Explore every episode of the podcast In conversation …

The Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons, the Right Revd Rachel Treweek, in conversation with Vicky Fobel, Head of the Better Justice Partnership.

In this sixth podcast in the series of 'Holding the Key: Unlocking the door to doing prison differently', Edwina tells us, "If we are looking to bring people out [of prison], let's look at the people who shouldn't be there in the first place. Lots of women who are in prison in the female estate; they really don't pose a risk to the public, most of them pose a risk to themselves."

Talking about the vision for Hope Street, a secure accommodation project for women leaving prison, she said "I sat down with a team of people to see if we could design the gold-standard, replicable, scalable-model, for women to be able to be sentenced to the community, that would work with probation, the police, the judiciary, children's services, drug and alcohol services. We thought if you really mapped all that - we should see if we could possibly create it. So we did."

"We designed the building, it's now operational with the staff in it. We have beds for 24 women and their children, but then crucially we have a housing pathway, so they have step-down accommodation so they can move on and start living more independently."

Bishop Rachel responds, "It's fantastic to see how you've inhabited that vision. It's also utterly fulfilling everything we've been saying. Not only do we think it's a good idea, but the evidence supports that. And you've made that happen -if you hadn't pushed for this and are now producing more evidence to show that it works, this would not have happened."

Bishop Rachel says, "There should be an equivalent for Hope Street in every county."

The Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons, the Right Revd Rachel Treweek, in conversation with John Podmore. In this fifth podcast in the series of 'Holding the Key: Unlocking the door to doing prison differently', John tells us, "We should be locking up people we’re scared of, not mad at."

John was a prison governor and inspector of prisons, and now acts as consultant with a particular interest in human rights and prison anti-corruption.

Bishop Rachel and John discuss potential ways to change the approach to using prisons and sentencing; "We don’t have prison problems, we have community problems."

The Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons, the Right Revd Rachel Treweek, in conversation with Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons.

In this fourth podcast in the series of 'Holding the Key: Unlocking the door to doing prison differently', Bishop Rachel and Charlie Taylor talk about the current overcrowding crisis in prisons. Charlie tells us, "We have more prisoners than we have capacity for. In many prisons we have enormous levels of overcrowding. Like Leeds, where something like 80% of prisoners are living in overcrowded accommodation. And what that means in reality; you've got two men sharing a single cell designed by the Victorians 150 years ago, to house one man, in conditions that are often squalid and enormously challenging."

Open the Gospel for 1 September, 14 after Trinity. Mark 7.1-8,14,15,21-23. The Revd Kate Stacey, Lay Reader Nick Partridge, and Senior Youth Connector Barrie Voyce in conversation.

Open the Gospel is a learning community for anyone who preaches, who listens to preaching, who wants a space to dig into scripture with others. We look at the coming Sunday’s Gospel from the Common Lectionary, with a conversation between a clergy and lay person, and someone considering the reading from the child at the centre, before opening up to the online community. The conversation will be available as a podcast that can be used in planning, or even where there is no one to preach in a Sunday service.

Open the Gospel for 22 September, 17 after Trinity. Mark 9.30-37. The Revd Kate Stacey, Lay Reader Nick Partridge, and Senior Youth Connector Barrie Voyce in conversation.

Open the Gospel is a learning community for anyone who preaches, who listens to preaching, who wants a space to dig into scripture with others. We look at the coming Sunday’s Gospel from the Common Lectionary, with a conversation between a clergy and lay person, and someone considering the reading from the child at the centre, before opening up to the online community. The conversation will be available as a podcast that can be used in planning, or even where there is no one to preach in a Sunday service.

Open the Gospel for 15 September, 16 after Trinity. Mark 8.27-38. The Revd Kate Stacey, Lay Reader Nick Partridge, and Senior Youth Connector Barrie Voyce in conversation.

Open the Gospel is a learning community for anyone who preaches, who listens to preaching, who wants a space to dig into scripture with others. We look at the coming Sunday’s Gospel from the Common Lectionary, with a conversation between a clergy and lay person, and someone considering the reading from the child at the centre, before opening up to the online community. The conversation will be available as a podcast that can be used in planning, or even where there is no one to preach in a Sunday service.

Open the Gospel for 8 September, 15 after Trinity. Mark 7.24-37. The Revd Kate Stacey, Lay Reader Nick Partridge, and Senior Youth Connector Barrie Voyce in conversation.

Open the Gospel is a learning community for anyone who preaches, who listens to preaching, who wants a space to dig into scripture with others. We look at the coming Sunday’s Gospel from the Common Lectionary, with a conversation between a clergy and lay person, and someone considering the reading from the child at the centre, before opening up to the online community. The conversation will be available as a podcast that can be used in planning, or even where there is no one to preach in a Sunday service.

The Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons, the Right Revd Rachel Treweek, in conversation with Marc Conway, CEO at Fair Justice, an organisation which aims to help get the voices of those who live and work within the criminal justice system, out and into the public.

In this third podcast in the series of 'Holding the Key: Unlocking the door to doing prison differently', Bishop Rachel and Marc Conway talk about Marc's lived experience of the criminal justice system, his work with offenders and ex-offenders, and specifically around the injustices and issues with historical IPP prison sentences. 

Open the Gospel for 1 September, 14 after Trinity. Mark 7.1-8,14,15,21-23. The Revd Kate Stacey, Lay Reader Nick Partridge, and Senior Youth Connector Barrie Voyce in conversation.

Open the Gospel is a learning community for anyone who preaches, who listens to preaching, who wants a space to dig into scripture with others. We look at the coming Sunday’s Gospel from the Common Lectionary, with a conversation between a clergy and lay person, and someone considering the reading from the child at the centre, before opening up to the online community. The conversation will be available as a podcast that can be used in planning, or even where there is no one to preach in a Sunday service.

Open the Gospel is a learning community for anyone who preaches, who listens to preaching, who wants a space to dig into scripture with others. We will look at the coming Sunday’s Gospel from the Common Lectionary, with a conversation between a clergy and lay person, and someone considering the reading from the child at the centre, before opening up to the online community. The conversation will be available as a podcast that can be used in planning, or even where there is no one to preach in a Sunday service.

The Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons, the Right Revd Rachel Treweek, in conversation with Tom Wheatley and Mark Icke of the Prison Governors’ Association.

In this second podcast in the series of 'Holding the Key: Unlocking the door to doing prison differently', Bishop Rachel talks to Tom Wheatley, President of the Prison Governers' Association, and Mark Icke, Vice President of the Prison Governors' Association. Tom and Mark bring over 57 years combined experience working in Prison leadership roles, and they discuss their experience of the effectiveness of the justice system, as well as their hopes for what the future might hold.

The Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons, the Right Revd Rachel Treweek, led a visit to the Netherlands to discover more about their criminal justice system as she continues with her commitment to inspire alternatives to prison in England and Wales.

In this podcast Bishop Rachel, Pia Sinha (CEO of the Prison Reform Trust) and Andrea Coomber (Chief Executive for the Howard League for Penal Reform), reflect on what they learnt during the visit and their key takeaways from the meetings that took place and the visit of PI Alphen aan den Rijn prison.

This is the first of a series of Podcasts called -  'Holding the key: A series of conversations to unlock the door to doing prison differently’. Bishop Rachel will be joined by influencers and change-makers as they ask the questions – what is prison really for and more importantly what could the alternatives be? 

Bishop Rachel Treweek visits the Cotswold School to talk to two young people there; Sam (y13) and Maya (y11). They are joined by Helen Ford of NHS Gloucestershire, programme Director for the Development of Children's Mental in Gloucestershire, and Jodi Carter, Deputy Head for Cotswold School. 

Bishop Rachel speaks with a number of people about the Church of England's Living in Love and Faith resources. Involved in this second conversation are the Revd Tudor Griffiths, and the Revd Jo Pestell.

Bishop Rachel speaks with a number of people about the Church of England's Living in Love and Faith resources. Involved in this initial conversation are the Revd Bob Callaghan, trans activist Harry Williams, The Revd Ilsa and her partner Rachel.

Bishop Rachel enters into conversation with Nicole Jacobs, the Designate Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, and six women in key roles who welcome the domestic abuse bill and yet also long for more as the Bill returns to the House of Lords for the second reading.

In conversation:

Nicole Jacobs, Designate Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales
Robyn Andréo-Boosey, Co-director, IC Change and Manager, Anglican Diocese of Melbourne’s Preventing Violence Against Women Program.
Niki Gould, Head of Women’s Community Services, Nelson Trust
Huda Jawad, Co-founder of Faith & VAWG Coalition
Pragna Patel, Director of Southall Black Sisters.
Andrea Simon, Head of Public Affairs at End Violence Against Women Coalition
Katy Swaine Williams, Senior programme manager, Prison Reform Trust
The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Anglican Bishop for HM prisons

Part three of three. This episode brings together participants from the first two podcasts in the BLM series, to reflect and discuss the issues in one group. Bishop Rachel is in conversation with Ade, Juliet, Margaret and Simi; exploring issues of race, ethnicity and diversity, particularly within the Church. 

Part two of three. In this episode Bishop Rachel enters into conversation with three white Christians in the Diocese of Gloucester – Juliet, David and Margaret, to discuss responses to the BLM movement within various church communities.

Part one of three. In this episode Bishop Rachel enters into conversation with four black Christians in the Diocese of Gloucester – Rumbi, Ade, Simi and Suki – two adults and two young people, about the impact of Covid-19 on the BAME community, the murder of George Floyd and our failures as a Church regarding racial justice.

Exploring how we navigate through a landscape of trauma towards a place of hope, Bishop Rachel talks to The Revd Hilary Ison, a member of the Project Team exploring ‘Tragedy and Congregations’; Dr  Alexander Kent, Reader in Cartography and Geographical Information Science at Canterbury Christ Church University; and Ramani Leathard, Head of Asia, Christian Aid.

Bishop Rachel talks with the Reverend Canon Dr Sandra Millar about living life as a single person, particularly during lockdown.

Aaaaand ... rest. It's harder than it sounds, isn't it? In this episode, Bishop Robert talks with Archdeacon Hilary Dawson about rest, about letting go, and finding a rhythm of life which serves us, so that we may serve others.

How are young people dealing with change and uncertainty during lockdown? Bishop Rachel talks to five teenagers from our worshipping communities, along with Barrie Voyce (Leader of Illuminate Stroud and the key lead on future plans for youth ministry in the Diocese of Gloucester).

How are we doing?! No, really. How are we doing. In this episode, The Ven Hilary Dawson talks with The Ven Phil Andrew about managing, or failing to manage, the emotional rollercoasters of life and leadership during lockdown.

In this episode Bishop Rachel enters into conversation with four black Christians in the Diocese of Gloucester – Rumbi, Ade, Simi and Suki – two adults and two young people, about the impact of Covid-19 on the BAME community, the murder of George Floyd and our failures as a Church regarding racial justice

With the impact of Covid-19 prisons across the country are facing many different challenges, so what does ‘lockdown’ look like for one particular woman’s prison? Bishop Rachel (who is the Church of England Bishop for Women’s Prisons), talks to Suzy Diamond-White, Governor of HMP Eastwood Park, based in the Diocese of Gloucester, to discuss the impact Covid-19 has had on the staff, women and the running of the prison. They also talk about the need for society to think differently about sending women to prison and the importance of community rehabilitation. This recording was made a month ago, and since it was made, women in prison have still not had face-to-face contact with their children.

In this episode, Bishop Robert Springett is joined by Dean Stephen Lake, to discuss being present and visiting people in a time when we can neither be present ... nor visit people! 

Engagement: Living out Christ’s love and hope. As those who have experienced the love of God in Jesus Christ we are called to join in with the work of the kingdom of God as we pray for the Holy Spirit to be at work within us, between us and around us bringing transformative healing, justice, peace and new life. This is the backdrop for these conversations with Bishop Rachel which reveal not only the devastation of broken relationship but also the restorative power of love and care. In this fourth podcast episode, Bishop Rachel talks to members of the Nelson Trust about domestic abuse.

In these strange days of a viral pandemic when we are all living with the unknown and wondering what the future looks like and the part we might play in shaping it, perhaps this conversation may take on a new significance.

NB. Bishop Rachel is President of The Nelson Trust

In this third podcast episode, Archdeacon Phil talks with Bishop Rachel, about how our faith can be affected by troubled times. The two discuss life, hope and struggles, detailing the past few months and how it has affected them personally.

Bishop Rachel invited some of the members of St Kyneburga to join her for a virtual tea party over Zoom to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Over tea, people shared memories of VE Day in 1945. This is the 2nd podcast episode of our ongoing series.

Discussing the crucial role of light, peace and hope in a place of darkness, Bishop Rachel asks questions about the extraordinary experiences people had around the time of the end of the Second World War.

One participant comments, "... in the war you were always with other people, whereas now you can't be. It's the one thing you want, and you can't be with anybody else. That, I think, is much harder than facing any kind of danger with people, with friends, comrades.”

Re The Company of St Kyneburga: The Company is named after Kyneburga, co-foundress and abbess in the eighth century of the first religious community at what is now Gloucester Cathedral. Membership of the Company of Saint Kyneburga recognises and honours service to the Diocese, usually over a very long period of time.

The Dean of Gloucester Cathedral, Stephen Lake, speaks with Archdeacon Hilary Dawson about these extraordinary times, and the impacts on the Church and their work. This is the first podcast of an ongoing fortnightly series, new for the Anglican Diocese of Gloucester in 2020. Churches and leaders throughout the Diocese of Gloucester will be involved in producing episodes; we'll find out about different projects, organisations, partnerships and inspirational stories, as well as hearing from senior leaders, both lay and ordained, throughout the Diocese.