‘If it wasn’t for here, I’d be six feet under’ says resident

‘I’d be lost without this place,’ he said.

‘If it wasn’t for here, I’d be six feet under.

‘It’s brilliant. It’s an alcohol-free environment.’

The alcohol-dependency counselling service, which the charity operates in an adjacent building, has consistently seen about 100 new clients every month for the last 28 years.

This service has been largely funded through financial support from the States.

However, this is now expected to cease at the end of the year, after GAAS lost out in a tender process for States funding for the next five years.

GAAS chairman Dave Newman is convinced the dry house – which is fully owned by the charity – will not be able to continue without that core funding.

The Health Improvement Commission, which has scored a rival tenderer considerably higher, has stressed that there will not be a cessation of alcohol counselling services – merely a transition of the provision of those services from one third sector provider to another.

That new provider is not yet being identified, with contracts still to be finalised, and no announcement has been made as to whether it will provide a residential service.

For Clive – not his real name – the likely discontinuation of the Brockside facility represents a fresh and unwelcome challenge.

‘I’ve had various personal, emotional situations in my life which mean if I didn’t have a place like this, I’d probably go down the road to the pub there and drown my sorrows,’ he said.

A former barman, Clive has had three residential stays at Brockside.

The first was initially considered successful but subsequently he relapsed.

The second visit was 'a disaster’, which he chooses not to discuss further.

But his third and current visit has seen him enter something of a renaissance.

‘When I used to drink, I was a right pain in the bum,’ he said.

‘My family didn’t want to know me because of my behaviour.

‘I carried around a hip-flask bottle in my jacket pocket and I’d stop in shop doorways and take a mouthful.

‘In the past, I’ve gone down to the old Castel Hospital for a detox, which was successful, but it was what happened afterwards. I thought I could go back into a pub without drinking but I couldn’t. Some can go into a pub and have a soft drink. I personally can’t.’

After falling over drunk five years ago and breaking several bones in his left leg, Clive has been left with a lack of balance and cannot ride a bicycle.

‘And I went into the police station one day and said “take my driving licence away – I don’t want it”,’ he said.

Fortunately, Clive is now able to enjoy a considerably less isolated life than in some previous years. He has been sober for five years and enjoys good relations with several family members, with regular visits to his parents, including at Christmas, a traditionally difficult time for people with alcohol problems.

‘I usually stay for three days,’ he said, ‘and my Mum will have her Tia Maria and my Dad will have a drop of whisky and I’m happy to sit there and have my Coke.’

Clive has also become reacquainted with his brothers and half-sisters, his son and even the daughter who he had not met until three years ago.

‘I’ve met her foster family now as well,’ he said, ‘and they’re brilliant.’

He goes into Town to do his shopping and meets his son for a coffee, when he can.

‘We have our favourite cafe and they sell alcohol there but I stick to my coffee,’ he said.

‘I have got to be on my toes.’

Being an unusually long-term resident, Clive has seen many others come and go from Brockside. He says he occasionally sees former residents out and about and, in the case of those who have resumed drinking, he says hello and moves on.

‘It’s been a success story for me here but I’ve always got to carry on being careful.’