We’ve had a very busy and successful Summer with our hosting weekend and fundraising events.

Hosting weekend (29th & 30th June & 1st July)

We had a remarkable time with 19 visitors from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran, Gabon, Malawi, Ukraine, Pakistan and a helper from Germany.

We enjoyed wonderful weather, activities and great generosity from the following:

• Bibby’s of Ingleton who transported our visitors
• Looking Well for a base to meet on Friday and have our soup on Saturday lunch-time
• Andrea and Stephen Dennis for hosting our farm visit on Saturday morning
• Burton Recreational Field for Saturday afternoon’s playing, chilling in the sunshine and fishing in the Wenning nearby
• Burton Village Hall for hosting our Saturday evening ceilidh, everyone who contributed such lovely food and and the band who played for us
• Yorkshire Dales National Park and Ingleborough Cave for supporting our Sunday walk and cave visit
• Westhouse Methodist Church for providing our Sunday lunch
• Bentham Youth Café who loaned play equipment
• And everyone else who’s support made the weekend possible

Fundraising events

June saw us hosting the weekly Bentham coffee morning providing cakes, plants, books, tombola and a raffle. We made £470 which went to supporting the Hosting Weekend and the Red Cross Refugee Services.

In July we were present at Clapham’s Street Market, on a very cold and soggy day running a Treasurer Map Hamper and wine tombola. Despite the inclement weather we nevertheless managed to make an incredible £222 for Bradford Red Cross Refugee Support Services, through our wine tombola and a Treasure Map Hamper.

A big thank you to the intrepid team of helpers who braved the weather to help on the stall, and to those generous enough to have donated wine,  and to those who turned up and supported by having  a flutter to try their luck.

Refugee Fund

We also have a small amount in this Fund should we need or decide to send funds elsewhere or answer an emergency appeal.

We have always said that money given for refugees should be passed on to them, and any admin expenses are met separately by members.

Autumn/Winter activities

We will keep you posted about future events – coming up later this year…