Crime and consequences
Friends of the circle
lain Scarlet
We all know that 'charity' has become a dirty word but, since everyone loves a lord and few have much time for prisoners and exprisoners, I find it entirely appropriate — noblesse oblige and all that guff — that the loved ones should on occasion open their House, their hearts and some decent sherry in the cause of the utterly unloved. That's charity for you. And that's what m'Lords Listowel, Longford and 'Jumping Jack' Donaldson (who despite his duties in Northern Ireland obviously remembers that it was prisoners who got him his peerage in the first place) did last Wednesday evening in order to launch a new venture called Friends of the Circle Trust.
Now outside an esoteric few the Circle Trust is not as well known as it deserves to be. Founded in 1963 by the late Douglas Gibson — a former deputy prison governor who had absolutely no illusions about the efficacy of the prison system either as a deterrent to crime•or a cure for it — the original idea was to offer informal help, support, advice and recreational facilities to ex-prisoners who were feeling lost, lonely, isolated, inadequate and/or otherwise unhappy in a world that was no longer bounded by the security of four high walls.
In other words, Douglas believed that by keeping ex-but-still-atrisk-offenders entertained and off the streets during the crisis-laden hours between five and midnight, he would not only be doing them a favour but also reducing the risk of further nuisance to the public at large. And being an eminently clubbable man himself, he thought the best way was to form a club. A wholly admirable concept, you may think; and an extremely practical approach. Well, Douglas was himself both admirable and practical. And he had guts.
Despite all the oh-it-will-neverwork nonsense put in his way he opened the first Circle Club in 1964 in a derelict Pimlico house. His ex-prisoner members (ably and willingly assisted, I seem to remember, by a few gentlemen still serving time but let out on a daily basis by kind permission of the Home Office) rehabilitated that house and in doing so went quite a long way towards doing the same for themselves. Then, eighteen months later when a damn-fool
local authority wanted to demolish their premises, they went on to do the same for another derelict house and a few more ex-offenders.
Of course it wasn't all beer, skittles and protective cotton-wool wrappings. Along the way many members lost their 'ex' status. But a good many survived to come to terms with their new-found freedom.
So it was that in 1968, as a sort of spin-off to the success of the internal combustion engine, the Nuffield Foundation provided the club with peppercorn-rental premises at 25 Camberwell Grove, London SE5 (remember the address because if you don't believe that projects like this can work you're quite welcome to visit and see for yourself; and indeed, to stay and lend a hand).
But the club itself wasn't the only aspect of the Circle Trust's work. Douglas established Wives-andFamily groups to cater for the needs and help cope with the problems of the women and children left behind when their menfolk went to prison. And with the help of his wife Eliane and sundry other volunteers, these groups have since helped hundreds of families through thousands of crises.
Which brings me back to the House of Lords last Wednesday night. Lord Listowel made a commendably brief speech. So did the good and great Bill Hewitt (no simple, wet do-gooder he: he started out as a City of London copper and had to write under the name C. H. Rolph in order to air his radical views on crime and delinquency in the New Statesman). The Cocktail snacks were extremely good and the before-and-after conversation even better.
But I confess to having been a little disappointed that so many people who should have been invited and should have turned up, either were not or simply didn't. Of course all the predictable names were there: former Home Secretary Robert Carr, for instance; and former Lord Chancellor Lord Gardiner (whose behaviour in Harold Wilson's first cabinet was once described by the man who has since succeeded him on the Woolsack as being that "of a virgin in a brothel").
Why weren't greater numbers of the judiciary present, for instance? After all, they create the need for an after-care industry and it was unfair that Judge Jean Graham Hall (whose presence was predictable anyway because she was once a probation officer herself) should have been their sole representative.
And why wasn't there a Home Office minister about? And someone to show the flag for the various archbishops and other ecclesiastics who are sponsoring the Friends of the Circle Trust? And above all, why wasn't there someone from the Treasury to say a nice little thank you for all the money the Circle Trust has saved it over the last few years?
No, my disappointment stems from the fact that those who were present were the same esoteric few who've known all about the Circle Trust ever since it started. All except my wife, that is. And her only comment on the evening was that Lord Longford is a jolly nice man. He is, too. Charity personified. And he is a noble Friend to the Circle Trust.
Previous page
