An Exciting New Initiative to Help Prevent Young People from Becoming NEET Unveiled at the Crown Court in Guildford.

On Thursday night HHJ Patricia Lees and I co-hosted a ground-breaking fundraising dinner at Guildford Crown Court where key members of the Surrey community, including the Lord Lieutenant and 15 past, present and in nomination High Sheriffs of Surrey were treated to a fabulous meal by ‘The Clink’ events team. The Clink is a unique success story having formed in 2009 with a mission of reducing reoffending by training and rehabilitating people in prison. Over 5,000 people since then have been trained and 2,600 city and guilds qualifications have been achieved as a result. Suzanne and I visited the largest women’s prison in Europe, Bronzefield, earlier in my Shrieval year with HHJ Patricia Lees and we saw a mock up coffee shop they had to teach inmates skills prior to their release. Patricia mentioned she was trying to reopen the kitchen in the Crown Court that had been shut for 13 years and perhaps it could be used to retrain young people. By coincidence, The Clink were providing catering for an event I was hosting and Patricia linked up with them, and the idea took shape.The intention is for The Clink to run a training kitchen in the Crown Court running 12 week courses for 40 young people a year, whether ex-offenders, carer leavers or NEETS. They will have the opportunity to study for up to five City & Guild courses and will each be assigned a mentor to help resolve any other issues they may be facing. The Clink have recently opened a café at Herne Hill specifically to train young people that fall into the NEET category to help them become qualified in various catering skills. To date 100% of those undertaking the course have gone on to further education or employment. The evening was a big success; the cuisine we enjoyed was sublime and the service immaculate. It costs £5,000 to take each young person on this journey that can change their lives forever – a drop in the ocean compared to the economic and social costs of remaining NEET or reoffending.To find out more about NEET’s you can visit the High Sheriff’s website where there is in depth information provided by a team at The University of Surrey as well as photos and video from the conferences held during the past year. If you want to support the Clink which would enable them to help more vulnerable young people then please also visit their website at: https://theclinkcharity.org/projects

 

Photography; Andy Newbold