A petition calling for refugees to be housed in West Cumbria will be presented to Allerdale council tomorrow.

Valerie Hallard, of High Street, Workington, launched a petition called for 30 families fleeing war zones to be welcomed in the borough as part of a nationwide project by campaign group 38 Degrees.

More than 100 people have signed the petition so far and the retired teacher and careers advisor, 59, will present it to council leader Alan Smith ahead of the authority's meeting tomorrow evening.

The council is already in talks about the possibility of hosting refugees but Valerie, a member of St John's Church and secretary of Churches Together in Workington, felt it was important to raise awareness.

She said: "Sometimes we get negative messages about refugees and I am keen to be positive and support people in difficulty.

"I think it enriches the area when you have got a diversity of people here. If the Government takes in children who have lost their parents they've have to be fostering support and people might be willing to help with that.

"I wanted to raise awareness so people can support it as they wish.

"As a Christian I feel we are called to help.

"We as West Cumbrians have got a reputation for generosity. We have had a great response to problems like flooding. I think it would be a shame if we didn't help out."

Valerie is one of a number of people locally who have set up petitions.

Others are available for Cumbria as a whole and specifically for Workington, Cockermouth and Keswick.

As well as being counted on the individual petitions, all names added go towards a nationwide total along with those on petitions in other areas of the county.

So far more than 130,000 people have shown their support across 626 localised campaigns.

Valerie's petition will continue after it has been presented to Allerdale council and she hopes further signatories could help to influence government decisions on the topic.

The local petitions can be found by clicking here