2015 – Eden House Garden Project
SI Bristol have been working with Eden House Women’s Centre, as part of Bristol’s 2015 European Green Capital initiative.
In March 2015, we teamed up with Eden House (a rehabilitative project for females at risk of offending behaviour) to help one of their Client Lead’s start a gardening project that will directly benefit the women who use the service. The project was launched on the 7th April with a talk by Sue Oakey, a prominent local Garden Designer, who advised us on garden planning and what plants to grow in the space available.
Never ones to shy away from hard work, SI Bristol started digging and planting the following week! Now, a small herb garden has been planted alongside vegetables and fruit. The aim of the project is to grow food for the women to cook in their healthy living sessions, promoting healthy eating, sustainability and giving the women a chance to learn where their food comes from. We are excited to see how the project develops and to see our garden grow, we will keep you updated with a diary of our progress, so watch this space!
2014 – Gift Box – Stop The Traffik!
2014 was the year for raising awareness of human trafficking and SI Bristol certainly did that, by hosting a gift box in conjunction with the charity Stop the Traffik! The gift box was no ordinary present, being 11 foot high, but was well received by the Bristol public as we hosted the box for 4 days from Thursday 23rd October to Sunday 26th October 2014 on College Green. The GIFT box is a unique project launched by Stop the Traffik! and the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT). Initially launched at the London 2012 Olympics, the gift boxes have proven to be successful in large-scale awareness raising, introducing people to the issue of human trafficking and inspiring them to take further action.
The box deceptively looks like a beautifully wrapped gift, but once inside gives the public the hard facts about the huge scale of human trafficking in the UK today. The box is representative of the experience of victims where they may be lured through promises of work or a better life only to be sold into slavery or sex work.
SI Bristol were proud to lead this initiative alongside Unseen, the local Bristol charity who work with victims of human trafficking, whom we were also able to fundraise for throughout the process.
2013 – Reducing Women’s Imprisonment
Our project for 2013, hosted by our former President Liz, was to gather information and raise awareness of how female offenders are treated in the local area. It was an active year with a campaign launch by Soroptimist International UK Programme Action Committee (UKPAC) and the Prison Reform Trust at the Houses of Parliament on 25th April 2013, the aim of the campaign to end female imprisonment in the UK. In support of this aim, SI Bristol submitted a report to UKPAC and the Prison Reform Trust along with 16 other SI regions to form a representative UK wide study of the efficacy of alternatives to female imprisonment.
SI Bristol had a very interesting time completing their research for the project, with visits to the Magistrates and Crown Courts, Eastwood Park Women’s Prison and Eden House, a day centre for female offenders, set up as an alternative to custody. All of which informed their final report arguing that alternatives to custody should be supported and back on the government’s agenda. A highlight and culmination of the project was the Reducing Women’s Imprisonment Conference hosted by SI Bristol. Local dignitaries and other SI members were introduced to the work of the last year with an address by Juliet Lyon CBE Director of the Prison Reform Trust, a talk on the work of a Magistrate by Jane Bramhall and an introduction to Eden House by the Manager Clare Daly. A debate followed where we were able to ask questions about the future of alternatives to custody.
You can find the final report called “Transforming Lives” issued by UKPAC and the Prison Reform Trust here