September 2011
Name of Project: Roundwood School
Area: Harpenden

 general maintenance at Roundwood School

Beginning this month, Community Payback offenders are working each Saturday at the school, painting & decorating and carrying out general maintenance

August 2011
Name of Project: Jubilee Centre
Beneficiary: Various community groups
Area: St Albans

 Painting the Jubilee Centre

The Jubilee Centre building is used by Meals on Wheels and as a community centre for a variety of groups. Offenders on Community Payback have repainted almost the whole of the inside of the building and maintain the carpark by weeding and general tidying.

July 2011
Name of Project: school improvments
Beneficiary: Brockswood School
Area: Hemel Hempstead

 A typical Community Payback offender

Offenders sentenced to Community Payback have been working at this school since October 2010. Work at the school has included painting classrooms and fences, pointing brickwork and landscaping. They even created a sensory garden, which was opened by the Mayor of Dacorum in May.

June 2011
Name of Project: clearance
Beneficiary: Welwyn Hatfield Community Housing Trust
Area: Welwyn Garden City

  Some of the rubbish cleared by offenders

May 2011
Name of Project: Farm work
Beneficiary: Hare Krishna movement
Area: Aldenham

Offenders supervised by Hertfordshire Probation have been working on the farm at Bhaktivedanta Manor for some years now. The centre provides food for homeless people, some of which comes from its own produce, fruits, vegetables and herbs. The farm, which includes a dairy herd, is run using traditional methods.

April 2011
Name of Project: Cricket
Beneficiary: Stevenage Cricket Club
Area: Stevenage

  Painting at Stevenage Cricket Ground

Improvement works carried out by Community Payback offenders at the Cricket Ground included painting fences and tidying the grounds. MP Stephen McFarland visited the project as part of a visit to Hertfordshire Probation in April.

March 2011
Name of Project: Grove House residential home
Beneficiary: Mencap
Area: Borehamwood

  Painting the loo at Grove House in Borehamwood

Community Payback teams have been working at the home on and off for several years, carrying out a range of tasks, such as decorating, installing decking in the garden, erecting sheds, painting fences and carrying out repairs as well as doing general domestic work.

So good is the project in terms of rehabilitation as well as punishment that it was named Sainsbury's Project of the Year in the Hertfordshire Probation Trust Offender Achievement Awards held this month. What made this project stand out from the others was that offenders working there can see instantly the beneficial effecto of their work on the people living and working at Grove House.

Maureen Biwi, who manages the home, said: "The Community Payback team have worked wonders here. The tenants look forward to when the team comes over. There is a sense of community spirit in the way they have improved the home grounds and interior decorations and interacted with tenants and staff."

February 2011
Name of Project: Environmental cleansing
Beneficiary: Hightown Praetorian & Churches Housing Association
Area: Across Hertfordshire

  Sweeping leaves so people don't slip over

Community Payback offenders have been working at housing estates owned by the housing association four days a week for nearly two years. Visiting four or five sites per day, the offenders pick up litter, sweep leaves and stairwells and generally tidy up. While the offenders' labour costs are free, the association pays the cost of the supervisor.

January 2011
Name of Project: School-decorating
Beneficiary: Icknield Walk First School
Area: Royston

  Painting the school at weekends

Community Payback offenders have been working at weekends for the primary school, to the delight of pupils and staff.

Head teacher Jane Sherwood said: "I cannot thank the Probation Service enough for the way in which they have transformed our school - the outside of the school now looks bright, clean and welcoming. The children are especially pleased with the freshly painted toilets (in colours they chose)."

December 2010
Name of Project: Graffiti-cleaning
Beneficiary: East Herts Community Safety Partnership
Area: Hertford and Sele Farm area

  Offender cleaning graffiti from wall

Community Payback offenders work one day a week for East Herts Community Safety Partnership, cleaning graffiti from walls, buildings, parks and car parks, bridges etc. It is hard, physical work involving initial cleaning with chemical wipes or a powerful jet spray then scrubbed off with a brush. The project began mid 2010.

November 2010
Name of Project: Dacorum Service Level Agreement
Beneficiary: Dacorum Community Safety Partnership
Area: Dacorum

  Community Payback Manager Jeff Spencer (centre) at the launch of the agreement 

Community Payback offenders will work four days a week for Dacorum's Community Safety Partnership under a service level agreement lasting a year. The working party will carry out tasks identified by the borough's Neighbourhood Action Steering Groups, Dacorum Borough Council and other community safety partners. Under the agreement, which was launched on Friday 19 November at Grovehill Adventure Playground, the supervisor's costs will be funded half by Hertfordshire police and half by Dacorum Council.

October 2010
Name of Project: Watford Mayoral Project
Beneficiary: Kingsway School
Area: Watford

  Paving and raised beds constructed by Community Payback offenders 

Mayor Dorothy Thornhill gave her official blessing to the Community Payback project at Kingsway School when she visited on Thursday 7 October.

The Mayor's visit marked the culmination of more than a year's work by offenders both inside and outside the school. Working two days a week the crews painted and decorated the inside of the school, while outside they created a Winnie the Pooh play area, creating characters from the book out of plywood.

Other work included laying paths and decking, constructing pergolas from wood and raised beds from brick, making a pond and installing a stand-pipe well.

Project Manager Jeff Spencer said: "As well as improving the school, offenders have learned valuable skills they can use to gain employment."

September 2010
Name of Project: General maintenance
Beneficiary: Animal Rescue Charity (ARC)
Area: Bishop Stortford

  An offender at work

Offenders cut back hedgerows along the drive leading to ARC's premises this month as part of their long term grounds maintenance programme at the centre.

Hertfordshire Probation has been working with ARC, which provides a safe haven for neglected, abandonned and otherwise unwanted animals, including horses, cats, dogs, rabbits, on and off for more than 15 years.

Through both Community Payback crews and individual placements they keep the premises in good order, and carry out whatever work needs doing, such as landscaping and plumbing and mucking out the animals.

August 2010
Name of Project: Allotments
Beneficiary: Farming for All
Area: Watford

  Raised planters created by Community Payback offenders 

Community Payback offenders have helped Farming for All create an allotment where people with disabilities and sensory and visual impairments can experience the pleasures of "growing your own".

Since starting early in 2010 and working each Sunday, they have created paths wide enough for wheelchairs and built decking, potting tables and sheds as well as the raised planters shown in the photo. The allotment has four plots where people with disabilities come for sessions of working on the plot. Even people who have to garden lying down can take part, tutored by members of the Farming for All charity, which helps adults and children experiencing social or educational exclusion. It helps them gain or regain confidence through meaningful experiences in a natural environment.

Jude Allen, Director of Farming for All, said: "I'm completely in awe and grateful for the work the Community Payback teams have achieved so far. As a small, local, not-for-profit organisation, we rely heavily on volunteer assistance, and I'm not sure how this project could have happened without them. Due to Community Payback's input we are on track to open in 2011."

She added: "They have enabled us to open up therapeutic gardening courses to many local disabled residents. I cannot thank them enough."

July 2010
Name of Project: Leavesden Country Park
Beneficiary: Three Rivers Council
Area: Abbots Langley

 Fence made by offenders using wood stakes they cut themselves
 

Offenders supervised by Hertfordshire Probation have been working on this project every Sunday since 2008 contributing to the regeneration of the park - and helping it win a Green Flag Award this summer.

The tasks have been many and varied, including: painting park equipment; landscaping; and designing and building a BMX track for the local community. They have also cut down hedges surrounding three carparks - making them feel much safer to local people - and cut down two or three acres of sycamore, creating natural, deadhead fences which are great for biodiversity, from the cut wood.

The work completed by the group has resulted in some excellent feedback from the Park Ranger, Martin Brooks: "These guys have done a wonderful job and have done about 50% of the work here over the last two years, alongside our own people and our volunteers. They have made a huge contribution to making the park safer, which helped us win the award. People round here really appreciate what the offenders have done in the park."

Martin added: "If people have committed offences and they're not bad enough to deserve locking up for, I think the best way is to put them back in society and let them pay back for their crimes."

June 2010
Name of Project: Hertsmere
Beneficiary: Hertsmere District Council
Area: Potters Bar and Boreham Wood

 Offender cleaning a road
 
Ongoing project begun in November 2009 whereby offenders spend one day a week carrying out a variety of tasks, including clearing paths to support the local Walk to School Scheme, litter-picking, cutting back undergrowth from paths, cleaning roads and paths in residential areas and community recreation areas

May 2010
Name of Project: Public drinking ban
Beneficiary: St Albans City & District Council
Area: St Albans

 Offenders put up signs warning people against drinking in public

A three month project starts this month whereby Community Payback offenders help St Albans District Council to ban drinking in public places. Offenders will put up 1200 warning signs between now and end of July. The supervisor's costs are paid for by the Council.

April 2010
Name of Project: Take Pride in Hatfield
Beneficiary: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council / local community
Area: Hatfield

Offenders took part in a four week Springclean of Hatfield town centre, organised by the local council. Supervised by Probation staff, the offenders removed grafitti, picked up litter, painted and generally helped improve the look of the area.

Also taking part in the Springclean were students from the University of Hertfordshire and staff from local businesses. Welwyn Hatfield Mayor Kim Langley also came along to lend a hand. 

Kerrie Eastman, Community Payback Project Manager at Hertfordshire Probation, said: "People made lots of positive comments about the work the offenders were doing and seemed really appreciative."

March 2010
Name of Project: Hertford Graffiti Partnership
Beneficiary: local community
Area: Hertford

  Offenders clear graffiti from back wall of Tesco, in Hertford

Public services are working together to clean up Hertford, by removing graffiti from public spaces.

While East Herts Council promotes the scheme to the public and organises which spot to tackle next, Probation's Community Payback offender crews fill up their graffiti-busting machine every Friday at the East Herts Fire Station in London Road and then spend the day removing unsightly graphics.

The police do their bit by working to ensure the cleaned areas are not then spoiled with more graffiti, and the project costs are being met by councillors using small pots of money given to all councillors each year to spend on projects in their local area.

This is a long term project and anyone in Hertford who wants graffiti cleaned from a particular spot should ring/email East Herts Council with the details: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

There are plans to extend the project to Bishops Stortford and possibly elsewhere.    

February 2010
Name of Project: School decorating
Beneficiary: Icknield Walk First School
Area: Royston

Wall-hanging created by offenders from tiles painted by pupils

This project started in February and is on-going, once a week on a Saturday when there are no children at the school.

Offenders are giving the school kitchens a bright, fresh look, by painting the rooms and the metal window frames.

But what has really pleased children at the school, is that the offenders have taken tiles painted by the children and created two wall hangings, one to welcome visitors to reception, the other to brighten up the school canteen.

Community Payback Project Manager Dawn Lally said: "The feedback we've had from the school is extremely positive. We've been told the children are very happy with the murals, which give an overall friendly welcome to all visitors."

Dawn added: "The offenders have taken great pride in the work they carried out."

January 2010
Name of project: Arthur Gibbens Court
Beneficiary: Aldwyck Housing Association
Area: Stevenage

  Offenders clearing snow so older people can walk safely

Offenders completing their court orders for 'Community Payback' helped clear the snow for elderly residents at Arthur Gibbens Court in Stevenage on Thursday 7th January.

The Probation service in partnership with Aldwyck Housing Association put offenders to work at two sheltered housing sites clearing the snow and making pathways safer for the residents. The supervisor, Lee Cooper, was quick to rearrange work projects to meet the local community need following the heavy snowfall this week. Further similar projects have also been undertaken for North Herts Housing Association, including George Littern Court.

Community Payback Project Manager Dawn Lally said: "It is good to see the visible difference achieved by the workgroup in a short space of time. They quickly made a positive impact and we are pleased that members of the public can observe the constructive contribution offenders are making to their local community."