Ukrainian families who have settled in the Bridport area will be singing folk songs in the town centre as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the plight of refugees.

Bridport Refugee Support Campaign (BRSC) will be running a stall in Bucky Doo Square on Saturday, June 25 from 9am to 1.30pm. The film Limbo at the Arts Centre on Wednesday, June 22 and this stall are part of their engagement with Refugee Week.

The stall will offer free greetings cards of paintings by Angie Porter and Rowan Beecham to anyone who can attempt to write 'Best Wishes' in Cyrillic or Arabic script. This will highlight the challenge for the refugees in not only learning a new language, but also learning to write a new script. The group has arranged for a Syrian musician to come and play his own music and have invited Ukrainian refugees, who have been welcomed under the Homes for Ukrainians scheme, to sing Ukrainian folk songs. The Dorset Red choir will sing a variety of international songs.

Sunflower seeds brought over from Ukraine will also be given out to children so they can plant flowers from the country in their garden.

Meanwhile the campaigners are happy to confirm that the refugee family they have sponsored have settled well into their flat and are adapting happily to life in Bridport. The group have organised regular ESOL lessons which are enabling the parents to learn English quickly, and the children are well established in a local school, making friends, and engaging in group activities.

The Ukrainian refugees are supported by the town council, which has created a Facebook page to aid communication, and has arranged free bus transport for them via First buses and free swims at the leisure centre. They meet weekly at the Quaker Meeting House at 3pm on Tuesdays for tea, biscuits, and to share news. Special lessons in English have started bi-weekly for them in Bridport organised by Dorset Council.