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OCCASIONAL NEWS FROM FRIENDS WITHOUT BORDERS (PORTSMOUTH) - December 2018

27/12/2018

 

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year

Picture
Bokeh Balls © Steve Jurvetson
A very happy Christmas to all our supporters.

The Drop-in had its traditional Children’s Party on 20th December, an entertainer was there for the children, a buffet lunch served and presents distributed. A happy day. We are now closed till 3rd January  - our Christmas break being almost the only break we have.

I was invited to read the lesson in a Cathedral Carol Service this year – my billing being as Chairman, Friends Without Borders. I got the slot done the previous day (there are three Carol Services) by Penny Mordant MP. Other lessons were read by a variety of people including the Lord Mayor, the Vice Chancellor of the University, and the Commander of Portsmouth Naval Base.

​It’s gratifying to have Friends Without Borders recognised as a Portsmouth institution.

​Generous support

​Christmas is an important time for charity fundraising and we have received a number of generous donations, including one from the Cosham Community Choir, a big one from the Diocese, and a few from private individuals, some of whom give anonymously. The sad thing about anonymous gifts is that we don’t get the chance to say “thank you” or to put donors on our Occasional News list.

​If you happen to come across somebody thinking of donating anonymously please let them know that being on our supporters list does NOT mean that they’ll be receiving endless appeals. We made an appeal five years ago and only one (rather low key one) since.

Twenty five years!

The appeal five years ago was for our 20th anniversary and in 2019 we shall reach our 25th!

Not bad for a small local charity. We started as Haslar Visitors Group, visiting immigration detainees in Haslar Prison. We took over the drop-in when another charity abruptly closed and ran it alone for some months till the Red Cross came to join us.

Haslar, renamed an “Immigration Removal Centre” closed in 2015 but by that time we had already changed our name to “Friends Without​ Borders”.

​If anyone remembers the very early days I should be interested to hear from them

Fareham Welcome

The work goes on. Portsmouth still has 200 asylum seekers dispersed to it, none of whom are allowed to work.

​Recently, as regular readers know, they have been required to “sign on” eleven miles away at the police station in Fareham. Part of Mrs May’s “hostile environment” think cynical people - but the main police station in Portsmouth is being rebuilt, so perhaps not pure cynicism, though it is not yet clear if the new building will have facilities for signing on.

Meanwhile a team from Holy Trinity Fareham is meeting asylum seekers as they sign on there and offering them coffee. Well done Holy Trinity! The Vicar came to meet us at the drop-in recently.

A Headache for some asylum seekers is that they lose their claims and are told to leave the UK. They don’t have permission to work, rent, drive or hold a bank account. They aren’t given any cash or accommodation by the Government. But some are trying to make fresh claims and some are from countries to which they quite literally cannot go back as their own countries won’t accept them.

​There are about twenty like this in Portsmouth. And on any one night four or five will be sleeping rough. We’ve been looking into how we might help them and have had some interesting advice from Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group. They were renting some rooms for destitute asylum seekers but were advised by a top lawyer that under the Right to Rent Act they could not rent rooms but could rent a complete housing unit for use as a “hostel”.

​We’d like to find a “housing unit” ourselves, at least for January and February.

​The B word

Our Access for Justice project is gearing up for Brexit. A complicated situation when you have European nationals of African heritage working in the UK.

​We wait, as do they, to see what the new rules will be.
Happy New Year!

Michael Woolley, Chairman

Michael Woolley, Chairman Friends Without Borders
[email protected]
Office - 023 9283 9222
Office address: All Saints Centre, Commercial Road, Portsmouth PO1 4BTto edit.

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  • Home
  • About us
    • News
    • Who we help
    • How we help
    • Why we help
    • Our volunteers
    • Annual Reports
    • How we use your data
  • All Saints Drop-in
    • About the All Saints Drop-in
    • How to get to the All Saints Drop-in
  • Access to Justice Project
  • Get involved
    • Ways you can volunteer
    • Make a donation
    • Some easy ways to raise money for FWB
    • Leave a lasting legacy
  • Contact Us
  • Thank You