Brightwell Supporting Refugees (BSR) was set up in 2015 by a group of villagers who wanted to do something to help the growing number of refugees from the war in Syria. It is managed by a group of eleven trustees, became a registered charity in 2018 and since then has widened its brief to support refugees and displaced people fleeing from conflict from all over the world.

We focus on the welfare and education of refugee children and their families. Through direct personal contacts, we support several long-term initiatives in Jordan and in Uganda, in particular paying the salaries of two primary school teachers in Jordan which provides hundreds of young Syrian refugees with a basic education.  In Uganda we support programs aimed at keeping girls in school who would otherwise drop out when they reach puberty.

We also help refugees settling in Oxfordshire through our links with local organisations. Like many villages and towns across the UK, we responded quickly to the plight of people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. Twelve Ukrainian families came to live in our village. BSR offered a support network to them and their hosts.

In the past decade BSR has raised more than £140,000 through local events and generous donations, enabling us to continue making grants and donations to the causes we support. Our fund raising events include talks by authors, filmmakers and playwrights; jazz evenings, film nights, poetry and music; village trails and bistros. Many of these are highlighted on the BSR website Events page.

You can support BSR by coming to these local fundraising events or by making a donation, or both! To donate please use the Just Giving link on the BSR website, https://www.bsr-charity.org/support-us and to find out about BSR events go to https://www.bsr-charity.org/events. You can also visit the BSR facebook page. BSR is a registered charity number: CC no. 1179821 and is also registered with HMRC for Gift Aid.

Email : bsr@bsr-charity.org, or Alisonleighwcsfp@icloud.com or Davidp.dugan@gmail.com