About RWinR

Refugees Welcome in Richmond (RWinR) is a charity (no. 120482) led entirely by volunteers dedicated to supporting people seeking sanctuary in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

Find out more about RWinR…

People and partners

We work with people from various backgrounds in support of RWinR clients.

To contact a specific person or organisation listed below, please follow any links where available or mention them in a message using our contact form.

RWinR Clients

We prioritise the dignity, privacy and safety of all clients working with us, and we are privileged to share in their trust. Find out more about how we protect RWinR clients by reading our policies and procedures.

If you would like to refer yourself or someone else seeking sanctuary, please use our referral form, or contact us if you need help completing it.

If you would prefer to talk with us in person, we hold regular advice and social hub events at the Vineyard Community Centre on Tuesdays 12.30-2.30pm. A Citizens Advice Richmond representative will also be on hand most weeks to answer any questions or concerns.

We are especially grateful to former RWinR client Kolthom who spoke at our charity celebration event in 2023. In the video below Kolthom talks about the support she has received since coming to Richmond from Syria in 2016.

Check our news and events pages for other opportunities to meet us.

For a summary of our work supporting RWinR clients, view our annual impact report and, if you can, please consider making a donation.

RWinR Board of Trustees

We currently have eight trustees on the RWinR Board including our Chair Valerie Booth and Vice Chair Sue Murray.

Valerie Booth (Chair)

As a founder member, Valerie has been a vital part of RWinR’s development since 2015. Initially, she oversaw the group’s tasks in settling Syrian families under the government’s Syrian Vulnerable Persons’ Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) and closely liaised with Richmond Council. Since 2023 Valerie has been RWinR’s Chair, having previously served as Secretary.

Valerie brings extensive experience in managing grassroot organisations having previously been a committee member and Chair of three other local charities: Kew Community Trust (which set up and continues to run The Avenue Club in Kew), Churches Together in Kew and The Consortium, (a former liaison group for local Network Associations).

Sue Murray (Vice Chair)

Sue joined RWinR in 2021 drawn by its significance as the only local provision dedicated to supporting refugees in the borough. Her first work was as a volunteer with the Afghan support team and as RWinR Nominated Safeguarding Officer. Sue also works with the Ukrainian support groups and was appointed as Vice Chair when the RWinR became an official charity.

Sue brings over 10 years of experience working for refugee arts charity Pan Intercultural Arts and has worked with local communities in roles at the Science Museum, Richmond Theatre and West Thames College.

Hear from our Chair Valerie Booth on RWinR’s work from 2015 to 2024.

Alongside our Chair and Vice Chair, our trustees are listed in alphabetical order by family name below. You can also find further details about our trustees and RWinR more generally on the Charity Commission website.

Alistair Blunt (Housing Officer)

TBC

Saz Collett (Deputy Safeguarding and Events Officer)

Saz has been involved with the setting up and development of RWinR since its early days. She has been both Chair of the RWinR Committee and Deputy Safeguarding Officer since 2017. Although she stood down as Chair in 2023 she continues her safeguarding role and is now also Events Officer. Saz is Head of Drama at a local school where she is also a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead. As a school teacher her experience with teenagers has been invaluable when dealing with younger refugees.

Please read this information before you report a safeguarding concern.

Jon Fayle (Outreach Officer)

TBC

Alexis Hatto (Admin and Comms Manager)

Alexis joined the group in December 2021 to rebuild the RWinR website. As Admin and Communications Manager he supports RWinR in designing our communications strategies, and in maintaining our Google Workspace cloud storage, email, WordPress website, and related digital infrastructure. Alexis has prior professional experience developing websites alongside managing online communications focused on the non-profit and voluntary sectors.

Olga Pomazan (Volunteer Manager)

TBC

Juliet Thompson (Treasurer)

Juliet is a Chartered Accountant with experience in finance and administration in both the commercial and the voluntary sector, in Director, Trustee & Treasurer roles. She became Treasurer of RWinR in February 2021 and continues her role as a trustee.

Other key roles and volunteers

Alongside our trustees, RWinR benefits from the support of several volunteers in key and leading roles.

Susan Attwood (Nominated Safeguarding Lead)

Susan Attwood is a long-term resident of Richmond; she joined RWinR in November 2023, and assumed the role of designated safeguarding officer in June 2024.

Please read this information before you report a safeguarding concern.

Hirsh Cashdan (Ukraine Befriending Lead)

Hirsh is another early member of RWinR. Initially, his main work for RWinR was in supporting Syrian refugees, especially by finding accommodation. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, his focus has been to settle Ukrainian refugees into the borough as a Lead Ukrainian Volunteer. He oversees communication streams, Ukrainian social meetings, and events. He brings helpful experience as Chair of Mondo Foundation, which supports education and livelihoods in India, Nepal, and Tanzania.

Marie-Louise Le Hur (Marketing and Social Media Officer)

As a marketing director with 14 years of experience, Marie became our Social Media & Marketing Officer in 2022. Her ambition is to shine a light on RWinR’s work and ethos, communicating our news, events, and support opportunities across all key channels. 

Volunteer with us

If you would like to join RWinR as a volunteer, please complete this form.

Find out more about how you can get involved here.

We are very grateful to all our volunteers past and present. Special thanks in particular to former trustee Elizabeth Byrne Hill, as well as former committee members Firas Ali, Mark Robinson and Simone Webster.

Partners and friends of RWinR

We benefit from working closely with the following partners and friends:

Open list of local partner organisations
  • Afghan and Central Asian Association
  • Citizens Advice Richmond
  • Housing Justice
  • Kew Fete
  • Kew Gardens
  • Kingston and Richmond Achieving for Children
  • Learn English At Home (LEAH)
  • London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
  • London Refugee Advocacy Forum
  • Multicultural Richmond
  • NCVO
  • Refugee Action Kingston
  • Refugee Council
  • Refugees at Home
  • Richmond AID
  • Richmond Borough Mind
  • Richmond CVS
  • Richmond EAL Friendship Group
  • Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College
  • Richmond Work Match
  • Ruils Independent Living
  • South West London Integrated Care Board (NHS)
  • Spear London
  • Together With Refugees
  • Turner’s House
  • Ukrainian Social Club
  • Vineyard Community Centre
  • Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees

Links to external websites are available here.

Key partners include:

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Council

We work alongside Richmond Council’s Resettlement Team to supplement the support offered by caseworkers. We intend to enhance our work with the Council now that it has been awarded status as a Borough of Sanctuary along with the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. As of 2024, the two Councils share staff including a new nine-person team under the Head of Refugee Services.

We expect to continue our work with Council staff on cross-promoting our services and securing accommodation for clients. We also seek to hold the Council to account via our participation in the Borough of Sanctuary Partnership initiative.

Citizens Advice Richmond

For our weekly social hub events at the Vineyard, at least one representative from Citizens Advice Richmond is usually available to support RWinR clients from Ukraine and where possible anyone seeking sanctuary in Richmond who might need their help.

Refugee Action Kingston

For people seeking sanctuary in any of the following areas of South West London, we recommend Refugee Action Kingston. They provide professional support and legal advice on asylum related issues to people living in:

  • Kingston
  • Merton
  • Richmond
  • Sutton
  • Wandsworth
Refugees at Home

We refer clients and refugees elsewhere in the UK who may need temporary accommodation to Refugees at Home. We also recommend the experience of hosting to anyone who can volunteer. Visit refugeesathome.org.

Richmond EAL Friendship Group

We recommend clients learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) to Richmond EAL for group classes and events, which are great for improving language skills and making new friends. Visit richmondeal.org.uk.

Ruils Independent Living

Originally the Richmond Users’ Independent Living Scheme, Ruils provides information, advice, advocacy, befriending and activities for Disabled clients and families including those involved with RWinR. Visit ruils.co.uk.

Ukrainian Social Club

As the majority of refugees in Richmond are from Ukraine, we work closely with the Ukrainian Social Club at our regular hub and other events involving Ukrainian communities. Follow the USC on Facebook.

Vineyard Community

RWinR volunteers are sincerely grateful for the ongoing support of the Vineyard Community Centre where we host our social hub, recruitment and induction sessions, as well as many other events. Please consider donating to them and in particular offering household items for their charity shop.

Policies and procedures

The following policies and procedures have been approved by RWinR trustees (with others currently in development):

Questions and answers

Talking about migration is often difficult because of the complex historical and political factors that prompt people to leave their countries of origin. Here we aim to answer some frequently asked questions (FAQs) about our approach to these issues in general and some specific enquiries into how we work.

Open full list of questions

If you have another question not answered below, please explore the rest of our website before you contact us.

Who are refugees and what do we mean by asylum and sanctuary?

With help from City of Sanctuary, the Refugee Council and Right to Remain, here are some definitions to clarify what we mean by the following terms:

Refugee: someone in need of protection who would be at risk of persecution if they returned to their country of origin. The United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as “a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his[, her or their] nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country”.

Asylum: an application for refugee status. In the UK, a person applying for asylum receives refugee status when the government agrees that the applicant meets the definition in the Refugee Convention, they will “recognise” that person as a refugee and issue them with refugee status documentation. Refugees in the UK are usually given five years leave to remain as refugees. They must then apply for further leave, although their refugee status is not limited to five years.

Person seeking asylum: someone who has left their country of origin and formally applied for asylum in another country but whose application has not yet been concluded. Wherever possible, we aim to refer to “people seeking asylum” as we agree that the term “asylum seekers” can be dehumanising.

Person refused asylum: someone whose application has been unsuccessful and who has no other claim for protection awaiting a decision. Some people who have their cases refused voluntarily return home, others are forcibly returned. For many people, it may not be safe or practical to return until conditions in their countries change.

Person seeking sanctuary: this is an inclusive term to describe anyone in the above categories (refugee; person seeking and/or refused asylum). As a term, sanctuary avoids directly associating people with their immigration status in contexts where this may not be necessary and could feel dehumanising.

We avoid using the term “economic migrants“ to refer to people from other countries who are not refugees given that it has no legal definition and may make false assumptions about people’s motivations. “Migrants” or “migrant workers” are the UN’s preferred terms.

How does Refugees Welcome in Richmond (RWinR) support clients?

Our volunteers provide befriending and language support to help those fleeing crises, conflicts, or persecution around the world who arrive here to settle into the community and access services they need. We’re always looking for more supporters to join us.

We work alongside Richmond Council’s Resettlement Team to supplement the support offered by caseworkers. We’re also finding homes for people seeking sanctuary in the Borough. We urgently need more rental accommodation. In collaboration with the Council, we’ve developed a package of commercial benefits for landlords.

As the crisis in Ukraine continues, we have a dedicated subgroup to support refugees from there and local residents hosting them in Richmond.

View our annual impact report for a summary of our work since 2015.

What is Richmond Council doing to support people seeking sanctuary?

In December 2022, Richmond Council passed a motion to become a Borough of Sanctuary, an accreditation awarded by City of Sanctuary to boroughs that go above and beyond to welcome and support sanctuary-seeking residents. Their strategy sets out the three-year action plan and partnership working with the Voluntary and Community Sector, in collaboration with people with lived-experience.

Read more in Richmond Council’s Borough of Sanctuary Strategy.

If I’m outside Richmond or the UK, can RWinR still help me?

Due to our remit and capacity, as well as for safeguarding reasons, we are currently only able to support people seeking sanctuary in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Please let us know if your status and location change in this manner, after which point we would be delighted to support you directly.

If you live in Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton or Wandsworth boroughs, we recommend you contact Refugee Action Kingston.

If you live elsewhere in the UK, please try Migrant Help UK or the Refugee Council.

It’s not possible to apply for asylum while outside the UK, but once you arrive in the country, please visit the UK Government website to claim asylum.

If someone is at risk of harm, how do I report a safeguarding concern?

If anyone is in immediate danger, phone 999 (see advice on calling silently or by SMS/textphone).

Use our safeguarding forms if you’re concerned that our volunteers or anyone we work with might have done something wrong and put you or someone else at risk:

All our volunteers must undergo certified safeguarding training. You can contact us if you need help completing the forms above.

Tell Richmond Council if you think adults or children in the Borough might be at risk.

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