23 September 2017 – We were delighted to host around 60 refugees and asylum-seekers from Wakefield, co-ordinated with Wakefield District of Sanctuary. Ripon’s Syrian families also attended and were an important part of the day.
We organised lunch plus visits to local Ripon attractions like the Workhouse Museum, the Leper Chapel, and Ripon Cathedral (where a muezzin gave the call to prayer). Ripon’s wonderfully supportive mayor, Cllr Pauline McHardy, attended the event and offered a warm welcome.
A year earlier, in September 2016, we hosted the same group of people from Wakefield plus a group from the Open Doors project in Hull, totalling around 100 people.