The Weekend Club is a monthly social event for refugees and asylum seekers in Edinburgh. It was developed and set-up by Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees in 2017. Since 2021 the Edinburgh Weekend Club is led by the faith-based organisation Edinburgh City Mission and their Salaam Team.
Through the Edinburgh Weekend Club local faith communities are able to build connections with local refugee families and help create a sense of belonging and welcome. They also provide a space for people to practise their English, form social connections and get to know their new city.
Past events have included multi-cultural ceilidhs, trips to Edinburgh Castle and the zoo, community meals, baking and Burns Suppers.
Each event tends to invite between 40-70 people from the refugee community alongside volunteers and guests from local faith groups.
How to get involved
Volunteer
Edinburgh City Mission are looking for volunteers from diverse faith and belief backgrounds to help plan and deliver the events. If you are passionate about showing welcome to New Scots in Edinburgh, please contact Edinburgh City Mission.
Host and event
ECM are always looking for churches who are willing to host an event. Hosting can mean anything from providing a venue or a meal, to providing volunteers or helping us to fund an outing. It’s a chance to build connections with people from the refugee community and show them welcome in their new city.
Outings and Activities
If you have skills or spaces that you’d like to share with the refugee community, please get in touch. This could be anything from workshops, venues or free tickets to events. We’d love to show people new and exciting parts of their city but we need support from the community to enable this.
Start your own Weekend Club
The Weekend Club is a fun and effective faith-based integration model. If you are interested in hearing more about how it works and the potential for starting a similar project in your own area, please get in touch with the SFAR Co-ordinator, Sabine schalmers@churchofscotland.org.uk.
How to attend
If you are a New Scot and would like to come along to The Edinburgh Weekend Club, please get in touch with Edinburgh City Mission.
If you are someone who works with the refugee community and know people who would benefit from the event, please let us know.
For information about our sister project, the Glasgow Weekend Club, please see the website of Interfaith Glasgow. They have produced this promotional video: