We were proud to be one of the 3 groups shortlisted for the Wiltshire Life Awards ‘Community Group of the Year’ and it was an honour to come 2nd. Congratulations to Seeds 4 Success in Mere who won the award. Thank you to Wiltshire Life for selecting us for the shortlist.
Thank you to everyone who supported our Fonthill fundraiser on the 26th September and thank you to all the trustees, friends and dogs who completed one of the 3km, 10km or 20km walks! We raised just over £2,200. The money will boost our funds in preparation for restarting and maintaining our programmes within HMP Erlestoke.
Thank you to the array of leading and local artists, writers, actors and musicians who created over 300 unique artworks on postcards. Thank you also to all of you who purchased a voucher to win a postcard. The random allocation of postcard vouchers to postcard artworks took place on the 28 October and the postcards
Thank you to all who bid in our Christmas Auction and congratulations to those who were the highest bidders. The Auction raised just over £2,500 and will contribute to the continuation of our programmes currently running in the prison.
All Friends of Erlestoke Prison programmes within the prison and our Transport Scheme stopped as from mid-March 2020. We await further guidance from HMPPS as to when they can recommence.
We are pleased to announce the appointments of Eve McBride and Fran Bishop who have joined our trustee team. Eve is a semi-retired GP and will be overseeing our Transport Scheme. Fran is a Commercial Lawyer and will be overseeing our Origami Workshops and managing our contracts with our service providers. We welcome them both
Judith Squarey, who has been a Trustee with the Friends for over 5 years, retired from the role at the October 2019 Trustee meeting. Judith worked closely with RECOOP (resettlement and care of older ex-offenders and offenders) and the older prisoner group in HMP Erlestoke and organised many speakers for their meetings. Judith also worked
Thank you to those who joined us on Wednesday 18th September at Chitterne Village Hall to play bridge and enjoy a tasty lunch. The event raised a fantastic £1,900!
Sadly, due to unforeseen circumstances we had to cancel our Jailbreak event this year. We hope that we will be able to launch the event on another date in the future.
Thank you to the Lions Club of Devizes who donated us £250 at their 2019 presentation evening. We were proud to be recognised as one of their chosen charities.
