NEWS & BLOG

This August marks a year since the 2024 far-right riots at asylum hotels and the proliferation of online disinformation about people seeking asylum. Once again the use of hotels and the people seeking sanctuary within them have become a target this summer for people frustrated by their own lack of agency, with the far-right hijacking issues of women’s safety for political gain and seeding anti-migrant sentiment. What’s so frustrating is that disinformation is not being dispelled by the Government or the mainstream media, and there is almost no mention of the fact that much taxpayer money is going to companies subcontracted by the Home Office such as Clearsprings Ready Homes, who are getting extremely rich from the use of hotels. We will be doing some myth-busting work this autum – see below for more.

Missing in the public conversation on asylum at the moment is the compassion and humanity that we as a nation felt so strongly when the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in 2021 and the war in Ukraine started in 2022. The UK rallied around a view of ourselves as a nation who, as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, had the capacity, will, imagination and kindness to give sanctuary. Yet there is now a growing lack of empathy for people who need safety. Against this backdrop, the necessity of our work has become stark: our community-building and integration efforts are crucial for countering divisive rhetoric. We’ve always aimed to bring together local people of every possible background. We’re so proud to be a thriving community for refugees, migrants, people seeking asylum and locals that is at complete odds with the harmful, negative narratives in politics and the media.

This summer we’ve been doing what we do best: thoroughly enjoying each other’s company. From theatre trips to gardening, celebrating the achievements of our English learners, Pride activities, and our annual Refugee Day party and beach trip, we’ve been keeping ourselves busy and finding joy at our beautiful centre and around the country.

In conversation on refugees and climate justice

In June the fantastic Asad Rehman (Chief Executive, Friends of the Earth UK) was in conversation with Antonia Benfield, our wonderful Trustee and immigration barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, on the topic of refugees and climate justice. Our friend, actor and activist Juliet Stevenson, chaired. You can watch the full recording on our YouTube channel here, and our Communications and Administrative Officer Nita’s reflections on the evening here.

Swimmers and runners
We’re very grateful to all our volunteers who are swimming and running for us this September and we will be featuring each on social media platforms. We are particularly excited that our community member, Ethiopian cycling champion Trhas, is running the Vitality 10k to raise money for us. You can support her crowdfunding page here.

Sondos’ story

Our Humans of West London Welcome series continues to inform and enlighten readers about the experiences of our community members. In one of our latest stories, our refugee community member Sondos talks about finding West London Welcome and her growth in confidence since she became a member of the community.

Celebrating our community at our annual Refugee Day Party

This year our Refugee Day Party was packed with wonderful activities including our ‘Olympic Games’, beautiful face painting, food stalls, gift table, crafts tables and the infamous tug of war! Our community centre garden unlocked everybody’s youthful spirit with music, dancing, plenty of silliness and laughter and some very competitive egg and spoon and three-legged races. We brought together all ages with a delicious feast generously donated by Friends of Brook Green.

Beach trip to Margate

Over 70 of us went to Margate together for a day of swimming, dancing, relaxation and connection. For community members who have taken life-threatening boat journeys or lost loved ones at sea, being by the sea can stir traumatic memories and emotions, so having fun there amongst friends can be very healing. This is one of the most memorable and important trips we facilitate.

Celebrating achievements 

To wrap up our end of year English classes, community members presented a summary of what they learned in 2025. For many, it was their first experience of public speaking. Newly-arrived people are forced to wait six months after claiming asylum until they can access free college education, so our English classes fill a void in education for new arrivals. From non-literate to advanced-level English, lessons focus on developing everyday communication skills which helps members to better engage with GPs, the Home Office, the Job Centre and other organisations. We have a fantastically practical workbook called Fun With Finance written by volunteer John Clark, which uses English lessons to teach practical things like setting up utility accounts and paying bills, opening bank accounts, and much more. As a consequence of these lessons, our community member Aster said, ‘I fixed my problem with British gas by myself!’.

Countering harmful narratives
In this time of increasing online disinformation, we’re developing some new mythbusting materials for the WLW community and our supporters to feel confident about the facts around asylum issues which we will share. In the meantime, we encourage you to watch and read what the excellent migration researcher Zoe Gardner has to say.

We also highly recommend the very moving, child-centered BBC Seeking Refuge series – watch Ali’s journey from Afghanistan, Rachel’s journey from a country in Eurasia, and Hamid’s journey from Eritrea.

MP visits

MPs Joe Powell (Kensington and Bayswater) and Ruth Cadbury (Hounslow) visited our centre for the first time. It was a great opportunity for them to better understand our work and the complexities of the casework that arise for their refugee and migrant constituents, and we were able to raise issues like the lack of homes and legal aid, and myths about asylum issues being perpetuated by the media and Government. Ruth Cadbury would love to see a centre like ours in Hounslow to support their hotels – if any of you are Hounslow residents and interested in setting this up (with our help in a mentoring capacity), get in touch.

Volunteers needed

IT: We’re looking for someone to help us with IT support for staff and members, including helping us implement our digital and data audit and support community members to troubleshoot and set up their devices.

Donations: A volunteer is needed to help us list items on Vinted and Ebay, help organise donations coming in, and support community members to get what they need from our storage areas. Someone who can also do basic handiwork and move furniture would be totally dreamy.

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