Alcoholics Anonymous General Service Office - New Zealand

Description

About Alcoholic Anonymous
The book Alcoholics Anonymous the basic text of AA says

quotWe alcoholics are men and women who lost the ability to control our drinking We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control All of us felt at times that we were regaining control but such intervals usually brief were inevitably followed by still less control which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralisationquot

History

A brief history of AA in New Zealand

Ian MacE was the first member of AA in New Zealand He had tried every known treatment for his drinking problem without success In the latter part of the 1945 Ian admitted himself to the Nelson Psychiatric Hospital

It was while in the reading room that he picked up a quotReaders Digestquot magazine and read an article quotMaybe you can do it toolquot by Edward McG an alcoholic who had recovered with the help of a Fellowship known as ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Ian MacE identified with the article in a way that he had never identified with anyone before In a footnote to the article it was suggested that anyone wanting help should write to Alcoholics Anonymous PO Box 459 New York On 3 January 1946 Ian wrote to that address and took the first step in his own recovery and AA in New Zealand was born At that time AA was in its infancy in America where it had originated in June 1935 when the Cofounders BILL W a New York Stockbroker and Dr Bob S a surgeon in Akron Ohio found that by sharing experiences they could stay sober

Ian MacE continued to correspond with New York and in August 1946 Ian received a letter from Bill W appointing him as the representative of AA in New Zealand and advising that they had placed a pin in the site of RICHMOND on their office map of New Zealand and so AA in this country was established Ian travelled widely throughout the country carrying the message of AA His first success was Alf J of Devon port In 1947 Alfs brotherinlaw Dr J Caughey a nonalcoholic who had heard of AA as a result of Ians efforts in Wellington contacted Ian who then forwarded his own Big Book quotALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUSquot and other literature for Alf to read and digest The Book quotALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUSquot known as the Big Book among members of the AA Fellowship was first published in America in 1939 and has since been reprinted in many languages throughout the world over 15 million copies have been sold at this time 1995 in about 145 countries and more than 1600 copies are sold annually within New Zealand

The first recorded meeting of two or more sober alcoholics in New Zealand came about in September 1947 in Auckland when Ian met Lillian Roth and her husband Burt from America and later contact Alf

Meanwhile Alf J had become very active in spreading the AA message and held meetings in his home and at his dental surgery

The Devonport Group was the first New Zealand Group registered with GSO New York June 1948 Dunedin had in August 1948 two members Arch F and Howard H who were meeting regularly At the end of 1948 there were six members in New Zealand Ian MacE Richmond AlfJ Auckland Arch F Howard H Murdock Y Dunedin and Bill L Wellington By 1951 there were six groups in New Zealand at Auckland Hastings Nelson Wellington Dunedin and Invercargill with a total membership of around 60 From that time on there was a slow but steady growth throughout the country Today there are about 4000 members in some 400 groups

On 16 February 1964 at Massey University campus Palmerston North the first National Convention of AA New Zealand was held At this Convention the New Zealand General Service Conference of AA was formed New Zealand was divided into four Areas namely Northern WaikatoBay of Plenty Central and Southern with three delegates from each Area attending the General Service Conference This was later changed to three Areas by merging the WaikatoBay of Plenty area with Northern The number of delegates from each remained the same In addition to the Chairperson and Secretary not more than four nonalcoholic members could be appointed to the General Service Conference

The General Service Conference elects two World Service meeting delegates from nominations received from each Area In 1969 the first World Service meeting was held in New York with two delegates from each of the participating countries in attendance The second World Service meeting was also held in New York in 1972 Since then the meetings are held every two years with locations alternating between New York and some other country New Zealand a staunch supporter of World Service has been represented at all meetings