IT may not seem a big deal, in the general scheme of devastated lives and shattered towns and cities, but the impact of the appalling Russian invasion of Ukraine stretches into many areas of life. Even food awards.

This year’s 34th annual World Cheese Awards were due to take place in the war-torn country, and now the Guild of Fine Food, organisers of the cheese awards, is fund-raising to help the people of Ukraine.

The Guild had been working on the plan to take the world’s leading cheese awards to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for two years, with their partners ProCheese.

A spokesman for the Guild says: “The most constructive way we can help is to direct funds through a recognised charity and we have been directed to the Disasters Emergency Committee by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.”

The Guild’s cheese awards last year were held in Oviedo, Spain, following the previous year at Bergamo and this would have been a new direction into a new cheese-making culture.

“We were invited to the Ukraine to shine a light and nurture the cheesemakers of that nation, who were working hard to be recognised on the world stage.  We visited a few of those cheesemakers in 2019 and were bowled over by their ambition. We were looking forward to introducing the World Cheese community to them and now feel we need to corral that community to help.”