To celebrate 25 years of GDWG being a lifeline to those in detention I was planning to walk with the Refugee Tales group for 5 days with friends Jan and Moira this summer. Last summer we did the walk from Brighton to Hastings.  As this isn't possible during Covid-19 I have become 25th Birthday Ambassador for GDWG and Refugee Tales.  I have pledged as a 25^th Birthday ambassador to do the following:

1. Walk 25K for each of the planned 3 days of socially distanced walking in July 3,4,5  hopefully some of it with Moira, Jan and my husband joining in – more details to follow.

2. Produce 25 paintings on canvas of the Sussex Landscape we walked through last year, samples will be added to this just giving page – I have started with a series of spring landscapes with the colours of cowslips and buttercups. As I walk the landscape is changing with cow parsley and blue vipers’ bugloss everywhere now and later this month the poppies will be out, so my colours are changing to reflect what I am seeing.

3. Grow 25 pots of herbs.

4. Make 25 prints of Sussex bridges.

During lockdown I have been fortunate to have more time to do the things I love – walking, gardening and doing my art. I have been going to art classes for some time and my art teacher Susie Monnington is supporting the development of my landscapes and Carolyn Trant, the printer maker and my tutor is doing the same for my prints. - examples of their work are included at the bottom of this page.

As I paint the landscapes and produce the Sussex Bridges series of prints I will put them up on-line so that you see what I’m up too. I hope you will like what I am creating - if you scroll down to the bottom of this page you will see pictures 

GDWG is a small charity that makes a giant difference to people held in detention at Gatwick. People in detention are held indefinitely and the uncertainty of how long they will be kept in a cell has a terrible impact on mental and physical health. For 25 years GDWG visitors have been offering friendship to strangers, bearing witness to the realities of detention and making weekly visits to people who would otherwise be isolated. The stories of people who have been detained are shared in three volumes of 'Refugee Tales' published by Comma Press and every year on a long walk the stories are shared in evening events.Their work is ever more needed today with people released from detention to destitution and homelessness and GDWG stepping in to offer support. This is a tough time for small charities, so please show your support for those whose plight is frequently invisible and give what you can to GDWG and Refugee Tales.