On Tour 2026… First Stop Hewell
So it’s 5:45 in the morning and Dr. Jacs and I are packing ‘Millie’ the campervan to go off on a jaunt. No, we are not going camping. In fact we are setting off on the first day of our 2026 Tour of HMP’s in England to do a Music Business workshop looking at ‘The Live Music Industry today and how to earn money from it’.
We are heading to Hewell HMP, very near Bromsgrove and actually it’s quite a long drive. I am the navigator and Dr. Jacs is the driver. She plops a large old school map on my lap with a set of instructions and I pretend I know what’s she’s talking about, but I don’t really. Being a tad dyslexic I am wondering why Google maps wouldn’t be a wiser option, but there’s no point in saying anything right now, so I smile convincingly and decide I will just watch carefully for the road signs.
The tour we are embarked on is to promote Series III of an in-cell prison TV program written by ourselves about the Music Industry called The Lyrics, The Music and The Money!, broadcast by WayOutTV, in 58 HMPs across England and Wales to a potential audience of 58,000 residents, all supported by Arts Council England.
Our motto is to ‘Educate, Mentor & Inspire’.
Most people will appreciate that coming out of prison isn’t easy and that having a plan and something to work towards helps to prevent the ‘revolving door’ syndrome or re-offending culture that plagues many prison leavers. In six episodes, we take an in depth look at the Live Industry and how someone can become part of it with particular emphasis on employability. We are looking at the jobs that support the industry behind the scenes, like road crews, riggers, sound engineers etc. all essential to the smooth running of any show.
There are many entry level jobs that don’t require qualifications that many people may not have thought about doing. Besides the emphasis on the technical support and backstage staff we also give advice to the Artists and the Bands themselves and we introduce interesting guests such as Teddy Prout from The London Philharmonia who talks about being a Tour Manager and how he also recruits casual staff.
Our aim is to show someone that their creativity and transferrable skills have value and that there is a community beyond the wall open to working with prison leavers that they may not have considered previously. Our hope is they will feel valued and eventually be able to contribute to that community.
However, we must get to the Prison first and Dr. Jacs has rumbled my map reading skills aren’t what she’d hoped. The car stops and she takes the map and estimates we are on the wrong road… just a little bit wrong. In my defence, I did get us to about fifteen minutes away from our destination without a hitch and it was a two hour drive… so applause please!!
We eventually make it down the windy, tree lined drive to HMP Hewell and get there just in time to meet Philippa who is in charge of ‘education’. We get through security and now… we’re in!
Our workshops take place in, ‘The Chapel’ in a pleasant coolish atmosphere. The morning session is a mixture of men from different wings who don’t know each other. They get £2.00 for attending and a cup of tea and a biscuit plus as many sugar sachets as they can stick into their pockets. That’s important since recently there is health initiative going on in this prison that no sugar is to be suppled unless they pay for it themselves; hence the bee line for the sugar.
There is a mixture of abilities and knowledge within the group. Some men are there because they write and perform themselves, while others are just curious about the Music Industry.
The day was full on. There was lots of loud chatter and loads of questions in the morning workshop with one ADHD chap a bit reluctant to let others speak. The afternoon group were really good, they were keen to learn and hungry for information as well as very appreciative. After completing our ‘workbook’ they are awarded a certificate endorsed by the Arts Council. It was heartening to read in our evaluation sheets that the men had enjoyed the experience, and they had also learned something too.
The drive back was not easy, there was loads of roadworks and traffic jams but Dr. Jacs ploughed on and managed to get me to the London train with seconds to spare.
Happily, next week Dr. Jacs and I are catching the train together to Birmingham to do our workshop in a Youth Offenders facility, we have visited previously; so no need for me to work on my map reading skills …yipppeeee!!