Asylum-seeking children have begun arriving in Cranbrook as offers of help come flooding in.

The newly re-opened Swattenden Centre has seen 28 teenage boys settle in and there is still space to offer more places to youngsters fleeing conflict in Syria.

Help pledged includes a football coach offering to train those at the Swattenden Lane base, to Cranbrook Primary School which will donate English books, board games and sports equipment.

28 families from across Kent have offered to open up their homes and become foster families with a further 30 approaches from outside the county.

Councillors who oversee social services admit they have received some ‘deeply unpleasant emails’ from people who don’t support what’s happening.

The opening of the centre in Cranbrook had eased the situation greatly, along with a lull in the numbers arriving in the UK, he added. Another centre in Whitstable, involving the conversion of a former old people’s home, is due to open shortly.

The publicity given to the death of three-year-old Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi on a Turkish beach has seen KCC inundated with offers to help.

Cranbrook county councillor Sean Holden (Con), who last week said he hoped the children in the town would be shown “comfort and care” said he was delighted with people’s responses.

He said: “I’ve been overwhelmed with the help offered from the people of Cranbrook and Goudhurst.

“I’ve had approaches from a football referee and psychiatric assessor to offer their services at the Swattenden Centre. These children have been through extremely hard times, with many of them losing loved ones.”

Cllr Peter Oakford, the cabinet member for vulnerable children’s services, said there had been a notable change in mood among the public.

He said: “It ranges from offers of clothing to sports equipment to offers of English lessons through a school. I have had a retired English teacher from Norwich offering to come and help.”

Mr Oakford had received some “very unpleasant emails and letters” but was now receiving more positive messages: “To me, the big difference is that people are beginning to see the difference the economic migrant and those that are leaving wartorn zones and have had horrendous experiences in their lives and are genuine refugees seeking safety.”