Currently on the Gower Peninsular in South Wales at the end of Day 18 of our holiday. So far from our base in Reading, where my son Sam lives, we have been to Hedge End near Southampton, to meet my new granddaughter Evelyn and her parents Ben and Kirsty (and my youngest daughter Tasha, and brother Alan’s family), then onto North Wales (partly for work) and then to Gower, my old home.
We’re back to Reading tomorrow and then flying to Belfast on Wednesday, where we will visit the recovery community ARC Fitness in Derry/Londonderry and participate in the Recovery Walk in that city. We will then have a nice holiday in Donegal and various parts of Northern Ireland.
I had a wonderful time in North Wales visiting old friends at North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) in Bangor and Eternal Media in Wrexham, and met lots of new friends, some of whom I have been communicating with via Zoom. I would take this opportunity to thank James Deakin and Sarah Flynn for putting my partner Linda and I up at The Management Centre in Bangor, a really nice place to stay. And to Wulf (my Recovery Voices colleague) and Melanie Livingston for a very tasty dinner and enjoyable evening in their home.
Thanks also to Rich and Sian Price who put up with us at their beautiful home in the middle of nowhere in the beautiful North Wales countryside. On the way to their house, we ended up lost in Llansannan and had to be rescued by Sian! And thanks to Rob Havelock who took us on a lovely walk around Moelfre on Anglesey. Rich also took us to Beaumaris and Penmon on Anglesey. He and I visited a Recovery in Focus event at Eternal Media in The Bunker, held as part of the Celebrations for the 10-year Anniversary of Eternal Media. It was so good to see the crew at Eternal again and meet some new friends.
Whilst in Bangor, I visited Penryhn House and met old and new friends there. I attended the Friday weekly community meeting and listened to a very powerful share by Lhotse.. Also visited Bwyd Da Bangor, where I twice met up with Gareth, the chef for my Evening With David Clark talks in April last year.
As invited by NWRC, I gave two talks at the Town Hall in Bangor on Friday night, with a break in the middle with food provided by Bwyd Da Bangor. I have attached pdfs of the slides from each of the talks. Two of the slides (Nos 45 and 47) from the first talk need some explanation. You can gain an idea of what I said for the slides in these two blogs—Disconnection and Connection: Bruce Alexander and The Healing Forest: Don Coyhis, respectively.
In Slides 51 to 55 in the second talk, I introduced the new initiative for which I have been asked to be a Director, Atebion which was founded but Rich Price. Atebion (the Welsh word for ‘Solutions’) is a unique grassroots initiative based in North Wales, which has been developed to help people overcome addiction and other forms of adversity in natural community settings, as well as tackle the disconnection in society that is having a negative impact on our social and emotional wellbeing. The other Directors of Atebion are Sarah Flynn, Graeme Dudding, and Cheryl Williams.
On the day that Rich and I visited Eternal Media, we visited DoodlyDog (Eric Davies) in Mold. Eric is developing Atebion’s website for us and we are thrilled to have him on board. On my first day at Rich and Sian’s house, the media company we are working with, Chandler Media, visited. Jack and Katie filmed a number interviews that day for us. We had a great day with them and are also thrilled to have them as part of our project. Things are looking good in the early stages of Atebion’s development. Fingers crossed.
Check out the quality of Chandler Media’s work in the Montane Lakeland 50 & 100 Official Movie 2025. You can hear and see Rich Price from 9 mins 23 secs into the film.
Back to my holiday!
> Bangor Talk Part 1 [Transforming Pain Into Power]
> Bangor Talk Part 2 [Helping Communities Heal and Thrive]