“So, I studied at the University of Plymouth, where I did sociology for three years and within that three years, I did a placement at LandWorks. So, I volunteered here pretty much every Thursday until lockdown got introduced. So yeah, I came out here every Thursday.
I remember like my first impressions. Oh gosh, I’ve got a diary about it somewhere. I found it all very overwhelming and almost a bit like … when we were sat having lunch with everyone, I was thinking wow, this is crazy, like sitting with people who have been in prison, like it blew my mind, and it is something I never thought I would be doing whilst studying at uni. This is really weird looking back now, but I remember the other student, who I volunteered with, we would go back on the train, and we were like how cool is this, like we just had lunch with people who had been in prison and then we’d go back and tell people, which is so strange looking back. We thought it was… we couldn’t believe we were just having lunch with people who had been in prison, which makes it sound like so other, compared to how I feel now, it’s really strange. I think it was something so different out of like the university life and I remember just thinking how much like fun it was, especially in the workshop with Graham. He’s like someone that I really remembered. Yeah, a really nice experience. [Xmas decorations] Yeah, yeah, I remember that.
Gosh, it’s funny looking back isn’t it. Yeah, and I think … yeah, I just remember … sat around the table with everyone and I think for us, like having that meal, the food was a big part of it, and I think it was just so nice to get out of that uni life just for one day a week, just to kind of … not get back into reality, but kind of remember that there’s like all this going on, because you’re quite safe at uni, you know, you’ve got your income coming in from the student loan, you know you’ve got a house, you’ve got everything you need and it was kind of nice to just kind of have that … not balance, but that understanding of what is actually going on around us. Yeah, and I guess doing sociology you are really interested in everything that’s going on and all these different areas in society. Yeah.
I remember a female police officer coming for lunch and she spoke a lot about how in the police force, because she’s a female, she has to use so much more energy to get heard compared to the male officers, and I remember reflecting on that in the journal and writing all about that, and I found that really interesting, and kind of her sitting with all the guys. I just thought it was so weird to have those two mixes of groups of people, but now looking back I realise how important it is and stuff. Yeah. The female police officer really stood out compared to any of the male visitors …
A highlight I think it was like having the opportunity of like going in the workshop. I think it’s very rare to even get an opportunity to kind of work in a workshop. I mean like one of our current trainees is a great example. They’ve never ever worked in anything like it and now like … they were so scared of it all when they first came and now, they love it. Yeah, I really enjoyed that and actually when we had our staff training day and we all built a bench, I felt such a feeling of achievement and satisfaction. Like I’d never used a sander before and I was like wow, I can see what the guys get out of it. Yeah. Just hearing all the stories really and having the chance to like go in the garden and the pottery. Yeah, just taking it all in.
I like seeing the little changes in people. So, it’s like … although huge changes happen, I think because I see the majority of the guys every single day, it’s all those little things. Yeah, that’s definitely a huge highlight, and the team are good. I like the fact like I interact with like the trainees, like the customers, the supporters, like the staff, like with you, like I literally mix with so many people and get to tell like different sides of LandWorks to different people. I don’t know if that makes sense. Yeah, so I feel like I’ve like got strong connections with every group of people that are part of LandWorks. Yeah. So, I think the little changes is definitely a highlight.”
A window into LandWorks 