THE VALUE OF FINE CELL WORK

Last year Fine Cell Work celebrated 25 years of producing beautiful handmade products in prison improving the stitcher’s self-worth and leading to training opportunities and employment. In our Battersea workshop the charity is now able to offer released stitchers support in a welcoming venue where accredited qualifications including upholstery and soft furnishing. Awards are highly motivating and reduce with a greatly reduce reoffending.

Volunteering to teach in prison is challenging, creative and rewarding when they express their experiences of stitching and acquiring skills and money behind bars. Here I share with you words from stitchers who have been on our courses:

“It takes my mind away from prison life when I’m stitching, I’m not thinking about where I am but where I could be”.

“I have to say that stitching has completely revolutionised my life, I use it to calm me and reboot my troubled mind. It motivates my creative juices to flow”

“I work hard to maintain a high quality so the customer will buy and be happy. To give a smile is a special thing”

“It’s the most positive thing I have in prison”.

“Having something constructive to do in cell helps with my mental health issues and restlessness”

“I can’t imagine not doing it now, it calms me and I forget where I am”

“I’d not done stitching before I came into prison. It hugely occupies my time and I’m lost in my stitches for hours”

“When someone buys a piece of work I see it as another bridge built back into life in the community”.

And from an apprentice in the post release Open Gate workshop “Fine Cell Work breaks the barriers when you leave custody, it has been a real stepping stone back into life after prison. I feel part of a community. It’s given me a purpose. There are so many opportunities across the charity, and they set me up with an inspiring mentor”

The charity has been very appreciative of Needlemakers support for many years. They really struggled during lockdown but in the last year with enthusiastic staff and volunteers they are now back in over 30 prisons and the Open Gate workshop to improve the future of offenders and sell their products online or sales around the country.

More information on Fine Cell Work can be found on their website www.finecellwork.co.uk.