Alcoholics Anonymous will hold its 52nd All Ireland convention at the Salthill Hotel, from tomorrow (Friday ) to Sunday.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the open AA meeting on Friday night at 8pm and the open public meeting on Sunday at 12.30pm.
Alcoholics Anonymous is a worldwide fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other to enable them solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.
The fellowship began in 1935 in Akron, Ohio when a chance meeting took place between two men who had been classified hopeless alcoholics by the medical profession, their families and friends. One was a doctor, Dr Bob and the other a New York stockbroker called Bill W.
As a result of the meeting both men continued to stop drinking one day at a time until their deaths and were determined to carry their message to those who would listen. Alcoholics Anonymous spread throughout the USA and then to Australia in 1943 reaching Ireland in 1946.
Today there are AA groups in 146 countries worldwide with an estimated membership approaching 3,000,000. In Ireland there are more than 700 groups with about 13,000 members.
