The theme of this year’s Refugee Week was ‘Courage’, particularly the courage to have difficult conversations. Fortunately, Cambridge has a strong tradition of civilised debate and events included a round table discussion, film showing and Q&A at Wolfson College, a conference at Homerton College, and a community fair at Cambridge Central Library, which also hosted the celebration described below. With support from Cambridgeshire County Council and Urban and Civic, CRRC organised a community picnic at Waterbeach. Families from Turkey, Ukraine and Afghanistan brought a delicious variety of dishes and were joined by artists from Oblique Arts, who ran a bag decorating activity and provided live music. Simultaneously, Cambridgeshire County Council organised a reception at the Central Library to celebrate the first anniversary of their award as a Council of Sanctuary, one of the first county councils in the UK to receive this recognition.
