We’ve been enjoying a range of activities over the summer as part of our Borough of Sanctuary work, which aims to bring together all our local communities and build links and improve understanding.

Our Social Saturdays have been running every other Saturday and we’ve packed in celebrations and workshops. In June we celebrated Refugee Week with conversations around what it meant to leave your home and start afresh. We also welcomed people with experience of Windrush to come and talk about their feelings and experiences. In July, with such hot weather, we showed people how to make their own fruit kebabs and held an art workshop promoting wellbeing. In August we are celebrating such a hot summer with free ice cream!

Each session has had some wonderful food cooked by our World Cooks. This has become a real draw for people and enables people to try something new, learn about other traditions and speak to new people about their traditions. We’ve also put on some free trips out for the family, which have proved very successful. Our first trip was to Alexandra Palace and Park in North London, then we’ve been to Primrose Hill, Green Park and St James’s Park (with a photo op at Buckingham Palace!) and then a stroll down the South Bank and seeing the London Eye. Participants have welcomed the chance to see London’s open spaces and see where they can take their families in their spare time. We also showed them how to move around London by bus and tube, adding to their independence. On each trip we shared a picnic.