We are hiring!

Since BWR was founded in 2015 we have expanded considerably, especially over the last eighteen months or so, and we have now reached a stage where we are looking to recruit a part time Operations Officer to oversee the wide range of our work. It is an exciting stage of development and this is an opportunity to take on a new role within the organisation. 
Please see the attachments for more details of the post and forward to anyone you know within your own networks who you think might be interested. The closing date is 30th January.


Boutique Jumble Sale!

We have another fantastic Jumble next Friday 30th September in aid of BWR, which will exclusively feature women’s clothes and accessories. All details are below for the day – one you won’t want to miss!

The team are also still accepting donations for this event, please email [email protected] or call one of the team on the numbers below if you have anything you would like to donate. Thank you as always for your continued support!

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Volunteers Needed!

We need more volunteer support. We’d love for you to give the roles a read and pass them onto friends, family or colleagues who might be interested in supporting refugees and asylum seekers in Bath.

DIY and Donations Coordinators

Our House Prep, DIY and Donations Team is looking to expand! We are looking for volunteers to support with coordination for this growing team. You will be working collaboratively alongside our existing team, but we have called it a ‘coordinator’ because we will want you to get actively involved in organising and behind the scenes work.

We are looking to take on at least two new volunteers, one to be more involved in coordinating DIY work, and the other for Donations work.

Our ideal coordinator would:

-Be flexible to volunteer during traditional office hours
-Be strong and active (think carrying furniture upstairs)
-Have some basic DIY skills (DIY role only)
-Have access to a van for transporting furniture (not essential)
-Have basic IT skills to create an inventory (donations role only)

Even if this only partly sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you and see if you can get involved.

Befriending and Resettlement Volunteers

Our Befriending and Resettlement team do a huge range of volunteering work for us and the refugee community, from local orientation, to applying for benefits. At the moment, there is a particular need for befrienders who would be happy to support people through writing CVs and applying for work.

We are also looking for befrienders who are based in the Somer Valley or Chew Valley and who would be happy to give lifts.

Pashto Speakers

Finally, we’re looking for anyone who speaks Pashto to support us in our work with the Afghan community. You could use your language skills to act as a volunteer interpreter or a befriender with a Pashto speaking family.

If you are interested in volunteering with us, please email [email protected] to request a volunteer application form.

Host Family/Lodger Need

Is there anyone looking to take on a lodger or live-in tenant this year? We are supporting a refugee student who is moving to Bath in September and would prefer to stay with a family. Please note this is not an official BWR hosting scheme and would be a private rental arrangement between you and the student. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested.

We’re looking for new Trustees!

This is a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in the lives of refugees and asylum seekers living in Bath. The charity is at an exciting stage of its development. If you are passionate about welcoming people seeking safety in the UK, and have lived experience as a refugee or asylum seeker or experience in fundraising, comms, IT or charity governance and management, we’d love to hear from you!

We are looking to recruit a Chair of Trustees and at least one other Trustee with the skills, experience, energy and time to commit to our vital work.

What will you be doing?

Our Board is responsible for the governance of Bath Welcomes Refugees. The Board does not directly manage the day-to-day work, but provides oversight, shaping organisational strategy and supporting our staff and volunteers. We are more hands-on than most charity boards.

Please see the attached role descriptions for full details.

Specific activities will include monthly trustee meetings, biannual meetings with the Management Committee, the Annual General Meeting, and ad hoc attendance at fundraising/promotional events. As a small charity, there will be times when the trustees will need to be actively involved beyond Board meetings.

What difference will you make?

Bath Welcomes Refugees is a small, dynamic local organisation that continues to grow and develop. Particularly in the last year, the scope and volume of our work has expanded considerably and we have taken on our first paid staff members. The new trustee(s) will support us to ensure we have a strong strategy and robust governance to continue to grow and develop to meet our mission. 

Trustees will bring crucial insights and guidance from their own backgrounds, as we continue to refine our strategy, strengthen our structure and fundraising, and manage risk. This is your opportunity to be part of a respectful, inclusive and friendly team, and make a difference in the lives of people living in your local area.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for people willing to bring energy, enthusiasm and commitment to the role, and who will broaden the diversity of thinking on our board.

Please see the attached role descriptions for full details.

We are particularly looking for people with experience in the following:

·       Financial management, income generation and enterprise

·       Experience of the UK charity sector, especially management and/or governance

·       Fundraising

·       Communications, public relations and social media

·       IT and data security

·       Legal background

·       Lived experience as a refugee or asylum seeker

What we can offer you

·       Experience of strategy and leadership in the charity sector, supporting your professional development and boosting your CV

·       The opportunity to be part of a friendly passionate team, applying your unique skills and experience while learning from others

·       Access to training, on charity governance, safeguarding, refugee welfare and rights, and other relevant topics

·       Reimbursement of reasonable expenses

How to apply

Please send your CV with a one-page covering letter to [email protected] by Wednesday 27 July 2022. We aim to hold interviews in the week commencing 8th August.

We welcome applications from people with characteristics that are often underrepresented on charity boards, including disabled people, women, people of colour, those who identify as LGBTQ+, and young people.

If you are passionate about welcoming refugees and asylum seekers and want to be involved in growing a small charity, we welcome your application. If you don’t meet the above criteria, but still want to be a trustee or get involved in another capacity, we would still love to hear from you.

For an informal chat about the roles, please get in touch with one of our Trustees, Charlotte MacDiarmid,  [email protected].

BWR – Resources for Hosts

We have created a list of helpful information and guidelines for people hosting Ukrainians and have set up a Facebook page for the host community in Bath to share information.

We have a public google drive which we are gradually adding more and more resources to, please click here to access this.

And the Facebook page for hosts is here

Homes for Ukraine: Advice for Hosts

City of Sanctuary UK: Homes for Ukraine Scheme – Introductory session to hosting 7th April 2-3pm

The City of Sanctuary UK is holding an “Introductory Session to Hosting” on 7th April.  Please see further information on the session below and to sign up, click here

This session will provide an update on the scheme and a brief overview  of the key practical considerations hosts should consider if they plan to join the UK government’s Homes for Ukraine  scheme.
 
CoS UK will host speakers from partner organisations NACCOM – The No Accommodation Network and RESET who will share their expertise on hosting and community sponsorship schemes.

There will be a Q&A session at the end. The webinar will be recorded and available on the City of Sanctuary UK website after the event.

Helping Ukrainians arriving in Bath

We understand that the people of Bath are keen to get involved and help support those fleeing the war in Ukraine. As the Ukrainian refugees start arriving in our local community, BWR will be on hand to help support local sponsors with advice and guidance, and support the refugees they are housing with English lessons, employability and benefits advice and guidance on access to other services.  We can also help to source furniture, household goods and clothing, if needed, and put on social events too to help with community integration.


Families are now starting to come through via the Ukraine Family Scheme and we are very interested in hearing from anyone in the Bath area who is able to offer the use, in particular, of self-contained accommodation for housing families, please contact [email protected]
We welcome the Homes for Ukraine scheme announced on 14th March, and the Ukraine Family Scheme previously announced and want to see as many refugees housed as soon as possible. 



BWR is working closely with BANES council on how we can achieve this but we are currently advising those interested in sponsorship to head to the government’s Homes for Ukraine website: https://homesforukraine.campaign.gov.uk. Before committing, it is important to think through what this will mean for you and your family and some FAQs can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/…/homes-for-ukraine-scheme.... The scheme went live on Friday 18th March, and is currently open to named sponsors who are matched with named refugees.

There are a number of charities that are helping with the matching process and we would encourage you to contact these organisations as this will provide the safest way to connect with those in need:   

BWR is exploring ways of matching people on a more local basis, the situation is evolving rapidly and we will update on this when we have more information.

Newsletter June 2021

The Latest News and Happenings

Volunteer Week: a big thank you to all our wonderful volunteers

We were thrilled to celebrate #VolunteersWeek in the first week of June this year.

Our volunteers fundraise, source donations, teach and welcome refugees and asylum seekers to Bath, always with a smile. We have HUGE gratitude to the many volunteers who are the heart of Bath Welcomes Refugees. Thank you for all you do!

BWR joins the #FamiliesTogether coalition

Bath Welcomes Refugees is one of 50 organisations to join the Families Together Coalition, calling on the UK government to amend the existing family reunion rules.

The Families Together coalition is calling on the UK government to:

  • Change the refugee family reunion rules so that they allow adult refugees in the UK to sponsor their children and siblings up to the age of 25 to join them in the UK, and their parents;
  • Give unaccompanied refugee children in the United Kingdom the right to sponsor their parents and siblings who are under the age of 25 to join them under the refugee family reunion rules;
  • Reintroduce legal aid for all refugee family reunion cases.

You can find out more about the coalition on their website. If you’d like to sign the petition to Boris Johnson calling for refugee families to be reunited, you can do so here.

Could you be a foster carer for an unaccompanied child seeking asylum?

B&NES council is actively seeking new foster carers for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children.

The council offers support and training for this specialised foster care role.

You need to be over 21 years of age, have a spare room, be generally fit and well (but please call to discuss if this is a concern), have the right to remain in the UK and no criminal offences that prevent you working with children.

If you are interested please call 01225 394949 or get started by completing an online quiz.

There is more information available on our Twitter feed: @FosteringBANES and Facebook page: Fostering, Bath and North East Somerset

Meet our new Safeguarding Lead: Christine Brown

Hello BWR! I am Christine Brown and I took over the Safeguarding Lead role for BWR on Monday 22 March.

I have lived in and close to Bath for over 30 years. My background is in social work with children and young people. We moved the family to Bath in the 1980s to enable me to study Sociology and Social Work for 4 years at the University of Bath and we have stayed local ever since. I worked mainly in Local Authority children’s teams until I retired nearly 7 years ago. For the final 12 years of my working life I managed Social Workers and Occupational Therapists in a Child Health and Disability Team. I’ve never practiced in adult teams but have a basic understanding of the legislation covering vulnerable adults. I’m also a Yoga teacher and Yoga is a part of my daily life.

My belief is that safeguarding is everyone’s business and that having an organisational culture of vigilance, supported by good procedures and support, offers protection to everyone connected to an organisation. In the case of BWR that includes the families we work with; the volunteers; the management committee; trustees and employees. Although legislation and good practice guidance have evolved since my retirement, the basic principles of protecting children, young people and adults from significant harm remain unaltered.

I am really looking forward to becoming a part of the BWR team and hope my experience will allow me to continue and further develop the good work already undertaken by BWR to ensure it is in the best place to fulfil its safeguarding responsibilities. I’ll be working with the management committee to understand how I can best support BWR as we go forwards. Developing a rolling programme of safeguarding training for volunteers is one of the ways I hope to help with and details of this will be sent out over the following months.

Finally, my recent reading of the considerable achievements of BWR, undertaken by the hard working and dedicated volunteers, leaves me humbled so it feels a privilege to join you in this important work.

I really hope to be able to meet you when circumstances allow. Until then, if you have a non urgent safeguarding concern or just wish to chat through an issue, please contact me using the Safeguarding email:

[email protected]

I check this email every day and will get back to you to arrange the best way forward. However, if the matter is urgent or critical please call the Emergency Services on 999 in the first instance.

Best wishes and thank you to everyone for welcoming me so warmly.

Christine

University of Bath welcomes refugees, too

Refugee families enjoyed a Holiday Sports Activity Afternoon and Employability Support Session arranged by The University of Bath at their Sports Training Village and Claverton campus on June 1, 2021

There were multi-sports activities for the younger children that involved a lot of running about and laughing and general active fun. It proved so popular it was hard to pull some of them away at the end of the day.

The older children were offered an introduction to football training which left them desperate for more, and fortunately there is an option for them to go back and undertake more training and achieve a coaching qualification in the future.

The Sports Training Village was much admired, as were the campus facilities in their entirety. I’m sure many children went away with a strong desire for university life.

Employability support was offered to the adults in both group and 1-2-1 sessions. Members of the placement team gave advice on CVs and Interview techniques and discussed individual aims and pathways to success.

Not only was this a free event, the UOB generously organised taxis to take people to and from. We are so grateful for their support.

Days like this, coming after multiple lockdowns, are a great reminder of the real joys of volunteering with refugees.

Bath Welcomes Refugees are particularly grateful to Kate Awdry, Widening Participation Officer at the UOB, and Miranda Dockley, Student Outreach Ambassador, for the thought and preparation that went into this.

We’d also like to thank the many volunteers from the University who were involved in translating, interpreting, sports training and facilitation, employability support, and general assistance on the day.

Volunteers help make a house a home for new Syrian family

We are very happy to have welcomed another Syrian family to Bath during May.

All the furniture and most of the other household items had been donated to us.

Thank you to everyone who has given and gathered items, everyone who helped carry items (especially the big ones), Tony and Luc for their DIY skills, Lisa from Touchsafe Ltd for testing the electrical items and Lucy for making the garden look welcoming.

We hope they will be very happy in their new home.

New bicycles for a new family in Bath

Bath Welcomes Refugees welcomed the first refugee family under Community Sponsorship in March this year.The Syrian family of six arrived to a warm welcome. The Community Sponsorship team would like to thank Mike and the members of the Walcot Cycle Club for sourcing bicycles for the newly arrived family, and Tom at Green Park cycles for servicing them. We are very grateful for your support!

We are hiring! – Filled

**UPDATE**

This position has now been filled.

We were delighted to have so many applications. It was very hard to narrow it down to just one choice. Thank you to everyone who applied.

————

BWR is looking to recruit a part-time Volunteer Coordinator.

This is a new role for us which you will be able to develop. Initially, you will work with our leadership team, providing some administrative support with an emphasis on the coordination of volunteers and the membership.

See the attached PDFs to find out more.

Volunteer Coordinator Job Description 19 Oct

Volunteer Coordinator 19 Oct

BWR Activities 2020