Refugees

Refugee Week 2023 poster with smiling children

Refugee Week visit to St Christopher’s Prep School, Hove

‘Thank you for coming in yesterday. The children really enjoyed your session and we’ve raised lots of awareness and money for Care4Calais which is wonderful.’ Rhona Sykens, Year 5 teacher, 23 June 2023   For the past two years, the children and parents at St Christopher’s Prep School have collected donations for Refugee Week and spent […]

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An illustration of Jewish migrants arriving from Russia and Poland in the late 19th or early 20th century (The History of London)

Carrying the past

When I’m talking to friends and acquaintances from war-torn countries, I don’t ask why or how they escaped. After many months, one friend shows me a video of their bombed home in Damascus. A young man I’ve just met alludes to a nightmarish journey through Libya. Others never say a word to me. Most refugees

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First beigel shop (Flickr)

A sense of community

I’ve recently discovered that some of my forefathers came from the shtetl of Sadowne, in Poland. A great-great aunt, Sarah Appelbaum, was apparently a midwife and teacher in Sadowne, helping to maintain the health and morals of the community. Jewish shtetl society was hierarchical. At the peak were a few wealthy estate managers and successful

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Miriam Leah Imber

Meeting my great-grandmother

At a time when the future seems so uncertain, it might feel reassuring to look back to the past. As an author of non-fiction titles, I’ve often found myself delving into history. But I know little about the background of my own family. Far From Home For many years, I have been involved in voluntary

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