RESIDENTS of Ilkley and Burley are working together with Bradford Action for Refugees to offer day trips to the area this summer for recently-arrived refugees.

The organisation runs a children and families project offering support for people going through the asylum system and newly-arrived refugee families.

It is hoped to welcome some of these families to Ilkley and Burley this summer to share the beauty of the area with them. In order to do this, a fundraising campaign has been launched to pay for food and travel.

It follows a successful project in April when Ilkley residents drove to Bradford to pick up refugee families to take them on a three-day residential in the Dales. Families from Syria, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Pakistan and Iraq enjoyed the trip, with one mother saying: "Getting out of the city, and being in this beautiful place, I can breathe again. I feel human again. I don't have to be an asylum seeker just for these days."

One of the people behind the initiative is Sue Staton, of Ilkley, who said: "Because of the success of this trip, we decided we wanted to join together with Refugee Action in Bradford and plan more joint activities, hence the suggestion of summer day trips.

"These trips will provide an invaluable opportunity for families to get much-needed breaks, make new friends, see parts of the country they are new to and to feel a sense of welcome from local people. After everything that has been happening recently, the welcoming bit is particularly important to me.

"We have three confirmed trips planned during the summer; day one is a visit to St Margaret's Church, where we will share food with the families and then a walk on Ilkley Moor; day two is an afternoon picnic in the park (or All Saints' Church if it is raining) and an exclusive trip to Dan's Den, and day three is a trip to the Burley Festival and picnic.

"Refugee Action in Bradford is co-ordinating the train travel and we will be meeting our visitors and Bradford neighbours off the train in Ilkley and Burley, spending a few hours with them and then seeing them back on the train home again.

"To ensure we are able to get everyone here, we're raising £12 per family invited, which will cover their travel costs. In addition, we are raising money for the food/ingredients.

"Bradford Action for Refugees has set up a Justgiving page to ask for funds. The money raised through the page will only be used to fund the planned days out. If we raise more than our target, we will organise more days out."

Visit justgiving.com/fundraising/BradfordActionforRefugees to donate.