It is estimated that about 65,000 Tamils have sought asylum in the UK since 1983 when the civil strife started in Sri Lanka.  The Tamil Refugee Centre was established as an unincorporated community association in March 1992 to serve this group, and charitable status was obtained in March 1994.

As this group needed advice and information on welfare services available in the country. A few public spirited members of the Tamil community living in the Borough of Enfield provided the necessary assistance and support to facilitate resettlement of refugees who came to reside in the North London area.  As the number of Tamil refugees settling in the area increased, the service delivery had to be organised in a more structured and systematic way.  As a result, the group of voluntary benefactors formed the Tamil Refugee Centre and established it as an unincorporated community association in March 1992.

Initially, the service provided by TRC commencing from 1992 was managed by volunteers, supported by trainees on work placement from the Refugee Council.  Activities centred round the provision of information and advice.  The organisation continued to diversify its services  to meet changing needs of the users.  An education and training division was set up in 1995.  It was called the Enfield Education and Training Centre (EETC) and has been serving the needs of students from a wide range of communities in addition to the services already provided in the areas of immigration, welfare benefits, housing, health, under Advice and Information, Women’s Outreach Development and Refugee Health Development projects.

These projects arose out of the need to enable asylum seekers to gain familiarity with the services that are available and to access them.  These projects also took into consideration the language and cultural barriers as well as the immigration status of our service users, which made it difficult for them to access services.  TRC targets its services for the most needy refugees and immigrants living in Greater London.

During the first year volunteers ran the activities with donations from a few philanthropists.  There was no direct funding from any other source.   The Refugee Council provided the organisation with used computers and typewriters and the Centre provided work placements for some of their trainees.  TRC received a supervision fee for the trainees.

The expansion of the organisation’s activities in the field of education and training resulted in the review of its aims and objectives and changes to its constitution and status.   As a result, a new charity was established with wider objectives and the original Tamil Refugee Centre was wound up and from October 1998 the new Tamil Relief Centre was established as a company limited by guarantee with charitable status.