There will be a 'Ballads of Reading Jail' special radio programme this Saturday, 13th June 12noon, on BBC Radio Berkshire. This will be available live in Berkshire, or live on bbc.co.uk/berkshire, or as a 'listen again' on companyparadiso.co.uk.
This programme will be presented by 'Michael', pictured above, who has made an amazing journey through the project. Here he describes his past, including a a background in gangs: ‘They held a gun to my head, telling me there was only one way I was going to leave, and that was dead. I still keep things in perspective with my poetry, as in not wanting to go back. This is 'Walk in My Shoes':
Walk in my shoes and see how I feel
Try and find peace of mind when you can’t even find peace
Take a look through my eyes and see what I’ve seen
Believe me you won’t be having sweet dreams
Make friends with my friends find out who they are
Do you still wonder how I made it so far
Live how I used to and watch your own back
Stay clear of your loved ones, can you live like that?
Knowing they’re planning and arranging your end
That’s not just the enemy, that’s my so-called friends.
Visit companyparadiso.co.uk for more on the project, including the week's radio output. Also the project poems, songs and back story, with new poems by John Hegley. John was moved to write these lines also, which he sent us at the project end:
Taking time, doing rhyme in the gaol
hoping the work doesn't fail
to help to reshape
and provide an escape
without touching the Chubb or the Yale.
This is a ‘Made in England’ project, a partnership between Company Paradiso Productions and BBC Radio Berkshire to broadcast great writing by young offenders. The project’s two main purposes have been to help reduce re-offending, through reflection and creativity, and to profile our writers as young people coming to terms with their own lives, and moving forward positively.
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