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Tyne & Wear
County News
2010/2011
Volunteers and voluntary organisations make a huge contribution to the work of the Courts so I decided that recognition of their activities would be the focus for my year. This gave me scope for connecting with a wide range of interests, from magistrates to youth referral order panel members, and from well-known national organisations to very small groups working in local communities trying to keep young people out of trouble.
Many of the organisations are contracted by the statutory organisations – police, probation, youth offending services, prisons and local authorities, to deliver specific services either as part of the court process or community order but also within prison – life skills elements or drug intervention or abstinence programmes or the alcohol treatment requirements – and also following release from prison. Those who are sentenced to less than twelve months in prison are released without supervision and can be completely dependent on support from the voluntary sector. Women are particularly vulnerable, and I saw some brilliant examples with NACRO’s Engage Project and the Cyrenians’ WOW (Women Outside Walls) project of how support and access to education provided by a voluntary organisation can help establish a basis for successful rehabilitation. There is also a range of organisations which started out providing housing for ex-offenders or those at risk of offending and have now expanded their services to offer access to health, life skills, work skills, and drug abstinence programmes. Shining examples include Tyne Housing Association, the De Paul Trust, Norcare, and SVP.
And then there are the organisations such as Victim Support, Barnardos, and the Angelou Centre which help victims of crime – victims of burglary, assault, rape and those trying to cope with the consequences of domestic violence. Talking to a group of women in one of Wearside Women in Need’s refuges about the support they were receiving to face up to the pressures of ending relationships was very moving.
More widely within the community there is an vast network of activities run by local branches of national organisations and others which have grown out of neighbourhood action and volunteer commitment. There are the Air, Army and Sea Cadets, Scouts, youth groups, community centres, sports clubs, music studios and dance groups. I was privileged to give
forty-nine of those organisations across Tyne and Wear a High Sheriff’s Award at the end of my Year.
Even with the benefit of knowledge gained from a career in the Probation service it was a challenge to establish an overview of how I might best approach my task. The Reducing Offending Managers, or equivalent, either employed within probation or increasingly within the local authority, were a tremendous help in working out who I should contact and in which organisations. I was also fortunate that the Community Foundation serving Tyne and Wear and Northumberland which supports the Tyne and Wear High Sheriff Fund could provide excellent links to many of the groups.
I was overwhelmed by the wealth of my experiences and by the friendliness and enthusiasm of all I met, be they staff, volunteers or participants. I was impressed by their amazing achievements and in particular by ex- offenders who now are managers of projects; the youth groups who increasingly have young people involved in their management; consistent evidence of crime figures being reduced; and the numbers of ex-offenders who after years of homelessness are helped through supported housing schemes and life skills programmes to gain their own tenancies.
These were just a few of the many success stories, but there were two other important messages as well. Several of the organisations did not have strong connections with each other, and in some cases were not aware of what others in the same area were doing. And they were all worried about threats to future funding.
So rich was my experience that I wanted to find a way to share it with a wider audience. I therefore decided to hold receptions to recognise the work of the volunteers and voluntary organisations I had visited. To these I also invited those working in the courts service - high court judges, circuit judges, district judges, magistrates and members of the legal profession, as well as those working more broadly in criminal justice; police, CPS, probation, prisons plus representatives from the emergency services, civic dignitaries and business people. I encouraged everyone to network, and find out things they never knew about each other. And they did! Many of the guests made new contacts within their local community. Judges and magistrates were invited to visit projects, voluntary organisations discussed how they might work together in the future, and many dates were made for further contact. I was delighted that my activities during the year had produced such tangible outcomes.
High Sheriffs of Tyne and Wear have been operating their Youth Against Crime Award scheme for the last 16 years and in that time over £270,000 has been awarded to around 200 community and voluntary groups in the area, many of which have had repeated awards for their continued good work.
Over the years, previous high Sheriffs have raised and endowed a pot of money worth £300,000 at the Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, a charity that helps the High Sheriffs for both Tyne & Wear and Northumberland identify community and voluntary organisations that support young people. The income from this money, and any additional money that current High Sheriffs manage to raise, is then awarded at a special ceremony held once a year in March.
The Fund is a real benefit to the role of High Sheriff in providing a means to reward the efforts of numerous small community and voluntary groups that are making huge efforts to promote good citizenship and provide positive activities for those who might otherwise be at risk of offending.
 The Wheels Project in South Tyneside is one example of a small charity that has been awarded a High Sheriff’s award seven times in the last ten years. It provides accredited training in car and motor cycle maintenance and repair to over 100 young people per year who are socially and educationally disadvantaged, and significantly in danger of becoming involved in crime.
Bob Neill is the Manager at the project and recently commented,
“Many of the young people who come through our doors are hands on and practical which is why they struggle in school with academia. This project gives them a chance to gain accredited qualifications and gain the confidence to go on to further education or employment. Without a doubt, this project gives some young people a lifeline without which they would almost certainly fall in to a life of crime. We are most grateful to the High Sheriff for Tyne & Wear and the Community Foundation for all the support they have given us over the years”.
Not only does the scheme provide grants for groups that provide training but also to groups such as scouts, sea cadets, arts organisations, sports clubs and many more, all of which provide opportunities and development for young people.
Sue Winfield OBE LLB
High Sheriff of Tyne & Wear 2010/2011
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