Ian Allsop talks to chief executive of Storybook Dads, Sharon Berry.

It seems somewhat appropriate that I meet Sharon Berry near Paddington station, where one of children’s literature’s most famous creations was found and named. Berry is founder and now chief executive of the organisation that won the overall award at last year’s Charity Awards, Storybook Dads, a charity providing an invaluable service allowing imprisoned parents to send their children a CD recording of them reading a bedtime story.

She says it all started when as a single parent at 40 she completed a degree in English literature and language. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it but I liked writing and went to volunteer with CSV media, training in radio production at Radio Devon.”

Then an appeal came in for volunteers to set up a prison radio station in Devon. “I had never  been in a prison before, but ended up spending one day a week as writer-in-residence.” she found  that she loved working in prisons. “it was not what I expected. it was not intimidating at all, but very rewarding.”

After completing a PGCE in adult teaching, including prison teaching, she moved to Dartmoor as a teacher. “it became so apparent how something like Storybook Dads was needed so that fathers could keep in touch with their children.” She realised the potential of using the skills she had learned in radio to edit the stories being read and add sound effects.

“We needed the project to be a charity to get the funding to run it and by December 2003 we had trustees in place and things started. It was organic. One thing led to another rather than it being part of an overall vision.”

Honing skills not breaking rocks

She says there were many challenges which she overcame through persistence. “Prison security is tight and rightly so, and it is hard to get new projects off the ground. It took a long time for people to feel relaxed and for us to be accepted. We had to explain that we weren’t a security risk and be very careful and also explain that the benefits to prisons are great as it keeps prisoners happy. And we are training prisoners to be editors so they are getting good vocational skills themselves. Some people think prisoners should be breaking rocks. But what good does that do them when they get out? If you give them skills it reduces risk of them reoffending.”

Dartmoor prison gave Storybook Dads an empty cell with a computer to work from, but prior to that Berry did the editing herself at home. And the charity started to grow, first to Exeter prison and then gradually expanded its reach by approaching other prisons in the South West.

Berry says she then thought “we could get a bit bigger” and realised she needed to learn about fundraising, which she admits she knew nothing about. “It is a positive thing to sell to funders because it is a simple idea and so tangible. and we can shift our emphasis depending on a specific funder’s interest, for example, arts and culture, or education, or prison work.”

At this point other prisons started getting in touch and in just over four years Storybook Dads has grown to the degree that it currently works in 60 prisons. In April last year it moved to new premises at Dartmoor with a recording studio, opened by princess Anne and the charity’s patron Terry Waite. it employs eight full-time prisoners and also delivers a qualification. “Our relationship with the prison service is symbiotic. They give us premises and we provide kudos for the prison and activities for the prisoners.”

Another attractive element of the project is that it is replicable, which aids long-term sustainability. The charity has done training with the army and the air force, and is about to train the navy. “We can’t work too much with them because our funding is for prison work but we can charge them for the training.” She has also done training with the legal profession so that the service can be offered to fathers going through a lengthy court process to gain access to their children.