Chair report Sept 21 to Sept 22
The Afghans arrived at the end of August. WBAR started working with them from November 2021. Initially there was a WBAR appeal for backpacks with paper and pens for the children.
In order to set up classes and befrienders for these arrivals the WBAR committee ran a recruitment drive for additional volunteers. Training was initially in person, and then moved online as COVID was an issue once again.
Marion Burke agreed to undertake the admin of the DBS check process for the new influx of volunteers. Marion’s excellent skills in running this process have been vital in enabling the charity to grow the number of volunteers.
With the support of the new volunteers, language classes were started for the families in the hotels.
Thanks to funding from the Greenham Trust Afghan appeal we were able to buy a long list of essential items for the families in the hotels: including handbags and hairbrushes for the women, and dictionaries and language learning resources for each family. Donations of children’s books enabled every child to receive an English reading book appropriate for their age. Thanks to the Community Furniture Project who provided pushchairs and car seats to the families and much more.
Resettled Afghan families joined the Syrian families for a Christmas Party in December and then attended regular sessions at the Riverside. The resettled Afghan families have needed support in settling in to the local area; there is still work to be in matching some families with regular befrienders.
In January we became aware of the Asylum Seekers in a local hotel. A further round of recruitment brought in new volunteers including a new team leader for the Asylum Seekers.
After the appointment of a team leader for the Asylum Seeker support at the hotel 3 regular sessions a week were established, including activities and English classes. Football and yoga were added to the activities in the next month. The language and craft classes were awarded support by generous private donors and the Greenham Trust in late April. Further support for activities at the hotel is being looked into.
For 6 weeks in March and April (thanks to Greenham Trust) a pop-up shop in Newbury collected donations of clothes, toiletries, sports equipment, musical instruments and paper and pens. Thanks to the generosity of local support there was a distribution of essentials to over 100 asylum seekers. Clothes, shoes and essential items continued to be distributed throughout the year.
A further generous grant of funds from Greenham Trust Appeal for the Afghans in March 22 enabled WBAR to continue to support the Afghan families accommodated in temporary accommodation and permanently resettled in Newbury.
By September 2022, we have over 40 volunteers working to provide the support for refugees and asylum seekers in the area.
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I have examined the West Berks Action for Refugees accounts and bank statements for the period 23 September 2021 to 23 September 2022 and confirm that they are a true and accurate record of income and expenditure.
Phil Day
The Firs Cottage, Inkpen, Hungerford, Berks RG17 9PU 13th May 2023