To our volunteers, our supporters and the many other individuals and organisation partners we work closely with – a belated note of best wishes for the start of a new year.

Returning to work following the festive break certainly has a “groundhog” feel to it with Lockdown 3.0 beginning on 4^th January. It is a tough pill to swallow but there does seem to be real progress being made on the national vaccination programme. I hope that you are still able to find the resolve and spirit of revival that the start of a new year can bring.

For the young men we work with this has been an exceptionally difficult ten months. For much of that time the usual activities of education, programmes, gym etc have been severely curtailed or at times have had to be stopped altogether. Likewise family visits have had to be suspended for large chunks of the last ten months.

We work closely with our HMP colleagues across our five prison locations, and they have done wonders in terms of sustaining their regimes during these exceptionally challenging times, often with staff numbers significantly depleted because of COVID.

Notwithstanding these challenges, we enter 2021 with a degree of optimism in terms of how we can continue to develop our service delivery. We are proud of the support we have been able to provide for our beneficiaries over recent months and recognise that so much more needs to be done.

I am supported by an exceptional team, rich in talent and abundant in their enthusiasm and commitment. We are often inspired by the selfless and generous support given by so many of our volunteers – you are a truly inspirational group, and an appropriate fit to the quote below.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead, American Anthropologist very prominent in the 1960’s

John Shepherd
CEO