Supporting Tomorrow’s Women

Two events stand out from the trips I made on Friday. Cathy Earlam is a star on any criteria. With supporters she has established Tomorrow’s Women. This project for women who are on probation, or have been in prison, is simply uplifting.

It is how voluntary organisations should be run. There is almost no money and every pound the project gets is matched by one hundred pounds worth of effort and commitment by the volunteers.

It challenged my views about prison, particularly for women with children. With a project like this, working closely with probation, why are mothers sent to prison? Shouldn’t working with Tomorrow’s Women be the first option that Courts suggest?

And how might the rest of the voluntary sector respond? Women leaving Styal Prison have to make their own way back to Wirral by bus and two or three train journeys. Could not local churches run a rota to make sure that every woman is met and brought back safely to Tomorrow’s Women?

The theme of goodness in this world was picked up again at the Wirral Youth Heroes Awards, established by Martin Dickson and Jaimie Fernihough as a Christian response to last year’s riots.

Martin unashamedly spoke about the role of love and grace in making this world a better place. It was stunning as was Andrew Lancell’s comparing that took up this theme.

But love is not, sadly, a strong enough motive with which to govern the world. Justice is, which brings me back to Tomorrow’s Women.