Heather Curnow joined Circles UK in January 2008 as our Office and Business Manager.
Heather is responsible for the administrative support for the charity and for the day to day administration of the organisation, whilst also being the first port of call for anyone contacting Circles UK.
Heather is the longest serving member of staff, having been with the charity since it was established, and tells us more about her role, her background, and why she believes it is crucial to change attitudes on working with people with convictions.
The ‘backbone’ of the organisation
People do call me the ‘engine room’ and ‘the backbone’ of the organization, which is lovely but unnecessary. In reality, I enable everyone else to do their work, which is so vitally important.
In theory, I provide administrative support to enable the smooth running of the charity, but my role is really diverse and wide ranging.
I negotiate contracts and prices, look after everything from the printer to the phone lines, I organize our events, I’m a proof reader, I make sure everyone’s paid – all the things that happen in the background of an organization. I also look after our social media accounts.
I’m the first point of contact for anyone contacting Circles UK, whether it’s police, probation, social workers, potential Circle volunteers, people who have been arrested, those released from prison, as well as their family members. If they call, email, or send a message on social media, it comes to me.
No two days the same
I’ve seen an awful lot of change in my 17 years working here, and have dealt with some weird and wonderful situations.
Being a small charity, it took a while for us to become established and I remember the turning point when people started to know who we were and what we were doing.
In 2012, when the crimes of Jimmy Saville became well known, and the horror of what is often happening behind closed doors became talked about, the contacts we received increased exponentially.
We’d had some key media appearances by that time, once on ‘This Morning’, and in 2013, the BBC Radio 4 charity fundraising appeal, when more and more people were getting in touch.
I take many media enquiries, and we are also approached by TV and documentary producers who want to accurately portray the work of a Circle, so want realistic detail on what they are, what they mean, and the impact on the people involved.
I vividly remember sitting in the audience of an Alice Birch play ‘Many Moons’ in 2011, which involved the story of a character who had a Circle and feeling that was really quite a momentous moment. It is right that people should take the time to understand what they are portraying – especially something as sensitive as this.
Why are Circles important?
Everything we do is about preventing further victims.
We must face the reality that the majority of people who carry out sexual offences will be released from prison.
When they are they might be released to your town, or to my road, and I would certainly rather know that when they are, they are being supported and held to account by a Circle, than not.
We often face criticism from people who believe that you should only have charities that support victims and survivors of crime. I strongly believe that it is not an ‘either / or’ situation. Of course, victims and survivors deserve as much support and charity funding as possible, that is never in question, but we cannot ignore perpetrators on their release from custody, and expect that doing so will end positively.
If someone is leaving prison and clearly admits that what they’ve done is wrong and they want help to stop them from doing it again, surely we owe it to any potential future victim, or the victim they have already harmed, to provide this help.
What’s next for Circles UK?
We want to see more of the country covered with Circles provision. It’s difficult when we’re contacted by a probation officer, police or social workers, who needs this community support for someone they’re working with, but can’t offer anything.
We’re also continuing to work on specific projects, such as Circles ReBoot, designed for people who have offended online, and Faith Circles. These projects are about responding to the specific challenges we face, to create safer communities and prevent further victims.