I arrived in the UK on Thursday late afternoon and have been staying in Reading so I could see my two sons. I’ve had a great time catching up with Ben and Sam, along with Sam’s good friend Travis, who visited us in Perth last year. This morning, I’m heading off to Bangor where I will be picked up by my Recovery Voices colleague Wulf Livingston and taken to his home in the village of Tregarth. I’ll be staying with Wulf and his wife Melanie for a week.
Whilst in North Wales, I will be spending time in two special recovery communities, North Wales Recovery Communities (Bangor) and Eternal Media (Wrexham). I’m really excited! I’ve learnt so much about these communities by listening to Wulf’s interviews with the two community Founders, James Deakin and Marcus Fair, respectively, as well as my own interviews with these inspiring characters. [I’m still editing and writing summaries of my interview with Marcus.] Now, I get to meet them both, along with their colleagues who have helped create magical happenings in North Wales.
My main aim in this blog post is to introduce you to the idea of Recovery Communities and what they can do, by linking you to two past blog posts and one film clip on Recovery Voices. If you read these two posts, you will realise why recovery communities are so important. The film clip illustrates very powerfully what recovery communities can do, not just in terms of helping people on their recovery journey, but also by helping the wider community. To me, the latter activities are an example of powerful project outcome measures. [Apologies for James’s slow internet connection.]
‘Why We Need Recovery Communities’ by Wulf Livingston
‘The Magic in Recovery Communities’ by David Clark
Rising Above Covid [7’30”]
During a Covid lockdown, 18 NWRC members, including a number of former chefs in recovery, are locked down in the recovery community’s Penrhyn House. They start to feed vulnerable people in the community, using food from the community allotment and provided by supermarkets. The food is gathered, cooked, frozen and delivered. A total of 80,000 meals are provided to families and individuals.
The recovery community responds quicker to feeding vulnerable people than the Welsh government and local councils. In fact, the Welsh government eventually provides some funding for the initiative, at least during the Covid lockdown. NWRC currently runs a surplus food club at their cafe, Bwyd Da Bangor (Good Food Bangor).