A CAMPAIGN has been launched to push Dorset County Council to support three at-risk refugee children a year for the next decade.

The project, which is being led by North Dorset resident Bernard Sullivan, follows the national work of Lord Alf Dubs and support network Safe Passage.

Lord Dubs was one of the thousands of people who were saved from the Nazis on the Kindertransport around the outbreak of the Second World War.

The 85-year-old has lobbied to support child refugees in recent years and now Mr Sullivan is aiming to make a difference in Dorset.

After recently returning from a humanitarian effort on the Greek islands of Lesvos and Chios, where Lord Dubs had also been, he set about attempting to make a difference at home to mark the 80th anniversary of Kindertransport.

Mr Sullivan said he aims to make a deposition at the next full council meeting in November.

“To support three children a year does not sound like much, but it would make a massive difference to the lives of these young people.

“They have found themselves in a truly awful situation through no fault of their own.

“Our country has a history for being supportive and hopefully we can continue to do so.”

The Kindertransport took 10,000 unaccompanied children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Lord Dubs said the camps he visited in Greece were “extremely distressing” and had left him horrified.

“We have a very simple ask. We took 10,000 children in in just over a year in 1938/39, we’’re saying couldn’t Great Britain take 10,000 children over 10 years.”

This breaks down to three children per local authority every year over the time period.

The first action meeting for the Dorset campaign takes place on Thursday evening in Blandford from 7.30pm at the parish centre on The Plocks.

For more details and to confirm attendance go to actionnetwork.org/events/kindertransport-80th-anniversary-saving-refugee-children-80-yrs-on