Cross Stitch workshop gives men sense of achievement and kills the ‘bird’
Many of the residents here at Swaleside have never touched a needle and thread in their lives and yet are prepared to give the textiles class a go, and when they do become amazed that they actually enjoyed it.

We start the participants off with a very small project, like a letter from the alphabet, then they progress onto a small motif or cartoon or something of their choice. By this time many of them can’t wait to get onto doing a cross stitch photograph of a loved one, parent, child, wife partner, even a pet etc. These take many hours. One of our participants logged the time it took him and it totaled up to something like 560 hours. It gives the men great satisfaction to be able to do something themselves and send it home as a gift. Their self-esteem is raised. At Christmas they make and send home a cross stitch card.

I remember one time being on the base when of the men was on the telephone to his wife after having sent a piece home to her, she wouldn’t believe him and I was asked to confirm to her that he had accomplished it, to which I did. Even the prison staff here are amazed when they see the men working on their masterpieces and what they achieve.

The men here at Swaleside have a nickname for cross stitch they call it a ‘bird killer’ because it kills the time. It gives them something else to focus on. For some of these men it is the first time in their lives that they have achieved anything. The satisfaction I get is seeing the pleasure and sense of accomplishment on these men’s faces. Jenny

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