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Refugee Week takes place each year around the time of World Refugee Day (20 June). For 2022 it’s 20-26June. For the last five years or so – excluding lockdowns – some of us have celebrated Refugee Week by meeting ‘al fresco,’ three or four times during the week in Newcastle city centre, and simply singing.
Showing support for refugees
We meet to celebrate and show support for refugees and people seeking sanctuary. And we sing one catchy but thoughtful song several times over, for about 30 minutes each time. The song is really easy to pick up on the day – indeed people walking by often join in from the streets, too! You don’t need a great voice (goodness knows I don’t have one!) Enthusiasm works just fine.
And whilst information is put out on social media, we never know whether we will have two people singing at each session, or 20! And we can’t guarantee the weather….but rain or shine, we’ll be there.
When does it happen?
So if you’d like to join us for any of our remaining dates this week (sorry Monday’s sing has been and gone!) the info you need is as follows:
Wednesday 22 June. Meet at the Monument 4.15pm, sing from around 4.30
Saturday 25 June. Meet at the Monument 10.45am, sing from around 11am
We meet at Grey’s monument – we’re easy to spot with a guitar and placards – and once everyone has arrived we either sing there, or find a nearby spot.
If singing is not for you, but you would like to show your support, please feel free to join us. Somebody appeared at our session on Monday and dropped by with strawberries!
Placards in support of refugees and people seeking asylum are most welcome too.
The song
In case you’d like to hear the song we sing, there’s a link below to a short excerpt of it. There’s no need to download it – we bring printed lyrics on the day, and we have a live guitar and a backing track to sing along with, too.
Very much looking forward to seeing anyone who is able to turn up! It always feels important to sing during Refugee week, but this year, with the inhumanity of the proposed Rwanda deportations, and the latest news about possible electronic tagging of innocent people, it seems timely and more vital than ever. It seriously could be you or me seeking safety in another country. One day, it might be. I always think it’s just the luck, or misfortune, of where you’re born, and what happens to your country.
