Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust – News Release
Refugee Week brings healing across the Dales
Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust’s People and the DALES (Diversity, Access, Learning, Environment, Sustainability) project will be marking Refugee Week (June 20 – 26) by welcoming a group of refugees and asylum seekers from Darwen.
Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise (DARE) will take part in a number of events with Skipton Refugee Support Group, including a special service at St Andrews in the town on Sunday 19th.
The group, who provide support for asylum seekers and refugees across Blackburn and Darwen, will also enjoy a residential at Broadrake near Ribblehead.
They will be staying with Mike and Rachel Benson who have welcomed them many times.
And on Friday evening, Skipton Refugee Support Group has organised an evening of stories, poems, and music to celebrate Refugee Week in Skipton Library.
Members of their own refugee community will share experiences, whilst the School of Sanctuary will display artwork.
Judy Rogers, Project Officer at YDMT said: “It will be great to welcome our friends from DARE once more to the Dales as they enjoy everything this fantastic area has to offer. This year’s Refugee Week is themed around ‘healing’ and we will be sharing stories and bringing communities together. There is no better way of healing than being out in the countryside with a group of friends.
“Our residential will feature a tour of Ribblehead viaduct with local historian Sarah Lister, a long walk along Twistleton Scar, and then a choice of dry-stone walling wall on High Lot above Southerscales with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust or a pottery workshop with a local potter.
“These events are so important as refugees and asylum seekers are often isolated from the rest of the community. Bringing them out into the Dales is literally a breath of fresh air and offers respite from the current struggles of life.”
Refugee Week is a UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.
Founded in 1998 and held every year around World Refugee Day on the 20 June, Refugee Week is also a growing global movement.
Through a programme of arts, cultural, sports and educational events alongside media and creative campaigns, Refugee Week enables people from different backgrounds to connect beyond labels, as well as encouraging understanding of why people are displaced, and the challenges they face when seeking safety.
Judy added: “This is a tough time to be an asylum seeker in the UK. I’d like to thank Skipton Refugee Support Group for continuing to champion the cause of refugees and supporting not only those who have settled in Skipton but also those further afield, and more recently offering support to those welcoming Ukrainian families within Craven. This work is needed now more than ever.”
More than 10,000 people have taken part in YDMT’s People and the Dales project, which is enabled by a variety of supporters including the players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
ENDS
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For more information, please call Mike Appleton at YDMT on 015242 51002 or email media@ydmt.org
Refugee week runs from June 20 – 26 and you can find more information here: www.refugeeweek.org.uk
About Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust:
Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) is a small charity doing big things to support the people, landscape and wildlife of the Dales.
To date the charity has helped to deliver inspiring projects in the Yorkshire Dales and surrounding areas. These projects cover areas as diverse as countryside apprenticeships, supporting local communities, education and outreach, restoring woodlands and wildlife habitats, and improving access and understanding of this special place.
The Trust has recruited more than 60,000 supporters to date. Find out more at www.ydmt.org
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