“I come to LandWorks obviously through my probation officer. So, I came out of jail and he asked me if I wanted to go and at the start I was like I don’t really … do you know what I mean? I don’t really like travelling, going places, but he took me out here for … More Benjy says: “It’s like a family thing. It’s good. It’s decent like…”
“I had a job, but I got fired. I was making windows and replacement doors. It was quite an intense job. I did that for like 14 years, but alcohol got the better of me and I got fired … fair enough. I’ve been here about … can’t think … probably 11/12 weeks maybe. It … More Shadar Haran says: “This place has changed me for the better”
“My YOT worker brought me out here the first time. I thought it would be a bit more boring to be fair. I thought it would be a lot more boring than what it is. That’s the positive side of it. It’s a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be, which … More Greg says: “We all make mistakes, and we all learn from them eventually. Some learn a bit quicker than others, but we all learn from them.”
“I just work now. That’s it really. Come here. Do my snizzel. Play around in the workshop. Build a load of random things for random reasons. Yeah, I’m quite happy then. I don’t know why I decided I wanted to build a pool cue box, but yeah, I built a pool cue box. I made … More Mark says: “It’s just kept me out of trouble. It keeps me on the straight and narrow really.”
“I’ve never been to a place like this before. I kind of ask [myself] will I fit in, settle in. I like everyone here, everyone’s as good as gold here. Everyone respects each other. As soon as you walk through that gate, you’re like a whole new person. It’s like just coming to work with … More Dave says: “It’s very social. It’s not anti-social. I like that. I’ve had too much anti-social in my life…”
Since from October until now, I’m doing even better. I’ve got some structure in my life. Coming out here five days a week, doing gym, which is nice and healthy, a good lifestyle. I’m enjoying that. I’m doing my football still and seeing my daughter every week. So yeah, it’s pretty good really. Yeah, life’s … More Tony says: “this’ll be a part of me for life now, even when I’ve left, because without it, I don’t know where I’d be…”
“I didn’t have a criminal record until I was 40. I wasn’t a master criminal or nothing. It’s s*%t, isn’t it? [Lockdown in prison]… It was just s*%t, lying on a bed for six months. I don’t understand why they’re still doing it now. It’s still lockdown now in prison. F* knows what must be … More Max says: “That’s what you need stability, when you get out of prison… a little stability can create a big change”
I’m Doris. I came to LandWorks about eight/nine weeks ago, not through community service, but through volunteering. I got a suspended sentence. My probation officer, who I’ve worked with for ages, he knows me really well … I was talking to him about going back to work. I wanted to start getting focussed and get … More Doris says: “You can’t just expect broken people to fix themselves. It doesn’t work like that…”
“Coming here, you’ve got to want to change. If they don’t want to change, you will change no-one. You can get a 100 people out here on this programme. If they think they’re going to want to get out and get involved in different shenanigans that could lead to this and that, you ain’t going … More Billy says: “Coming here, you’ve got to want to change…”
“I class myself as a gentleman really, literally, always have done. Then a load of crime got involved from a very young age. So, I ended up doing 40 years in different institutions, incarcerated all over the country, leading up until now… Life in prison? I don’t have anything else to talk about. The next … More Glyn says: “It’s like you’re on a track and you come to a fork in the track. All them years ago I took the wrong fork. This time I’ve got out, I’ve took the right fork…”
A window into LandWorks 