On Monday, I had a full day of actives at Penrhyn House, the residential part of North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC). Prior to that, I had to pack my belongings at Wulf and Mel’s place in Tregarth were I had been staying for the past seven days. A huge thanks to this lovely couple for putting me up—I mean putting up with me—all that time. I am really grateful. Wulf is a former chef and I really loved his cooking.
Wulf and I had a focus group session with NWRC members that was concerned with finding out: (1) what factors at Penrhyn House most benefit members’ recovery journeys and (2) in what way—how did these factors impact on the person? We were also concerned in whether the importance of these factors changed over time. Wulf, who led the session, also asked what additional things might be included that could aid a person’s recovery journey. Finally, he asked for members to chose one or two words to best describe the magic at Penrhyn House.
I then bid farewell to community members with a round of big hugs. I love my hugs and there were some good huggers in Penryhn House! Wulf will be sending me the recording of this session so I can write up the highlights when I return to Australia.
After this session, I met NWRC community member Jamie Edwards, the Bangor boxing champion whose wonderful fundraising activities for Penryhn House I described in a blog post a couple of weeks ago.
In the afternoon, I interviewed staff member Marc, whose recovery journey started at Penryhn House over eight years ago. It was actually Marc’s birthday and he was on annual leave, but he kindly agreed to come in especially for the interview. It was good to hear about the early days at Penryhn House. I then interviewed Saffron Roberts, who I had heard so much about. Saffron is one very special woman and has overcome so much adversity in her life. I sat listening in awe. Saffron gives a great hug. I’ll write up these two Stories when I get back to Oz.
As Wulf had headed off, James Deakin, the Founder of NWRC, put me up in the Management Centre at Bangor University, which was a really nice place to stay. I headed down to the sea front to eat fish and chips. I then sat in the Management Centre lounge staring out across the water, trying to take in the events of the past week and start to prepare talks for the next part of my journey.
James picked me up in the morning and we headed to Bwyd Da Bangor for a scrumptious breakfast and a long discussion, including how we might work together in the coming year. I also had the opportunity to thank chef Jason Hughes for the very tasty food he provided for Friday’s ‘Evening With David Clark’.
What a wonderful week in North Wales!!! To top it off, I received the most touching message yesterday from Penryhn House staff member Alex: ‘You have no idea the impact you have made on all the guys. It’s been an absolute honour having you spend time with us all.’ I felt quite emotional reading those words. I was very lucky to be able to spend time with such a wonderful group of people. Thank you, NWRC community members. You are so special!