Information evening welcomes Somali community to Slough
More than 100 people from Slough’s Somali community turned up to a special drop-in evening on Tuesday, which was run jointly by Slough Borough Council and Thames Valley Police.
The event was held to give Slough’s newly arrived Somali community the chance to find out about the services on offer to them from a range of public services including, council services, the police, primary care trust and voluntary organisations.
It is estimated that around 3,000 to 5,000 Somalis are living in Slough based on information from community leaders and national insurance numbers.
Lauren Watts, chair of the Somali Working Group in Slough, said: “The event went really well, and lots of organisations turned up to provide information to the Somali community on their services.
“The evening was also well attended by the Somali community and the feedback we had was that it was informative and helpful, and that they would be keen to hold another event in the future.”
Ch Insp Dave Parker, deputy LPC commander for Slough, said: “It was a tremendous evening with many visitors to all the stalls where experts from various services were on hand to provide vital information.
“It was great that we gave out over 30 police community support officer application packs at our stall and I know that the community and diversity staff were extremely busy fielding questions.
“This type of event is vital if we are to build sustainable partnerships with all of our communities and I know that this is just the start of the bridge-building process. The Somali community was the real driver behind the event and it has been very rewarding for my team.”
Slough Borough Council