THE ‘Refugees Welcome in Bude’ group has been overwhelmed by the support it received recently and expressed heartfelt thanks to everyone who donated warm clothes, tents, hygiene products, blankets and food for refugees in Calais and Syria.
The van was filled and an estate car was also needed to take everything to Wadebridge for sorting before onward passage to the final destinations.
The wet, blustery weather conditions as volunteers loaded the van and car made their efforts even more worthwhile as many commented on how vital the warm clothes and blankets will be for the people who have been bombed out of their homes and who have travelled thousands of miles in freezing conditions wearing just the clothes they are standing up in.
Mary Whibley from the ‘Refugees Welcome in Bude’ group said: “Some of the donations have been sent via van to Calais and the rest via a container on a ship leaving Plymouth for Syria. These donations have been organised by Amanda Pennington, of Wadebridge Cornish Refugee Aid, and then different towns collect the gifts and take them to the Royal showground in Wadebridge where everything is sorted.’
Mary said that according to Cornwall Council the Bude area was not ‘a preferred geographical location for the resettlement of refugees’, the main reasons for this being a shortage of primary school places and availability of private housing.
She added: “The lack of primary school places is a real problem in this area and the 500 new houses being built at Binhamy, plus other housing proposals in the pipeline, will generate the need for hundreds more places. This is something that needs addressing now.
“Regarding housing we are only looking for two or three homes and there are now very good incentives for private landlords who should contact us on 01288 331424 or via our web page on Facebook ‘Refugees Welcome in Bude’ for more details.
“The aim of the group is to give sanctuary to two or three small families, say 12 to 14 people in total. I believe this is still possible but we may need to go down the ‘private sponsorship’ route, which is used in Canada.”
The group often holds meetings at various locations around Bude, and they invite anyone interested in finding out more or helping in any way to come along for a tea or coffee to see what it is doing. To keep up to date on when the next meeting will be as well as other announcements, visit the Facebook page.