An Evening with Refugee Tales: Oxted

This July, Refugee Tales is walking for 5 days in solidarity with refugees, people seeking asylum, migrants, and people who have experienced immigration detention. Together, we are walking from Edenbridge to Westminster via Oxted, Caterham, Wallington, and Wandsworth.

Each evening, we will join with the local community to listen to the stories of people who have experienced immigration detention and enjoy live music from around the world. Information about Refugee Tales, the Walk of 2024, and links to other Evening Events can be found below. To book tickets for the Oxted event, please click 'Get tickets'.

Please note, everyone who has booked a Full Walk Ticket or a Day Walk ticket on this day automatically has a place at this evening event. You do not need to book an additional ticket to attend the event. If you are unable to join us, please let Lara know (lara@gdwg.org.uk) so that we can give the space to someone else.

Oxted Evening Event: Saturday 6th July

T ime: 7:00 pm - approximately 8.30 pm

Location: Oxted United Reformed Church, 21 Bluehouse Lane, Oxted, RH8 0AA (Travel and accessibility information below).

Host:

Athena Kugblenu

Music:

Samuele Telari – accordionist

Also

Lucky Moyo and Ollie Seager from Hear Me Out

Tales:

'The Thirteen Year Tale' as told to Hannah Lowe

A new tale by Kasonga in conversation with David Herd

Travel information for this evening event:

Oxted has a local railway station which is located approximately 6 minutes away from Oxted United Reformed Church. Trains from London Bridge take half an hour.

There are a number of car parking facilities within a 5 minute walk from the Church.

Accessibility:

The Church is very access friendly - however if you have any specific access requirements that you think we should be aware of before the event, do not hesitate to email Lara Bligh-Caplan (lara@gdwg.org.uk).

Samuele Telari will be performing at our Oxted event on Saturday the 6th of July.

About Refugee Tales

Since 2015, Refugee Tales walkers have been embarking on small and large scale walks in solidarity with refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, and people who have been held in immigration detention. We have been met with kindness and hospitality every step of the way.

Working in collaboration with migrants and those who have experienced the UK asylum system - and taking Chaucer’s great poem of journeying as a model - established writers and people with lived experience of detention share their tales with local communities at evening events. We also enjoy live performances from renowned musicians, and our walkers are never too tired for dancing!

The tales we tell are published in four volumes by Comma Press. Some have been written collaboratively with authors such as Ali Smith, Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah, Kamila Shamsie, Patrick Gale, and Bernardine Evaristo. Others are first-hand accounts told directly by the people who experienced them.

In sharing these stories, Refugee Tales gathers and communicates experiences of migration, and we seek to show the reality of immigration detention. As we walk, we create a space for welcome.

The Walk of 2024

To find out more about this year's walk please go to our Refugee Tales website.

Oxted - Saturday 6th July

See details above

Caterham - Sunday 7th July

Host:

Pratibha Parmar and Gulwali Passarlay

Music:

Second City Low Brass Quartet - trombones from the Royal College of Music

Also

Jali Mbye – Kora player

Tales:

The Tale of the Walk – a film by Ridy and Ricardo

A New Tale by a person with lived experience of detention read by Kalungi Ssebandeke

Wallington - Monday 8th July

Host:

Refugee Tales walker, Pious

Music and dancing with:

Polito Boogaloo

Tales:

A New Tale as told to Shamshad Khan

Wandsworth - Tuesday 9th July

Host: tbc

Music:

Klezmer and Balkan music by She’Koyokh

Tales:

The Dressmaker’s Tale as told to David Mitchell

A New Tale as told to Scarlett Thomas