The Bradford branch of the Association of Ukrainian Women in Great Britain's (AUW) annual commemoration of Ukrainian Heroines.

In February each year, the Association of Ukrainian Women in Great Britain (AUW) commemorate Ukrainian Heroines (Svyato Zhinky Heroyiny). February was chosen as this was the month in which Olha Basarab (died 1924) and Olena Teliha (died 1942) were killed because of their dissident activism in pursuit of Ukrainian independence.

At the time of the founding of the AUW, both deaths were still in recent memory and had struck a chord with the generation of Ukrainian women who had found themselves displaced in Germany at the end of the Second World War. The commemoration of Ukrainian Heroines usually includes a church liturgy and requiem and a performance known as an akademiya which comprises readings, poetry recitals, choral and dramatic performances.

The akademiya is held on the stage in the hall at Bradford Ukrainian Cultural Centre and is usually all in Ukrainian. As this is an akademyia, there is no audience applause during the performance or at the end. The AUW members who take part all wear traditional Ukrainian embroidered blouses (usually white fabric with red and black or blue embroidery) unless wearing a costume for one of the dramatic performances.

The stage is decorated with portraits of Ukrainian heroines, rushnyky (plural; singular - rushnyk: ritual cloths which are used decoratively around picture frames, furniture, lecterns etc.) The majority of the AUW women performing are second generation Ukrainians.

This is an excerpt of a video documenting the Bradford branch of the Association of Ukrainian Women in Great Britain's (AUW) annual commemoration of Ukrainian Heroines. The video begins with views of engravings about Ravensbruck concentration camp extracted from a new book about the concentration camp by Olena Wityk Wojtowycz which are displayed in the hall.

The camera shows people arriving into the dark hall and taking their seats, then a bell tolls. The camera pans to the front of the hall, where members of AUW are standing on stage dressed in white embroidered blouses and holding candles, with music playing. The stage backdrop is decorated with four framed photographs of women (Olha Kobilanska, Alla Horska, Olena Teliha, Olha Basarab), a framed icon of the Virgin Mary, a flag and a traditional Ukrainian grave called a mohyla. A large wreath of flowers is displayed at the front of the stage.

The camera moves to the back of the hall, where a procession of women dressed in the same way and carrying a single flower walk to the front of the hall and on to the stage, paying their respects at the mohyla then joining the arc of women on the stage.
The music stops and the women bow to the mohyla. They then begin to sing a choral version of the Lord's Prayer and at the end the curtains close.

The scene switches to the curtains opening, and Halyna Prodywus, chair of AUW Bradford, walks out and stands behind the lectern to give an opening address about the context of the anniversary and its importance in remembering those who gave their lives for a free Ukraine. She then asks everyone to stand for a minute's silence.