Angus Refugee Festival to start

The annual Angus Refugee Festival is being held in Arbroath from today until July 2 and will be marked with a series of free public events.

The festival is supported by the Scottish Refugee Council and Angus Council and in partnership with the Scottish Arab Kinship Association (SAKA), Angus Refugee Care (ARC) and the Multicultural Angus Community Group (MACg).

Events include Reflection, which is an art exhibition displaying ceramic self portraits made by Syrian children during a ceramic workshop, with embroidered display backsdrops made by their mothers.

The exhibition opening is from 6pm–8pm on Friday at T-Potters Studio, Westport, with Syrian refreshments, music and poetry.

‘Reflection’ is the beginning of an active exhibition called The Trail of Reflection where artwork will be displayed for one night only in T-Potters before it goes on display at businesses in the area until July 2. A map will be available from T-Potters café showing where the pieces can be viewed.

The White Helmets, which is a showing of the awardnominated documentary about volunteer rescue workers in Syria, will take place on Saturday between 7-8pm in Knox’s Church Hall.

Fun family activities including football, bouncy castle and face painting, will take place on July 1 at Arbroath Sports Centre between 11am and 4pm.