What Prison Governers & other staff say

"I don't do treats for cheats. If I didn't believe this (Good Vibrations) was about reducing re-offending, I wouldn't be doing it."

Prison Governor

"I hoped the project would go well but it exceeded expectations. The successful completion was a major achievement for some men."

Head of Learning & Skills

"Gamelan is a great leveller. We all sit, we listen to each other, no one is more important, we work together. These are life skills most prisoners have never learnt, and they may help prepare them for the future."

Key Skills Tutor

"There was a real sense of being part of something good - a feeling which most of our boys will have experienced for the first time in their lives."

Learning & Skills Manager

"It was absolutely phenomenal and the response from the women was just amazing X and I both had a lump in our throats at the end of the concert: what the women themselves said about their experience and how it had improved their self-confidence was very moving indeed. Without a shadow of a doubt this has been the best special project we have run since X and I took up our posts in 2004 ulnerable or unwilling to take part in anything else."

Senior Officer

"Gamelan is the best project we have here. It's a foundation for prisoners who are the most ulnerable or unwilling to take part in anything else."

Senior Officer

"It provides positive social interaction between prisoners - they start to talk to each other, and it promotes their self-esteem."

Safer Custody Officer

"The prisoners were incredibly positive, thought it was a very positive experience and felt very supported. Some of the most hardened cynics completely transformed and want to get involved in other things."

Area Drugs Co-ordinator

"All the group benefited from the project in various ways. Most will go on to complete Key Skills and Social & Life Skills qualifications."

Education Manager

"John was absolutely brilliant with the women. His calm, firm and authoritative manner, combined with his own infectious enthusiasm, meant that they became completely absorbed in what they were learning. The commitment they showed, in comparison with the level of commitment we witness towards other education department courses, was very noticeable indeed"

Head of Learning & Skills

"I was the most cynical person involved in the project and I am now the most convinced of the benefits."

Secure Hospital Nursing Staff