Helping Refugees and Asylum Seekers Worldwide
Who We Are
Brightwell Supporting Refugees (BSR) was set up in 2015 by a group of villagers who wanted to do something to help the growing number of refugees from the war in Syria. It is managed by a group of twelve trustees, became a registered charity in 2018 and since then has widened its brief to support refugees and displaced people fleeing from conflict from all over the world.
BSR has raised more than £100,000 through local events and generous donations, enabling us to make grants and donations to the causes we support. Our aim is to help refugees and asylum seekers, with a particular focus on helping the welfare and education of refugee children and their families. BSR also raises awareness within our local community of the plight of refugees.
Through direct personal contacts, BSR supports several long-term initiatives in Jordan and in Uganda. It also helps refugees settling in Oxfordshire through its links with local organisations.
Like many villages and towns across the UK, we responded quickly to the plight of people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. A dozen or so Ukrainian families moved to our village and through our support network, BSR has helped them and their hosts in various ways, particularly with learning English.
BSR has run a variety of fundraising events since 2015 including talks by authors, filmmakers and playwrights; Christmas markets; jazz evenings; quizzes and village trails; and bistros. Many of these are highlighted the on the Events page.
BSR is a registered charity number: CC no. 1179821 and is also registered with HMRC for Gift Aid.