Celebrating and remembering in a quiet corner of North Wales
This is a guest blog by the Restorative Justice Team of the Gwynedd Môn Youth Justice Services.
During Restorative Justice Week 2024, the Gwynedd Môn Youth Justice Services did not want to miss out on the opportunity to join in the global celebration and promote our day-to-day restorative work. The Youth Justice Service works with young people aged between 10 and 18 who get into trouble with the law, helping them to address their offending behaviour and make amends for the harm that their actions may have caused.
Gwynedd and Môn (Anglesey) are counties which are tucked away in a quiet and idyllic corner of Northwest Wales, so it can be difficult at times to promote our work because of the rurality of the area. However, we like the challenge; we want to make more people aware of our work in the service and promote the benefits of Restorative Justice as much as we can.
This year’s theme was ‘The promise of Restorative Justice in a polarising world’ – an apt theme for us, as mentioned, because of the rural area in which we live and work. There is a greater need for us to try and bridge the gap between the service and local communities, the various agencies with whom we work, as well as the young people under our care and their families.
How did the service celebrate during Restorative Justice Week 2024?
The Restorative Justice Team arranged a global buffet to bring staff and partner agencies together. Each attendee chose a country and brought in a meal or foodstuff to represent that country for the buffet – it was a truly delicious spread, and great to see people set work aside to connect and catch up. Compliments to all the chefs!
Sadly, this year’s celebrations proved to be more poignant than previous years, as the 24th of November marked the first-year anniversary of the passing of one of the service’s most beloved colleagues, and the RJ Team’s line manager – Lucie Anne Owen. Lucie was a great team leader, one of the best managers that you could ask for, caring for you as a person, not just as a colleague. Lucie believed in each of our strengths and abilities and was a great champion of our work within the Restorative Justice Team. Lucie was a lover of ‘blue sky thinking’ and wanted us to drive the team and our Restorative Justice practice forward.
So, in honor of Lucie’s love of nature, creativity, keeping active, and helping others, the RJ Team arranged a walk with staff, young people, volunteers, as well as Lucie’s family members to remember her – walking along a cycle track directly from the Gwynedd Môn Youth Justice Service’s Office in Felinheli to Caernarfon and back. Staff even managed to bring a few of their dogs along for the stroll! The bad weather kept away, and the walk proved to be a great tonic – again, an opportunity for people to come together and connect, especially over a ‘panad’ (cuppa) and homemade cake on the return to the office. It was such a special walk, and one which Lucie certainly would have liked…
In the run up to Restorative Justice Week, staff also carried out walks and photography sessions with young people, capturing various landmarks and sights around the counties on cameras and mobile phones. These sessions opened up great conversations with the young people and our eyes to the stunning places in our local community. With the help of Gwynedd Council, we were able to make packs of greeting cards using the photographs from staff and the young people, and these were amazedly all sold during the Restorative Justice Week celebrations. All the money raised from the sale of the cards will be going to the North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre based in Glan Clwyd hospital – a cause which was very close to Lucie’s heart. We plan on fundraising further in the run up to Christmas and will be able to provide an update on the total raised for the Cancer Treatment Centre in due course.
Overall, this was one of the best Restorative Justice Week celebrations to date – a bittersweet one, though it still highlighted beautifully what could be achieved when we work as a team, even when times are difficult.
