We really enjoyed the opportunity to join you for part of the Lent Course ’09. It was good to hear from you and share our work. Things constantly evolve in building the Kingdom of God and there are five things of note for us in the past few months:

· We now have a full “dual programme” within Chaplaincy. Most groups that are run for prisoners located in the main part of the prison are now also duplicated for those prisoners located in our Support Wings (some of whom are vulnerable prisoners). The Salvation Army Band delivered a magnificent double programme at Christmas to accommodate both communities.

· We are now in the second series of running Tai Chi under the Chaplaincy banner. This has grown in popularity and we currently have a waiting list of those wishing to join in the future.

· Two additional wings are currently being opened with a significant number of new prisoners coming to Long Lartin.

· We are planning to provide pot plants for enhanced privilege prisoners. This is a good idea but not without its complications! Looking after something “live” can be good therapy for someone confined to a cell for long periods. It’s very cost effective as we are growing the plants from cuttings so the plant comes almost “free”.

· We plan to have some time out as a Chaplaincy Team. With a new Co-ordinating Chaplain in post it seems a good idea to have an Away Day for planning the longer term objectives in Chaplaincy.