Update on Plymouth (cult) Intergroup

Our contributor writes:

“IT'S ROTTEN!!!!

If this were an episode of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, the above phrase would be ringing in your ears - and there is no more appropriate phrase to describe- what is left - of Plymouth Intergroup.

Where do we begin?

Facts and figures -

85% of all positions remain vacant, 10% of those in position are 'Caretaking' the role until someone takes over (12th of Never, should you ask) which leaves 5% elected and in position Treasurer and Where To Find (absent from more meetings than he has attended).

The R-T-R contingent have all stepped out of their positions, and have done this early - having achieved nothing in their time in position. And their excuses boarder on hilarious - I've got a baby now (hmmm.....this is an hour and a half meeting once every two months, not a full time 40hr per week position) - I thought I needed to rotate out at this time - oh well, I've missed the last meeting so I'll just step down now - are amongst the best and most recent.

R-T-R love love love taking up service positions at Intergroup, and drop them before they are due to rotate out - it's a form of control, I'm sure.

The number of GSR's represented at Intergroup coup now be counted on one hand, and would still give you fingers left over. It has become an established fact that Plymouth Intergroup is a waste of time.

Now, shall we look at who's left?

The Treasurer - the ultimate control freak. The most recent meeting was moved to accommodate her being there. Heaven forbid that she may not be able to attend, hence we were given days of notice that the meeting was moved, and this lead to an all time low attendance.

Now, GSO have told groups that they may keep a reserve of money to use for local work, PI etc - this was discussed some 6 months ago, and Plymouth Intergroup decided to hold back a portion of money to use. You will see how this links in to the start of this letter, as there is no one in position to do any additional work! So Plymouth, the Intergroup that haemorrhaged money whilst the previous Treasurer, a R-T-R member, gambled the lot away! So an Intergroup that cannot be trusted to manage its finances is allowed to keep a higher surplus and not send it to GSO!!!

It beggars belief!

Plymouth Intergroup is, unfortunately, a non-functioning body.

Nobody is allowed to join and everybody leaves...it provides a platform for AA members to be seen to be doing 'service' - service being sitting down in a room for barely 90 minutes, 30 of those spent trying to avoid the halitosis of the R-T-R GSR, who ALWAYS has to find a point from the previous meetings minutes, no matter how small, to go over - several times. Given the choice I feel that he would pull apart the grammar, spelling, syntax and type font used - as long as it showed that he was doing service.

So we concluded our update - a rotten non-functioning Intergroup, that does nothing to spread the message, nothing to enable members to take part and nothing to send the correct sums of money to GSO (you never know, someone, one day, might, just might use some money to spread the message - but then again. No.) But we will see what happens at the next meeting, once the Treasurer has decided a date convenient for herself.

As always -

InTheKnow”

Comment: In reading this piece we are inevitably reminded of the Dead Parrot sketch c/o Monty Python. … and the proper response (suggested) to any cult member who offers to sponsor you!

Thanks to our correspondent

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous …. and satire generally!)

Update: Plymouth (mostly cult) intergroup

From our correspondent:

“This Intergroup session was held on Sunday 14th February.

Wow! Just wow!

Over half the meeting was spent revisiting the minutes of the last Intergroup - every, tiny, insignificant detail had to have the R-T-R stamp on it.

This wouldn't be a problem, unfortunately the R-T-R GSR has the most horrific breath you can imagine. So aside from the usually crap that he, Matthew, speaks, those within a 4 foot radius were subjected to some pretty nasty halitosis. Maybe it's the shit he speaks souring his mouth? Who knows..........

So after King Halitosis had nit-picked we could finally get on with the meeting!

Service was at Intergroup was brought up - AGAIN!! (See last intergroups write up for that fiasco) What doesn't seem to be understood is that there are people willing to do service, but - they either don't want to do service with R-T-R or, R-T-R block any attempts.

The last candidate for Vice Chair was denied the opportunity, and quote King Death-Breath "I don't think turning up to help put out a few chairs at the convention, is worthy of the definition of service." Which is a far from welcoming, giving or trusting stand-point for AA, but that's allowed to ride, after all R-T-R dominate Plymouth Intergroup by a HUGE majority - 50% of those with a service position within Plymouth Intergroup are from R-T-R.

R-T-R are very quick to point the finger and claim that nobody wants to do service, and defend criticism that they re always taking over - but the FACT is that they have a substantial majority and will not give that up, even if it means the various large numbers of positions go empty, in some cases (and I have had a lengthy involvement with Plymouth Intergroup over many years) for years - meaning that potentially a non-R-T-R candidate will be set up to fail IF they are allowed to take position in the first place as there might not be the support to sponsor them in to service, whereas, as has happened before, an R-T-R member failing at a service position will be protected by R-T-R members, even if those actions fall outside of the law - see the fraud and embezzlement episode from last year!

It is a terribly rotten Intergroup, I hold a position as I believe in the founding principles, and that of carrying the message, and to give outside honest perspective. Unfortunately Plymouth Intergroup has developed a truly shocking reputation across the country - it is not within living memory that anyone has ever heard of the threat of suspension or expulsion from a Region, but we are looking down the barrels of that loaded gun, and I believe that all it will take is one more step out of line and we will be ousted. And it's with a heavy heart that I hope this will happen, despite all the time, work and effort that I and many others have put in over the years - as there seems to be no other way of GSO taking the reigns, disbanding, breaking up and realigning the Plymouth structure.

Aside from that it was the normal banality- Share and Where to finds are being updated, with the hope/knowledge that now that Martin S takes no part in it - that it will be accurate and printed in a timely manner.

And that the loss-making Convention team are already planning, and no doubt hashing-up, this years meeting.

So, there we have it, bureaucracy, belligerence and banality.

As always

InTheKnow”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Our thanks to our correspondent

Plymouth Road to Recovery (cult) group - claiming the moral high ground?

Usually the juxtaposition of these two phrases would send us into paroxysms of near hysterical laughter. The association of Plymouth Road to Recovery with even the most vestigial moral code is too ridiculous even to contemplate. But following our entries of 16^th and 20^th March we've received a slew of comments and emails (generally abusive) from members (clearly) of the aforementioned group who seem to want to claim that very position. They all follow a common pattern: how wonderful the R2R are ….. and how awful, sick, twisted blah di blah we are.. How can we sleep at night? We must be child molesters etc etc … we think you get the general idea ….. But the problem is that we're NOT the ones screwing (and impregnating) newcomers .... moreover we're NOT the ones ripping off literally thousands of pounds from the local intergroup … finally we're NOT the ones systematically bullying and abusing newcomers under the guise of so-called 'tough love' sponsorship. Nope .. not at all. In fact we ARE the ones who advocate the guidelines and principles of AA, and who regularly point out that there's absolutely NO mention in any of these of AA members being authorised to direct or control others, bully them, con them, let alone screw them or rip them off.

Thus should any of our regular cult audience feel the need to direct their moral outrage in our direction you may as well save yourselves the time... We're not going to put any of your comments on our blog (why should we bore AA members with your mad rants??). Your emails are simply consigned to our trusty bin (water of a duck's back!)... In fact the more you bluster the more evident becomes your own moral bankruptcy.

It must be very frustrating for those who are so used to controlling others being absolutely UNABLE to do anything to stop us. How does it feel? Not good we'd guess from your response.... something to think about maybe!! But unlikely given the bigoted mind set of the average cult member ...

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous .. and - it would seem – occasionally rather annoying!)

By the way …... we sleep fine at night!

How NOT to run an intergroup....

…. if in fact it can be called an intergroup …...

But which intergroup you say? Plymouth (Road to Recovery cult) Intergroup of course!  A 'master class' in corruption and incompetence .....

Our correspondent writes:

"Sunday 13th December.

An harmonious joke.

The typical Roads To Recovery agenda, moaning that their report hadn't been read out by region [South West] the previous weekend, and complete denial that their group is at fault.

A little known fact that in light of the theft, region are considering suspending Plymouth Intergroup. And part of the consideration depends upon a monetary donation to region. A year or so ago, as R-T-R weren't getting their own way they decided to by-pass region and send money straight to GSO as retaliation. Of course, what was given to Intergroup Mike M, who works for the …............, was gambled away! So region have turned tables on R-T-R, basically - you want to cover it up, then we'll see!
Roads had to go thru the motions of an in depth study of Tradition 3, which I'm sure was a great use of time for all who attended.

As is also a tradition of Plymouth Intergroup, the recent "Where to find" listings are wrong. The outgoing Share and Where to find, an incompetent, semi literate Roads member - Martin S - immediately blamed the printer. Of course, that's what printers do - they take the information given, change the lay out, alter the details and spelling, then print and deliver it! Well, apparently, that's what this printer does - it could possibly be Martin's fault.
It was discussed that in the 3 years of taking on this role, that there have been continuous errors, and that as Martin S is now rotating out, maybe a new printer could be found.
Martin S assured us that anyone else is "quadruple the price".
You get what you pay for.

You get what you vote in too.

Talking of which, there are many service vacancies at Plymouth Intergroup, one of which is the Vice Chair position. A non-R-T-R member had been put forward by their home group and attended the Sunday meeting. There was much discussion …...., as usual R-T-R voiced their objections, but the shocking point was the concerns raised by the Treasurer - a member of the same home group as the Vice Chair nominee, she seemed delighted to vote against the nomination. And, as the nominee was out of the room during the discussion and voting - it was with a certain distaste that the Treasurer elected herself (not allowing the Chair) to inform the nominee of the decision not to elect them.
What followed was an onslaught of castigation by R-T-R - offering advice to the nominee, then trying to vote them into an entirely different service position. The nominee declined any further service position with exceptionally good manners and grace, yet R-T-R continued to push and chip-away - until a GSR from another non-R-T-R group objected to the R-T-R members behaviour.

It also came to light that this years Plymouth Convention made a loss.
Can you guess which group the Convention Convener comes from?
Yes, it's Roads To Recovery! Setting the convention fund on a road to bankruptcy.
A third of the usual turn-out was reported back. It was previously just below the 300 mark, this year - 97 people attended.
A great deal of money was spent on raffle prizes, £150 and it made a £30 profit.
It had previously been decided when the last Convenor, a non-R-T-R member, held the post that Intergroup funds were NOT used for buying raffle prizes, and that the convention prizes would be made from donations by members.
However, times change.
R-T-R hypocrisy doesn't.
And, now that it's predominantly a Roads To Recovery convention, and they don't like any old crap - the purchase of prizes from Intergroup funds is allowed!
It was also discussed that a committee was formed, poised and ready for action should another (loss making?) convention be approved. I've heard of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, but I've never encountered a situation of bricking up the stable to keep the horse in the barn - until today!

All in all, another, predictable, Roads dominated, back-stabbing, loss making Intergroup meeting. Roll on February 14th, when we get to do it all again!

As always
InTheKnow”

(our edits)

Comment: Couldn't have put it better ourselves!

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Thanks to our correspondent

Update to Plymouth (cult) intergroup alleged fraud

Our correspondent writes: 

“Where is the £14,000 that …. [the ex-Intergroup treasurer] [allegedly] stole from the Plymouth Intergroup bank account? 

No one has produced a document showing that the money has been returned. 

The new treasurer (a member of the Lee Mill Group) has adopted the attitude that "the stolen money issue should be dropped and everyone should move on". Lee Mill are, of course, fans of R2R. 

No bank statement has been seen to confirm that the £14,000 is in the bank account and no receipt from GSO has been seen to confirm that the money was sent to them. 

…........ informed Plymouth Intergroup that he had borrowed the money from ….. to make the repayment. If he was truthful and told ….... why he needed the money then one would assume that the money would have been paid into the Intergroup account via bank transfer from ….. account or that …... would have written a cheque made payable to Plymouth Intergroup. In the event of the payment being made in either of these ways then it should be seen as an outside contribution and declined/returned. 

If ….... was not truthful with ….... and told ….. that he needed the money for some other reason then one could assume that payment would go direct to him. In the event of this happening he would have had another £14,000 sitting in his own bank account!!!! 

There has been some reshuffling of the pack at Plymouth Intergroup but the same players have their grubby little hands on the table with R2R still in control and Dave M (former chair) clinging onto his prison domain with his hand out stretched for his expenses.....

(edits to preserve anonymity)

Comment: A lot of valid questions – and so far no answers! Business as usual at Plymouth (cult) intergroup!

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous …. and with their hands NOT dipped in the till!) 

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here 

PPS See here for previous entries

'Plastic gangstas'!

Yet more 'feedback' from the Road to Recovery Plymouth cult group.

Wayne with one of his little chums 'carrying the AA message':

Hardly 'attractive'!

'Tramp stamp'

“Proud to be a Roadie”

Maybe a little bit sad!

And yet another incisive observation from a Roadie (using actual words this time!)

No surprises there then!

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Keep 'em coming Wayne!

PPS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

PPPS Plymouth Intergroup corruption

For the edification of all those 'schmucks' out there …...

…. and assorted schmoes, putzes, shlemiels, shmendriks etc

See here, here and here

Sei gesund!

די פעללאַס (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Thanks to our erudite correspondent

PPS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

PPPS Plymouth Intergroup corruption

Are you a “Catholic Gentleman”?

Our correspondent observes:

“Regarding the Vatican insignia on his [Wayne P] profile pic.

Apparently a number of people have that on his Facebook friends list. It indicates that the person concerned is a devout Catholic. Recently a lot of people on Facebook have been superimposing rainbow flags over their profile picture in order to indicate their support for the legalization of gay marriage by the supreme court in the USA. Superimposing the Vatican flag is a kind of (anti) response to that. You also find people superimposing the Confederate rebel flag and other flags to indicate their affiliations.

Also I did notice something interesting about Wayne's Facebook interests....... but he also has pictures from a Facebook community page called "The Catholic Gentleman" which has an interesting description of purpose I quote "A community for Catholic men that seeks to encourage virtue, the pursuit of holiness and the art of true masculinity."

The art of true masculinity ? What the hell is that, and why would anyone need to know what it might be anyway? Is hero worshipping your sponsor part of that I wonder? The community have a website.

http://www.catholicgentleman.net/

And guess what is in there ? A book of prayers and icons part written by David C.

http://www.catholicgentleman.net/2015/06/fraternitas-is-live/

How to create a Catholic oratory and altar in your own home and indoctrinate your kids in the correct version of Catholicism ( ie the most bigoted, fuddy-duddy and old fashioned) and keep Satan at bay!

I am not a psychiatrist, but I have listened to many Step 5's in my earlier AA days and I would guess that there is some kind of sexual neurosis going on here?

However that may be, Wayne's conduct hardly adds up to the Catholic ideal. Read the above description of the page again! What a chump!”

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

PPS Plymouth Intergroup corruption

Plymouth Road to Recovery cult group's motto!

“No one likes us We don't care”

We wonder why! Could this be the answer?

“Selfishness—self-centredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, How It Works, p. 62)

(our emphases)

Nah! Couldn't be! Everyone knows that the Roadies are ALWAYS RIGHT... and the rest of us … well we're ALWAYS WRONG! The very idea!!

And (in line with the above motto):

Wayne's latest cogently argued response from Facebook (yet another selfie!). Impressive eh! Tells you all you need to know about the …... schmuck! But isn't the grin beginning to look a teensy-weensy bit ....... forced??

Wayne truly is the 'gift that keeps on giving'!

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Thanks to our correspondent for sending in these screen-shots

PPS  Plymouth Intergroup corruption

'Schmucks' out themselves!

We have a winner for our 'Spot the schmuck' competition! Bill W (could this be their real name?) who hails from Plymouth (what a coincidence!) correctly identified our mystery 'schmuck'.

As promised here is a 100 per cent genuine Cheshire Cat smile c/o Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (a place mostly inhabited by strange surreal creatures whose contact with reality is always somewhat tenuous) (sounds a bit like the Plymouth Road to Recovery cult group!)

The Cheshire cat as illustrator John Tenniel envisioned it in the 1866 publication

You may recall from the original story that the cat would fade away from time to time leaving only its smile floating in the air. Again this is strangely reminiscent of the Road to Recovery crew: All surface! No substance! Remember: “Frothy emotional appeal seldom suffices. The message which can interest and hold these alcoholic people must have depth and weight. In nearly all cases, their ideals must be grounded in a power greater than themselves [not a sponsor], if they are to re-create their lives” (Alcoholics Anonymous, The Doctor's Opinion, p. xxviii)

But it would seem that Bill is not alone in correctly identifying our mystery 'schmuck', or indeed a whole gaggle of them!

It's official. They're ALL schmucks! And apparently in “full flight [from reality]” (ibid. p. xxvi) Oh dear!

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Plymouth Intergroup corruption

Portrait of a 'schmuck'

What a word is 'schmuck'! How much meaning is so mellifluously even onomatopoeically conveyed in that one (or is it two?) short syllable ….. ssschhhmmuuck! How evocative is the collision of the softened sibilant with the staccato conclusion intimating a confluence of sheer stupidity with utter contempt.

But we must abandon our aural appreciation here and turn to a more mundane but no less important consideration of its meaning, and even manifestation.

Schmuck - a stupid, contemptible person. An oaf. A Yiddish word meaning 'penis'. In this context: a 'prick'. A dull, stupid, fatuous person. An ass, fool, idiot, imbecile, jackass, mooncalf, moron, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, simple, simpleton, softhead, tomfool...... (pause for breath) …... cretin, ding-dong, dip, goof, jerk, nerd, schmo, turkey.

See 'schmuck'

By now we're certain you must be quite intrigued as to what these creatures might look like? Surely theirs must be a degraded existence, their vacuity expressed in every moral lineament? For your instruction if not edification, and as an introduction, we present merely the precursory stages tending towards this awful affliction. To go further we fear would endanger your very souls, a venture we would not even dare to contemplate!

Firstly: our mystery, trainee 'schmuck' (1^st Dan)

In this instance you will observe the narcissistic traits nearly fully expressed: a 'selfie' layered with the Vatican Flag (a hint of grandiosity perhaps)! Not quite an imbecile but well on the way!

A third Dan 'schmuck' (but cut off in his prime):

David B (on the right) with our mystery, trainee 'schmuck'

Here you will note the 'happy, joyous and free' rictus grins which mimic smiles but are merely overlays presented to the world to obscure a near complete moral bankruptcy

A fifth Dan 'schmuck' (on the phone). A very VERY VERY IMPORTANT SCHMUCK!:

Clancy (on the left) accompanied again by our very own grinning moron!

A hopeless case well beyond any possibility of redemption! But you'll note that our trainee 'schmuck' has been working hard on his smile. And if he had a tail he'd be wagging that too! Bless! You almost feel sorry for the poor.....schmuck! …... Nah! Not really!

Down boy! Down!

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous …...)

PS What do you call a collection of 'schmucks'? A 'gaggle', a 'bellowing' or even a 'murder' (sometimes feels like it!)? No..... the correct denomination for a collection of 'schmucks' is a “Road to Recovery'.

PPS Anyone guessing the identity of our mystery 'schmuck' send in your answer and you'll receive from us a great big …... SMILE!

PPPS Plymouth Intergroup corruption

Plymouth (cult) Intergroup (contd)

See previous entries

From a correspondent::

“I thought you would be interested in the following numbers:

There are 29 meetings in Plymouth and I would say 27 groups.

There is only ever a maximum of 6 GSRs ever at Plymouth intergroup. One of which is the R2R [Road to Recovery cult group] GSR.

Therefore only 5/27 non R2R groups are ever represented at IG or 18.5%. This is because most real AA groups have actively chosen not to support this intergroup.

The obvious question to me is how can this gathering be referred to as Plymouth Intergroup when it does not represent Plymouth AA.”

And:

“The other issue of Plymouth intergroup being undemocratic and unrepresentative was also raised. A non R2R GSR asked if a sub committee could be formed to determine why this was. This was also voted down by R2R members.

I am sure that you get the picture. If only GSRs were allowed to vote then Plymouth IG would be democratic, but most of the other Intergroup officers are R2R clones who vote in unison. It is very unhealthy and gives R2R an unassailable majority.

This is why most Plymouth groups do not attend or financially support this intergroup. We are called apathetic, but that is not the case. Our particular group conscience actively decided we want nothing to do with IG.”

Comment: It seems to us there are a number of alternatives here:

1. Rally the troops and send enough GSRs to Plymouth Intergroup to vote out the Road to Recovery cult group's officers and install AA members in their place;
2. Set up an alternative Intergroup excluding all R2R members. Other intergroups are hardly going to accord the existing intergroup recognition if it only has one GSR;
3. South West Region (and AA generally) puts into action Tradition Four and refuses to recognise the existing cult intergroup, and excludes its officers from any kind of participation in the service structure (much like de-listing a cult group). This would leave Plymouth without an effective intergroup ….. but then it doesn't have one anyway

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS Jon F (remember him – An Incident at Conference) is 'acting out' true to form and continues to try and bully other members picking on women especially so we hear