In-person events are slowly starting to come back in Bridport.

Bridport Refugee Support Campaign will present 'Jane Marchese Robinson - Seeking Sanctuary - a history of refugees in Britain' on June 17 from 6.30pm.

As part of Refugee Week 2021, members of the campaign are delighted to bring writer and historian Jane Marchese Robinson to Bridport to talk about her book, Seeking Sanctuary.

Jane will be discussing the book and the inspiration behind it with former BBC foreign correspondent Martin Dawes.

Seeking Sanctuary explores the history of people looking for refugee in this country. It starts with those protestant refugees fleeing oppression and persecution from Catholic Spain in the 16th century. It traces successive waves of people in the context of why they fled.

The book has been inspired by the work Jane undertook with refugees and asylum seekers in Plymouth as well as a personal discovery.

It was only after her mother's death in 2004 that she delved into her grandmother's history and found that she had bene one of the 250,000 Belgian refugees who fled here when the German army over ran their country in 1914. Uncovering her grandmother's history meant learning about the story of those thousands of refugees who sought sanctuary here in the First World War.

After graduating from Birmingham University in economic and social history, Jane spent some 30 years as an advocate for marginalised groups, including the homeless, people with disabilities and mental health problems and latterly refugees.

In 2010 she undertook an MA in creative writing at Plymouth University and an historical novel set at the time of the Boer War ensued.

Martin Dawes is a former BBC foreign correspondent in Africa and international spokesman for UNICEF in South Asia and West Africa. Since returning to the UK, he has published on the causes and consequences of the West Africa Ebola outbreak and how the Covid-19 pandemic will change international aid.

The event, taking place in the Chapel in the Garden, is raising funds for the Bridport Refugee Support Group, a group of local residents who have got together to help a refugee family settle in Bridport and rebuild their lives.

Tickets cost £10 for adults, £5 for children, and are available from Bridport Tourist Information Centre.

Find more information here.

For more information at Bridport Refugee Support Campaign, visit bridportrefugee.org.uk

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