 |
| Final Figures Triptych, HMP North Sea Camp, Bronze Award for Oil or Acrylic. Image courtesy of the Koestler Trust |
It was a
very welcome return to HMYOI Warren Hill in June 2013.
We had
visited the Carlford Unit sometime before, and the exhibition was very well received by the
young people there.
S.O. Carol
Vaughan did a great job in organising this event, and was strongly supported by
the Equality team, Mark Griggs and Valerie Miller.
The Anne
Frank ‘A history for Today’ exhibition was situated in the spacious Visitors
Centre within the prison, and we had a group of young offenders (ages 15-18)
who were trained to present the
exhibition to their peers, as well as staff and visitors. They did a tremendous
job. Initially they were unsure (naturally) of whether they would be able to do
this, but they stuck with it and gave it their maximum commitment.
Our guest
speaker Eva Clarke, unfortunately had to postpone her talk, due to her mother
Anka’s sudden illness. Anka is a survivor of Mauthausen concentration camp and
miraculously gave birth to Eva, just prior to American troops liberating the camp
on May 5th 1945. Eva is set to re-schedule her talk in the coming weeks.
We also
presented our ‘Free 2 Choose’ debate (this programme does not try to come up
with cut-and- dry solutions to all the dilemmas it presents, but is a way to
actively involve citizens in important social discussions)and were very
impressed with the intelligence, and overall maturity of the participants. It
was a very good exchange of ideas and opinions.
The Closing
Ceremony for the exhibition on June 14th was attended by local
dignitaries, Terese Coffey the Conservative MP for Suffolk, Deputy Mayor of
Suffolk Geoff Holdcroft and Phanuel Mutumbari representing Ipswich and Suffolk
Council for Race Equality. HMYOI Warren Hill Governor Bev Bevan also attended this special occasion, and presented the Exhibition Guides with Anne Frank
books and certificates in recognition of their hard work. June 12th
is the date of Anne Frank’s birthday, and it was especially poignant to
commemorate her memory at this event.
Many thanks
to everyone concerned, and best wishes to Carol Vaughan on her retirement.
