We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who attended our mini-reunion and special ‘red carpet’ reunion on Saturday 14th September 2024. It was an amazing day and we feel so lucky and grateful to share the day and evening with so many former clients. We were pleased for everyone who travelled to Weston-super-Mare that the warm sun was shining in full glory, a stark contrast to the two previous days.
Mini Reunion
As the main reunion this year was taking place in the evening at a venue in Weston-super-Mare, we wanted to still offer the opportunity for people to come back to the house, because we know there is a connection people feel with the physical building. During the daytime on Saturday, former clients were welcomed back from 9.30am for refreshments, to catch up with staff here and join sessions being held. There was a former client share at 10am, a drumming workshop led by counsellor Chrissy at midday and a share from our Chair of Trustees who is over 30 years clean and sober. It was great to see that all of these sessions were full, with people spilling out into the corridor carefully listening in.
‘Red Carpet’ Reunion
From 4.30pm guests began to arrive at The Winter Gardens for a celebration of both recovery and the Broadway Lodge 50th anniversary. By 6pm, 225 people (a mix of former and current clients, loved ones and current and past Broadway Lodge employees and trustees), walked the red carpet into The Winter Gardens ballroom to gather together for the evening. And what a wonderful evening it was!
Markkus Trew, Head of Treatment, Counselling & Aftercare, hosted the reunion after months of hard work, dedication and planning to make sure it was going to be an enjoyable event. Being all together, without any judgment in the room, just pure acceptance and respect, felt special. The warmth, connection and joy of sharing an evening together was almost tangible. There is always so much love, gratitude and appreciation when so many beautiful, inspirational souls who are in recovery get together at the reunions and Saturday was no different.
After guests socialised and spent time in the photo booth, our CEO, John Aizlewood, made a speech followed by Markkus who led us into a minute’s silence to pay our respects to people who have sadly lost their lives to the illness of addiction. A very emotional conversation on stage followed, where Markkus spoke with Margaret and Hayley, the mother and sister of a former client who relapsed two hours after leaving treatment and tragically passed away a week later in December 2023. They bravely shared their experience of supporting him through his active addiction and described the days leading up to his death. They both expressed their gratitude to the team here, as they got to speak with him while he was in Broadway Lodge, where he was sober and happy. Their words were very poignant and it was clear that everyone felt a huge sense of admiration for their courage and they walked off stage to a loud round of applause.
Shortly after, Steph Noble took to the stage. Steph is a former nurse and registered manager who worked at Broadway Lodge from 1989-2016 and she shared her passion for the sector and gave advice to people early in their recovery journeys.
It was soon time for the starters to be served and three inspirational former client shares followed, as did the main courses and desserts.
After dinner, anticipation heightened as the raffle was due to be held. The prizes were fantastic and we are extremely grateful to all of the individuals and organisations who generously sponsored prizes. The organisations included: South West Heat Pumps, The Energy Labs Solutions, The Sober Place, Lamb Autos @The Racecourse and Ben Lock from Weston-Super-Mare Golf Club, and we’d also like to thank Nebula IT and Partners& for their support. The raffle prizes included helicopter rides, an overnight stay at an old prison, spa treatments, a Broadway themed hamper, luxury chocolates and a selection of Lush products. Trustee Chris Jelf then hosted the auction which he has mastered well and this included a week’s stay at an apartment in France. One of the auction lots was for a former client to return as a patient to Broadway Lodge for a weekend. We didn’t have one lucky bidder, but two! We are very much looking forward to their return.
PlumbCare Southwest sponsored a number of reunion tickets so that those who may not have been able to afford could attend. We are blown away by the generosity of prize sponsors and the guests, with hundreds of raffle tickets sold, incredible winning bids in the auction and a limited collection of Miracle Mansion hoodies and t-shirts selling quickly. All of the money raised goes into our charity fundraising pot which supports us to ensure we can continue to offer our much-needed services and to help us with the smaller and larger purchases required at Broadway Lodge. The amount raised on the night was close to £5,000.
Closer to the end of the night, three former clients shared their experience of addiction and recovery, with one former client being over 39 years clean and sober, offering wise advice to the current clients and others who are early in their recovery journey. To conclude the evening’s agenda of talks and activities, Markkus hosted the employee service time where we celebrated the number of years staff had worked at Broadway Lodge. Following this Markkus started the ‘clean time countdown’, a tradition at all of the Broadway Lodge reunions in recent years. One person stood up celebrating 43 years, and as he counted down more people stood up, right up until “28 days” was called out. In total there was 734 years of recovery time in the room. Amazing!
To end this years’ reunion, everyone in the ballroom stood around the edge of the room, joined hands and recited the Serenity Prayer, a special moment of togetherness and hope. With that, the DJ started to play tunes, dancing commenced and others were preparing to leave after a long and exciting day.
Photos from the evening
