Boots and Beans: Fred Andrews

Thank you for the fantastic support the recent Boots and Beans Campaign received. The campaign was initiated by one of our Artist Blacksmithing students Fred Andrews after he spent time volunteering at the Calais refugee camp. The campaign was also supported by the Students Union and by Raft the aid organisation based in Taunton.

As a result of your generous support, over 400 pairs of boots and several hundred tins of beans and vegetables have been donated to the charity for distribution to refugees in Europe- an amazing result!

With thanks to the Student Union for storing all the donations in their office and to Artworks in Abergavenny for logistical support and delivery to Taunton.

Reflecting on what was achieved, Fred said:

“First of all, I would like to thank everyone who found the time and had the enthusiasm to help out with the Boots and Beans project. Its initiatives like this that are changing the lives of so many people during this trying moment of human history, so thank you for being part of a step towards a bigger solution. When we came round to sorting what had been collected, I was amazed at what we had managed to gather, and knowing that each pair would change someone’s day to day life, even just a little bit is great.

I have been going back and forth from the jungle in Calais and the Grande Synth camp since Christmas time and finding myself becoming increasingly involved. I first decided to go because I was bored with seeing this issue as a distant thing: it’s not, and sadly with media coverage slowly dying down so has interest. I hope that you will not forget these people exist, they are good, friendly people who like most of us hate war, politics and the atrocities that are being committed in the world at the moment.

The more time I’ve spent there, the more love and respect I’ve gained for many of the individuals I’ve met there, but also the community as a whole; these people have walked away from their homes, families and everything they know, facing prejudice along the way, looking for safety from the horrors of war, all this they did just for a chance at living a life.

Any little thing you can do to help these people can and will make a difference, even if it just shows them they are not forgotten.”

Thank you everyone.

Del and Fred