A lot of help - volunteers from the Zurich Community Trust at our allotments
FROM THE CEO
Welcome to the Autumn edition of your Footprints Project newsletter, The Gate. The Autumn is always a time for reflection as well wondering what the New Year will bring and the sense of enthusiasm for the future was palpable at our recent AGM. The staff, volunteers and service users came together to share their progress and talk about some of the incredible work going on behind the scenes here at the Project. Some highlights include the women of our Second Chances Art Group who have been busy making fresh starts of their own, creating and making beautiful Christmas cards and a calendar, now on sale on our website and at the Shire Hall Museum in Dorchester. We have a limited number remaining - grab yours now by following this link: https://www.footprintsproject.co.uk/pages/shop/department/christmas-cards-and-calendars.
There’s more about what we’ve been up to, and what’s to come, in this newsletter. And, as we look forward to the Footprints Project 21th anniversary in December, with plans for a large scale celebration early next year.
As always we are enormously grateful for your support.
Caroline.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Grab your Christmas cards now.
Women from Our Second Changes Art Group have been busy making Christmas cards for sale. We have been so impressed that we have selected two designs and have now printed bespoke Christmas cards.
Twelve prints of the women’s artwork have also been made into our first ever Footprints Project Calendar.
Cards and calendars are available to buy by following this link….. Hurry though, we only have a limited number remaining and last orders must be in by 21st November 2025.
Art volunteers needed in Bournemouth
We are now in need of volunteers to help with our art group. If you are interested please apply on our website or contact Helen for an informal chat helen@footprintsproject.co.uk
Growing from strength to strength.
Our allotments in Hampshire continue to thrive with residents from two approved premises attending regularly.
We have also been incredibly lucky to gain support from the Zurich Community Trust for a second year with a large group of volunteers helping put the allotments to bed for winter and also proving us with a brand new shed.
If you are interested in volunteering at the allotments do get in touch.
Our impact
We are a small local charity with quality at it’s heart. We are just finalising our evaluation of our impact to the end of March 2025. We are incredibly proud of our achievements, with some headline outcomes below:
92% of women on our Out of Court Diversionary Scheme do not reoffend (proven 6 months reoffending statistics from Dorset Police)
100% of people on our mentoring scheme for at least 3 months have decreased basic needs (access to food, shelter and finance)
90% of people mentored for 3 months have decreased criminogenic needs (including reduced needs around education, training and employment, finance, benefits and debts, addictions, long-term housing, relationships and families)
“It’s really helped me – talking to someone who doesn’t know me – I didn’t feel any judgement and Helen listened. I’ve had time to reflect on what happened and it’s helped me deal with my emotions and how to deal with things. It’s made me question how I deal with things and what to do in the future.” OOCD participant
Prison collections - the difference a day makes
Undoubtedly one of the most difficult days facing a person in prison is actually the day of release. Unbelievably many prisoners are still being released without any housing and with no access to benefits.
We are funded by the Henry Smith Foundation to offer a collection service for people with severe mental or physical health problems to ensure they can get safely back to the community. The below recent case study illustrates the need for this service.
“We received a referral for mentoring support and a gate pick up due to medical grounds. He also had bags and boxes of belongings, which would of made it very difficult to travel from HMP Ley Hill, South Gloucestershire to Dorset.
I assessed this man who we will call Joe and made plans for the gate pick up by recruiting a Footprints volunteer to assist me on the journey.
I emailed the prison 3 days before release to get some clarity on our return destination. The referral said he was a Dorset/Poole resident and at the assessment he said he was coming back to that area but unsure where.
I never heard back from the prison however we set off as agreed from Dorset at 06:00 and arrived at HMP Ley Hill at 08:30 to collect Joe.
As its an open prison, he had walked to meet us at the barrier and was free to go when we arrived. He had a huge trailer around 3 foot long and around 4 foot deep full of his belongings which we put into the car.
We welcomed him and I introduced our volunteer, who was driving, I sat in the back and Joe sat in the front passenger seat as per Footprints normal practice.
We set off on the journey back to Dorset as Joe had an appointment that afternoon at Poole probation and an appointment at Poole job centre the following day.
He had no residential address to go to yet and said he had to call a lady in the prison at 09:30 who would tell him where he would be living.
I called the prison at 09:30 who were unaware of his forwarding address, I then called the probation officer who informed us his appointment wasn’t in Poole anymore and had been moved 30 miles to Weymouth.
We now had a different destination and made our way towards Weymouth.
We had to stop several times as Joe has a condition that needs regular toilet visits. I continued to make calls and finally found out he was being housed around 8 miles outside of Weymouth by Dorset council. We negotiated to meet them earlier in the day as we had all Joe’s belongings in the car.
I couldn’t help but wonder how Joe would have coped on the train or public transport, not just with his conditions and belongings, but with appointments being moved around as we travelled; he would have had one travel warrant to one location, no phone and been unaware of any changes.
We arrived in Dorset, assisted Joe into his assessment with a council officer and his accommodation, drove the 8 miles to probation and supported him to meet this appointment then drove him back to his accommodation.
There was a bed in the accommodation and nothing else, we used some of our chartable funds to purchase some bedding and kitchen utensils including a kettle.
We arranged to meet Joe the next day to support him with his other needs as well as helping him register with the gas etc.
He was hugely grateful, and we finally said goodbye around 15:45 and left him safely at his accommodation.
Andrew, our volunteer, and I discussed this on our way home, this was a good piece of work and good outcome for us but we could only imagine the problems he would of faced if we weren’t there, and we are not always there when someone is released from prison.” Stuart Dearborn, Footprints Project Prison co-ordinator
