Chris Parsons’ Blog

Hello, It’s the summer holidays. South Devon is beautiful, sunny and bustling. People are just popping in to visit LandWorks, non-stop! Often, they completely miss the shop and start wondering around the site looking lost (we…

Hello, There’s a warning of gales… I thought I was awakening to the shipping forecast (I normally do). I wasn’t, I was lost, dreaming. Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire. But it was seagulls shrieking outside that…

Hello, “Chris lad, what you don’t understand is, it’s a long, long way from here to there”, Jay 2014. I (helpfully) got a Bruce Springsteen song stuck in my head… Long Walk Home Jay was exposing my naive…

Hello, Last weekend the LandWorks team, trainees, graduates, trustees, supporters and volunteers were all out supporting a lovely event held in aid of LandWorks. It was a weekend open garden, raising funds for the charity, held…

Hello, The sun is out, the garden team are muttering about a drought, and I am going around urging people to wear a hat (incl me). “Get ahead, getta hat” is my latest encouragement! “Get ahead,…

Hello, You find me busy doing something that we do a lot. The record is 5 in one day, showing people around LandWorks. The ‘follow the brolly’ LandWorks tour is the same for everyone, whether it…

Hello, We have learned a lot over 12 years. Everyone who arrives here has much in common, but also, we have discovered the importance of listening to and understanding an individual’s story. Nobody is the same….

Hello, Essentially what we do at LandWorks is support people to re-discover who they were before getting into trouble (back then), and before they got involved in the criminal justice system. So many people coming here…

Hello, “Chris, surely it’s just all about employment, that’s the answer, just get these people working… simple”. Well, err I suppose in an ideal world, yes. But as Doris (LandWorks trainee 2022) said, “If you just…

Hello, Imagining what LandWorks could look like 12 years ago did take a bit of thought. Looking back now at our early plans and diagrams, it is interesting that the same core principles that we identified…

Hello, You know what’s it’s like, wee small hours, drifting in and out of sleep! Then I’m listening to the wild wind blowing. Then I’m worrying about an old oak tree at LandWorks. Not sure how…

Hello, Did you know that the arrival of an elephant on a Friday is thought by many communities to be of great significance? No, nor did I. These days there is little that surprises us at…