The sixth of our Recovery Voices—including my colleague Wulf Livingston as the fifth—was Marcus Fair, Founder of Eternal Media. He of the remarkable life story, including a 25-year addiction to heroin and crack cocaine. I have no choice in what blog post related to him that I choose as my favourite. It has to be the one about Marcus’s recent achievements in recognition of his amazing work over the past nine years: The ‘National Lottery’ Community Game Changer Award.
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‘A stunning installation honouring seven Game Changers from across the UK has been unveiled to kick-off The National Lottery’s 30th birthday celebrations.
Portraits of the seven appeared on the water at London’s iconic St. James’s Park, managed by The Royal Parks charity, in recognition of their game-changing impact on their respective communities with the help of National Lottery players who raise £30 million every week for good causes.
Created by renowned grandmaster graffiti artist Luis Gomez De Teran, the images on Perspex screens appear to float on the water at the Royal Park and are unveiled by broadcaster, Adele Roberts.’
The above words appeared in an article by The National Lottery entitled, Celebrating 30 years: Art installation honouring seven Community Changers unveiled in London, on 12 September 2024. I have only just heard about the Awards through an Eternal Media Facebook post.
One of the seven Community Game Changers whose head is now floating on a lake in St. James’s Park is Marcus Fair, Founder of Eternal Media. [Left in top photo]. A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Marcus for his Award! And to all the team at Eternal Media, as they have obviously contributed to the winning of this Award. Here is what the article said about Marcus:
‘Marcus survived a 25-year heroin and crack cocaine addiction, vast swathes of homelessness and multiple prison sentences before going on to found Wrexham charity Eternal Media. Supporting more than 700 offenders and ex-offenders to give them opportunities in filmmaking and showing them a new way to live.’
In an accompanying National Lottery YouTube film, Marcus says: ‘It’s been such a surreal day. And just hearing people’s stories and how they got into it. You know what, I’m in really good company here.’ Sadly, that film has disappeared from YouTube. However, you can see some shots from the Award Day in this publicity film from Eternal Media.
David Knott, chief executive officer at The National Lottery Community Fund stated: ‘At The National Lottery Community Fund, we believe everything starts with community. Every three minutes a community shares its dream with us, and every eight minutes, we award a grant to help make those dreams a reality. So, we are thrilled to showcase these powerful stories and hope this incredible installation will inspire even more people to see the difference National Lottery funding could make in their own communities.’
The National Lottery article goes on to say: ‘To mark the 30th anniversary of the first draw in 1994, The National Lottery is celebrating 30 inspirational people – Game Changers – who have achieved amazing things across the UK in the last 30 years, with the help of National Lottery funding.’
Marcus is one of seven Community Game Changers. Other Game Changers for the the Arts & Film, Heritage, Sport and Community will be announced and celebrated at four installations during September and October. ‘The final two Game Changers will be announced on The National Lottery’s New Year’s Eve Big Bash scheduled for broadcast on ITV on 31 December.’
Check out The National Lottery’s full article and celebrate the other six Community Game Changers.
Some hours later, I’ve just seen these words from Marcus on his Facebook page:
So this is what I’m up to in London this week, and it’s all very surreal, overwhelming, emotional and exciting! This is very much a shared accolade for my incredible team both on the production side of things, Eternal’s board members and my family.
A huge thank you to everyone who has ever supported us over the years and me personally, of which there are many.
It’s an incredibly proud, reflective and humbling time for me. I’m most proud of helping to get Recovery on a national stage, making recovery more visible and making recovery an attractive option. This is a message of hope to those still enduring active addiction, along with their families and loved ones. If a hopeless addict like me can find their return ticket from hell, anyone can!
We absolutely Do Recover!’
It wasn’t easy picking my other two favourite blog posts relating to Marcus, but here they are: