Refugee Week 2025

Refugee Week 2025 is taking place from Monday 16 June to Sunday 22 June this year. The theme for this year is “Community as a Superpower” and community groups are hosting a range of exciting events across the borough. Waltham Forest is proud to be a Borough of Sanctuary.

Refugee Week Football Tournament, Friday 13 June

Organiser/Host: Waltham Forest Community Hub
Date and Time: Friday 13 June, 5.30pm to 8.30pm
Location: Salisbury Hall Playing Fields, Walthamstow Avenue, London E4 8ST
Entry: Max 100 people (Registration of interest required in advance), for further details contact Gary@wfchub.org

An Evening of Film, Music and Poetry, Monday 16 June

A fundraiser for Care for Calais, film showing of Pylos (Greece) one year on and interview with Greek anti racist/refugee support, with music and poetry celebrating the lives of refugees.

Organiser/Host: Waltham Forest Stand Up to Racism
Date and Time: Monday 16 June, 7pm
Location: Walthamstow Trades Hall, 61-63 Tower Hamlets Road, London E17 4RQ
Entry: Entry by donation, open to all

Find out more: no one stranger evening

Introduction to climbing for women, Tuesday 17 June

Join Yonder for an introduction to climbing session for refugee and asylum seeking women.

Organiser/Host: Yonder
Date and Time: Tuesday 17 June, 10am
Location: Yonder, 6 Hooker's Rd, E17 6DP
Entry: Free, only open to refugee and asylum seeking women

Film screening and art exhibition, Tuesday 17 June

Come along for a film screening of 'Another Summer', a documentary filmed by displaced Ukrainian and Afghan young adults. Art created by local artists will also be exhibited.

Organiser/Host: Waltham Forest Resettlement Team
Date and Time: Tuesday 17 June, 6pm
Location: Good Shepherd Studios, 15A Davies Lane, Leytonstone, E11 3DR
Entry: Free, open to all

Get your free ticket for Another Summer Film Screening on Eventbrite

Women’s Interfaith Network (WIN) Webinar, Wednesday 18 June

This Refugee Week, WIN is bringing together voices from grassroots refugee led organisations and WIN community to share experiences and reflect on this year’s Theme of ‘Community as Super-Power’: celebrating all the ways migrants and refugees enrich our communities and the role each of us can play in supporting and welcoming our neighbours.

Organiser/Host: WIN
Date and Time: Wednesday 18 June, 6.30pm to 7.30pm
Location: Virtual/Online
Entry: Free, open to all: Sign up to the webinar

Find out more: interfaith network (WIN) webinar

Art workshop run by refugees, Thursday 19 June

Celebrate creativity and community at an art workshop run by refugees, featuring hands-on activities for children of all ages.

Organiser/Host: WFC Resettlement team
Date and Time: Thursday 19 June, 3:30pm to 5pm
Location: Lea Bridge Library, Lea Bridge Road, E10 7HU
Entry: Free, open to all. For further details contact Suhir.Helal@walthamforest.gov.uk

Warm Words, Thursday 19 June

Join William Morris Gallery community residents Stories and Supper for this Refugee Week event, featuring conversations, poetry and food from refugees and people seeking asylum. Stories & Supper meet every week at the gallery to share stories, food and laughter. To mark Refugee Week, local residents are invited to join in the beautiful gallery café to celebrate the power of community and the value of friendship.

Organiser/Host: Stories and Supper
Date and Time: Thursday 19 June, 7pm
Location: William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, London E17 4PP
Entry: Free but booking essential. Open to Waltham Forest Residents. For further details contact helen@storiesandsupper.co.uk

Find out more: warm words stories and supper

HAVEN Coffee presents Laff-ucino with Shappi Khorsandi, Thursday 19 June

HAVEN Coffee present a fantastic night of laugh out loud comedy with an incredible line-up of comedians including Selam Amare, Ed Night, Ania Magliano, John Kearns and Shappi Khorsandi (headliner).

Organiser/Host: HAVEN Coffee
Date and Time: Thursday 19 June, 8pm to 10pm
Location: Big Penny Social, 1 Priestley Way, E17 6AL
Entry: Ticketed

Buy tickets for Laff-ucino on the Big Penny Social website

People, plants, community: Celebrating with OrganicLea - a Garden of Sanctuary, Friday 20 June

Come celebrate Refugee Week on the summer's longest day-of-light at OrganicLea's 12 acre market garden and woodland edge in North Chingford (E4 7UH) - an officially recognised 'Garden of Sanctuary'. There will be stories to highlight the global journeys of common plants we love to grow and eat, at Hawkwood and elsewhere. Mbilla Arts will be in attendance with drums and miremba for all to join in. Other musicians will perform songs that celebrate unity. A tour will follow the site's magnificent oak trees, a symbol of courage in the Celtic calendar. There will be plant-based food for sale, prepared by a 'Migrateful' trained chef (serving from 7pm to 8pm). This is an outdoor venue with indoor space provision.

Organiser/Host: OrganicLea
Date and Time: Friday 20 June, 3:30pm to 9pm
Location: OrganicLea, 115 Hawkwood Cres, Chingford, E4 7UH
Entry: Open to all, free but need to register, for further details and to register contact: activities@organiclea.org.uk / 020 8524 4994

Find out more: celebrating with OrganicLea

Refugee Week Community Celebration, Friday 20 June

The evening will begin with poetry reading, singing and performance to set the scene, and will continue with DJs. As much as possible, local artists will be engaged, and discussions are already underway with local bands. Awareness about Refugee Week, migrant justice, and the work of the organizers will be raised through their supporter base, local organisations, and schools.

Organiser/Host: Waltham Forest Migrant Action
Date and Time: Friday 20 June, 7.30pm
Location: Upstairs at Walthamstow Trades Hall, 61-63 Tower Hamlets Road, London E17 4RQ
Entry: Free entry for migrants. General admission: £10. Trades members: £5. Solidarity ticket: pay what you can.

Find out more and book: refugee community celebration

Family Day, A Dream Home: For Refugee Week 2025, Saturday 21 June

Join William Morris Gallery community residents Stories and Supper to celebrate Refugee Week at this free drop-in community workshop exploring the theme of utopia. Inspired by Morris’s own utopian writing, participants will be playing with words and images to build a dream of a better world and think about what home means to them. Attendees are invited to add their ideas alongside the Stories and Supper family of refugees, asylum seekers and local residents.

Organiser/Host: Stories and Supper
Date and Time: Saturday 21 June,1pm to 4pm
Location: William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, London E17 4PP
Entry: Drop-in activity, all ages welcome. For further details contact: helen@storiesandsupper.co.uk

Find out more: family day stories and supper

Celebrating migrant and refugees and their achievements, Sunday 22 June

This event will celebrate refugees’ identities and success stories by providing a platform for them to share their experiences and accomplishments. For children (ages 5 to 12), art-based activities will be organised and led by a facilitator.

Organiser/Host: PL84U Al Suffa
Date and Time: Sunday 22 June, 11am to 4pm
Location: William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow, E17 4PP
Entry: Open to all

Community Lunch: Refugee Week and Windrush Remembrance, Sunday 22 June

Free community lunch following a Sunday Service that recognises Windrush Memorial Day in honour of Refugee Week. The community lunch will be open to the whole community and will include food from a range of cultures.

Organiser/Host: St Barnabas Church
Date and Time: Sunday 22 June, 1.30pm onwards
Location: St Barnabas Road, London E17 8JY
Entry: Open to all

Find out more: community lunch