When Ward ‘Flash’ W had gone back to the States he went to the New York office and told of his one in a million chance of coming in contact with A.A in London. The guy he met in the Savoy was ‘Canadian’ Bob who was tasked with the job to see if another American, … More One in a Million.

Lest we Forget  The below was written in the First London group pamphlet by ‘Padge’. ‘Padge’ was a longstanding member of A.A. in Great Britain and worked tirelessly as general secretary to help the fellowship grow. ‘Padge’ died Sept 2nd 1971 at the age of 77. Sober for 21 years. His recovery began in the special … More Padge – Lest We Forget

Esme wrote about the traditions in the First London Pamphlet around 1952. When, in 1948 I contacted A.A for the help and my sponsor, Bill H saw me in hospital, and outlined the programme (how wise he was not to give me too much at first) I recall thinking to myself, these 12 steps make … More Esme (1952)

1957 2nd Convention held at Belle Vue Hotel, Cheltenham, May 11th -12th, 1957. The second annual convention held over two days in May of 1957.   Before you read the below, A.A Archives of Great Britain which is held at York university arranged for the audio to be digitised so I could listen to the full … More Speakers at the 2nd Annual A.A. Convention on England and Wales in 1957.

My partner was on to me, she said, ” You’re an alcoholic, if you carry on drinking, you’re gonna end up dead…and I thought, ” How dare you. I just did my third drink driving. My best mate and I had been on it all day. He owned a pub. We went to Epping Green, … More Bernie’s story

Around July 1995, I went to my first A.A. meeting. I gave myself the sobriety date of August 1995, but I think I stopped in April. The truth is, I had drunk substantial quantities of alcohol daily for over 23 years and was struggling with my physical health and was oblivious to the deterioration of … More Mike M’s story

My name’s John, I’m an alcoholic, I don’t know my exact sobriety date, but I know I put it down in October 2003, following a historical relationship with alcohol that was never kind to me. My drinking was not what I would consider normal. I don’t know what normal drinking is. When young, it was … More Yoga John’s story

I had many losses at an early age, I got into solvent abuse and was expelled from school, then at the age of 14, I decided not to take anything. I didn’t for two years and got very low.  At 16, I was in a club in Stamford Hill with my dad, and he bought … More Mick C’ story

I was born in Hackney in 1957, and we moved to Welling, where we went to school in Sidcup [where most of my friends supported Charlton, the local team]. My mother was a violent alcoholic; her drinking got worse towards the end of her life. My first memory of being alive was about 5 or … More Tim K’s story

Just a little preamble to start with, back in the 1930’s Bill W met Dr Bob in Akron, that was the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous. YET! I hear you shout, or whisper, or murmur how did it start in Great Britain?  It isn’t spoken about much or often. So, we’ve put together a quick history … More How it started in Blighty.