'We escaped alcoholism - now we're helping others'

Recovering alcoholic Andrew Griffiths will never forget the date that changed everything: 3 January 2005.

It's the day he stopped drinking after alcohol addiction left him feeling like he had reached breaking point.

Now, two decades later, he spends his time helping others find the same support that, he says, saved his life.

For Alcohol Awareness Week, Griffiths, who is now chairman of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Birmingham, is encouraging anyone struggling with alcohol to reach out before it is too late.

The 52-year-old, from Sutton Coldfield, said that while many people saw someone with a good job and a normal life, behind closed doors he was falling apart.

"I'd got a very good job. I was an engineering manager," he said. "There was lots in my life that you would look at and think 'he's okay', but my drinking had escalated to a point where I'd reached the jumping-off place.

"I don't think I'd got the bottle to kill myself, but I think if I hadn't have found AA, the reality of doing that would have become more prevalent."

Everything changed for Griffiths after seeing an Alcoholics Anonymous advertising campaign shortly after New Year in 2005.

Support and information for anyone affected by these issues can be found at BBC Action Line.

Griffiths said alcohol had slowly stripped much more than money.

Although he enjoyed years of social drinking with friends growing up in Great Barr, Sandwell, he said he struggled to bring them to an end.

"I had many good social years on drink, but I could never stop.

"You go out with your friends and the next morning they'd be talking about things, and I wouldn't have a clue what they're talking about. It was blackout drinking.

"It's not so much about the material things that it takes from you, it's your own self-worth, your own belief, your own confidence, your own morals, your own respect for yourself, and your own liking for who you are as a person."

Today, Griffiths helps others through one of more than 80 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings held across Birmingham every week.

"I'd encourage people to get in touch with AA [if they need help]," he said.

"When you're in full-blown alcoholism, you think you're only hurting yourself, but you're hurting everyone around.

"You're not alone. If you've got a problem with drink, there is a solution."

His experience is echoed by fellow recovering alcoholic Andrew Piper, who spent four decades battling alcohol addiction before getting sober in 2016.

He said drinking gradually destroyed almost every aspect of his life, from his health and relationships to his business.

"I drank for 40 years, and it took everything away from me," he said.

"I ended up in an apartment on my own with just booze and morphine tablets."

Piper developed both acute and chronic pancreatitis, was convicted of drink-driving and watched his business collapse.

Two marriages also broke down as, he said, his life became "a complete nightmare".

"I wouldn't say I wanted to commit suicide, but I was dying bit by bit," he said.

His turning point came while staying in a detox centre, where somebody from Alcoholics Anonymous came in to speak to patients.

"AA saved my life, and it's saved many other people's lives too," he said.

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