Almost 30 per cent of British people would welcome a refugee into their home.

This was revealed last year after Amnesty International asked more than 27,000 people across 27 countries whether they would welcome refugees, to which four in five people replied with a definite yes (Refugees Welcome Index). China came out top, Germany next and Britain was third.

A total of 87 per cent of people across Britain were ready to invite refugees fleeing war and persecution into their country, with 29 per cent willing to host a refugee in their own home.

Somewhat surprisingly, then, is the comparatively small number of people finding refuge in the UK.

Between 2015 and 2016 the UK offered refuge to 168,937 people, while the small country of Jordan offered refuge to 2.8 million people and Lebanon, a tiny country the size of Cornwall and Devon combined, welcomed 1.5 million.

Hertfordshire has welcomed more refugees from Syria under the government’s resettlement scheme than any other region in the East of England.

In response to these statistics, Amnesty International curated a photography exhibition at London’s South Bank.

A compact version of the display can currently be found at St Albans Library to mark Refugee Week which runs between June 19 and 25.

The exhibition has been put together by the St Albans Group of Amnesty International and it is a compact version of Amnesty’s I Welcome exhibition.

The photographs are the work of members of the international collective Magnum, founded by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour and Henri Cartier-Bresson after the Second World War.

With work spanning 70 years, the photographs highlight refugees’ lives then and now, fleeing war and persecution, waiting in limbo, trying to put order into their chaotic days, hoping for the future.

They speak of our common experiences as humans - as breadwinners and home makers, as parents and children, brothers and sisters, thrown into appalling circumstances. They challenge our willingness to engage and identify: what if this was me - my son - my daughter?

The St Albans Amnesty Group hopes that Hertfordshire’s hospitality to refugees will continue and that the exhibition might help encourage this.

They have invited the South-East coordinator of City of Sanctuary to their meeting on October 11 to introduce the concept of building a culture of hospitality for people seeking sanctuary in the UK.

Those interested are invited to join the meeting - these take place on the second Wednesday of the month (except August) - at 7.45pm at the Friends Meeting House, 7 Upper Lattimer Road, St Albans, AL1 3UD.