Campaigners are calling on Wiltshire Council to take care of more young refugees, and have invited former child asylum seekers to Corsham to help make their case.

A free event at the Pound Arts Centre at 7pm on November 6, called Our Turn, links the refugee crisis of today to the plight of Jewish children in Nazi Germany.

Local group Wiltshire for Refugees, based in Corsham with members across the county, is working with refugee charity Safe Passage to host Our Turn, featuring a free performance by Phosphoros Theatre, a London-based theatre company with actors who are former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

Our Turn commemorates the Kindertransport scheme - when more than 10,000 mainly Jewish children were brought to the UK from mainland Europe and saved from Nazi persecution. Our Turn is now calling on the UK government to fund the resettlement of 10,000 child refugees over the next 10 years.

Appearing at the Our Turn event will be Syed Najibi, who came to the UK from Afghanistan as an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child. Phosphoros will share extracts from their new show Pizza Shop Heroes, and the event will also feature a recorded audio piece of Imagine, a new piece by the award-winning author of War Horse, Sir Michael Morpurgo.

Wiltshire for Refugees members want to secure a pledge from Wiltshire Council that if the government provides the funding, the council will place a set number of unaccompanied refugee children in the county.

Wiltshire for Refugees member Julie Owst said: “This performance is a chance for activists, faith leaders and other members of the community to come together and honour the legacy of the Kindertransport and the thousands of lives that were saved.

To address the plight of child refugees globally we need to show that same leadership today, which is why we are calling on Wiltshire Council to do its bit and pledge to take a set number of children. Here in Wiltshire we have already welcomed 32 families under the Vulnerable Person Resettlement scheme. The success of that scheme is clear and shows what a welcoming place Wiltshire is. That’s why we are calling for places to be ringfenced for child refugees.”

Organisers have invited council representatives to attend and afterwards want to discuss the campaign with the aim of securing a pledge.