Fences and Frontiers - 2024, A Year of Events, Community and Change! - Community Spotlight
This December, we want to celebrate some of our wonderful Community Member’s 2024 successes!
We caught up with founder and CEO Lewis Garland to learn more about what Fences and Frontiers have been up to this year!
What is the overall goal of Fences and Frontiers?
Fences & Frontiers puts on cultural and nature-based activities for refugees and asylum seekers living in London. These range from coastal walks to art sessions in the woods, museum visits to theatre trips. The overall aim of our work is to give people, many of whom are living through the most challenging time in their lives, a sense of community, respite from daily fears, helping support them to rebuild their lives.
What feels like the biggest achievement for you this year?
This year we’ve put on a more diverse range of activities than ever, working towards our goal of creating a tapestry of interrelated cultural and nature based activities. These have included trips to the Peak District, South Downs, Kent Coast, author talks, museum and theatre trips, plant potting, gingerbread making and more. It’s an exciting journey to be on, and one that is only possible thanks to our incredible volunteer team.
I’m sure, like other All the Elements members, the greatest sense of achievement for me, always comes from seeing the difference we make to our participants lives. It’s participants sending WhatsApp messages telling us that being part of our group is the first time they’ve felt truly welcomed and at peace since leaving their homeland. It’s those moments of magic, when people start singing or dancing together in the woods, jumping in the waves or faux-fighting with autumnal leaves.
One further thing I think worth mentioning is our response to the racist riots in the summer. Not only were we able to give people living in asylum hotels the friendship and solidarity they needed through this time, but in working with trusted journalists (at LRB and Third Sector) we were able to get their voices and experiences properly heard.
What has been your biggest learning this year?
This year, more than ever, we’ve seen the immense value of partnerships. As a grassroots charity, we rely heavily on these relationships to amplify our impact. Collaborating with organisations like London Zoo and Kew Gardens, The Urban Tree Festival, artists, and mindfulness practitioners, let’s us deliver creative, therapeutic activities that would usually be beyond a charity of our size.
Our partnership with HF Holidays has been particularly valuable. Through this partnership, our participants have been given the chance to explore beautiful parts of the country, offering a real chance for immersion in nature—experiences that are difficult to achieve through day trips alone.
What are your hopes for 2025?
It’s been a year of real transition for Fences & Frontiers, with some of our original team sadly saying goodbye and lots of fresh ideas and energy coming in.
In 2025, I’m really looking forward to seeing how Fences grows and the direction it goes in – and of course, welcoming more refugees and asylum seekers, volunteers and supporters into our beautiful little community.
In a wider sense, l hope that we, as a country, can end the race to the bottom around refugee and asylum seekers rights and instead begin to build a more compassionate and fair asylum system.