{"id":478934,"date":"2026-03-16T17:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T17:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478934\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T17:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T17:31:10","slug":"friendships-fishing-and-community-clean-ups-the-unseen-kindness-of-life-on-the-bibby-stockholm-barge-bibby-stockholm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478934\/","title":{"rendered":"Friendships, fishing and community clean-ups: the unseen kindness of life on the Bibby Stockholm barge | Bibby Stockholm"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bibby Stockholm<\/a> barge, which was moored off Portland, Dorset to accommodate asylum seekers, attracted many negative headlines \u2013 from evacuation after the discovery of legionella bacteria<\/a>, to the suicide of Albanian asylum seeker Leonard Farruku<\/a> and angry far-right protests.<\/p>\n

But an exhibition launching this week reveals a less reported side of life on the barge, where enduring connections between asylum seekers and members of the local community were forged and continue long after the last group of asylum seekers left the vessel<\/a> in November 2024.<\/p>\n

Enjoying a BBQ in Weston. Photograph: Theo McInnes<\/p>\n

Bibby Boys<\/a>, by Theo Mcinnes and Thomas Ralph, which tracks the entwined lives of the asylum seekers and the community, is they say, \u201ctestament to the men\u2019s enduring spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n

The barge opened to accommodate asylum seekers on 7 August 2023. Described<\/a> by Amnesty International as \u201creminiscent of the prison hulks of the Victorian era\u201d, its arrival on the remote peninsula attached to the mainland by a single road, maximised the optics of punishment for the asylum seekers, who had no choice about living there. The previous government, like the current one, was under pressure to end use of \u201cluxury\u201d hotels for asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

The barge divided the local community, and far-right activists from groups such as Patriotic Alternative arrived from other parts of the country to try to amplify discord. Facing the asylum seekers were many local residents who came with welcome packs and flowers for the newly arrived men. They formed Portland Global Friendship Group (PGFG) and changed Portland\u2019s slogan \u201cKeeping Portland Weird\u201d to \u201cKeeping Portland Kind\u201d.<\/p>\n

Davide and Reece. Photograph: Theo McInnes<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt these are human beings on our island. We ought to be reaching out to them as we would to any stranger. It almost felt like a civil and moral humanitarian duty,\u201d said Giovanna Lewis, one of the members of the group. As a local councillor at the time she became a target of hate by anti-migrant activists. They branded PGFG as \u201cdo-gooders\u201d and \u201cthe welcome brigade\u201d.<\/p>\n

A programme of activities was organised by PGFG including running clubs, gardening projects and community cleanups. Some of the men fished for mackerel and cooked their catch on the beach for all to eat.<\/p>\n

A gathering on Chesil Beach.<\/p>\n

The asylum seekers were moved on to the barge at a time when the previous Tory government threatened to send many of them to Rwanda, a scheme cancelled by the current Labour government. Some said they feared the barge would be loosened from its moorings while they slept and that they would wake up sailing away to Rwanda.<\/p>\n

One Iranian former barge dweller, Azad, who now has leave to remain in the UK and is working in a Sheffield warehouse as a forklift truck operator, said: \u201cThe friendship group were like angels to us. The barge was a prison for us, a time in our lives when we were living in hell. I have promised that one day I will go back to Portland, not as an asylum seeker but as a tourist. The group saved our lives. Being with them was the only time we felt like we were living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balach, from Pakistan, also has leave to remain and now lives in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am now in my second year of working and paying my taxes,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the moment I\u2019m working as a kitchen porter. I often ask myself why these amazing, special people, always supported us. They showed us so much positivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

James: \u2018The people from the friendship group welcomed us with good hearts.\u2019 Photograph: Theo McInnes<\/p>\n

James, a Maasai from Kenya who fled his country after he was persecuted for trying to prevent FGM for girls, is still waiting for the outcome of his asylum appeal. \u201cThe barge was a very difficult place to live. Lots of people suffered from stress and depression there,\u201d he said. \u201cI joined the gardening group and was able to grow the same things I grew back home \u2013 tomatoes, potatoes and onions as well as beautiful flowers. The people from the friendship group welcomed us with good hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former asylum seeker Azad: \u2018The friendship group were like angels to us.\u2019 Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so dispiriting seeing all the negativity about the men on the barge at the beginning,\u201d said Laney White of PGFG. \u201cFor us it was a wholly positive experience. I remember some of the first group of men to arrive at the barge had carpentry skills, they took up the floorboards at the local church to replace some of the rotting wood underneath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another group member, Lucy Hardwicke, described the connection between the group and the asylum seekers as a \u201cfantastic community experience\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lewis said: \u201cIf something like this happened again we would do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bibby Stockholm barge, which was moored off Portland, Dorset to accommodate asylum seekers, attracted many negative headlines…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-478934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}