Refugee families are said to be making great progress in Ashford, adapting to their new lives away from war-torn Syria.

The first families arrived from UN camps in December 2015. Now there are 71 Syrians living across the borough.

Some still face challenges of being reliant on public transport, needing to learn or improve their English and needing to acquire appropriate skills and certificates to enter the workplace.

Their arrival followed the Home Office scheme to resettle 20,000 refugees across the country.

Ashford Borough Council leader Gerry Clarkson decided that the borough should welcome up to 250 people until 2020.

Four men and a woman have now passed their driving theory tests, showing that they can understand English. One of the men has also passed his practical driving test.

Four men have achieved their construction skills certificates, which includes workplace health and safety and will enable them to find work on building sites.

Two men have got jobs at a custom car-chroming and tyre fitting garage, another man is working as a barber and one man has now enrolled at Ashford College in Station Road.

Meanwhile the women have been taking up to eight hours of English lessons each week and are training in pre-school child care and courses in food hygiene and safety, with the ambition of opening a cafe. Some women may also train as hairdressers.

The council’s refugee resettlement co-ordinator Anne Forbes said: “Our Syrian refugees are amazing, resilient people. They are extremely hardworking and eager to stand on their own two feet.

“That so many of them have not only found their feet but are contributing to their communities is so pleasing.

"I trust that the many volunteers who came forward initially, who contacted the council to say how pleased they were that we were taking this positive stance as part of the government programme, will be pleased to receive this update.”

The council has appealed for more property owners in the private sector to come forward so it can continue to help refugees as part of the nationwide scheme.