 Dear supporters, There was plenty of warmth and colour to combat the mid-winter blues at January’s social. You can brighten up a cold, grey day by reading about it below. Looking ahead to the summer, we are expecting to celebrate Refugee Week this year in style. 2025 marks ten years since CRRC first came together as a community group. Our aim was to persuade Cambridge City Council to join the newly expanded VPRS programme, which promised to resettle 20,000 Syrians over a five-year period. Since then, our whole area has become an exemplar of positivity around welcoming refugees, with both Cambridge City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council pursuing City of Sanctuary accreditation, while our volunteers and supporters move mountains (or, at least, wardrobes and sofas) on behalf of refugee families. In this issue, as always, you’ll find reports on outings and personal successes here, but also on our outreach activities here. We have been wonderfully supported by donors, fundraisers and partners and we acknowledge them here. Thank you to Kay and Farid for the use of their photos. Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign |
 Winter activities and socials A group of 23 children took part in Clip ‘n’ Climb on 30th November. This is always a very popular activity. One girl told us she had been counting down the days ever since she found out about it. Another family said their children had chosen to come to Clip ‘n’ Climb rather than their usual Saturday football training. The activities team organised a second trip on 1 February for those who didn’t get a place in November. The highlight of the winter season, however, was the wonderful social organised in January by the activities team, with special thanks to  Emmanuel. The children were thrilled by a visit from Father Christmas, who brought all 73 of them a small gift. We are very grateful to Stephen Levitt for using his special relationship with Santa to make this happen. The adults were almost equally pleased by the celebration dishes of pilao and kofte. Emmanuel had brought a large speaker so that the different national groups could share music and dancing. The Afghan men started us off, followed by the Sudanese families, and a mixed group of Syrians and volunteers capped off the afternoon with a hokey cokey.Curtains and cars  Even those families who receive some help to furnish their new homes require additional items. Some of these are ‘nice to haves’ but others are essential. An example is curtains and blinds, vital for privacy and warmth. We put out a call for donations and have been overwhelmed by the response. Thank you to everyone who has offered window coverings.We continue to support the acquisition of another extremely useful item, a UK drivers licence, which helps with many types of employment. Congratulations to Farid who passed his test in January. Bar Hill workshops Trustees attended an arts workshop at the Bar Hill asylum hotel in December. This was a pilot to test whether these events might be welcomed.  It was immediately clear that there is a huge demand for organised activities aimed at improving the mental health of people living in limbo. Around 20 women took part, most of whom were Kurdish, Eritrean or Afghan. A facilitator from Oblique Arts led the session, encouraging the women to chat in English as they drew the fruits she had brought. Representatives of Cambridge Women’s Resources Centre and from Student Action for Refugees were also on hand to help. New trustee Adriana will work with Oblique Arts to ensure that this can become a regular activity.Outreach activities  CRRC volunteers have been out and about delivering talks, running workshops and engaging in research. We have been working with Anglia Ruskin University on a three-year research project, looking at barriers to good health in migrant communities created by poor housing, access to healthcare and nutrition. Trustees, volunteers and service-users have all taken part. After a successful workshop at Comberton Village College in October, trustees talked to an older age group in November, when they were invited to a meeting with the Homerton Changemakers. In January, Naeem Gulzad gave a talk to the Rotary group in Huntingdon (pictured). He talked about his experience of leaving Afghanistan behind, along with family, career, friends and dreams, and how he is going about creating a new life for his family. The audience found his speech enlightening and moving. Kay Powell also gave an outline of the work CRRC does across the county.Homes for Ukraine update  The CRRC inbox still gets fairly regular messages about refugees from Ukraine wanting to relocate to Cambridge. With the ‘family’ scheme now ended, the only possibility for Ukrainians to reach the UK is through matching with a British host. Despite an amazing local response, hosts are now hard to find. A recent compelling request is from Alycia, the Cambridge-based elder sister of Luka (pictured), a 20 year old graduate from Zaporizhia in Eastern Ukraine, whose town has suffered terrible bombing from Russia. Please take a look at some information about Luka here. If you think you might be up for hosting, you will need to first register your interest with the Government. You can do that here. If you do register your interest, your details will be passed to the local authority covering your postal address and they then get in touch to vet you and ensure your suitability for hosting. Once accepted a ‘matching’ process takes place. We are particularly keen to find someone in north Cambridge for Luka so he can be near his big sister!  We would like to express our deepest gratitude to: Children of Nepal charity for the gift of 8 tablets for refugee children Matthew Webb of Panorama Journal for a kind donation of juice and popcorn for the January social The family and friends of Jean Ila Currie, a member of the Jesus Lane Quaker meeting, who donated over £700 in her memory at a special service in December Jeff Bruner for a gift of £300 in honour of Kate Bruner Caroline Chambers for a very generous gift St James’s Parish Church for a donation of £180.  Hinchingbrooke Drop-In Café CRRC  volunteer Elisa Kenton-Howells has been running a drop-in session every Saturday during term-time for the Afghan children studying at Hinchingbrooke School. This initiative is going well, with Elisa offering help in a variety of ways – with reading, exam preparation, support in areas children feel they need extra help, writing prose, and more. At the meeting pictured, one of the girls read out a beautifully worded piece she’d written about the city of Cambridge.Board of Trustees  There have been more developments as CRRC seeks to strengthen its Board of Trustees. We were delighted to elect four new trustees, Adriana, Aryan, Aisha and Joseph, at our November meeting. One more member of the team, Claire, joined us in January. These new trustees bring a wealth of different experience and we look forward to their input. Pictured at January’s social with long-standing trustees, Sue and Catharine, are Aryan, Claire and Aisha. They are already hard at work on policy work and assisting the family support team.  CamCRAG Winter Fair & Sleepout l 8 February Join the Cambridge Convoy Refugee Action Group (CamCRAG) for their most significant fundraising event of the year, the Winter Fair and Sponsored Sleepout at St Giles’ Church. With live music and hot drinks, the Fair will feature an exhibition of photography, with the chance to buy a print, as well as books, cakes and vintage clothing. They would be most grateful for any sponsorship via JustGiving and are raising money for The Haven, local homelessness charity ITAC’s women’s night drop-in centre, as well as their own work in Northern France. More details are here.Ceilidh for Ukraine I 15 February Local ceilidh band, the Cyriacs, are hosting a dance at Storeys Field Centre to raise funds for Cambridgeshire-based charity, Convoy4Ukraine, which runs aid convoys to Ukraine, taking donations of vehicles and humanitarian aid. This will be a family-friendly event open to all with traditional folk music, Ukrainian snacks and a licensed bar.No experience is necessary as the band’s caller will explain each dance as they go along. Tickets cost £10 and can be bought via Eventbrite here. Hollywoodgate | 18 February  Another opportunity to see this extraordinary documentary film at the Arts Picturehouse. Given unprecedented access to the new Minister for the Afghan Airforce, the film-maker follows a year of almost comic horror as the Taliban consolidate their grip on Afghanistan. Details are here. |
About
(postal address only)
CRRC c/o
Friends Meeting House
12 Jesus Lane
CB5 8BA
© 2025 Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign.
Registered charity 1172836