The Brighton Table Tennis Club (BTTC) is a Brighton charity founded in 2007 with the belief that table tennis can be used as a powerful tool to engage people of all ages and transform lives. The club runs over 200 tables across the city and has a full time centre in Kemptown. The club includes people with learning disabilities, people from traveller sites, Looked After Children, people with physical disabilities, the LGBT community and young asylum seekers.
In 2016 BTTC became the first Sports Club of Sanctuary in the UK for our work with refugees and asylum seekers. In 2019 the club started to attend parkrun and loved it, with many of the club members running and volunteering.
We reached out to the amazing Sanctuary Runners project in Ireland and in June 2024 we launched the first group of Sanctuary Runners in the UK.
“The Sanctuary Runners enable Irish residents to run alongside, and in solidarity with, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees thereby fostering friendship, positivity and respect while bringing greater awareness to the migration system.For seven years we’ve been bringing people together in communities across Ireland including, and especially, asylum seekers and refugees. Be the change you want to see, lace up those runners and bring a smile!”
(Sanctuary Runners Brighton launching June 2024)
The group has gone from strength to strength and we have 44 runners from more than 40 different nationalities taking part in the Brighton Marathon and 10K on the 5th and 6th April.
Please support BTTC and Sanctuary Runners Brighton by donating here. The incredible Enjoolata Foundation has pledged to match fund the first £1500 raised.
These are the things people would need to come to Sanctuary Runners:
Kit - running shoes, t-shirts, shorts
Bus tickets - to get across town to meet up for the run
Food - to provide a free meal we share together after the run
To date some of this has been donated but now we need to buy these items for the community of asylum seeker, refugees and others in the group that need support.
BTTC and Sanctuary Runners are both proven as models that can transform lives - being part of a supportive community can do that - having a network of friends that are there for you.
Last week one of the Brighton Sanctuary Runners was moved by the Home Office to Hartlepool where she and her children knew no one. Through the parkrun community they have been made to feel incredibly welcome and supported with their cupboards full of shopping the day they arrived, BTTC and Sanctuary Runners Brighton were able to help make that happen.
(Nathalie)
Sanctuary Runners Brighton meets every Thursday for a run on the seafront followed by lunch at the Real Junk Food Project cafe at the Fitzherbert Community Hub. On Saturdays we go to local parkruns and on Sundays the Queen's Park junior parkrun.
The Brighton Marathon, run by the London Marathon, have been incredibly supportive of the Sanctuary Runners as they see the movement as a great way of bringing more diversity to their events.
One of the members of the Sanctuary Runners Brighton taking on the marathon is Leyla Fey, who said: “Sanctuary Runners genuinely supports its members, creating unforgettable moments of mutual encouragement and the joy of physical exercise. I feel a mix of excitement, enthusiasm and dedicated diligence as I prepare for my first marathon. I feel it’s the right moment to take on this challenge – a chance to push my limits, embrace the journey and prove to myself what I’m capable of.
“Being a part of the Sanctuary Academy programme has been both uplifting and inspiring, motivating me to move forward and achieve new goals. The programme fosters a strong sense of community, where support, learning and personal growth go hand in hand.”
Graham Clifford, Founder and Head of International Development at Sanctuary Runners, said: “We've seen the incredible power of running in bringing people of different backgrounds together as equals in solidarity, friendship and respect. The Sanctuary Runners in Ireland has had almost 30,000 people, a quarter of them asylum seekers, come together to run, jog or walk over the years and it's been an incredible way of uniting communities.
“Through being on one running team, people learn that we are all deserving of respect, kindness and a helping hand no matter our nationality, legal status, culture, religion, age, gender or sexual orientation. That's why we're so excited to bring our model to Britain and there's no better place to start it than in Brighton.”
Hamid Vaghefian, Director of Communities and DEI at London Marathon Events, said: “Brighton is such a wonderful, diverse and vibrant place. We really want to capture that spirit in our event, and are committed to making the Brighton Marathon Weekend reflect the city and include and welcome everyone.
“More people are turning to running as a way to build community, but we’re aware that there can be real financial and access barriers to entering events for marginalised groups, including refugees and migrants. That’s why we’re excited to be able to offer the members of the Sanctuary Academy this support to take on the Brighton Marathon and Brighton and Hove 10K with us.”
(Mike and Anwar)
Marathon Day!
Sunday 6th April BTTC and Sanctuary Runners Brighton will have a Cheer Zone at the bottom of Bedford Street, 50 metres from the BTTC Kemptown on the seafront South Side of the road.
Come and join us before 9am and support all of the Sanctuary Runners and everyone else taking part!
If anyone is running the marathon or 10K and would like to wear a BTTC Sanctuary Runners t-shirt in solidarity with refugees and asylum seekers, please come and collect one from the BTTC office anytime before the 6th April.
(Jess and Fdel)