CARLISLE is gearing up to celebrate international Refugee Week 2022 which runs from June 19 – 26.

Kicking off the celebration and unifying of cultures will be the Welcome to Your City event taken place at Tribe, Bitt’s Park, on Sunday, June 19- of which is being organised by Carlisle’s One World Centre (which also runs Carlisle Refugee Action Group).

The joyful day invites all refugees that the organisation works with as well as reaching out to the new Ukrainian community who are being hosted in the city and district to come along for food, dancing, kite flying and cricket - with members of the public also being encouraged to pop along.

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Adrienne Gill, development Officer with Carlisle One World Centre, said: "This event will bring together all the support and welcome for refugees in the city that we have been cultivating for the past five years with the hands on and public information work that CRAG has been doing as well as the establishment of the Carlisle City of Sanctuary Group.

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"I am really looking forward to it and hope that it will be a day of cultural celebration as well as welcome,” she said.

Celebrating World Refugee Day on Monday, Tullie House will also showing the award-winning film Limbo followed by a short talk from someone who came to Carlisle as an asylum seeker some years ago – with tickets available to purchase online.

Stephen Dunn, from the Healthy City Team of  Carlisle City Council, said: "We really hope that new positive connections can be made through the Welcome Days. It’s about feeling welcome wherever you’re from and whoever you are.

"People have lived here all their lives and often don't feel part of the community and as we're highlighting here people coming to the area can find it hard to make links and feel part of things. The heart of the events is to make connections and hopefully develop opportunities to keep bringing people together. Whether you're from Currock or Syria,” he said.

Lauren Crowther, marketing and events lead at Tribe, said: “Tribe is thrilled to be involved with this initiative. Welcoming refugees and anyone else seeking sanctuary in our city aligns strongly with Tribes values. We can’t wait to welcome this community to Tribe, help them settle in, and hopefully make them feel right at home. Keep your eyes peeled for future events like these at Tribe as we’d love to have more!”

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