Salisbury Reds bus services  

Salisbury City Bus Services map  

Map of Country services around Salisbury

Meeting Up

The Friday morning coffee morning between 10am and 12noon will continue to provide a meeting place for our guests.

Now that more Ukrainians are here in Salisbury, we are pleased to see more socialisation occurring naturally as people get to know each other. There is also a WhatsApp group set up by Ukrainians for Ukrainians. Any guest wishing to join it should contact us on admin@salisburyukrainehub.org.uk and we will pass their details on.

The Brown Street bar at 29A Brown Street has invited Ukrainians to come together on Tuesday afternoons between 4pm and 7pm each week. Offering everything from street food to drinks of all kinds, the outside area makes it suitable for all ages, particularly in the summer.

The Community Café at the Baptist Church at 41Brown Street offers tea, coffee and biscuits to anyone seeking company and conversation on Tuesday mornings, between 10am and 12noon. Each week, representatives of local organisations are present who can offer advice on such things as housing, budgeting or mental health.

Activities for Young People

It can be hard for children to find enough to do when they first arrive in the UK. And you will want to keep your children active. This is particularly true with newly arrived teenage children. The following organisations have kindly offered free or highly subsidised coaching, plus the loan of clothing or equipment.  If you are interested to learn more, please email us at admin@salisburyukrainehub.org.uk and we will gladly share more information and introduce you.

Dance

Football

Gymnastics and Tumbling

They are not a gymnastics club but do teach tumbling (which is mat based gymnastics such as handstands, cartwheels, back flips etc.)

Miscellaneous Activities

Three or four spaces could be reserved for young people at the Friday Youth Club where gaming, music and media creation tools are available and a nice friendly place for young people to hang out. This session is open to 12-18 year olds.

Two spaces also available for the gaming club on a Wednesday after school (4:30pm – 6:30pm) aimed at 10-16-year-olds. If interested, please email Andy at andy@theundergroundstudios.co.uk

 St Francis and Hope Church Youth nightsfrom week commencing 6th June, the following clubs are available, all located in the Youth Lounge behind the Church:

  • Friday Night Youth social club – £1per person, Years 6-9 (approximate age 10-14) at 18:00 – 19:30 and Years 10-13 (approximate age 14 – 18) at 19:30 – 21:00.
  • Sunday Night Youth discipleship£1per person, Years 10-13 (approximate age 14 – 18) at 19:00 – 21:00

Both clubs have table tennis, pool table, sports court, arcade machine, Xbox, Wii, music and tuck shop. However, the Sunday night club is 1 hour of social and 1 hour of Christian discipleship. Everyone is welcome to all clubs and if someone is unable to afford the £1 cost then please let them know. These clubs will not run during half terms and holidays.  Email: Sophie Stokes – youth@st-francischurch.org.uk

Music

Running

  • Downton Running Group for adults and teenagers

This is an unaffiliated group which means that all runners take part in the activity at their own risk, however they are very safety conscious, and look after one another.  If any Ukrainians, with or without their hosts would like to participate in these sessions they would be very welcome.  It is an all-inclusive group, suitable for all abilities, that run at various locations in Downton and the New Forest.  If lifts to or from the running venue were required, help would be offered whenever possible.   The run club meet regularly on a Friday morning at 9.00am, and then on an ad hoc basis on a Wednesday evening 5.30pm and a Sunday morning 9.00am.

Tennis

Free eBooks and audiobooks

In order to provide Ukrainians with a range of free reading, listening, learning and entertainment opportunities, multimedia content provider Odilo has launched a free app for both Android and iOS. The app includes 3000 e-books and audiobooks in a variety of genres, including 1,700 Ukrainian titles and 500 in English. There is material for both children and adults.  


n.b. Some on-line feedback suggests that the app can be slow to load and have technical problems, which Odilo claim to be addressing.

Accessing Ukrainian TV

There are various options – some free, some with subscriptions. Hosts should check with their guests before spending any money – they may not want to watch TV, they may prefer to just watch programmes in English to help them learn the language more quickly, or they may be happy with what they can find on the internet.

Ukrainians may already know how to access Ukrainian TV on-line.  If not, the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB) has a page with links to TV and radio streaming sites. On their website, click on news/Ukrainian media links.

If you have Netflix, you will find that some programmes do have subtitles and/or dubbing available in Ukrainian.

Mediacast is a company offering 60 Ukrainian channels. According to their website, they have developed apps for popular platforms such as ROKU, Android, Samsung Smart TV, DuneHD and MAG.  You pay by monthly subscription after a 5 day free trial. They have also introduced a Free Plan, which includes 15 Ukrainian TV channels and 10 radio stations. Immediately after registration, you will get unlimited access to these media resources. If you are unable to download the App to your TV, you will probably need to purchase a streaming stick to access Mediacast.