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2023-04-05-accounts

Annual Report 2022-23

(Year ending 5 April 2023)

Charity objectives: the relief of need of those people held within HMP Wandsworth by providing resources, support, activities and other such items as the charity trustees see fit in order to meet a basic standard of living.

Registered charity number 1198674

Our aims

Wandsworth Prison Welfare Trust has three key aims:

How we started

Liz Bridge, the Quaker Chaplain in Wandsworth prison, persuaded the other chaplains and security governor to allow chaplaincy to beg and buy small wind-up radios for prisoners who were suicidal or self-harming, and the very poor. She went on to introduce a small and very limited jigsaw puzzle swap scheme which itself became a source of chess and dominos and playing cards for prisoners. All that was before covid hit.

At the start of Covid the Governor gave the chaplaincy £6000 so Liz could buy cards, chess pieces, dominos, and counters in bulk, and she ran a sort of workshop making our own boards and packing distraction packs for every cell in the prison.

The work developed through covid when our libraries closed. From a small existing fund, she bought book trolleys for each wing and was able to source supplies of donated novels in 12 languages. She begged the public for help and sourced all sorts of art materials, books and games.

The Present

In April 2022, the Wandsworth Prison Welfare Trust was set up as a charity to take over and fund the work properly. The charity works to help everyone and anyone in the prison, with no faith barriers - the trustees are Christian, Muslim and of no faith. The prison has allocated us a double cell at the bottom of a wing to act as a storeroom for our stuff and as a working base.

What we do

We work to provide what is needed to help the prisoners and fill the gaps in their lives. For instance:

Chair’s report

We began the year working from a portacabin in one of the exercise yards of the prison. There was plenty of room, but access was complicated because the yard was often full of men. At Christmas we gave a hat to every man in the prison – a huge undertaking needing over 1000 hats. htps://www.facebook.com/groups/722874485008202/

At the start of 2023, we moved into G wing to a cell in the main run of basement cells. It has required careful racking, and a more disciplined approach to stock levels and the things we hold ready to give out. We have focused on popular items like matches and glue and wooden construction kits, with a smaller stock of games and art materials than before.

We have a presence in two other parts of the prison. At reception we have a room racked with clothing for men at release. Sad to say but many men do not have any clothing to leave in and we can dress them warmly and sensibly.

We also have a rail of suit jackets and good shirts and ties in the Online Courts suite so that men can look smart and clean for their online court appearances. Both areas need a lot of work to assemble the clothes and keep them in good order. More and more men know that clothes are available if the prison and families cannot provide for them and we have plans for a rail of suits needed if a man goes out to the funeral of a family member.

More men now rely on us to find them distraction packs when the future looks bleak and time hangs. We are delighted to find that officers are now willing to ask for distraction packs to help men who are distressed. We work hard to make sure that we have colouring books, Sudoku, wordsearches, and pens and notebooks readily available to prisoners at reception. This is when they first arrive and are at their most confused and unsettled. We also make sure that the segregation unit is supplied with wind up radios and that healthcare also has plentiful distraction materials. These two parts of the prison frequently hold men who are finding it difficult to cope and communicate with others.

It has been a difficult year. Despite the regime opening after the severe COVID restrictions the prison faces staffing challenges and men still face long periods in their cell especially at the weekends. Books, DVDs, paints, models, and jigsaws are essential to get through long lockdowns.

The prison officers and management – right up to the governor - and the other members of the chaplaincy have been very supportive of our work and we are very appreciative of their help. Working with them enables our work to reach further and be more effective, creating a more positive environment for all.

Money is beginning to flow, and we are learning how to appeal to the community inside and outside the prison. The prisoners are enthusiastic, officers help identify needs, and recently we have had a lot of help and support from the mayor of Wandsworth and Counsellors. We are starting an appeal to all the local places of worship to see if we can get a backbone of money secured by small annual standing orders.

Our thanks go to all our donors. Principal financial donors include:

We also had hundreds of people who sent knitted hats for the Christmas appeal – too long a list to thank you all individually here. We had hats coming from New York to the Isle of Bute, single ones in padded envelopes, multiples in boxes and sacks; hats with pompoms, hats with faces, hats for Rastafarians. Thank you all.

Liz Bridge, Chair

Trustees

Liz Bridge, chair, Quaker prison chaplain Peter Sullivan (chess lead) Amanda Browne Keith Walton, treasurer Patricia Phelan

Michael McClaren

Lzeblan Lewis, Lead chaplain, ex officio Katie Nutley, Head of Reducing Reoffending, HMP Wandsworth, ex officio

A typical week for us

Stories

G requires 5XL clothing, and no prison kit would fit him. He sat in his cell watching TV in kit that was cut down the sides simply to give him a covering to wear. His cell mate got his dinner, he wouldn’t come out. We got him 5XL clothes - two sets – and he has blossomed. He is a servery worker and has a leading role with a clip board! This week he told me that he was losing weight. He smiled from ear to ear.

D is confused, he speaks little English and others around him seem to find him odd. He is very lonely. We found that he could draw and with donated art paper, proper graphite pencils and lots of praise he has found a role drawing rather beautiful portraits from photographs. He is still has unusual behaviour but has the respect of his neighbours and is admired for his skill which makes his prison life more bearable.

H is old for prison life; he is in his late fifties and was self-harming badly when we first knew him. He had no family outside, nor friends, and could barely read. There were two triumphs for H. We found that he needed reading glasses, and with the help of a pair of Poundland specs he is now an avid and radical reader of Inside Time the prison newspaper, slow but sure and getting faster. And he has a wind-up radio and is a dancer to the 1960s pop channel. Dancing in his specs, he describes himself as a mover and shaker.

B gave me his little bag of Skittles sweets at Christmas. He had no money whatsoever to buy any extra food, but the cook had given every prisoner a bag with a chocolate bar, a bag of skittles and a piece of cake for the holiday. B had worked with me packing and handing out woollen hats on the wings - and had had the hat of his choice and the fun of a weird job. I accepted his Skittles because

he wanted very badly to give me a present at Christmas, and human beings must give and receive, but I wanted to cry.

K got a pair of socks from WPWT at Christmas in 2021. They are bright green with yellow fried eggs up the ankles. He is a Muslim who wears a long robe but when he sees me, he lifts the hem and jumps about – ‘still going Miss’ - I fear for the state of those socks but their sheer exuberance clearly helps him.

Y was once in the French Foreign Legion, where he learnt to model with bread. He makes the most beautiful monkeys with very cute faces. He is a bit secretive about the extra ingredients that stop the models rotting but he has a school of bread modellers on G wing learning the techniques, and WPWT supplies the paint.

When I first met M, I thought he might be blind. One eye was very cloudy, the other wandered, and he was crying. He had no volume control on his voice, and every other word was unrepeatable. Someone had stolen his vapes and he could not see how he could manage without. Eventually someone lent him a bit of vape and by then we were talking. I asked if he would try a jigsaw and without any interest, he said he would give it a go. A year later, I drop M three big puzzles every Friday, and his cell looks like the Sistine Chapel with

jigsaws stuck up the walls and over the ceiling. We discuss the fact that he can always buy good jigsaws from Oxfam when he gets out and they are far cheaper than his old addictions. (Far, far cheaper).

Our box for donations of clothes or jigsaws outside the prison visitor centre.

Drawings created by various prisoners (done with materials we gave them).

Treasurer’s report

We have had a successful first year, raising over £17,000 in donations and spending nearly £13,000 to help the men in Wandsworth Prison. We are grateful to all our generous donors – from trusts funds, to church congregations to those who donated via our website. Thank you all.

Unfortunately, we believe that the next year will be tougher: we started 2022-3 with a good stock of radios which are now depleted and we are spending just over £1,000 per month on other things from arts and crafts to books, puzzles and jigsaws. We estimate that we will need to spend around £20,000 in 2023-4, so I ask you to continue your generosity. Please think of the men getting reading glasses from us, or help with their ADHD (very common in prisons) and the difference it makes to their lives.

Keith Walton, MA, MHGI, Treasurer

Wandsworth Prison Welfare Trust Accounts

Accounts Year ending 5 April 2023

Opening balance Note
4 May 2022 £5,935.17 1
Expenditure
Arts & crafts £5,491.10
Income from Clothes and
donations £17,511.09 make up £582.26
Spectacles £386.00
Red radios £2,854.49
Chess sets £967.20
Music £304.19
ADHD assistance £247.45
Jigsaws/puzzles £229.00
Books/reading £260.83
Miscellaneous £443.64
£11,766.16
Debtors £1,348.69
(money spent in March 2023 but not yet paid)
Bank Interest £15.48 Bank charges £56.00
Closing balance 5 April 2023 £12,988.27
£24,810.43 £24,810.43

Note 1: Transferred from existing chaplaincy accounts

Note 2: Reserves policy: The trustees aim to maintain free reserves in unrestricted funds at a level which equates to approximately four months of unrestricted charitable expenditure. The trustees consider that this level will provide sufficient funds to respond to applications for expenditure and ensure that support and governance costs are covered.

Examiner’s report to the Trustees of Wandsworth Prison Welfare Trust on accounts for the year ended 5 April 2023

Charity no 1198674

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 5[th] April 2023

As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Kevin Mead MA CEng FICE

London

20[th] June 2023

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Please return this form via email to keith.a.walton@gmail.com or any Wandsworth Prison Welfare Trust trustee, or mail it to Keith Walton, Treasurer WPWT, 48 Kenilworth Ave, London SW19 7LW

Many thanks for your support.

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