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Sober Talk SA - Cheeky Charlie · Sober Talk SA

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  Welcome to sober talk. I'm Dennis and I've lived
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  experience of alcohol. If you or anyone you know is
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  struggling with alcohol, please call Alcoholics Anonymous on
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  1300 double 22222 or check out their website on aa.org dot AU.
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  I'll just run through the preamble of Alcoholics
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  Anonymous. Alcoholics Anonymous is a
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  fellowship of men and women who share their experience,
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  strengthen hope with each other. They must solve their come
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  problems and help others to recover from alcoholism.
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  The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop
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  drinking. There are no dues or fees for a
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  membership. We are self supporting through
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  our own contributions. A is not allied with any SEC
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  denomination, politics, organization or institution.
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  Does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses or
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  oppose any causes. Our primary purpose is stair
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  some and help other Alcoholics achieve sobriety.
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  I started off having a drink with Old Ted.
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  I'd have one here and one there and as as it went on, I'd have a
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  little more and a little more and unbeknownst to me, the same
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  as everybody in this room, I didn't know that I was different
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  than my boss. I didn't know that I suffered
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  with this terribleism, alcoholism and alcoholism got a
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  good grip of me. I was physically, mentally
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  bankrupt in every Ave. in my life, in the later part of my
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  life. And I only said here about six
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  months ago, sitting at the kitchen table to my darling
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  wife. I said, you know, darling, I
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  always thought they'd find me laying dead in a gutter or down
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  in the dump because that's where I ended up in my drinking days
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  in between the show runs, we'd have a a break, sometimes 5
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  weeks, 4 weeks and I'd go out drinking and I'd go through all
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  my money. I'd end up drinking anything I
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  could get to build up my false hopes to carry on.
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  I ended up drinking methylated spirits out of jam tin down in
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  our local dump. That's how how bad I got
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  throughout. I used to be terribly ashamed to
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  drink a methylated spirit, but what choice did I have?
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  I had to have a drink. I had to have a drink at any
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  cost. And where did that drink I had
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  to have in? Well, I ended up in mentalist.
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  I ended up in prison. Not big long sentence.
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  I'd get 21 days for drunk and disorderly for a month for
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  peeing in a doorway, in a shop doorway or picked up for vag,
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  vagging, being vagged, all these things that's happening.
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  Why I used to ask myself many a time coming out of a a real hard
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  Bender. Why?
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  Why is this happening to what's wrong with I'm not stupid
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  handling myself. I was handling myself ever since
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  I was 13 1/2. But you know, fighting isn't
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  what gets you out of trouble. That's not herself and that's
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  the only thing I knew was how to get out of trouble by having a
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  punch up or going in and out of jail.
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  If you hear any back talk, it's my wife getting onto our little
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  dog, Woodsy. Woodsy.
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  He starts barking and then he gets me other, our other two
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  little dogs barking. She's gone out to round them up.
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  I love it. But you know, alcohol took us
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  all in many different places and places we didn't want to go,
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  didn't it? I know it did.
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  To me. It taught me one good thing.
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  It taught me how to hate. So terrible.
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  I hated and despised anything at any time.
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  Alcoholics Anonymous, something that I looked for for years in a
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  bottle and couldn't find. I got a real long sentence
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  because I beat a copper up when I was in a pub and I hammered
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  him and before I knew very much more there were three police
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  cars. Loads of coppers pulled up at
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  the pub in a little town in Victoria and they belted the
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  living daylights out of it. When they got me in the cell
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  they took a car load of coppers on their own to get me in the
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  Paddy wagon and when they got me back into lock up, four of them
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  come in and they beat me within an inch of my life.
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  No, nowhere on the face, all around the body where the
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  bruises wouldn't show. And then I fronted a magistrate,
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  I think it was three or four days after.
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  And he said, young man, I don't like putting young men in
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  prison. But he said, on your history and
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  you've beaten up a policeman, I'm afraid I've got to put you
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  away for a long time. And I thought, oh God, I
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  thought, oh, that don't sound very good a long time.
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  And he said a year and a half and I went into prison.
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  I never stopped getting into trouble.
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  Even in prison. I was fighting all the time out
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  in the yards. And when you can fight a bit,
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  you know, everybody wants to beat you.
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  Everybody wants to take you on. And even the guards in the
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  prison, when I got into a fight, they'd look around and just
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  watch the fight. They didn't break me up or try
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  to stop it. They'd let us fight it out.
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  Whoever I was fighting, it wasn't much of A life, I can
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  tell you. And I finally got taken out of
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  the yards and I got put in the kitchen and whilst I was in the
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  kitchen I settled down and one day over the amplifiers, they
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  called out. Anyone wish to join a a fall out
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  at 10:00 AM? And I had heard of it because as
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  I said to you, you can't go in and out of mental institution
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  and places like I went through alcohol and not hear about
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  Alcoholics. But I believe today sitting here
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  with my lovely wife and talking to my beautiful friend that God
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  was waiting. He's a very patient and loving
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  God, believe me. He sat back and he waited.
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  You know, you don't pluck apple or a Peach off a tree unless
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  it's right. And he waited for me to be
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  right. God waited for me to be sick and
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  tired of being sick and tired. And he picked me off the tree.
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  That's what I believe. And I went across and I got on
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  the line with seven other men and I went into the Yatler group
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  of Alcoholics, the Yatler, and we called it the leopard.
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  And these men and women that give their lot, their weekend
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  livelihood away to come up to the prison to share their story,
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  their strength and their hope with each other that I learned
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  about Alcoholics. And there was an old man that
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  could come up there and he was a wealthy person.
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  He had a visitor sitting. Gordy knew him bow tie out and
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  he used to come up and he was a lovely, he taught me a lot, he
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  really did. And after the meeting finished,
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  we'd sit around and we'd talk. And I got my sponsor in
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  Alcoholics Anonymous, one of these people that come up to the
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  prison sponsored when you come out.
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  And I went to that meeting every Sunday quite a few weeks before
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  I was released from that. And in that prison I started to
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  find hope. I started to find hope for the
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  first time in my life. I started to get a belief that
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  if I stuck with this mob, I'd do I right.
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  And I wasn't wrong. They looked after me like a
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  mother head sits on her cheeks and puts her wings around it.
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  Kick the cold away and kick the walks in.
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  And you know, even today when I go through the doors of an AA
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  meeting, I feel that walks come within.
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  It's a wonderful feeling and you know, I believe fully that every
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  time I go to an AA meeting, I feel God's presence in that
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  room. I fully believe, and Gordon will
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  tell you this, I fully believe that God's Spirit comes into
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  that room and he sits alongside of every each and individual
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  member touches and we fortunate ones he touches in our heart.
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  We feel God's love and and you know, I've been doing that for a
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  lot of years, a day at a time. And I'm speaking to You
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  Beautiful people here tonight for my AA50 5th birthday.
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  And the one that set me up for this was in this room that
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  Gordy, he barreled me for this. He wasn't going to let it go by,
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  but to tell you the God's truth, he didn't hurt my arm, twisting
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  it up my back to do it. I'll do anything, anywhere,
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  anytime for this loving friendship, for this loving
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  fellowship that I have the privilege to be a member of.
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  I'm too old now to do the things I used to do.
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  I'd get a phone call from Victoria and that's 500 mile
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  from where I live and I jump in my old beat up Volkswagen.
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  I bought my first car I ever owned, first car ever, and I was
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  sober and that's how I got it. And I'd drive that old
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  Volkswagen all the way across to Victoria because I've got a
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  phone call and an IA member needed.
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  I would even crawl there on my hands and knees if I had to, to
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  get to that member that needed me.
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  Where would each of us in this room be tonight that didn't have
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  that attitude of the necessaryness of need?
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  We're all needed in lots of various ways.
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  There's a lot of people in Alcoholics Anonymous that has
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  never done a 12 step forward, never gone on the phones, never
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  served on the DIA committee. I've served for years on the a a
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  central service and anything I've ever done in a a, it's
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  always been a a big volume of years.
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  I never done nothing by half. Doesn't it tell us in a a
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  measurable measures and violence.
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  You know, I'll go to any length at any time.
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  I've served a a in just about every capacity.
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  I've been jailed on the jail committee.
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  I started the jail penalty going because it closed down in in our
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  prisons here and I've got it going again.
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  And I was the prison panel officer for oh good 10 years.
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  I always went to the prisons. What I had to learn to do was to
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  do my Rosseters when we rosseted out the Rossiter to do my
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  Rosseters. That was a must to be there on
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  my Rossiter day. Other than that, I could go
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  anytime that I wish. And I corresponded with them in
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  the prison. There was one chap in there.
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  He joined the A A group and his name was Braille Henry.
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  That was his nickname. He learned Braille whilst in
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  prison. He was in for my murder, but he
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  did it in an alcoholic Ray. I'm not here tonight to tell you
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  his story, but it wasn't very nice what happened to that man.
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  Apparently he come home from work and he's caught his wife in
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  bed with another man and he opened his wardrobe, took a 12
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  gauge shotgun out and blew them both away.
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  And he was pretty damn drunk when he done it.
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  Well, you know, I worked for 10 years, 10 years.
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  I worked through the prison authority and the controller of
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  prisons at the time of Jumbo Allen.
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  He and I became very, very close friends and I used to go up to
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  his home down on the beach at at Henley Beach.
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  Could you imagine that the filthy life I I I lived through
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  drinking and boozing and fighting and lying and cheating
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  and thieving. Here I am in the controller of
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  prisons home sharing his wifes company and him for an evening
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  meal. This is what Alcoholics
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  Anonymous did for me. You see, Jumbo Allen realized
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  that perhaps this a a way would be the way for a lot of men and
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  that's why he allowed it in the prison system and it went right
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  through our system that went to the country prisons.
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  I used to travel up to them meeting on odd occasion.
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  Alcoholics Anonymous has a very long arm.
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  If there's any young or near new members or new members in this
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  room tonight, you remember those words I just said that
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  Alcoholics are has a very long harm and it'll reach out to you
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  in any moment, in any second in anyone, God-given hour that you
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  need it. I know it did for me many a
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  time. And I helped start an, A, a
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  entertainment committee and we used to run dances and we used
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  to have lovely dancers. And the little dancers ended up
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  a massive annual ball every. And the women used to get up and
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  done up in all their nines and you wouldn't know them in their
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  lovely long gowns and their ears done and their faces all done.
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  And they look beautiful. And these women come from all
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  walks of life like we Alcoholics did housewives, you know,
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  daughters. And we used to have a ball at
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  these dances, especially the annual one every year, the
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  annual ball that ended up to being a six monthly ball and a
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  a, it gave me these opportunities.
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  You might think I might be bragging it and big night in
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  this myself, but I'm not. It's like our Co founders, Bill
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  Bilson and Doctor Bob and the first hundred members of
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  Alcoholics Anonymous, if them members hadn't had the chance to
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  do the things that I've been doing.
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  And I hope that a lot of you in this room in time will have the
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  advantage of being able to do. Where would we be?
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  Where would our fellowship be? We grew in unity, didn't we?
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  I met a member in America, Tommy Lovin, God bless him, many years
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  ago, pretty sure it was Tommy Lovin.
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  And I was getting on the bus to go down to New York City from
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  Los Angeles. And he took me down to the to
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  the bus station. And when I was about to get on
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  the bus, he said, son, can I give you a little messy?
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  And I said, yes, I would love it.
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  And he said, well, you remit. And you know, I've hung on to
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  that for many years, a day at a time.
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  And what he said to me, he said, son, the day you stop learning
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  is the day you're preparing to die.
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  I'll allow a few minutes, seconds for it to sink into your
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  head. And it's a wonderful, it's that
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  wonderful. I want to repeat it again.
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  The day you stop learning, the day you're preparing to die.
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  And I live my life by that in Alcoholics.
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  And that's a wonderful example. The little doggie is stuck by
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  me, leg growling a little bit at me.
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  She wants me to pat her and take notice of her.
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  She's my friend. He sits on my lap in my chair or
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  in her chair every night. She's taking my chair over.
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  You know, this fellowship taught me how to live, not live again,
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  how to live. It taught me, actually taught me
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  how to live and to love. That's a big thing, isn't it?
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  That magic word love. And you know, it took away a lot
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  for me to get love one, it took away hatred.
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  That's what I, I did. It took hatred right out of my
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  life. I had no more room for it.
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  That's only one of many things. And in its place it sowed the
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  seed of love. And Love's like when you put a
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  little seed in the ground and it grows, it blossoms into a
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  lovely, lovely flower. A lovely bloom.
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  That's what I hope many of us in this room tonight, it's got that
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  lovely bloom growing in their heart of I.
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  I know I have and I know how I got it.
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  I got it by attending a a meetings on a regular basis, and
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  I mean on a regular basis. When I first came into
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  Alcoholics Anonymous, ladies and gentlemen, I stood out on the
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  Port Rd. I stood there waiting to get a
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  bus to go to a meeting. I went to meetings seven nights
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  a week for seven long years. Could you believe that?
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  Does that sound unreasonable to you?
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  Well, believe me, it's not. That's how much damage I've done
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  physically and spiritually in my brain.
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  It took me 7 years going to a A7 nights.
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  That's how I learned to talk the way I'm talking now.
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  I have so much love in my heart for the beautiful people in this
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  wonderful God-given fellas. Now don't get me wrong.
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  Don't think that you can get on with every There's people in a a
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  that might not like your style or you might not might not like
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  their style, but we learn how to accept each other.
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  That's the gift of sobriety and the gift of a A is learning how
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  to maintain that love of the fellowship.
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  I can't afford to let resentment creep into my life anymore like
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  they did in my drinking days and in my days getting well,
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  sobering up, getting fit, getting happy.
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  I could have been a top, top sportsman only for booze.
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  I could have played football at a much, much higher level level.
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  I could have fought and a much more idle.
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  I never talk about the bad things in my life.
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  They're gone. They're not worth harbouring
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  because all they do help you take a step backwards and we
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  can't afford to take a step backwards.
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  We got a step forward, forward a little at a time.
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  I remember when it was 1/2 an inch and then an inch until it
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  grew into a foot and then another foot and another foot.
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  What I'm trying to say is a A teaches us how to live again,
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  love again, hope again, care again and share.
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  And you notice I never said again.
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  AA taught me how to share for the first thing in my life, the
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  love of the fellowship you people gave me to share on to
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  others and that's why I'm a maintenance person for three
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  reason. 1 is because it's a way of life for me today and the
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  second one is I'm not forgetting where I come from.
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  And the third one is I love you all so very much.
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  I love you with every fibre of my body the same as I love my
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  wife and family because you all are my family.
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  Family a day at a time. It's a wonderful way to live and
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  I think one of the greatest things I ever learned in life
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  was to be able to say 1 little word followed by a big word.
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  And I often say it to my darling wife and I say it to anyone I
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  ever I think I might have harmed or made the wrong approach to in
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  a wrong way. And that little too where the
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  letter words a very big word for me.
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  I'm sorry and I'd like to repeat that word.
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  I'm sorry. It was a hard thing, bitter pill
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  for me to swallow the outer open with stand up, sit down, no
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  matter how just look a person in the eye and say I'm sorry.
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  I'm thinking of you all and I'm saying a prayer asking in God to
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  give all of you love and tender care.
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  God bless all. We have local meetings for the
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  full week in the local area. Monday is Gala Meeting at 8:00,
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  Tuesday is Elizabeth E at 8:00, Wednesday is Elizabeth E at
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  8:00, Thursday is 2 Wells at 8:00 and Friday is Salisbury at
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  8:00. There's a meeting at Deveron
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  Park at 12:00 and on Sunday there's a maintenance Salisbury
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  at 7:00 and many of the maintenance in the area.
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  For details of your local maintenance please phone 1300
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  double 22222. And once again, if anyone you
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  know is struggling with alcohol issues, please call Alcoholics
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  Anonymous on 1300 double 22222 The website isaasa.org dot AU.