Bristol aid convoy sets off for French refugee camp

The dismantled Dismaland theme park is on its way to a refugee camp in France after Banksy donated it to a group of Bristol volunteers.

The Weston-super-Mare Bemusement park was originally due to go to the so-called “Jungle” camp in Calais, France.

It has now been donated to Aid Box Convoy, which is taking it to a smaller camp where conditions are said to be “horrendous”.

The fixtures and fittings will be used to build shelters and cooking stations.

More than 150,000 people visited the Dismaland exhibition at the disused Tropicana site in Weston.

Now, eight vehicles and 20 volunteers will take leftovers from Bristol to the camp in northern France. They are also taking with them five tonnes of donated firewood and some 300 aid boxes containing food, toiletries and cooking equipment.

‘Huge wooden sheets’

Co-founder of Aid Box Convoy, Imogen McIntosh, said the camp only has basic sanitation and has “grown from 400 people three weeks ago to more than 1,000, with families turning up every day”.

Ms McIntosh said Dismaland organisers changed their mind about sending the camp to Calais when they heard there were other camps in France which hadn’t received any aid.

She added: “It has all been taken down now and we are left with huge sheets of wood which we can use to build the shelters.

Dismaland is also sending a team of chippies and builders out to the camp, who will be creating any structures that we need with the materials.”

The group has also been supported by Bristol-based Arcadia Spectacular – known for its festival fire-breathing spider – which has donated a vehicle and trailer.

“People have been so fantastic, it’s been such a brilliant response and so much better than we could ever have imagined,” added Ms McItosh.

BBC