World Refugee Week 2018 was celebrated in Pembroke on Saturday with a World Food Café with live music in Foundry House, the home of Pembroke 21C Community Association.

A magnificent total of £660 was raised, which will be shared between two Syrian refugee families, who are shortly arriving in Pembroke, and the Welsh Refugee Council.

Throughout the afternoon and early evening, people came together from around the county to enjoy a vast array of delicious food, both savoury and sweet, representing a variety of cuisines from around the world. All the food had been generously made and the café staffed by local volunteers. Café-goers were entertained by Pembrokeshire musicians, who also donated their time.

Besides enjoying the food and music, World Refugee Week was an opportunity to discover the realities of the international refugee problem and to hear positive news of work undertaken to help refugee families settle in the county, both via local community schemes and Pembrokeshire County Council under the Home Office’s Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.

The organisers were overwhelmed by the generosity of local residents who gave their time and especially the substantial support of local businesses who kindly donated food and ingredients for the café, as well as prizes for the raffle.