Visioning

There was a tremendous amount of goodwill, commitment and enthusiasm at the visioning retreat. I cannot quite remember how the maritime flavour seeped into the vision. I believed it had something to do with the starfish story contained in a training video first shown at the Work Plan Seminar. This was the synopsis of the video: “An old man was walking on a beach dotted with countless starfish one morning. He noticed a boy picking up starfish one by one and gently throwing them back into the sea. When asked why, the boy explained that the stranded starfish would die if left to lie in the morning sun. ‘But there are millions of starfish on this beach,’ said the old man. ‘How can you make a difference?’ The boy picked up another starfish and threw it back to the sea. ‘It makes a difference to this one.’ The starfish story would exert a lasting influence in the Prison Service and re-told many times after the Work Plan Seminar. When I left the Prison Service in 2007, among the parting gifts I received was a starfish made of clay in a wooden frame from an inmate. It was accompanied by a tribute which still moves me today.