“I am writing again, this time to inform you that I have been attending the Hampton Wick ‘cult’ meeting for the past number of weeks to observe what’s taking place, and there seems to be some dissent within the ranks.
As mentioned previously on your site, the secretary has a ‘prompt sheet’ saying that one could get a copy of the Q&A leaflet, or, “better still”, speak to a sponsorship co-ordinator. On an occasion where I was in attendance at HW, a young member called …... was standing-in for the secretary. I remember ….. when …. first came in at the age of ….. about four or five years ago. He fortunately appears to prefer the AA message to the cult’s (although he still attends these particular meetings). Anyway, on this occasion, …... decided that AA’s official publication should take precedence over the sponsorship co-ordinators …..., and decided to ‘swap them around’ and suggest that reading the Q&A leaflet was the “better-still” option. After the meeting, from my observation, Billy (the member I informed you about before) charged at him from the other end of the room, pulled him to one side and instructed him to stick to the script, and told him he was “going half-measures” by 'demoting sponsorship'. Also, Alex R (Plymouth-reared GSR and sponsor for practically all the female members of the group) instructs her sponsees not to even meet members of the opposite sex for coffee until they have reached a certain point in recovery. This concerns me; after all, controlling what people do in AA is one thing, but controlling what people do outside AA is quite cultish indeed. Alex was originally sponsored at the meetings in Plymouth , her sponsor’s sponsor being none other than Wayne P.” [see Plymouth Road to Recovery on website]
Some of the dramatis personae:
John B (founder of the group - circa 1999).
Billy M (often shares about being spiritual, but this only appears to go as far as sharing) Rupert B (Billy’s sponsor – more mainstream-AA)
Alex R (sponsors all the women)
Colin (previously a group officer but relapsed after being instructed not to take prescribed medication by a certain happy man in Ealing, don’t know where he is now…)
I have also been informed of a similar incident at the Tuesday meeting in Richmond [Ormond Road], where, at a group conscience, instead of members nominating each other or themselves for service positions, Billy allegedly took over the group conscience and elected the group officers himself, rather than having the group decide, with most of them being his sponsees. This is a breach of traditions one, two and twelve. A group member told me that he was discouraged by Billy from putting his own name forward for the secretary position, being told that he was only putting himself forward because of his ‘ego’. Instead, the secretary is a young girl called C, who is a sponsee of Alex’s, and the poor girl has been influenced by members of the Ealing gang. Many of these younger (in the sense of clean time) members are completely unaware of the true AA message, with many of them saying that the AA message is “get a sponsor”. “
Editor's comment: And so “the show” must go on and on and on..... “Self-will run RIOT”
(our thanks to our reporter)
The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
PS. More to come on this one! You can bet on it!
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