About Us

Our Mission

Our aim is to maintain a welcoming atmosphere towards refugees resettling in the Malvern Hills area and to offer appropriate practical assistance and support to these families, who have fled violence and the horrors of war, in order that they can live fulfilled lives free from poverty, discrimination and harassment.

We encourage their integration into living and working in the local community in order that they become independent as swiftly as is practicable.

The History of Malvern Welcomes

When we founded Malvern Welcomes in October 2014, we passionately believed that we should assist some of the growing number of people who had to leave their own countries to seek safety and protection. By December 2014 we had made our initial approach to Malvern Hills District Council and subsequently to Worcestershire County Council, asking them to welcome a small number of Syrian families under the UK Government Syrian Vulnerable Person’s Resettlement scheme (SVPR). Although we were distressed that our first request was rejected we knew that we must not give up.

We wrote many letters to MPs, councillors and local papers. We collected signatures on a petition, engaged with the public, organized a demonstration in Malvern, attended council meetings and ran awareness-raising courses. Our group was growing all the time and an increasing number of people joined us in these activities.

In 2016 Worcestershire County Council finally agreed to resettle some Syrian families. The first families started to arrive in various parts of the county but at this point none of them was placed in the Malvern area due to a scarcity of suitable private properties available for rental.  

We decided, therefore, as Malvern Welcomes, to make our own application to the Home Office to resettle a family under their Community Sponsorship scheme. We identified a property and in 2018 we successfully welcomed a family under this scheme. Since then we have welcomed a further three families under Community Sponsorship. We have also welcomed and given ongoing support to ten families who have been resettled in our area by Worcestershire County Council.

Resettlement schemes have in recent years supported people who have left other areas of war and conflict for their own and their families’ safety. We have had the privilege of welcoming Iraqis, Palestinians and Afghans as well as Syrian people.

 So many people in Malvern have been involved in a multitude of ways. It is a real community effort!

Our English Programme

We are very proud of our English programme!  People who have been resettled in Malvern have arrived with no, or little, English. The English provision given by Malvern Welcomes is one of our great strengths and is seen as a model by the Home Office, who have commented on the high level of English attained by resettled people in such a short time. The programme is delivered entirely by experienced and qualified volunteer language tutors.

Under Community Sponsorship, Malvern Welcomes is required to provide ten hours a week of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). Our team has gone way beyond this with the two Malvern Welcomes Community Sponsorship families. Within a week of their arrival, our ESOL Coordinator meets with each family, makes assessments and customises the lessons to the individual needs of each family member. This ensures the teaching is of the highest standard possible. The most current and up to date resources are used and tutors continually adapt the individual learning programme to ensure that these continue to meet the language needs of each learner.

We saw a need early on to extend this programme to include the families who are being resettled in Malvern by Worcestershire County Council and, at their request, they are now included in our programme. As well as in-home lessons, we also run weekly group lessons, where all families can learn in level-appropriate classes while having the opportunity to socialise.

As a reinforcement to the formal lessons, volunteers visit the families regularly as befrienders for English conversation. Although this is separate from the carefully planned programme, it is important for the morale and confidence of the families.

There are also twice-weekly language classes at a centre in Malvern which are not run by Malvern Welcomes but we work very closely with the organisers and many of our volunteers teach there.