SUPPORTERS of the scheme to bring refugees from war-torn Syria will be staging a rally on Monday to present their petition to Malvern Hills District Council.

Members of Malvern Welcomes Syrian refugees will be meeting at Great Malvern Priory at 5.30pm before handing the 1,200-name petition to the council's standards committee, which is meeting at the Council Chamber, Avenue Road, that evening.

Ruth Forecast, of Malvern's Amnesty group, said: "It's a bit in limbo at the moment, as we wait to find out what the government will be doing about funding, so we want to keep the pressure up.

"We're calling Monday's event Get The Refugees Out By Winter, because last year five children froze to death last year in the camps."

Malvern's efforts to help the refugees have made the town a beacon for other local authorities wishing to help in the international crisis, says former mayor Cllr Julian Roskams.

He has been invited to address a major international conference hosted by the European Committee of the Regions and the International Catholic Migration Commission, on Tuesday, October 20.

One of just three UK delegates, Cllr Roskams will take part in a panel discussion on strengthening public and political awareness of refugees, with representatives from Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria and Spain.

He said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the incredible hard work of Malvern Welcomes Syrian Refugees and the wider Malvern community in raising public and political awareness of the plight of the refugees.

"It will also allow us to share with towns and cities across Europe how we have gone about building a network of support for the eventual arrival of these families.

"Malvern Hills has become something of a beacon, with councils from as far away as Cumbria, East Anglia, South-east England and South Wales learning from the example of our community, and then offering a refuge of their own to those in need. We now look forward to sharing those experiences more widely."

On Wednesday, October 14, Malvern Welcomes Syrian Refugees will be holding a workshop on how to work with local councils on the refugee crisis. The speaker will be Daniel Mackintosh of grassroots campaigning organisation Citizens UK, and the event is at Lansdowne Crescent Methodist Church Hall at 6.30pm.