A Christmas Celebration at HMP Buckley Hall

Today, Monday 19th December, we held a Christmas Celebration for all those prisoners who had attended the Alpha Course, the Living With Loss course and the Sycamore Tree course.

There were 22 in attendance and we held a “Carolokee” a competition where different teams of prisoners sang a carol and their performances were voted upon to determine the winner. We then had a quiz, then we watched two of the chaplaincy volunteers perform a sketch about the true meaning of Christmas and one of the other chaplains gave a short gospel talk. We sang another carol and rounded off the afternoon with some finger-food.

The event gave us a wonderful opportunity to share the love of Christ, and to once again bring the message of salvation. We also got the chance to speak one-to-one to several inmates who had not had any previous Christian input in their lives. They listened intently and went away with gospel literature and much food for thought. Everyone who attended said they had thoroughly enjoyed themselves and went away blessed, encouraged and challenged.

Throughout all the courses this last year we have been building up a relationship with the guys and it has been a joy and delight to see some of them give their lives to Christ. Others have been seriously considering what it means to become a Christian and we will be following them up in the new year.