More on the cult "network" - Richmond, Tolworth ....

"Thank you for your reply,

John B does indeed attend Hampton Wick and he was one of the founders of the Richmond meeting along with a chap called Donald (who was sponsored by David B) and a few others. From my memory I remember Hampton Wick was opened on Kingston Hill shortly after the Richmond meeting was formed in 1997 or 1998. Another meeting was formed from the Richmond meeting: Tolworth Newcomers - a Thursday night meeting with printed literature cards containing 'the six suggestions' displayed on the top table where the secretary and chair sit. They also used to attend a restaurant after the meeting but they opted to have a food buffet in the hall after the meeting instead. Also, most worryingly, you are assigned a sponsor at this meeting. If you are new you have your number extracted from you and then told who your sponsor is going to be. When I was new to AA over 20 years ago I had great difficulty in saying no, so I can imagine how newcomers feel at this "newcomers" meeting.

I am personally fairly familiar with the Ealing meetings myself. What's been going on is Happy Dennis has made there be four meetings a day in Ealing, most of them being at either Bayham Road or Green Man Lane. Unfortunately some long-standing AA meetings have been dwindling and thinning-out to the point of closing as a result of an earlier meeting opening round the corner. Keep an eye on the Northfields meeting on Sunday morning; this meeting is a long-standing AA meeting, or should I say 'was', but it seems to be getting taken over by various sponsees of the Ealing brigade.

Keep an eye out for a guy called Richard E; he is the one who started the cult within CA and is famous (or infamous) in AA among West and South-West London. He is exactly like David B (I met David B on several occasions); when he attends AA meetings (which is uncommon now as he mainly does CA), he introduces himself as a 'recovered' alcoholic and then proceeds to tell the meeting that they're doing it wrong. He sponsors many individuals at once, and they are taken through the steps and begin sponsoring others after around four weeks of sobriety. Many of them relapse. He will point out to his sponsees who in the meeting is and is not alcoholic. He elects himself to sponsor others (i.e. "I will be your sponsor"). Every sponsee of his is required to attend a 'Big Book Study' at his house, where all he does is gets them to highlight the parts of the Big Book which he thinks are relevant (although he doesn't highlight the bit in The Family afterward which says "Now about health..." or the part in Working with Others that talks about not rushing the newcomer). He brainwashes his sponsees with the '3% recovery rate' (or is it 2%? I think he changes it each time), and as a result, his sponsees all attend meetings with chips on their shoulders and share that everyone else is doing it wrong, or 'not really an alcoholic'. His sponsees are not allowed to attend NA meetings, and the only AA meeting they are allowed to attend seems to be Hampton Wick Friday. He tells everyone (not just his sponsees) that they should not take medication. One of his sponsees was secretary at the Saturday morning meeting at Bayham Road and one time when I was there he shared "my sponsor told me what to do, he told me which meetings to go to and he told me how to recover" (does that sound like an oxymoron?). You people of aacultwatch would probably assume this is cult standard, but what worries me is that I was talking to one of Richard's sponsees after a meeting the other week in Ealing and he was telling me how Richard called him and said "pick me up and give me a lift into Kingston", and when the sponsee said he was busy, Richard apparently responded "I am your sponsor. You will give me a lift to Kingston". If there's anything that makes me think of a cult it's this; not only is controlling what people do in AA he's controlling what they do outside AA. There is unfortunately a lot of contempt towards him in the Richmond/Twickenham/Teddington area - an area that is otherwise harmonious within AA, with a wide fellowship.

Sorry I've waffled, but I thought it would be of interest, seeing as there wasn't any mention of Richard on the site. Some individuals have stood up to him, but most people shrug it off and say "I can only keep my side of the street clean".

Glad to be of service. May it continue.

... [name omitted]"

(our thanks again to this contributor)

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)