Greater Manchester Probation Trust

Park life – Salford

Several hundred hours of Community Payback has been completed on Albert Park, Salford, and work includes chipping off old paint from the perimeter fence and repainting them, painting the fences around the five-a-side pitch and basketball area, refurbishing the ranger’s hut and graffiti removal.

Councillor David Lancaster, Salford City Council's lead member for community safety, said: "Community payback projects like this are really helping local people to see the justice system in action and the work offenders are doing is having a real impact on communities.

"We've had lots of positive feedback from people who use the park and have seen the improvements that have started to take place through the community payback scheme."

Mossley FC – Tameside

Offenders have helped Mossley AFC transform their facilities into grounds fit for champions. All the tasks, which included painting and decorating, were completed in 27 days. The social club is a community facility that hosts an organisation that helps people with learning difficulties and a society for the blind.

Les Fitton, Mossley’s vice chairman, said: “The standard of work the offenders have completed is tremendous.

“We couldn’t have afforded it ourselves. The social club is a community facility, so it’s not just us that benefit from this and the job the Community Payback team has done is a real credit to them.

“And the changing rooms had really deteriorated, so the work that’s been done has been a huge help.”

Tameside – New Charter Housing

Tameside’s Community Payback Unit has been working with the New Charter Housing Trust Group for the past two years. Teams have recently painted fences with protective coatings, decorated homes and buildings and completed ground work tasks.

Mel Johnson, New Charter’s regeneration officer for Smallshaw and Denton, said: “The offenders are very, very polite. In all the months we have worked together I have never received a complaint from a tenant.

“The relationship between ourselves and probation is absolutely brilliant, and some of the projects they have done for us have been massive, including land clearance and fly tipping removal, but they have all been completed in a professional manner.”

Tameside – Demesne Drive clear-up

Inspector Bill Callaghan has personally thanked offenders who cleared skip loads of brambles and overgrowth from a wooded grove, off Demesne Drive, Staylebridge, that had become a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

He said: “The work you have done will make a tremendous difference to the residents who live here. We were being called to this wood night after night because people were gathering here, hidden by the overgrowth, and were drinking alcohol, setting bins on fire and generally causing a nuisance. It had become a magnet for bad behaviour, and was making residents’ lives a misery.

“I am extremely thankful that this work has been done, and will be telling members of the public that it was Community Payback that completed the work.”

Manchester – Blackley clear-up

Community Payback cleared tonnes of rubbish from a valley in Blackley.

A stream, near Cross Street, had become littered with everything from empty cans and rubbish through to a sofa and chair that had become lodged under a bridge.

Alan Saunders is a former magistrate and chairs the Blackley Resident’s Association, and asked for the work to be done.

He said: “The effort that the offenders have put in has been first rate. They’ve cleared the bottles, cans and bricks and have dramaticly improved the area.

“The stream had become dammed. If we’d have had really heavy rains it could have caused a flood.

“I can definitely say Community Payback is not a soft option, I’ve been very impressed by how hard they have worked.”

Stockport – Brinnington Park improvements

Offenders have completed a range of tasks at Brinnington Park, off Northumberland Road in Brinnington, for Stockport Borough Council’s parks department.

Offenders have repainted the fences – which included laboriously removing the old paint – and will paint the exterior of park buildings, decorate sports changing rooms and restore wooden benches surrounding the bowling green.

George Salt, the borough council’s parks manager, said: “The work the offenders are doing is brilliant, and those feelings are echoed by residents.

“We didn’t have the funds to pay for an outside agency to paint the fences, but were able to supply the paint.

“We have a good relationship with the probation service and are delighted by the results.”

Rochdale - Great Howarth Homeless Unit

Offenders have worked on three properties in Rochdale for the Great Howarth Homeless Unit that are now being lived in by women who were in need of housing.

Work has included completely redecorating the houses.

Helen Jefcoate, Family Resettlement Worker at Rochdale Council's Great Howarth Homeless Unit, said: "Community Payback has been a great help to us. The houses were all in need of decorating and garden maintenance which was carried out to an excellent standard, has enabled the women to move into decent homes."

Rochdale – charity car wash

Community payback runs a car wash five days a week in the town which raises cash that is split between the Victim Support Unit and the 7th A Scouts Rochdale.

Michelle Ward, at Victim Support, said: “The regular donations we get are a real help.

“We support victims and witnesses of crime and get £9,000 annually. We are a charity and need to fund training for our volunteers, and so this income is crucially important to us.”

Bury - East Lancs Railway

The town’s Community Payback team has been sending groups of up to eight offenders to the railway once a week for the past 18 months.

The railway, which was opened in 1846, is runs every weekend and is staffed by volunteers. Work carried out by offenders includes everything from cleaning trains and coaches through to tidying the Bury and Heywood stations.

Andy Coward, East Lancashire Railway’s general manager, said: “Community Payback is a great help because the work undertaken by offenders frees up our volunteers to do other tasks.

“They make a valuable contribution and the work is of a very high standard, which is due in no small part to the Community Payback Supervisor who is an excellent leader.”

Oldham - Scope

Community Payback has created a garden at Heathside Cottage, a care centre for the disabled. The cottage is home to six people who have cerebral palsy, or similar conditions, and is run by the charity Scope.

Offenders cleared several skip loads of overgrowth from the cottage’s garden and planted a sensory garden.

Jean Piatczanyn, senior support manager, said: “The work the offenders have carried out is fabulous. The gardens were really overgrown and we were unable to use them, and we definitely couldn’t afford to hire a firm to carry out the work.

“I’ve been really impressed by how hard the offenders have worked and we are all delighted by the results.”

Bolton - Great Lever Community Centre

Community Payback has refurbished a popular community hall in Great Lever.

The Great Lever Community Association, a charity, runs the hall in Bradford Road. It is used by nursery groups, youth clubs, religious prayer groups, martial arts training and for a host of community associations.

The building was in desperate need of painting and decorating, and the Community Payback team has painted it from floor to ceiling – and roof!

Chris Smith, a member of the Lever Community Association, said: “Community Payback has been absolutely brilliant. We are not funded in any way and are totally reliant on this form of help.

“The lads have been no problem whatsoever, we have a very good rapport with them and they extend every courtesy to us and are very polite and easy to get along with. It’s the second time the Probation Service has worked here and we were so pleased when they offered to come back. The lads put in a 100 per cent.

“If the rooms look run down then groups won’t hire them. If that happens we lose our income and would have to close. Without the Probation Service we wouldn’t be able to do this.”

Wigan - luncheon club

DINERS are getting fine food courtesy of Wigan’s Community Payback team.

More than 40 people aged 50 and over meet every lunch time six days a week to taste the treats cooked up by offenders. For a few extra pence they can also buy sandwiches to eat in the evenings.

The Clifton Street Community Centre hosts four luncheon clubs per week, while Morris Street Community Centre and the Trinity Club also host lunches.

Pat Needle, of Higher Ince, has been attending the club – which is supervised by Jean Hatton - for over a decade.

She said: “Jean and the offenders deserve a medal for the work they do, they make lovely meals which I wouldn’t be able to do at home because I live on my own.

“I’ve made so many friends at the luncheon club, we all look out for each other and I think I’d go barmy if it was cancelled and I had to stay in my house all the time.”

Manchester - St Vincents

Manchester’s Community Payback team provides vital support to a charity dedicated to helping the city’s poorest.

The St Vincent de Paul Society operates a warehouse and two charity shops in Greater Manchester, and one of the tasks it undertakes includes collecting furniture, clothing and household items and distributing them to needy people.

Offenders work at everything from helping to manage the stores through to carrying out repairs and going out with the vans to collect and distribute the goods.

Andy Porter, Probation Supervisor for St Vincent’s, said: “Some of the lads we get are fantastic, one in particular had had real problems with being breached on previous projects but really appreciated being based here because he saw how valuable the work is.

“Getting to know the offenders and winning their trust is the key.

“Offenders often see poverty that they didn’t know existed when they come to work here, and you can see the impact that has, especially when they see how truly grateful and overwhelmed the beneficiaries are.”