The story of North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) cannot be told without mentioning their association with Eternal Media, the recovery community based in a former nuclear-fallout shelter, The Bunker, on the outskirts of Wrexham. Eternal Media was founded by Marcus Fair, who survived a 25 year addiction to heroin and crack cocaine, a number of visits to prison, and long periods of homelessness. Marcus found recovery through spending time at Open Minds rehab in Wrexham.
In 2015, Tony Ormond and Simon Shaw, the Assistant Chief Constable for North Wales, arranged for several people in recovery, including Marcus, to give a talk about their lives to senior police officers. This gathering resulted in Marcus suggesting to Simon that he make a film about recovery if he was provided with resources, including several members of the police force. The film, Flipped It!, was hailed as a great success and led to Marcus, Simon and Marcus’s friend Peter Norrey, a BAFTA-winning filmmaker, to develop the charity Eternal Community Media and the social enterprise Eternal Media. Marcus says that Eternal Media was developed in part for the ‘Now What?’, to help people stay off drugs and alcohol.
Eternal Media’s Film Academy, run by Marcus and Lucke Gabriel, empowers and mentors film crews, which comprise people who are rebuilding their lives and are recovering from addiction and/or an involvement in crime. Their productions encourage creativity and storytelling, enhance self-esteem and teamwork, and ensure the development of new practical skills. Recovery in Focus, a therapeutic photography project run by Jill Whittingham, Eternal’s Lead Therapist, and Lucke Gabriel, illustrates how looking through the lens of a camera gives a new and creative way to tell stories of addiction and recovery.
Eternal Media’s charity also produces the Recovery Hub podcast series, which helps support people in recovery by participating as guests, and also by giving them opportunities to join the team in the production stages. Eternal Media’s focus on engaging with people who are rebuilding their lives and their approach is through creativity. Money raised through commissioned film projects by Eternal Media’s social enterprise is channelled into the charity’s funds to use in community projects.
On his first visit to Penrhyn House, Marcus fell in love with the place and the underlying concepts behind the development of NWRC. In 2016/7, Eternal Media made two powerful films focused on the Moving On In My Recovery (MOIMR) programme developed by Lee Hogan and Kevin Fisher. These films, Moving On and Keep On Moving On!—involved NWRC members and filming in Penrhyn House. Eternal Media have also made films of NWRC’s 100-mile walks, as well as their Recovery Expedition held during Recovery Month. NWRC members have participated in Eternal’s podcasts, as well as the Film Academy and Recovery in Focus. Everyone I’ve spoken to who attended these projects talked very fondly of their experiences.
In 2024, Marcus received one of seven Community Game Changer Awards from ‘The National Lottery’.
‘On a personal note, I find any excuse to be at Penrhyn, it feels like family when I’m there. NWRC embodies what the transition from addiction to recovery should look like, and I wish they existed when I was finally getting clean.’ Marcus Fair, Founder of Eternal Media