CHURCH Green was filled with mouth-watering aromatic scents last week as the smell of samosas, dhal and freshly boiled rice floated across the square.
On Thursday (August 6) Redditch Nightstop united with staff and prisoners from HMP Hewell Grange, the first union of its kind in forty years, to feed members of the community for a small donation.
All £500 raised was donated to the charity which strives to reduce the number of young people at risk of experiencing homelessness.
“It has been lovely,” said David Tyrrell, a trustee at Redditch Nightstop. “We have had great weather and been supported well by the public.”
The event was also an opportunity for selected low-risk prisoners to pay back to the community and to be part of something special whilst coming to the end of their sentences.
Sukhwinder Singh, project leader and Sikh chaplain at Hewell Grange, said how it was the very first time that prisoners and staff had pitched in together.
“They rallied between them to raise the funds required to buy the ingredients and to cook the food itself in the prison kitchens,” he added. “This truly has bettered prisoner and staff relations.”
The teams were joined by Redditch MP Karen Lumley who congratulated Mr Singh and his group team for their efforts.
She added: “Initiatives like this one, are exactly what our community is all about.
“I was so pleased to see different parts of our society in action and to observe the help given to vulnerable young people along with watching the prisoner’s enthusiasm to contribute to society.”
