December 18, 2025
What we built together this year
As we come to the end of another year at Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network, we’re taking a moment to celebrate what’s been a powerful year of community, solidarity and shared action! From day-to-day support to collective campaigning, this year’s shown once again what’s possible when people come together with courage and determination.
Between April 2024 and March 2025, we supported over 2,000 people across Lewisham and Greenwich. Our advice and casework teams worked closely with individuals and families navigating complicated systems, providing immigration advice to 746 people and submitting 295 eVisa applications. Alongside this, we helped meet immediate needs by distributing over 1,300 food parcels and 404 food e-vouchers, and by providing 50 phones, more than 300 SIM cards and 16 laptops so people could stay connected.
One of the moments we’re especially proud of this year is helping 33 people lift their No Recourse to Public Funds condition. This change has a real and lasting impact on people’s stability, dignity and wellbeing, and we celebrated every single one! Our hubs in Lewisham and Greenwich continued to be welcoming spaces for hundreds of people, while our Asylum Hub offered tailored support, creative activities and moments of joy in what can otherwise be a very difficult time.
This year was also full of visibility and collective action. We took part in the London Legal 10k Walk, joined bus rallies outside City Hall to call for free bus travel for people seeking asylum with Citizens UK, and held stalls at the Greenwich English Language Fair and at Cutty Sark Gardens where we shared information about LRMN services and our Borough of Sanctuary work. We presented our migrant charging campaign at the South London Citizens UK Assembly and were thrilled when Lewisham and Greenwich were named Citizens Alliance of the Year at the South London Delegate Assembly!
Community leadership continued to grow through our Community Champions programme, with two cohorts graduating this year, one in Greenwich and one in Lewisham. Our Champions are community leaders who want to speak up, campaign for change and support others, and it’s been a joy to hold workshops where they could share challenges, celebrate each other and recognise their magic as changemakers!
This autumn, we also held Men’s Art Workshops with the PATH team at King’s College London, supported Code Your Future to deliver Basic Online Skills sessions for community members, and shared powerful stories on the airwaves through radio slots on Sister Midnight FM and Sounds Like Chaos, where our Community Champions spoke about their journeys and campaigning work. You can find our most recent recording here!
During Refugee Week, we brought people together for our own event ‘Power of Community’ – a celebration of connection and community here in Lewisham. We also published our 2024/2025 Impact Report and launched our Patient Advocacy Guide in eight languages in partnership with NHS South East London Integrated Care Board, supporting people to understand their rights and access healthcare with confidence.
As the year closed, we said goodbye to Twitter/X and hello to Bluesky, so do give us a follow if you’re there! Thank you to everyone who’s walked alongside us this year. Your support and trust continue to make this work possible, and we can’t wait to build even more together in the year ahead!