Anne Frank exhibition at HMP Thameside (February 2013)

Conversations, HMP Stafford, Courtesy of
the Koestler Trust

Open for less than a year now, we were kindly invited by Chaplain Andrew White to bring the Anne Frank event to HMP Thameside. This is a modern privately run male prison on the same site as HMP Belmarsh in Thamesmead. The exhibition was situated in the very modern multi-faith chapel.


We were again extremely fortunate in having a marvellous group of volunteers to act as exhibition guides, and they did a fantastic job! These men were mostly drawn from various Diversity rep groups and wing Reps, with an unexpected addition. One of the prisoners who visited the exhibition was so animated and interested in the exhibition that we thought he should be a guide himself, and so asked him if he would like to do this. He was really taken aback by this suggestion, and you could tell that he was very flattered to be asked to do something like this – a role he would never have considered that he had the requisite skills for. Needless to say, he became one of the best of the bunch. It’s nice when you see things like that happen!!!

It was a fantastic event, and again Eva Schloss was our guest speaker – very well received by all. We have been very fortunate, and it is to be hoped that Eva will be able to come along to more prison events this year. She is certainly very much appreciated by prisoners when she speaks at these events, in many ways putting other people’s lives into perspective when compared to the horrors of Auschwitz.

Let’s hope that we can return soon to build on the work that we have started with HMP Thameside and we wish them all the best for the future.

Click here to view an article in the Jewish Chronicle about our visit to HMP Thameside.

Anne Frank Exhibition visits HMP Bronzefield for first time



On The Landing, HMP Whatton, Highly Commended
Award for Craft - Courtesy of the Koestler Trust

 The new year started with our first visit to Women’s prison HMP Bronzefield in Middlesex. A very similar layout to HMP Peterborough, the exhibition was situated on Main Street – a large open area in the middle of the prison, and a place where the majority of prisoners and staff pass through daily. The exhibition itself looked particularly good in this location – leading around the trees that are the central feature of Main Street.

Exhibition tours were organised for both mornings and afternoons, and were presented by an extremely enthusiastic and committed group of women throughout the 3 weeks that we were there. I was extremely impressed by not only the women’s presentations but also by their tough resolve. These weeks were some of the coldest this year, and main street was particularly draughty when doors at each end were opened – but they never whinged. They just got on with things, even though one of these ladies was in a wheel chair and could not move around to get warmth. A great feeling of camaraderie!

Eva Schloss was our key speaker and completely overwhelmed the large audience who attended her talk. This was followed by an extraordinary question and answer session, with one of the prisoners, somewhat lost for words and in total admiration, declaring “Eva – we love you (man!) Thank you….. for coming here”

Leah Thorn also brought her creative writing workshops to Bronzefield, and produced some wonderful poems from the groups that worked with her. It always amazes me the depth of feeling and self examination that she brings out in the people that she works with. Leah is no stranger to Bronzefield and was at one time their Writer-in–Residence, so she very much enjoyed returning there, working with the women and meeting former colleagues.

American actress Susan Stein has recently taken her one-woman play ‘Etty’ into prisons in the USA, and was invited to perform at Bronzefield while she was in the UK working with the Anne Frank Trust. Her performance received some rave reviews, and it is hoped that she will be able perform here again when she returns to the UK. For more information, please contact Susan.

The exhibition was then taken out of Main Street and set up in the Visits Hall inside the prison so that some of the women’s families and friends could be with them for the Closing Ceremony. This ceremony is always a very poignant occasion when we are able to celebrate the achievements of the guides, and where they were presented with books and Anne Frank certificates in appreciation for all their hard work.

It has been fantastic to hear that one of the guides is now working as a teaching assistant within the prison because of her newly found skills in presenting the exhibition.

'My Life Journey'

My life was the colour of mist,

ever changing with the days,

never in the same place or time,

up, down, side by side, away

                        within the mist.


It was a waterfall in full flood,

a handshake, a mountain range.

It brushed on skin,

a shiver of heat, like the feel of desert sand

against your feet

                      in early mornings.


My life lived

                   in the desert of deserts

by Jo

HMP Pentonville December 2012

Birds of a Feather, HMP Pentonville, Si Packard Commended
Award for Poetry or Sculpture, Courtesy of the Koestler Trust



Our last event for 2012 was a very welcome return to HMP Pentonville. Although the exhibition was for only one week, it was very well attended. We had an extremely capable group of men to present the exhibition who gained a great deal from this experience.
Some weeks before the event, Eva Schloss had visited HMP Pentonville to speak to prisoners and staff about her life, and of course her memories of being Auschwitz concentration camp. Eva had been specially requested to return after such a memorable talk at the prison in 2010.

HMP Pentonville has long supported the work of AFT, and it is hoped that we will return again in 2013. It is always well organised and a great pleasure to work there – and only a couple of miles away from the AFT office!

Many thanks to Governor Eamon Dowling as well as the Chaplaincy and Diversity staff for all their support.

Click here to view an article in the Jewish Chronicle about the work of the Anne Frank Trust in HMP Pentonville.

Click here to read a message to the guides from the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks