A FAST growing, and sometimes notorious, refugee camp near Dunkirk is intimidating, frightening and muddy say a tired Petersfield couple just back from delivering aid there.

While Claire Lowe and Alex Eneas were at the field on the edge of the town of Grande Synthe, a band of refugees left under cover of dark while tents and rubbish skips blazed; nervous firefighters would only go on to the site with a police escort.

Claire said: “About 100 left, and we were told they burnt their tents for hygene reasons, to stop the spread of infections.

“But the fire spread to the rubbish skips, we could hear gas bottles exploding, and once we realised what was happening we quickly left.

“They didn’t have an official destination, they are just trying to get somewhere better, somewhere they can live decently. But as some leave, so more arrive very quickly to replace them.

“You walk down the lane to get to the camp, and at first it is intimidating and frightening. It’s in a muddy field and the camp has grown so quickly there are now tents in the woods around the field, and there is very little mingling between different nationalities, they tend to stick together.”

Most refugees arrive at the camp without anything apart from what possessions they can carry.

Claire said: “It’s wet, raining and muddy, and many are wearing broken down town shoes, that don’t fit, or even flip flops, the children often don’t have proper coats, in many cases their tents leak and if they are lucky they get one cooked meal a day.

“There are showers, but they are cold and there’s no electricity so if they shower they are freezing.

“With winter coming on its going to be very, very hard for them to get by.”

Sturdy tents so the refugees would be relatively dry and warm during winter, were promised in September, but haven’t arrived yet.

Living in polythene covered shelters and tents jammed side by side, the camp’s population has grown from around 200 in September to more than 1,000 now.

Some are new arrivals, exhausted after walking across Europe to escape the war in Syria, others either left or were evicted from the ‘New Jungle’ camp at Calais, where savage clashes between ethnic groups are common.

Claire said: “But most of them are nice people, often well educated, some have left family behind that are too old for the journey, so they are worried about them as well as their own huge problems.

“Most are people like us but trying to reach a better life, and they need our help.

“All they want is a normal, safe life, and the camps are a real shock to them. I was in tears at times.”

Those delivering aid believe that most of the refugees in northern?France hope to get into the UK.

Aid workers also say people smugglers regularly visit the camp, and often arrange for wealthier refugees to buy their way into one of the few shacks on the site.

For the rest, donated tents are home, often old, and sometimes leaky.

Claire said: “We did as much as we could, by covering some of the leaky ones with polythene.

“We also put up a tent from Petersfield for a pregnant woman with children. They had been living in a tiny tent, sleeping on just a groundsheet and we were able to give them camp beds.

“Those we helped were very grateful, but there are many more who need help.”

And aid doesn’t always get to those who need it most.

Volunteers say at times there have been attempts by young men to funnel them through the camp to the doorstep of the shacks, where it is expected the occupants should get the pick of donated goods.

Claire said: “We didn’t take aid into the camp until we found out what individuals needed, and then we would take it in to them.”

Alex added: “The clothes we would put on a ground sheet away from the camp and they helped themselves. There weren’t any problems, why would there be?

“The only time things got scary was when we opened the van and got out a box of torches and batteries, and we were mobbed. But fortunately a refugee helping us stopped the surge.”

And looking ahead? Claire believes one answer is much tighter border controls.

“Tigher control is needed, so the refugees are in a system, and can be helped properly, and there needs to be officials in the camps so they are run properly.

“How long must these people live on donated aid.

“This isn’t happening far away, they are in squalor with little food or facilities, just a few hours travel away.

“And there is a moral issue – these people need help and we should give it, but what happens next, do we accept them here?

“What is their future? This can’t go on forever.”