Wells Saturday Beginners Group
St Mary's Church
236 Eldridge Road
Wells, ME 04090
Saturday 8AM-9AM
Open Beginner Discussion
| The Group began in October 1989; its
creation was assisted by Brian P-K, Dave B, Gary C and Mike E. Members of
the previously existing Wells Saturday speaker meeting, that met at 10AM
at the Lions Club building on Eldridge Road (off Route 1), decided to add
a “beginner’s meeting” before their Speaker meeting because there were no
beginners groups in the area.. The smaller Beginner meeting originally
happened in conjunction with the larger speaker meeting that followed.
Today it is a totally separate group.
The early meeting was held from 9-9:45 AM followed by the other meeting in the same building. The format for the beginner meeting was that of one speaker and then open discussion - with a focus on beginner issues. The location was in the back storage room of the Lions Club building - directly off the kitchen. When we started we were very comfortable in the space it fit 12 – 15 people. Unfortunately when the cold weather set in and the room was unheated we had to be creative. The only heat during winter months in the room was that sent from the kitchen gas stove burners and blown in by a strategically placed window fan. It was quaint and without many comforts. Many had their first early sobriety meetings in that room. By 2000 the early meeting had grown and we had to decide how to handle the size of the meeting. The only way we could use the larger room where the 10:00 Speaker Meeting took place was to change the time of the Beginners Meeting to 8:00 am. There was real concern that the time might keep some people away because there were no early morning meetings in the area to use as a benchmark. We were pleasantly surprised – the meeting not only kept the regulars but began to grow at an amazing rate. As meeting attendance seems to ebb and flow, the 10:00 meeting attendance began to shrink to a point that it became more difficult to remain self supporting. The group consensus at the Speakers Meeting decided that they would relocate to St Mary’s Church further down Eldridge Road nearer to the ocean - where it continued until September 2004. The Beginners Group had a regular strong following of local and seasonal members at the Lions Club location for years. In Sept 2003 the town of Wells, who owns the building, advised the group it could not use that space due to structural condition of the building, so we moved. Some members were concerned because the room at the Lion’s Club had a feeling that nobody wanted to give up but acceptance prevailed and we moved. The current location of the meeting began then - at Village by the Sea resort. As of fall 2004 it remains a popular meeting in the seacoast area. It generally draws about forty to fifty people. In October 2004 the 15th Anniversary meeting and celebration was held for the group.
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