Please come to our meetings on 13th November at 6.30 at Gwernyfed RFC and the Public meeting on 15th November at 7pm at St Marys, Brecon

Hello,
there's been a gap in emails but plenty has been going on. Michael was released from detention [ rather unexpectedly as our Swansea based contact had been told he wasn't likely to be released for weeks and then he was!] I gather he is delighted to be free but very puzzled and somewhat traumatised by the whole process.
We are hoping that Otis may be able to come to our open meeting [15th November at 7pm in St Marys, Brecon] and speak a little about his experiences. For obvious reasons he may not wish to dwell upon the details of his case or traumatic happenings but I know he'd like to say thanks to everyone who helped. Its also his birthday the following day so if he does come expect to sing penblwydd hapus.
We've had some more volunteers agree to join our courts support group which is great! However we may not have any requests for support for a while and then suddenly several at once.
The Hardship fund continues to be pretty actively used and we may need more money coming in - prepare to buy and sell raffle tickets and think about if you know of any groups or people who might like to sponsor a bus pass to allow someone seeking asylum to be able to access college. This may not be needed again until next September but maybe if courses can be started midway through the academic year. We have agreed guidelines that we need to confirm.
Sue has found a couple of new outlets for donations to go to refugee camps ot to help people seeking sanctuary here that are endorsed by Ruth of Swansea Humanitarian Aid Reponse Project. She'll tell us more at our meeting on the 13th at Gwernyfed.
The Brecon Rotary club were generous in allowing us to take items of use from the Caledonian Market and we've some new blue and green tablecloths that may come to welcome days as well as vacuum cleaners, clothing and bikes.
Hope to see you at the meetings!

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Agenda for GENERAL MEETING on Wednesday 13th November 2019 at Gwernyfed RFC at 6.30pm
1 Apologies
2 Attendance,
3 minutes of last meeting and matters arising and
declaration of any conflicts of interest
4 Update from the Chair
5 public meeting on 15th November
a]plan for afternoon in March with Irene Sriharan -venue needed.
6 Policies- risk assessment
7 Welcome days
October 12th Bronllys
Future dates of respite days -
24th November Penpont - Offers of help or support please to Margaret tanyllan2@gmail.com
January 26th Hay school Coordinator Claire Armstrong with Lex Bartholomew. Please email offers of help to Claire on claire.armstrong555@gmail.com
February/March Llangorse date to be agreed
March/ April Llangynidr ditto
Easter 10-13 April ,Ramadan 23rd April to 23rd May
May Cradoc School ? Llwyn Celyn
Hay festival 21st to 31st may
June Talybont ? penpont
July ? Talgarth
August ? Brecon
September ?26th Treberfydd
October
NB Please do offer to help to coordinate a day if you'd like to -there is always a lot of support available.
other activities
A holiday cottage-
B Bikes-
C Courts support-
D other activities -
9 Fundraising -
b stalls
Information boards - Ideas upon next place to put them welcome
10 Finance :- a income and expenditure -
b Hardship fund expenditure details-
? bid for funding for educational needs
11 Goods - supermarkets
store users and transport group.
12 Syrian family resettlement.
13 Publicity- Twitter 833 followers Admin by Maria Duggan @hbts4refugees. Facebook 582 members -admin Steve Buzza and Ailsa Dunn- Instagram - Admin Alex Benfield.
3 email mailings to 460 members . press releases about Craig y Nos and Bronllys and a letter from Swansea.
14 lobbying. - Please see below for usual links
If you've not already taken these actions please do so.
Petition for Michael. Michael is back in Swansea but unsure about what is happening. We hope that he will now have his case heard in the UK.
Petition for Otis .Otis awaits news about when his case will be heard but we are cautiously optimistic that he will be given Leave to Remain. The number of signatures and surrounding publicity may well have helped his case . Thanks to Maria D for doing all the work on these.

15 Any other business

Dates of next meetings .
Public meeting November 15th At St Mary's Church in Brecon
Wednesday 15th January AGM and General meeting.

Book sales- Eugene Fisk Book 'Only Connect' available from Addymans, Booth Bookshop, Bookish [ Crickhowell], Brecon Books and by mail order from Green Ink Booksellers – using Reference “Only Connect” on http://paypal.me/greeninkbooksellers -- all profits come to this group.

Other campaigning links
Asylum Matters
Freedom from Torture - 'Lessons not learned' report and Letter to Home Secretary
NACCOM and Refugee Action report - Missing the safety net
A lift the ban on working here B Detention b End indefinite detention Liberty here c Detention Action here c women for refugee women here d Amnesty International here e Freedom from torture here and here
C destitution   Join the campaign to call on the Government to deliver dignity, not destitution, for asylum seekers.   Briefing here take action here D let refugees learn Learning English is so important to help with integration. here E ask the government for a kinder and fairer immigration system here and here and here. F support a welcoming Europe here
F   Some up-to- date facts here and here
G City of Sanctuary newsletter -

Website: www.hbtsr.org.uk

Twitter account: @hbts4refugees

Please see our Facebook Page

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HBTS4refugees · twitter account @hbts4refugees · 1b The Pavement · Hay on Wye, Powys HR3 5BU · United Kingdom