A very different carol service

One of the high spots of Christmas (apart from my own children's nativity plays etc., of course!) is the Christmas service at Ashfield Young Offenders Institution in my constituency. We learned this afternoon that Ashfield is the 'largest juvenile prison in Europe' (not my constituency's proudest boast I guess..) and it has been turned around in recent years under the unique leadership of governor Vicky O'Dea. To give you a flavour, she introduced the service by pointing out to some of the young offenders all the mayors etc. on the front row with their 'bling' and wondered if they'd 'been on the rob'! They in turn responded really well both to her and to the Chaplain - Nick the Vic in the Nick (if you see what I mean) - who had a great rapport with the boys.

The service itself included Bible readings - with some of the boys clearly overcoming nerves at standing in front of a big crowd of dignitaries - personal testimonies (with some very powerful stories of their lives to date and of their experience of faith) and some rousing carol singing. I've never heard quite such a raucous 'Away in a Manger', nor 'While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks' sung to the tune of Ilkley Moor Bah Tat [try it - it works really well if you repeat the lines in the right places].

All in all, a very unconventional service, but one that filled me with hope about what can be achieved when people who have gone off the rails are not written off but are given some encouragement and value.