14 June – Wallingford – Face the Music with Hope (Brightwell Supporting Refugees)

From Brightwell Supporting Refugees:

“Stephen Hope, a celebrated pianist, organist and conductor presents his acclaimed one-man show “Face the Music with Hope” which he has performed around the country with huge success. This musical evening is filled with musical facts, fun and cleverness and promises to be an entertaining exploration of all kinds of music, with scintillating performances of classic pieces and new versions of old favourites. Hidden melodies, medleys, audience participation in reduced opera and choral favourites, including a five minute Messiah and much much more. This is an event not to be missed!

Saturday 14 June at St Mary-le-More, Wallingford at 7.30 p.m. Tickets will be available in May from Brightwell Village Stores or The Wallingford Bookshop, price £10 or £5 for under 18s. To register interest or for more details, please email bsr@bsr-charity.org.”

15 June – Oxford – Football for Solidarity

From Asylum Welcome:

“FOOTBALL FOR SOLIDARITY
Sunday 15 June, 2pm
Oxford Phoenix vs Leys Lions
Oxford Academy, Sandy Lane West,
Oxford OX4 6JZ
A welcoming community fixture celebrating solidarity through sport. Now in its second year, this ‘displaced derby’ brings together two local teams whose members have sought safety in Oxford.”

16 June – Online – Prayer for Refugees in Didcot

From Joanna:

16th-22nd June, is Refugee Week.  We’ll be starting the week by gathering together as Christians from different churches in and around Didcot to pray.

Praying for refugees in Didcot

Monday 16th June, 2.30-3.30pm, online:

Email info@ccow.org.uk for the link. 

This is an opportunity to

  • give thanks to God for those who have found safety in our area
  • pray for their ongoing needs and how we as individuals and churches can welcome and support
  • bring the wider picture before God.

Please do share this information with your churches and join us in praying.

If you’re not free at that time, maybe you could make refugees a focus of your private prayers or your home group that week? Thank you.

 

16 June – Oxford – Narrative Entanglement: The Case of Climate Policy

Political economy models often assume that voter beliefs are consistent with available information. Recent work emphasizes instead the role played by narratives, subjective causal models that may be incorrectly specified. In this paper, we study the role of political narratives in the context of climate policy. We develop a theory of narrative entanglement, where policy dimensions—initially distinct—become strategically intertwined through narratives created by politicians to sway support. Shocks in one dimension can thus influence unrelated policy areas. We test this theory in the context of EU climate policy before versus after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which affected the economic costs of climate policy but not its ability to address climate change. Using a large language model to analyze speeches in the EU Parliament, we find that narratives are strongly entangled: Members of the European Parliament that emphasize the need to address climate change also emphasize economic benefits, while those denying climate change stress economic costs. After the energy price shock associated with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, narratives shift not only in the economic dimension but also in the climate dimension, with speeches becoming less likely to imply that climate policy is necessary to combat climate change. This pattern holds at the individual politician level, with politicians from right-wing parties showing a more pronounced narrative change than those from the left.

 

  • Date: 16 June 2025, 11:30
  • Venue:
    Manor Road Building
    Manor Road OX1 3UQ

16 June – Online – Welcome Churches Refugee Prayer Hour

Join Christians around the UK in praying for refugees and asylum seekers. 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Information and registration link at https://welcomechurches.org/events/refugee-prayer-hour-jun-16.

16 to 22 June – Brightwell – Refugee Week Exhibition

“Brightwell Supporting Refugees will be exhibiting in the Red Box Gallery outside the Red Lion throughout June, coinciding with Refugee Week (16-22 June) and World Refugee Day (20 June). This year’s theme is ‘Community as a Superpower’ – something that BcS knows all about. So do call by, for some possible surprises, and to share your thoughts on welcome, kindness and belonging – open the door and take a peek!”

 

17 June – Oxford – Oxford Sanctuary Fair

From Asylum Welcome (and one of our favourite annual events):

“OXFORD SANCTUARY FAIR
Tuesday 17 June, 10am – 5pm
Oxford Town Hall, St Aldate’s, Oxford OX1 1BX
Join us for a day of community
connection with:
• Info stalls
• Panel discussions
• Food & refreshments
• Children’s activities
• Open mic
• Workshops
Free entry – just drop in or register at: tinyurl.com/sanctuaryfair2025
Organised by Asylum Welcome, the University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford City Council, Oxford County Council
Refreshments provided”

17 June – Oxford – Vigil for Refugees

From Asylum Welcome:

“VIGIL AT CARFAX
Tuesday 17 June, 5.30pm
Carfax Tower, central Oxford
A moment of solidarity to say: Refugees Welcome! Keep Campsfield Closed!”

18 June – Oxford – Open House at Refugee Resource

Wednesday 18 June, 10am – 2pm
Refugee Resource, The Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE

A warm invitation to celebrate Refugee Week with coffee, conversation and connection. Drop in any time – meet clients, partners and supporters in a relaxed, welcoming space.

18 June – Online – Celebration of how schools are working with refugee families

The theme of Refugee Week 2025 is “Community as a Superpower” and in this webinar a panel of speakers will share their experiences and reflections around how schools and other settings are helping to nurture communities in which refuge-seeking learners feel a real sense of belonging.

“Speakers from Schools of Sanctuary, Warwickshire Local Authority and a secondary school will consider practical examples of how they have achieved meaningful social inclusion, and will share their recommendations for other schools welcoming refugee and asylum-seeking learners.

After a short presentation from each of the panelists, Radha Chakraborty, Director of Trustees at The Bell Foundation, will pose questions from the audience to each of the speakers. If you would like to ask a question around social inclusion, please email webinar@bell-foundation.org.uk.

Host: Radha Chakraborty, Director of Trustees at The Bell Foundation.

Panel: 

  • Megan Greenwood, School Coordinator, City of Sanctuary UK;
  • Nikki Ajibade, EAL Senior Lead, Warwickshire’s EMTAS Team;
  • Claudia Lopez, EAL Raising Achievement Coordinator, Saint Gabriel’s College, Lambeth;
  • Nahed Alhamwi, Specialist GCSE Arabic Teacher, Founder of Bloom Group and Noon Arabic Language Club, and Sanctuary Ambassador, Independent Community Leader supported by WCC and Volunteering Matters.”

From the Bell Foundation. Information and registration: https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/training-events/detail/community_as_a_superpower/