Welcome to Ipswich Town of Sanctuary
Ipswich Town of Sanctuary is part of the National movement ‘City of Sanctuary’ which began in Sheffield in 2005. City of Sanctuary is a mainstream, grassroots movement and works by creating opportunities for relationships between local people and those seeking sanctuary offering a positive vision of a culture of hospitality for those in need of safety. Like the Fair Trade movement, Ipswich Town of Sanctuary builds on existing groups and networks. The aim is to ensure everyone, particularly Asylum Seekers and Refugees, feel welcome and safe and have their needs met. This is a holistic project with the support from faith groups, community groups, organisations and local government.
Since the project began in March 2009, Ipswich Town of Sanctuary is proud to have the support of Chris Mole, Former Labour MP for Ipswich and Ben Gummer, Conservative MP for Ipswich.
With encouraging letters and words of support from Bishop Nigel, Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Helen Bamber from the Helen Bamber Foundation ‘working with survivors of cruelty’, British Actress Juliet Stevenson and John Sentamu the Archbishop of York, it has inspired and given the project a fantastic positive energy.
Meeting with various agencies identified specific areas where help was particularly needed; the top two highlighted were access to education and homelessness.
Hosting Project
Soon after, Ipswich Town of Sanctuary launched a Hosting Project designed to offer practical support to vulnerable persons on a temporary basis. The project has successfully housed 5 individuals.
‘It’s Tuesday’(Conversation Group)
Since September 2009 Ipswich Town of Sanctuary has been running ‘It’s Tuesday’ designed to help people gain confidence in speaking English. ‘It’s Tuesday’ has built wonderful friendships as well as helping 55 individuals.
Schools
The project has also found it’s calling within schools with children aged 10-18 years. Three different programmes have been developed to suit different age groups.
The most recent presentation from Ipswich Town of Sanctuary was ‘The Importance of Community’ which was for ages 11-13. Feedback from the school showed that pupils carried on various projects to do with community for the rest of the week inspired by ‘The Importance of Community’.
