A Good Oldtimer...From Highlands & Islands Region

Audio Version 

My name is Margaret and I am an alcoholic. My sobriety date is 18 March 1977 and my home group back then was the Courthouse in Elgin. Five months later along with my husband Alfie and another member we opened a meeting in New Elgin which is still open today.

When I fell through the doors of AA in 1977 I had recently been released from a mental hospital. I weighed five stones and had been diagnosed with severe liver damage. I thought my life was over. Little did I realise my life was just beginning.

There were very few cars in those days and the telephone was in a phone box on the corner which offered little anonymity. The Roundabout magazine was not an option in those days, it was a lifeline, at a cost of 15 pence. Every member of the group, and there were about a dozen in my home group, looked forward with much anticipation to Roundabout’s arrival. In those early days of my recovery journey the Roundabout magazine WAS my Big Book, my 12 Steps and my sponsor!

It was by reading, discussing and learning from the articles that I learned about the wider Fellowship and slowly became whole again. To this day the Roundabout magazine remains an important spiritual tool in my AA journey.

Margaret

Elgin Monday