Day 25

A Christmas message from Mark…

Asylum Welcome’s Director, Mark Goldring, shares his thoughts on the challenges and rewards of the past year.

Mark became Director of Asylum Welcome in April 2020, having previously led Oxfam, Mencap and VSO. He has been a trustee of and consultant to charities of all sizes.

Mark studied law at Oxford and has a Masters in Social Policy from LSE. His working life has been focused on tackling exclusion, lack of opportunity and poverty.

Having spent many years working on global issues, including with refugees and displaced people across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, he is pleased to have the opportunity to make a difference in a practical way closer to home.

And that’s a wrap! Thanks for following our digital advent calendar; we hope you have enjoyed the stories.

Our sincere gratitude to everyone who contributed to this project, especially to our very talented filmmaker Michael Bicarregui, fantastic designer Corinne Welch, and endlessly patient web team Nick Damour and Sofia Grigoratou. Thanks also to our brilliant volunteer Sindi Kuci for assistance with interviews, research and transcription.

🎄 We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you in 2023…

In 2021/22, Asylum Welcome supported 60% more clients than the year before with a wider range of services and a bigger budget than at any time in our history. We couldn’t do it without you. 🧡

As the national environment gets ever tougher for many of our clients and others like them, fleeing violence and persecution in so many countries, it is ever more important that we continue and extend our work.

If you can, please support our appeal today. Thank you for being part of the story.