A Manchester Reform congregant with “Muslim ‘grandchildren’ who are refugees” has urged support for a new branch of a Jewish charity assisting refugees and asylum seekers from around the world.

Jackson’s Row Reform member Rosemary Taylor told a meeting on Sunday that she had become surrogate family to a refugee mother who had fled to the UK after death threats in Pakistan. One of her children was born in the UK. “I was her breastfeeding counsellor,” Mrs Taylor said. “Her boys now call me grandma. At this very moment my husband Mike is doing some maths coaching with Abdullah, who is now 10-years-old. The other son is eight. We are grandma and Mike to them.”

Cheshire Reform member Eve Davidson is developing a Manchester branch of the London-based Jewish Council for Racial Equality, which campaigns for and gives practical help to refugees.

“We are first asking people in Manchester for donations of warm clothing, shoes and trainers, toiletries and nappies, tinned food, rice and pasta,” she said. “We are mainly helping destitute asylum seekers in the Oldham area.”