Our New Twitter

If you use Twitter, please click through to be among the very first to follow us there! We’ll be tweeting mini-snippets of news and info as it comes in.

The header picture we are using on Twitter is of a local child sticking a friendly hand-made label on a box of donations at one of our Sorting Days back in September. All those goods are now in the process of being distributed, with the love and overflowing goodwill of this child representing the people of the North East whose generous energy and effort has made this possible.

Today, as we write this, FOUR of our volunteers are on the ground at the refugee camps in Calais, working in the kitchens, teaching and reading to people in the Jungle library and picking up litter. More from them when they have time to take a breath and write.

Thank you for following the blog and our new Twitter. We appreciate every Retweet and comment.

New Name New Name New Name

Choosing a name for a project or organisation is just like choosing the name of the moody little rock band you were in at school, or the title of that novel you’ve got on a hard drive somewhere. It’s tricky. It needs to say exactly what you’re doing, no ambiguity, no Scunthorpes, no CATFLAP type acronyms, no messing. All the good names seem to be taken, and the ones you like best are cheesy and your best mates hate them.

So it’s taken us a couple of weeks but here we are, and we love it:

Unity Across Borders

Everything is still here on this site, but those old links won’t work. Please update your bookmarks and share widely. If you’ve been showing people Jo Price’s Diaries or Lisa’s Letters from Calais, please change those links by clicking through and share and share again.

We’ll be making a new Twitter very soon, and will keep you posted. And all our other work can now progress properly: new address, new constitution, new bank account, new mailing list. If you’ve already expressed an interest in helping us by volunteering at our sorting days, you’ll be added to our new mailing list.

In other, much more important news, our Pallets To Croatia containing your carefully sorted donated goods have been unpacked into vans and in the early hours of the night were headed for the Croatian border. More on that as soon as we hear from Campervan Dave.

via Dave Kirton

Jolande Mace

Writers for Calais Refugees

Once upon a time, I lived in Algeria. Myself and my parents were 3 of just 52 Dutch people in the entire country. There was a lot of political instability due to one party, the FIS, having been declared a terrorist organisation, meaning they couldn’t run for government. In retaliation, the FIS kidnapped four French people and released them with a simple message: all foreigners out by the 1st of December. 
 
Nobody took it seriously, until on the 1st, a Portuguese person was killed in the capital. Then a Spanish. Then a French. Then a Belgian. It was clear that the Dutch were next, and we were the only ones in the capital. In the middle of the night, the Algerian couple of whom we rented a house came and got us. We traveled, hidden under blankets, to their home, which they shared with a…

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Get-Together in Newcastle Sunday 11th October

original design for NESWR by Catherine Brown

An opportunity for all members to get together, enjoy, feedback from the September Convoy, plan ahead and simply enjoy each others company!!

Broadacre House, Newcastle NE1 6HQ

Sunday 11th October –  3pm until 7pm.

At the event we’ll be showing a DVD of the recent aid convoy to Calais which took place. Having some guest speakers, entertainment, an open mic session where guests can get up and speak of their experience in the group or what motivates them, then to round the night off we’ll be advised as to the hope for the groups future and how we shall be progression on our next steps.

We shall be asking members to bring along food for to share and also there will be a charge of £1 for the provision of cups, plates, cutlery etc. we welcome as many varied dishes as possible.

We are hoping that as many members as possible will be attending as this is your group. As someone expressed it ‘We’ve found our tribe’ :-)

It’s our social on Sunday 11th October at 3pm in Broadacre House, Newcastle NE1 6HQ. Please bring something to eat, a warm smile and an open heart.

Some of the convoy members will be sharing our experiences and information about our first aid convoy and then we will all have a chance to discuss next steps.

This is also a chance to thank all of those who worked so very hard to make the convoy a reality: those who donated money and items, those who collected them and stored them and those at our sorting days across the region who gave up hours and days of their lives to sort the donations so that distributions in Calais could run smoothly.

What a team effort! Thank you all so much for everything you have done and continue to do.

Looking forward to seeing you on the 11th ❤

Jenni and Shah

Join the Facebook event HERE. If you don’t use Facebook, comment below that you’re coming along.

Edited to Add:

We have 300+ people coming along so we really need volunteers on the day. Please comment on the Facebook Event, contact Jon Riley via Facebook or comment below if you can help. Thanks!

Tyne Bridge This Morning

photos by Nicola Booth

Amazing what can be done with some duvet covers from your mam and a pot of paint left over from doing up the kitchen. You know it makes sense.

Add Our Logo To Your Facebook Or Twitter Icon

Show us your support – click through, follow the links and Tweet/Facebook!

Thanks. :)

Banner Making in the Kitchen

We’ve got a Vigil happening in  couple of days. Important for people on the street to be able to easily see who we are and what we’re about.

Ordinary household paint, scavenged tablecloths and sheets.

Need a tutorial? Coming soon. :)

New Website

We’ve grown hugely in the past month from a standing start of one person back in July to almost 7,000 members in our Facebook Group at the beginning of September 2015. We have collection points organised and run by people giving their own time and space in garages, spare rooms, attics all over the NE, and have begun crowdfunding.

Currently our whole focus is a trip to Calais on September 18th. The final date for drop-offs is September 10th to give us time to sort, pack, and move everything to our transport. More as it happens.

Please join us on our Vigil on Saturday 12th September in Newcastle. More details soon.

This new website is the beginning of getting the word out beyond Facebook and will be updated with regular news and ways you can contribute. Please feel free to send your pictures for inclusion on the website: pictures of your collection points, of our vigils, of our trips to Calais. You can add them to our Facebook group, @ reply them to our Twitter or mail them to our account at nesolidarityweb@gmail.com

Onwards and upwards!