SPRING NEWSLETTER
FEBRUARY 2023
We have had a proper winter with some very cold and icy periods which makes today especially pleasant with sunshine and warm spring air. The Christmas period was very busy for us with several projects coming to fruition. The Christmas cards sold very well again – thank you everyone who bought some – and we managed to get our first Calendar printed and distributed in time too. We must also thank everyone who supported us in the giving of presents to the children at Christmas – most notably to the ladies of the WI in Lydeard St Lawrence. It was good to be able to send everyone home with a bagful of treats for each of their children after our last Conversation session of 2022.
So our first attempt at producing a Calendar seems to have gone surprisingly well. There have even been calls for another one for 2024.
January’s recipe is Ghormez Sabzi which is a Persian Beef Stew and is shared by Jamal. Interesting ingredients included dried lemons, fenugreek and handfuls of green herbs and spinach. It is delicious. February includes two Lentil Soup recipes – one red, and one green. Safaa uses spices for colour, sweetness and heat which is an intriguing way of thinking about their qualities. And the recipe in March is for a Coconut version of Basboosa, shared by Nadia. This is also known as a Syrian Sweetness Cake which describes it rather well. April introduces us to Kabseh spice which Noor uses amongst other spices to coat chicken before roasting. It is fun cooking something new each month and using different ingredients, some of which require sourcing from local shops that we didn’t realise stocked such a wide selection of cosmopolitan products.
Recently our new advisor to the Trustees, Hannah Banfield, got a new project started for provision of bicycles to some of the families. A total of 11 bikes were given to some parents and children, along with helmets and lights. Very many thanks go to Anthony of Prodigal Bikes for supplying the equipment and to Hannah for organising this. She has set up a GoFundMe account so if you feel that you would like to support this initiative please visit https://gofund.me/7219b023 – as she told us “It was a lovely morning seeing these families receive their bikes”. TWR supplied a few extra accessories to ensure that everybody had gloves and helmets.
A bike provides free and sustainable transport for people who struggle to afford other forms of transport to get to work, school, shops, appointments and other vital facilities.
Before we have managed to send out this newsletter, there has been a second Bicycle drop off. It’s hard to keep up with all this activity!
When an Asylum Seeker is granted Refugee Status by the Home Office one of the first things to do is to open a bank account. Nothing is simple about any of the changes that the authorities require the person to make, but TWR would like to make a special mention to thank the Halifax Building Society for their excellent service in the Taunton branch. The manager was extremely kind, patient and helpful during the complicated process for which we were very grateful. In fact, this is all new ground for our charity. The glacially-slow processing of Asylum Seekers claims means that we only know of one person locally who has received the famed ‘letter’. And we also know that there are several hundreds of people waiting patiently in the system in our vicinity. There are many things to learn about the complexities of establishing a new individual into British society. Negotiating the system will become easier in the future as we will learn from where we failed to succeed and from mistakes in trusting the local authorities to give us solutions.
Back in November we had a very special visit from The Red Dress. This is an incredible embroidered silk dress with all the stitching work done by displaced people across the world. It’s creator, Kirstie Macleod, brought it to TWR in Taunton as the last event in her year of Arts Council Funding. Weren’t we lucky? She generously gave us two presentations. Firstly, she spoke to a large group of Ukrainians with our teacher, Katya, helping to translate any difficult technical sewing terminology. There was a panel on the dress sewn by some Ukrainian refugees as they left their homeland in the spring, together with a short film clip of this which was very moving for everyone in the room. Then she spoke to a roomful of Middle Eastern refugees, one of whom had sewn a flower onto the dress in 2021. It really is a fantastic project and if you want to learn more about it all she has a very informative website at www.
We continue to meet new Ukrainians needing to learn English and our class lists remain fluid as some people arrive and others have to leave when they start employment. Katya remains the central figure in the success of our English Lessons. Due to demand we have added a third class for Beginners. Once again TWR are extremely grateful to Somerset Supports Ukraine for trusting in us and for offering a second grant to cover all our costs for this term. The students are dedicated and attendance levels continue to be very high. People are coming from as far afield as Chard and Ilminster catching the bus in and out of Taunton. Apart from the learning aspect, there is a strong social element to this enterprise with the opportunity for Ukrainians to discuss some of the difficulties they face living here and to share ways to overcome them. They really are extremely resourceful and self-supportive. Katya continues to listen and to help everyone where she can. It is very rewarding to have such an appreciative group to help.
Several of the English Conversation and Coffee volunteers have been enjoying some interesting independent films at The Space (behind the Tacchi-Morris) shown by Taunton Film Society. Two recent films were set in Iran. One was filmed entirely from the interior of a car. It’s called Hit the Road made by Panah, the son of the jailed film maker Jafar Panahi, and depicts a family driving to the Turkish border to smuggle their young adult son out of the country. It is available on various streaming services.
Another film, There is No Evil, examines how four people have to deal with the death penalty in Iran, each in their own way. This film was shot in secret in Iran and smuggled out of the country. Again, it is available to stream.
During the Taunton Literary Festival another ‘friend-to-refugees’
Amongst them are these particular varieties which are pertinent to our work producing the Calendar. Whilst discussing what was, and what wasn’t, available to the cooks, we discovered time and again that the British courgette is not considered good enough. What people miss is the Syrian courgette – shorter, stumpier and tastier by all accounts. The cucumber will also be welcomed. Other vegetables that Adam sent to us included fava beans, broad beans, sweet peppers and fenugreek, which should please Jamal who will be able to grow fresh leaves for his stews.
There is an idea to hold a Summer Party for everyone this year and attach a small Horticultural Show for both refugees and voluteers to enter flower and vegetable classes. Adam Alexander says he will be more than happy to act as an impartial judge. So do consider sowing a few seeds with this in mind!
TWR is recognised for our quality of our Training. We have been asked to provide repeat preparation sessions for both volunteers from local charities and employees from the statutory services, in preparation for supporting the increasing numbers of asylum seekers being accommodated in the area. This is vital pre-requisite for anyone intending to be involved with these vulnerable people. The wide range of countries these people have fled from is a sad testament to the failure of so many political systems around the world.
Simon Forrester had to step down as Chair of TWR in September. Since then Ali Bachelor and Lynne Mayers have been acting as co-chairs – operating a charity that has grown exponentially in the last 18 months, both in terms of diversity of work and the number of volunteers on our books. Sadly, Ali had to step down in December and we thank her for all her hard work in that capacity; bringing her administrative skills, her unwavering support of others and her positive outlook. We are glad to tell you that Eddie East has now offered to take on that role for the time being, to work alongside Lynne. We are incredibly grateful, and know that we will benefit from his management experience and very broad insights. We are, however, still left with the serious challenges of lack of trustees and people to take on the co-chairing role in the long term. We would welcome trustees either with a broad interest in or experience of refugee and asylum issues, or individuals with specialist skills such as volunteer, IT or financial management. PLEASE THINK ABOUT THIS AND CONTACT US IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS.
We have also had to say goodbye to one of our stalwarts; Juliet Harkness. Juliet was a key ‘mover’ at the inception of TWR, served as trustee until recently and has taken on nearly every role in TWR, at some point! Most will know her as our gifted ‘enabler’ for befriending issues on the preparation courses, but she has also been a befriender, a reviewer and our social secretary (and probably much else)! She will be greatly missed, and ‘thank you’ just isn’t a big enough word, Juliet.
Once again, we have received donations from various sources. Thank you to those who have taken it upon themselves to collect money for our work. To those singers of carols in Stoke St Gregory, to St Mary’s in Nether Stowey, to the North Curry Coffee Shop and to the North Curry Methodists – we are very grateful.
Also, to a cohort of students from Taunton International School who, for the second year running, have chosen us and are raising funds by cashing in on the madness of Valentines Day – roses and chocolates can generate a surprising amount of money!
And finally, we are calling all Fully-trained Befrienders
Thank you for your continued support of the work we are doing locally to support the many people in need of encouragement. Please do make contact with us if you are interested in exploring ways to get involved in our incredibly challenging, but extremely rewarding, volunteering roles. Email Esther at volunteering@