Jail Bird

Sharon Grenham-Thompson

Description

Written with passion and understanding, Jail Bird explores how it is possible to reach out to those vilified in the press and by society at large, and to work for the good of all, recognising the humanity in those who commit crimes. Sharon Grenham-Thompson is an Anglican minister and former prison chaplain at Bedford Jail in the UK, where she was responsible for running a large multi-faith team. Jailbird explores her motivation to help those who are the least in society. "Totally gripping and extremely personal, this fluid biography comes gushing down the mountain like a raging floodwater. I literally couldn't put it down. In fact I read the whole thing in one session." Chris Evans - BBC Radio 2 Presenter

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Church of England

Informations

• Publié par: Lion Hudson
• Date de parution: 22 juillet 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780745968780
• Langue: English

Extrait

Totally gripping and extremely personal, this fluid biography comes gushing down the mountain like a raging floodwater. I literally couldn t put it down. In fact, I read the whole thing in one session.
Chris Evans BBC Radio 2, from his Foreword
This is a fascinating and inspirational book; how one woman succeeded in three very different male-dominated institutions - the Law, the Church, and within prison walls as a Chaplain. Sharon also shows her gifts as a natural communicator, which we know from radio, and which she confirms as a most readable writer. Inspirational for any self-doubting youngster; Sharon s progress through her life and work, and her ability to rise above difficulties and break down barriers, all told with great good humour, are a lesson for us all.
Ken Bruce, BBC Radio 2
Wow! Excellently written and a good read.
Audley Harrison MBE and Olympic boxing champion
Everyone has an opinion about prison. Hardly any of us knows what prisons are really like. The Glamvicar opens the doors and shows us round with wit, tenderness and real insight.
Frank Cottrell Boyce, screenwriter and novelist
A thoughtful and reflective perspective on priestly ministry in general and prison ministry in particular It may also challenge a lot of perceptions both about prisoners and also about clergy.
The Venerable Michael Kavanagh, Head of Prison Chaplaincy, National Offender Management Service
JAIL BIRD
The inside story of the Glam Vicar

SHARON GRENHAM-THOMPSON
Text copyright 2016 Sharon Grenham-Thompson This edition copyright 2016 Lion Hudson
The right of Sharon Grenham-Thompson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Lion Books an imprint of Lion Hudson plc Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England www.lionhudson.com/lion
ISBN 978 0 7459 6877 3 e-ISBN 978 0 7459 6878 0
First edition 2016
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Cover Photo Michelle Jones. Used by kind permission.
For reasons of security and sensitivity most names have been changed, as well as some very minor details. However, all events and people are real, and described as I remember them.
To Dad
CONTENTS

FOREWORD BY CHRIS EVANS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 - TO BE A PILGRIM

CHAPTER 2 - FAMILY (MIS)FORTUNES

CHAPTER 3 - SAVING GRACES

CHAPTER 4 - HIGHWAY TO HOPE

CHAPTER 5 - FROM HIGH HEELS TO HYMNBOOKS

CHAPTER 6 - LOSING THE PLOT

CHAPTER 7 - INTO THE JUNGLE

CHAPTER 8 - PARALLEL LINES

CHAPTER 9 - CARROT OR STICK?

CHAPTER 10 - FACE TO FACE

CHAPTER 11 - LAND AHOY

CHAPTER 12 - HEARTS TO HOLD

POSTSCRIPT

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOREWORD
By Chris Evans

I have worked with Sharon, the Glam Vicar, for five years, since right from the beginning of my tenure on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show .
How do you feel about Pause for Thought ? I was asked when preparing to take over from the late great Sir Terry Wogan. The powers that be were nervous I would request that the daily dose of sober and insightful contemplation be quietly sidelined elsewhere.
I love it, I declared instantly, which was and remains the absolute truth. Just as I love Prayer for the Day and Thought for the Day on Radio 4.
Whether you are religious or not, these moments , when done well, speak to us more as humans than believers or followers. This is why I encourage our contributors to lead with everyday philosophy, reflection, and common sense first before anything else.
Simply declaring God says this and God says that is a real Marmite approach, preaching usually only to the already converted, those already on the bus. Whereas common-sense lessons drawn from historical scriptures and parables are much more colourful, communicable, believable, and entertaining.
Sharon gets this totally. She always has. She is also a brilliant writer, as you are about to find out.
What follows on the pages of this book crystallized for me how come she connects so directly with people. The ability to connect is all about the well . The well of emotions and experiences we each have to draw from. The thing is, I had no idea Sharon s was so deep.
But of course I should have known. Over the years during our many and varied on air exchanges, I have felt more than she s told me, observed more than perhaps she might have wanted to let on and often heard more in between the lines as she takes a breath before reading on, than from the lines themselves.
But let me tell you, all that changed when I turned the first page. Chapter after chapter, this book is surprising, funny, enlightening, reassuring but, above all, brutally and breathtakingly honest. Totally gripping and extremely personal, this fluid autobiography comes gushing down the mountain like a raging floodwater. I literally couldn t put it down. In fact I read the whole thing in one session.
We are all of us fragile and fallible and there s nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, it is only the fragile and fallible who know what it is like to be truly strong. Strength without suffering and vulnerability is merely good fortune unfettered by any palpable reality. Easy Street by comparison.
To fully appreciate life, you have to have washed the stench of death from your clothes. Or felt the cold and rain of loneliness day after day, all the way through your skin and into your bones. Or had nights of quaking misery through no fault of your own that left you cowering in bed, holding yourself so tight sleep was an impossibility.
This is a very special female vicar s account of her exposure to such things. Much of what s bad in life that she has somehow converted into a formidable force for good.
Dear Lord, We need more like this one please. Amen.
INTRODUCTION

He who would valiant be, gainst all disaster, Let him in constancy follow the Master. There s no discouragement shall make him once relent His first avowed intent: To be a pilgrim.
(John Bunyan)

The sound of the organ filtered through to us as we stood in the breezy cloister. The unfamiliar weight of the robes lay across my shoulders, as if to remind me of the promises that lay beyond the heavy wooden doors. I tugged once again at the stifling dog collar close about my neck - usually I went for something a little lower cut. I smiled at Martin, a fellow baby vicar , standing next to me. Can you believe it? I whispered. We made it.
And then there was a shushing and a shuffling, and we were off - briefly out into the sunlit quad of Christ Church, Oxford, before stepping through those doors to a sea of faces and beautiful treble voices singing the theme tune from The Vicar of Dibley .
If I had the proverbial pound for every Dibley reference I ve parried since the day of my ordination in 1998, I d at least manage a decent night out in London. But it was still early days for women in the Church of England then, and media representations of lady vicars were few and far between. Dawn French s wonderfully bonkers village priest was, for many years, the only image of an ordained woman reaching the mass market.
It s very different now of course, and Twitter s awash with my female colleagues, not to mention the women priests who are TV faces, fashionistas, and leading lights for social change. Bishops, too! Given that a good few years have gone by since I was ordained, I m now one of the older generation of female priests - but amongst the many things I m thankful for, one is that I managed to nab the epithet Glamvicar before anyone else did.
Whether it s on social media, in print, on the airwaves, or even in the flesh, I do my best to live up to the tag. I ve been amazed at the opportunities that have come my way: I ve dined with aristocrats, hugged Harry Potter (well, Daniel Radcliffe ), and joked with an archbishop. I love presenting live on radio, and it s still childishly exciting when someone in an obscure bed and breakfast in Wales says to me, Oh you re that double-barrelled vicar woman from Radio 2! I love listening to you! I m sure there are equal numbers who groan and switch me off - I ve done it plenty of times to others myself. But it s fun, I try not to take it all too seriously, and - given the capricious nature of the meed-ya - I know it won t last for ever.
What does last for ever, or at least a very long time, is the legacy each of us leaves behind. I went into the church because I believed (and still do) that I had something constructive to offer the world. I m hugely grateful that I m allowed a pulpit to millions via radio every now and then. But I m also acutely aware that what I do day to day has to count even more.
And I have to say, the day job is pretty unglamorous.
Having qualified as a solicitor after university, when I then came to be ordained, several of my friends nodded sagely and predicted I d be a prison chaplain one day. No way, I retorted. That s not me at all.
Ha blooming ha. Nearly two decades on, I m amazed to find I ve been inside for nearly half of that time. These days I m the Senior Chaplain at HMP Bedford, a male category B prison (which means it s not the very highest level of security, but it s the next rung down, housing some pretty serious offenders). I also have a couple of other jails under my (chain-festooned) belt. It s a strange job for a woman - but OK, I give in - I love it. Most days. And I m clearly living proof that God has a sense of humour.
I never intended or expected to take this path in life - and some of the coincidences make me laugh out loud. But as I ve established my accidental career (or ministry as church-speak would have it - career s a bit of a dirty wor