Syrian, Bengali and Pakistani students in Rhyl have been "thrilled" to serve up a plethora of delicious dishes.

International students from Coleg Llandrillo’s Rhyl campus' English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) course – the majority of whom are Syrian refugees - held a get-together for staff and fellow students, where they shared dishes from their respective homelands.

The students – many who have been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster - receive a lot of support from the Red Cross charity including a breakfast club and after school clubs at Rhyl College, funded by the charity. One of the students, Amal Mohamad Alkhatib, said: “I really enjoyed speaking to lots of British people during the day, and also talking about a variety of food from my country Syria.”

The get together gave the students an opportunity to speak English with someone other than their teacher, and exchange cooking tips with all of their guests.

Rhyl College ESOL tutor Llinos Blackwell said: “It was wonderful to see the students’ confidence grow and to see how proud they were when showing their national dishes off to visitors.

"This is the first of many events planned for the students on the run-up to Christmas. Representatives from all of the emergency services will be popping in to chat to the students in the coming weeks and months.”

Examples of the national dishes on display included tabouleh, which is made of finely-chopped parsley, with tomatoes, mint, onion, bulgur, and seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, kanafeh and falafel.

Prior to the event, the students went around college speaking to staff and asking them to fill in course-related questionnaires, before inviting them to the informal gathering.

The event drew staff from lots of of other departments, after hearing the music and smelling the food, and allowed the ESOL students to introduce themselves and explained more about their national dishes to a wide group of people.