Interview with Sophie Wardell, Chair of CWR’s new Board of Trustees

Meet Sophie Wardell, a trustee who puts the ‘welcome’ into Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees

When Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees (CWR) became a charity last year, five Trustees were appointed. Two will always be the Chair and Secretary of the Core Group of volunteers. Sophie was already a volunteer and her enthusiasm, community mindedness and experience of the charity sector made her an obvious choice as one of the other three and she has taken on the role of Chair. She has previously worked for the British Council, National Trust and, more locally, the Cheltenham Trust. However, her passion for supporting refugees began with her role at Free Word, a small London-based charity that encouraged asylum seekers to take part in storytelling and writing workshops. Meeting refugee families was a big part of what Sophie loved about the job and led her onto volunteer for Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees in 2018.

In the following years, Sophie worked with the team of around eighty volunteers to raise awareness of what CWR is about.

"CWR feels more important now than ever,” Sophie explains, “with the harsh realities of safe passage dominating headlines. It's necessary that we show welcome and compassion to people who have been through a lot in their lives. In whatever way we can, we want to support people who are new to the town and help them find their feet - whether that's through friendships, supporting them to practice English or even help to find the right bus."

To this end, Sophie threw herself into organising events.

“Anything that’s about bringing people together. We’ve done things like quizzes and events that involve food are popular!”

She is proud that CWR volunteers have collaborated with the Refugee Support Society at the University of Gloucestershire on a great programme of speakers and supports the charity’s work to remedy the digital poverty frequently experienced by refugees.

“Now that we’ve become a charity, we can fundraise in a way we haven’t been able to before,” Sophie says. “It means we can think more about what we want to do and how we can help refugees.”

In her trustee role, Sophie enjoys hearing what the charity’s subgroups are doing.

“We are already planning Refugee Week in June,” she says. “It’s such a great opportunity to let people know about what we do.”

By working with various venues across Cheltenham, she hopes the charity can attract new audiences to help make things happen.

“It’s definitely about the people,” Sophie continues. “That’s why I got involved in Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees and it’s the best thing about being a trustee.”

She likes welcoming refugee families as well as organisations like The Everyman and The Sober Parrot that work with the charity. She praises the multi-talented volunteers who work so hard to make things happen and is excited about new people becoming involved.

With the plight of refugees frequently captured by the media, Sophie encourages people to think about what they can do long-term.

“We’re a friendly, approachable team,” she says, “We need all sorts of things and not what’s always expected, so please look out for what sort of help we need. It could be proofreading, offering a lift or making teas at an event. One of our volunteers recently helped one of our families with the theory part of their driving test.”

To find out about taking action for refugees, please have a look at our action page.

(Interview by Megan Paul)