Testimony
I come from a middle class family and am number 2 of 2.4
children. There were a few disruptions in my childhood but nothing that
had a lasting effect on me.
I left school at 16 and went on to college to study catering and Hotel
management; this was to be a very significant time. It was around then
that I found something that was going to change my life completely;
little did I know what affect it would have. Like every 16-year-old I
experimented in all sorts of things, from pink hair to thinking that I
was Madonna! It wasn’t long before I started going to parties and that
is where I found out about alcohol, I loved it; it gave me confidence,
it made me pretty, and it was soon to become my ‘best friend’.
By the time I was 19, I was drinking a bottle of vodka a day, I was
physically and mentally addicted and didn’t care about anyone or
anything.
At 23 I was told that if I carried on abusing Alcohol I wouldn’t live to
see 28, by this time I was sleeping rough, continually in trouble with
the police and on my own. I had tried to give the booze up on numerous
occasions, I’d been in endless rehab centres and half way houses but
each time I returned home I would return to the bottle; my parents did
what they could but couldn’t complete with the alcohol.
The 9th January 1992 will be a date that I shall never
forget. For some reason unknown to me I decided to say goodbye to my
‘best friend’ and replace it with something else that was to become far
more important – LIFE. I have not had a drink since then; sometimes
things can get tough, but is life worth staying sober for… you bet!
(This is still true today 21 April 2005. Richard, Manager Jimmy’s)