THE WINTER is coming and a Bowston man is seeking to take a thousand blankets to help the refugees of Calais and Dunkirk stay warm.

Refugee Support and Sanctuary Cumbria (Resscu) plans to take a thousand blankets this weekend.

“We have done a great job and Kendal has done a great job but there is a lack of thick warm blankets in both camps”, Matthew Connolly, a member of Resscu and Kendal to Calais, said. “A town that has hundreds of years of history with wool could come up with more blankets.”

Mr Connolly became aware of the lack of blankets in both refugee camps when he was a van driver for Kendal to Calais, a group of Kendalians who collected clothes, suitcases and blankets to the soon-evicted residents of Calais refugee camp to stay warm and keep their belongings safe. 

Resscu joined Kendal to Calais last weekend to visit Calais and Dunkirk to take two vans full of donations to the refugee camp, and discovered the lack of blankets in both camps.

Volunteers of both camps mentioned the lack of blankets, and residents of the Dunkirk camp told the visitors that cold was the biggest problem at the camp at the moment.

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He said: “People were grabbing the blankets as they were handed out. Some were begging for a blanket, saying that their children were cold.”

Mr Connelly, who is hoping to take the blankets to Calais and Dunkirk as soon as the coming weekend, has organised a number of collection points for donations around Kendal.

Mr Connelly said: “We can fit a hundred blankets into a van but we can also fit a thousand. We are seeking to take the blankets to the camps as soon as possible.”

The collection points include the Stricklandgate House, the Lakeland Radio premises at Plumgarths and the Berrison LTD premises at Sandaire House on New Road. 

For further information, Mr Connelly can be contacted on 07484 291339 or mattvconnolly@gmail.com.