“They [Derbyshire
intergroup] had us [Derby City groups] thrown off the local list of meetings
twice, had every member of our meetings removed from service twice, and
persuaded all three local intergroup to deny us membership. Their sponsees and
those influenced by them reliably neglected to mention the existence of our
group to helpline callers even when we were allowed on the list.
The intergroup
situation is essentially a sham. The old East Midlands Intergroup was felt to be
too large, and was dominated by a few Notts old-timers, so …..... created The
Mid-Trent and Derbyshire Intergroups, which are still run by acolytes of those
same Notts old-timers …....... with the cultists in tow or leading on occasion.
Mid-Trent IG failed in fairly short order, and Derbyshire IG is just a fig-leaf
for the Notts old-timers (or "senior AAs" as they like to be called) continuing
to run things. They would rather have the cultists at the helm than a truly
independent IG. We showed the senior AAs the literature we sent you and they did
nothing, then allowed the cultists to throw us off. Leicester simply ignores the
Intergroup, "Notts and Leicester IG" is only so called because Leicester can't
even be bothered to turn up to announce that they are leaving.
I can give a lot more
detail, but that's the essential position. When we were denied IG membership,we
were told by ….. members (acting as IG emissaries) that all three IGs had had to
deny us membership as a "unity issue". That this was the basis on which we are
not in the IG makes our expulsion from service on the grounds of our
non-membership all the more unreasonable.
In terms of documentary
evidence, they have not in the past minuted any decision to throw us off, and
have only gone in writing about the decision at all on this occasion, in the
letter they sent to us."
Comment: We did contact
Derbyshire IG to get their side of the story – the silence is still quite
deafening!
Cheers
The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
Cheers
The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
(our usual thanks to
this contributor)
