Inside The Clink Charity Carol Service
The Clink Charity, which trains and equips serving prisoners and ex-offenders to reduce reoffending, is holding its annual Christmas carol service on Monday 3 December at 6.30pm in the stunning surroundings of St Luke’s Church, Chelsea.
The service will be led by The Reverend Prebendary Dr Brian Leathard with readings from Maureen Lipman, Clink Trustee Jeremy Paxman and Clink graduate Michael Balogun. The address will be given by Reverend Jonathan Aitken.
Since launching in 2009, The Clink rehabilitation concept has garnered huge support from hospitality greats across the world and is expanding across Her Majesty’s Prison Estate with four restaurants currently in operation in the UK. Prisoners training in the restaurants work a 40-hour week whilst working towards achieving City & Guilds NVQs in Professional Cookery and Food & Beverage service.
The charity runs four restaurants at HMP Styal, HMP High Down, HMP Brixton, HMP Cardiff which serve a range of meals including breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner.
In addition to the restaurants, the charity also runs Clink Events the outside catering division of the charity which trains homeless clients from the Centrepoint charity to gain NVQ’s in hospitality. The Clink’s schemes all are helping to reduce the hospitality skills shortage by providing those who want and deserve a second chance in life with the opportunity to use their new skills to change for the better.
In 2018 the charity also opened the first Clink Café, in partnership with Centrepoint charity, in Manchester offering a selection of coffees, cakes and light lunches to local residents and businesses.
The event will also support the continued development of further Clink training projects following the same framework as the successful schemes currently in operation at HMP Styal, HMP High Down, HMP Brixton, HMP Cardiff and HMP Downview.
The evening will conclude with festive drinks and mince pies. This atmospheric evening of carols and festive readings is the perfect start to any Christmas season.
Tickets for The Clink Carol Service are £40 and are available from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-clink-charity-carol-service-monday-3rd-december-2018-tickets-47465070303
