Summer Hopezine 2023 made with love with Unlock
With over 12 million people in the UK holding a criminal record, it’s time Hopezine handed over it’s pages to law-abiding citizens who have criminal records. This summer is the specialedition made with members of the charity, Unlock, for people with criminal records. Think it doesn’t apply to you? Tried cannabis in your teens or […]
An Education, written by Jen McPherson
University was my entire world. I thrived there both on and off my course. I edited the studentnewspaper, had a show on the student radio station and organised an international development summit. I loved my course – politics with international relations – and made friends from around the world. Then disaster struck. It started with […]
Abandon hope all ye who enter here, philosophical words by Con Cord
Were those words actually attached to the police station, the courtbuilding, the prisons or probation offices I visited during the course of my criminal journey?No, they weren’t.They actually refer to Dante’s Inferno and an inscription above the gates of Hell.Did I abandon all hope as I frequented those establishments?With hindsight……Not quite, but very nearly.It is […]
Addiction Ditty
Addiction is cruel, that’s the main rule.Abstaining from the vein, is the ultimate aim.Whether inhaled, ingested or intravenous injected.Drugs don’t discriminate who are infected.Loneliness, lies and broken family ties.No trees of green, just dark cloudy skies.Whatever ya poison, its basically the same.Nobody lives long in this perilous game.So a trip to the quack, to get […]
Apple Tree Philosophy by Just Ben
Do we live in a fallen world? What is the evil at work? Did God intend it thisway?This is something I have contemplated and prayed about.As with all things of God I have found a lot of paradox when seeking an answer.I believe that I have been lead to an understanding by Gods trees and […]
Prison is hope, a poem about life after prison
Prison was the beginning, the lowest of the lows,I remember telling my mum, the only thing worse was death,It’s difficult to think of a punishment so pointless,Yet, an experience that makes your life a mess,My first day in prison was hard, I felt so deeply lost,When you think about crime, you never think of the […]
Yogic Gardening by Brian Bhakti McCulloch
Written by Brian Bhakti McCulloch
How can you re-emerge from prison and successfully reintegrate into the community?
When I left prison, I was anxious, stressed and worried- it wasn’t goingto be easy. The stigma of being an ex-offender coupled with being youngscared me, how would I get a job? How would I tell people where I’d beenfor the last year? How would I deal with all the people who had seen myarticle […]
Accessible travel at Mollett’s Farm, Suffolk
By Erica CromptonWe stayed in a development that, like many contributors in this month’sissue, had a second chance. At Mollett’s Farm in Saxmundham, Suffolk,a former waste land on the farm has been transformed into a series ofaccessible accommodations. I went along with our resident wheelchairuser and Accessibility Consultant, Paul Nicholls. On entering we found adisabled […]
Hopezine makes headlines in the Daily Mail
Paul and I recently gave an interview to The Daily Mail’s travel section about our accessible road trips and featured in the paper and online. In the piece we tell journalist Rob Crosson the highlights of our wheelie friendly UK trips including Perth, York and Belfast. Have a read, here.