60 Syrian refugees will be homed in Herefordshire from September this year. Herefordshire Council is looking for local residents who can act as interpreters to help these refugees with their language needs.

In order to help and support the refugees to settle into Herefordshire communities, find employment, enrol their children in schools, register with GPs and meet their religious needs, the council’s Herefordshire Language Network is looking for new linguists to join the team in either paid or voluntary positions.

Councillor Patricia Morgan, Cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “The council’s Herefordshire Language Network is the main provider of interpreters and translators in the county and is always keen to hear from residents who speak English alongside other languages fluently, none more so than now with the imminent arrival of Syrian refugees into the county.

“We won’t know which languages the refugees speak until approximately six weeks before they arrive but we believe we’ll need interpreters who can speak Arabic and Kurdish. We would love to hear from anyone with the appropriate language skills who would like to volunteer their time to support refugees or work as an interpreter.”

There will be training provided from June 25th to 26th for volunteer interpreters and July 9th to 10th for paid interpreters.

To find out more and to download an application form, please visit: www.herefordshire.gov.uk/language. The closing date for applications is Friday, June 10th and Friday, June 24th respectively.