Revd Bob Wilson, Secretary for the Prison Chaplaincy and Free Churches Faith Adviser
A highlight of this month was Bob's return to prison chaplaincy - leading a Sunday Service, fulfilling statutory duties, and offering pastoral support to staff. It reminded him of the extraordinary work Chaplains do across the 22 prisons in England and Wales. He was especially struck by the respect shown to chaplaincy. The prison was very busy over the weekend he was on duty; however, despite that, the staff displayed professionalism, commitment and genuine good humour in difficult circumstances. It is easy to overlook the men and women who work tirelessly to keep almost 90,000 of the most complex people in our country safe; our hidden heroes. Please keep them in your prayers; they truly do an exceptional job.
Wonderful to have an incredible response to the Welcome Directory’s recruitment appeal for a new Operations Officer. The current officer will be moving on to a really great career development opportunity and will be impossible to replace. The recruitment process is developing well and we really hope to be able to make an important appointment soon.
It was a real joy to meet with Catherine DeSouza and Stephen Hawkins of Prison Fellowship at the invitation of HMPPS Chaplain General Ven James Ridge to discuss possible next steps in developing a successor to the Sycamore Tree programme. Throughout June, as part of the Free Churches Prison Chaplains Regional Training Days, Bob has been talking with chaplains about what they think would be helpful in developing a Christian course that chaplaincy could use. These proposals were presented and the PF team indicated that they were really encouraged to go away and develop a pilot programme to continue their wonderful, and well appreciated work in prisons.