The writing is on the cake for an amazing Farnham group that has taught hundreds of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants how to speak English.

Birthday cake was served up in the Methodist Church Hall last Tuesday (November 5) to mark three years of the Farnham’s Multicultural Reading Group.

People with no or limited English experience from 28 different countries have been given a helping hand since the group was founded by the inspirational Gill Cox.

Sessions take place every Tuesday morning from 10.15am and often attract around a dozen readers and the same number of volunteers.

The class, which includes a beginners group, is split into pairs following an opening presentation from Gill.

She said: “We’re a multi-cultural reading group and what that means is that adult who wants to learn and improve their English is welcome.

“There’s three aims and the first is for people to build up confidence on speaking and reading English.

“The second is to expand their vocabulary and cultural knowledge and the third is that it’s a social thing.”

The group started small with five volunteers and even less readers but it’s since become invaluable, not least to the many Ukrainians like Viktoria Yarosh who came to the area in 2022.

“To be honest started learning English at college but here I can be an individual,” said the journalist from Kyiv.

“There’s a friendly atmosphere, it’s relaxed and very clever. I would say it’s a great idea.”

“I’ve done lots of volunteer work with Syrian refugees in Guildford and one of the Syrian girls came to live in Farnham,” said Gill in recalling how she started the group.

“That was one of the reasons I started the group in Farnham. I’ve worked with refugees all my life and to me it’s the most rewarding thing.”