Committee No. 2

Question 1.     

Conference represents the conscience of the Fellowship in Great Britain. 

Would Conference share its experience on how best to prepare delegates?

Considering the amount of responsibility and trust placed in delegates, are the existing guidelines and literature sufficient and being adhered to?

Background

There are currently guidelines in The AA Structure Handbook for Great Britain which include information about being a Conference delegate and alternate. There is also literature listed which Conference delegates are guided to be familiar with. However regions around the country sometimes have additional informal procedures for preparing and selecting delegates. Delegates in some Regions meet as a group to discuss conference questions, answers and background literature and invite alternate delegates to attend so they can gain experience. Some prefer to select their delegates from region assembly members who have had a number of yearsâ?? experience on the assembly. Some service bodies hold workshops on the Concepts which can help prepare future delegates. It would be useful if experience on these approaches could be pooled and shared for use by the Fellowship at large, given the vital and influential role delegates play in the future of our Fellowship on the largest scale.

 Question 2.     

Would Conference discuss the value of the use of sobriety chips within the Fellowship?

Background

Many, but by no means all, AA groups in the United Kingdom celebrate lengths of sobriety by 'Claps, Chips and Hugs' within their regular weekly meetings.  At one such meeting recently, money was requested from the weekly donations pot to buy further 'Sobriety Chips' as the group's supply was running low, particularly in Chips for multiple years.  An attending member of the group then drew attention to the fact that such chips were purchased not via AA but through an outside agency.  This group member stated that this could be interpreted as acting against Tradition Six by financially supporting the outside agency providing such chips.   As GSR to the group I was asked to query at Intergroup whether there was a possibility of bringing the ordering of such chips 'in-house', in the same way as literature is ordered.  Whilst this matter was being explored, the purchase of further Chips using the group's weekly 'pot' to finance was discussed at a Group Conscience meeting. 

The question was duly put to Intergroup by myself as GSR.  I was informed that it would not be possible to arrange for Chips to be ordered in a similar way to literature, and that any decision re purchase of Chips should be discussed and decided at group level.  However, I was then asked to raise this as a possible Conference question by a member of an AA Group.  This Group has used Sobriety Chips for many years (longer than I have been in the Fellowship), and there is a strong belief within the group that celebration of milestones within sobriety can be enormously helpful and encouraging, especially in the early months of sobriety.  This is deemed particularly significant within our group due to the fact that we have attendees from a local 12 Step Treatment Centre, and therefore have a large number of group attendees in early sobriety, as well as a high turnover of membership of the group.

Clearly Chips differ from literature in that the purchase of literature involves an initial spend to obtain the relevant books etc., but the money is then obtained from the individual purchasers of said books, refunding the initial outlay.  However, there are other resources available to order (such as Twelve Step and Twelve Tradition Hanging banners, 'slogans', Serenity Prayer etc.) from the same source as books, and the money for these items is not recouped from individual members of the group.  Therefore it is possible that purchase of 'Chips' could be in the same category as these other resources.

Question 3.

Review new Chapter 12 â?? Young Peopleâ??s Liaison Officer, The AA Service Handbook for Great Britain.

Background

New Chapter 12 â?? Young Peopleâ??s Liaison Officer