A window into LandWorks

“I come here mainly because I didn’t have much else to do coming out of jail. I couldn’t go back to my address, so I went and stayed to another address and I’m trying to get myself my little place to stay basically … thing for the future, and possibly employment as well. I was hoping this would help me be able to put something on my CV as well as like just sort of give me a bit of mental wellbeing to say I’m putting back into the community, you know, just sort of generally … even just something to spend my time doing.

my probation officer … she said that this would be really good for you, and I waited probably three or four months before I managed to get a placement in here and then when I got it, this is really good. Do you know what I mean?

I got six months (in prison), but I got out in three with probation. Yeah, I didn’t like that at all. So, I had trouble … I thought I’d just keep my head down and not bother anyone. I didn’t speak to anyone for like three months while I was inside. I didn’t really communicate with the other inmates or anything. It just sort of ended up leaving me in a bit of a shell and I was just so not used to talking to people. I just sort of like felt a bit like I was in my own little bubble, sort of feeling a bit like you was a ghost really, just watching the rest of the world go around for three months. I think that was a bit of a bad decision of mine, but I don’t know, it might’ve been a good one.

I was very quiet to start with, I know that. Then I got a bit more confident with the other people I was with and engage in conversations more now. Yeah. Well, I’d not really been talking to anyone for months and months had I, so yeah, I was just kind of getting to the … in some ways, gift of the gab of talking to people and that. I feel better now. I feel more confident now I can go and speak to the people.

I can either be in the workshop or out in the garden. I like feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs. I help Mikey cook dinners sometimes as well. I’ve been doing that, and it just gives me a bit of self-worth, rather than just sitting at home all the time being lazy.

They make their own dinners here don’t they, proper dinners rather than just chicken nuggets and chips or whatever. Yeah. Not only do they teach you how to make the food, then you get a proper meal to eat as well. I can’t really think of anything else. Everything about it is nice […] you can have a chat around the table and have a little discussion whilst you’re having the dinner and it’s good that we all eat at the same time. I do like helping to cook. It gives me new ideas for some things I can cook when I’m at home.

Highlights are probably socialising and feeding the chickens. I like that task. I like feeding the chickens. I just like animals. I like talking to different people and that as well, people that have also been in similar circumstances as me, so they understand a bit better. You can talk about that sort of thing if you wanted to. Yeah. I found it a bit awkward to start with and weren’t sure what to do, but then chatting away now towards the end has built my confidence up, it’s much better for me now.

I think the main thing that LandWorks does is to keep ‘em busy and motivated because if they’re not gonna have no hope for themselves, then they won’t have no hope for anyone else neither will they, so they will go back to re-offending, more than likely, if they’re just left to their own ways. It’s like you give a man tools and then he can build something, but you come out of jail with nothing didn’t you, so what are you gonna do from there other than re-offend. It’s quite difficult to build from a Giro, basically. If you have tools and other things, and knowledges and things you can pass onto other people, they can make their life a much better place.

LandWorks just keeps me busy and occupied and it opens up opportunities for me. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a job. I’m not really that fussed, any would do. I had a look at the bin-men rounds, but I thought perhaps that might be a bit of an early start for me. I used to work on the ones when I used to live the other side of the country. It weren’t that far from my house so I could bike up there. This one here is in Town. I think they probably start about half-six or something like that wouldn’t they. Oh no, actually it wouldn’t be that early would it, coz they couldn’t be doing bins at that time of the morning could they, it’s probably more like eight.

The best thing, for me, is like the motivation here and the confidence building it’s given me…“