ECOVERY MONTH...RECOVERY MONTH...
October 2015 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 13
way in challenging the social stigma attached to
addiction. The UK recovery movement has matured
further this year. As in our personal recovery, masks of
arrogance and intolerance give way to greater
humility and acceptance, and as a movement overall
we have celebrated greater unity in strength and
experienced greater strength in unity.
There have been many people who have worked
tirelessly to make sure recovery month events went off
without a hitch. It’s fantastic to see it go from
strength to strength. With the conference and the
walk in Durham this year, many of the people of the
north east got to know, see and feel what recovery is.
As a charity, we are grateful for that, and even
more so for how the people of the north east worked
with, cared for and loved us. Our sincerest gratitude
goes to every single person who played a role in
international recovery month.
GOING FOR GOLD
Neil Firbank of New Beginnings
recaps the activities of this year’s
recovery games
WOW, did this year’s games really exceed our
expectations! We knew, based on the last one, that it
would be popular, but I never expected that 25
teams would turn up on the day. That meant in total
around 400 competitors took part, battling against
each other in a wide variety of events.
The games drew around 300 spectators, from
family members and the local community, who were
all amazed at the message we were spreading, and
hopefully went some way to reducing the stigma
faced by those taking part.
The original idea for the games came from
watching how the Olympics 2012 really pulled
everyone together and ignited a community spirit. I
wanted to organise an event that somehow captured
that, and showed people that we do get better – that
you would never believe that the person next to you
could ever have had issues with substances. It also
had to be fun.
Eventually, the games drew to a close with five
teams facing each other in a grand finale of didicar
time trial racing. Active Recovery from Scunthorpe
came away the overall winners, and took away the
coveted recovery games shield.
The games turned out to be a fantastic day,
and we managed to raise over £500 for Aurora, a
local cancer respite charity. Watch this space for
next year’s recovery games – it can only get bigger
and better.
InsIghts
‘We all need a month like this –
highlighting our similarities as
human beings, the core values that
connect us...’
AlistAiR sinclAiR
‘We have celebrated greater unity in
strength and experienced greater
strength in unity...’
AnnemARie WARd
Read the reports, see the pictures:
