With those values at the core of all we do, we seek to help rehabilitate people from past offending behaviours and attitudes. The charity provides supervised opportunities for offenders and ex-offenders to engage with others, and to gain experience working as part of a team undertaking groundworks and general maintenance in an outdoor environment. Our aim is to offer opportunities to gain basic certification in gardening practices and the use of equipment.

Current operations involve regular grass cutting and general maintenance of a large rural churchyard, with work also having been done at other sites.  Ex-offenders are referred to Beginning Again by Achieve North-West Connect on behalf of the Probation Service, and their work is overseen by a paid supervisor. Work by service users can be counted towards unpaid work hours mandated by the court as part of a community sentence. These training and employment opportunities support those seeking to rehabilitate themselves by gaining steady employment.

The work undertaken gives structure to what is often a chaotic lifestyle. The group activity enables appropriate social ties to be formed which, alongside the mentoring, give emotional support resulting in desistance from previous offending activity and those engaged in it. Practical experience in the use of horticultural equipment with accreditation will support applications into full time employment. Community volunteers working alongside provide positive role models, as well as giving much needed social skills to facilitate rehabilitation back into the community.