Publicity boosts friendship project

Gloria Ho (right) of ARKH with befriender Liz White and Hull newcomers Sazan Hassan and Zubeiga Abrahams who have been helped by the project

A project that helps asylum seekers and refugees build a new life in the city received dozens of enquiries from Hull residents after an appeal for volunteers was published in the April edition of Hull in print.
Asylum Seekers and Refugees Kingston upon Hull (ARKH), based in Albion Street, received 40 calls from people who wanted to hear more about befriending newcomers to the city.
Befrienders help asylum seekers and refugees settle in by showing them around the city and helping them improve their English.
"We were pleased with the response, and while not all those who have contacted us will become befrienders, I hope some will decide to do so," says Gloria Ho, ARKH's befriending co-ordinator.
Meanwhile, ARKH is organising a Kurdish cultural evening at Hull City Hall on October 17 at 7.30pm.
Tickets cost £15 and can be purchased by calling ARKH on (01482) 214178 or Gloria Ho on 0774 896 5714.

Key time in religious calendars

Hull's Muslim community will celebrate the festival of Eid on October 11.
The festival, which marks the end of a 28-day period of fasting known as Ramadan, is celebrated with gifts and food.
Meanwhile, on October 5, more than 350 Jewish families in the Hull area celebrate the festival of Simchat Torah, which marks the completion of the annual cycle of weekly readings from the Torah, the most important document of Judaism.
On November 9 more than 200 Hindu families will celebrate the festival of Deepawali. Said to be the equivalent of Christmas, it's known as the 'festival of light' and carries themes that light will conquer darkness.
The Pagan festival of Samhain takes place on November 1, when Hull pagans will travel to the countryside to celebrate the changing of the season.

Pet sounds

A charity that helps improve the lives of deaf people by providing them with specially-trained 'hearing dogs' is building a new dog training centre near Hull.
Hearing Dogs for Deaf People instructs dogs to alert their owners to sounds such as doorbells and smoke alarms.
The training centre at Bielby will help the charity double the amount of dogs it places with owners from 150 to around 300 each year.
"Deafness causes isolation and a lack of independence," said Paula Guanaria, the charity's appeal manager.
"But our clients tell us a hearing dog changes their lives for the better."
The charity has raised £1.5m of its £2.5m fund-raising target to allow construction work on the centre to begin.
For more information visit www.hearing-dogs.co.uk

Michelle speaks on safer communities

Winner of the 2006 BBC series The Apprentice, Michelle Dewberry (pictured) will speak at a conference being staged to look at ways of helping criminal offenders settle back into the community after their release from prison.
The conference, entitled "Beyond the Walls," will take place on October 24 at Hull's Octagon Centre, on Walker Street, and will be attended by community workers, academics and criminal justice professionals.
The inspiring business woman and former Sydney Smith pupil is the keynote speaker at the conference which will discuss how re-offending can be reduced and how offenders can be helped to resettle through community and business partnerships.
For more information visit www.hmprisons.gov.uk/beyondthewalls

Designs on fighting crime

Six young offenders who put their criminal pasts behind them by expressing themselves through art have achieved a top national award.
Taught at the Artlink Centre for Community Art in Princes Avenue, they each received a Bronze Award from the Arts Council England.
They learned the skills of sculpture, digital photography, graffiti art, and plaster casting, and their best work was put on display at the centre.
"The work produced was of high quality and they fully deserve their awards," said Gemma Chaikin, an arts development worker from Artlink.
The sessions were run by Hull City Council's Youth Offending Team (YOT) and the Youth Justice Board.
YOT is a council service which works with young people aged from 10 to 17 to prevent and reduce youth crime.

We salute you

Soldiers from The Yorkshire Regiment exercised their right, as honorary freemen of Hull, to march through the city centre with bands playing, colours flying and bayonets fixed.
The march, which started on Park Street and included a salute to the Amy Johnson statue on Prospect Street, ended at The Guildhall where the regiment joined Lord Mayor of Hull Cllr Brenda Petch.
(Pictured) Cllr Petch with those soldiers from within the Yorkshire Regiment who are from Hull.

First class museum service

More than 14,500 children and adults have so far taken part in family events and workshops organised by the Hull Museum Education Team this year.
Like eight-year-old Thomas Weatherley from Kingswood (pictured), who is the proud owner of a brand-new Ipod Shuffle after winning the 'Sir Walter Raleigh's Treasure Hunt.'
Other events this summer have included West African drumming workshops, mask-making sessions, artefact investigation, story-telling days and guided tours by museum keepers.
And the number of people taking part is double the amount last year.
For more information about Hull Museums visit www.hullcc.gov.uk or call 300300.