I WISH to express my thanks to the people of Malvern I met this weekend in your beautiful town.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend Creating a Culture of Welcome on Saturday, together with a group of about 50 local people.

As someone with experience of voluntary work with refugees in other parts of the country, I was inspired by the level of concern, compassion and dedication shown by members of the Malvern community in their endeavour to create a culture of welcome for refugees in their town.

At a time when there is much resistance to welcoming refugees to our country, often fuelled by misinformation, it was heartening to see a community group taking the initiative to inform themselves about how they could offer support to vulnerable people fleeing some of the world's worst conflict zones.

I came away uplifted by the generous and positive community spirit, and I will continue to follow with interest Malvern's journey as a town of sanctuary for those in need.

Heather Card

Altrincham