Newcastle: City of Sanctuary

Despite it being a very wet and windy evening on the Quayside, an audience gathered on the evening of 23rd May to listen to presentations organised by Newcastle City of Sanctuary.   Professor Mark Shucksmith, Director of the Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal (NIRES), welcomed people to the event and introductions were done by Sarah Smart of Newcastle City of Sanctuary, who also reported that Newcastle had been conferred official City of Sanctuary status.

Presentations were heard from Simon Underwood (International Newcastle), Helen White (Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums), who introduced the new Destination Tyneside exhibition at the Discovery Museum, and Peter Sagar (A Living Tradition).  Lyndsay Cross (West End Refugee Service) introduced a screening of one of a number of films produced by WERS with support from NIRES which capture the stories of asylum seekers/ refugees and their experience of finding ‘a sense of belonging’ as they have made homes for themselves in the North East.  These films can also be found at the WERS youtube channel.  If you haven’t yet seen them please do visit their youtube channel, they are well worth a watch.

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