I’ve just started planning my next trip to the UK, which will include work visits to a number of places in North Wales and Derry in Northern Ireland. Can’t wait to see old friends again! A combination of planning this trip and posting the blogs about Marcus Fair’s Story reminded me of my previous trips to North Wales, which included visiting North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) in Bangor.
In April 2024, James Deakin, Founder of NWRC, organised an ‘Evening with David Clark’ on Friday at Bwyd Da Bangor, the ethically, environmentally sustainable cafe/restaurant on the high street of Bangor which was run by NWRC at the time.
Tasty canapés were provided prior to my first talk, which was focused on addiction recovery and My Journey From Brain Chemicals to Human Connection, to an audience of around 30 people. We then had a gorgeous dinner cooked by chef and restaurant manager Jason Hughes, along with his staff. The meal was outstanding. During the dinner break, I spent time visiting the tables and meeting people.
I then gave a talk about the Aboriginal child artists of Carrolup, a trauma healing story from 1940s Western Australia which I had researched and written an eBook about. My colleague, social anthropologist John Stanton, and I have a website focused on this topic (www.carrolup.info).
My talks were filmed by Marcus Fair of Eternal Media, which was really great. I also wandered around with my phone during the break and filmed some of my audience.
I was really thrilled to see Simon Jenkins at the event, someone who provided a chapter for my Recovery Stories project some years ago. Simon has played a major role in Narcotics Anonymous, both nationally and internationally. I thought Simon still lived in London, but he had moved to Wales. I had not seem him since 2008 or 2009.
I was pleased about the feedback I received about my talks and will never forget the large number of recovery hugs I received. I was also thrilled by the fact that Marcus Fair filmed the event and his team put this long edit together. Here is that film, all 1 hour 45 minutes of it! The first talk ends around 52 minutes.
