Alcoholics Anonymous to mark 50 years in Cumbernauld

In November 1966, weekly meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous began taking place on Friday nights in Cumbernauld.

The first venue was the Cumbernauld home of two of the six or seven recovering alcoholics who became regular attendees.

Over the following 12 months, the numbers attending increased and this required the AA members to book community rooms in Carbrain for their all-important Friday night meeting.

The dozen or so regulars could not have imagined that over the next 50 years many, many hundreds of people would come through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous to seek help with drinking problems.

Today there are 17 meetings of AA every week in Cumbernauld - nine in the daytime and eight in the evenings - at locations throughout the town.

A survey in 2012 revealed that up to 200 people were attending on average two meetings per week. The survey also showed that around 40 per cent of those members were women.

Anyone who is concerned about their drinking, or that of a loved one, can contact the Alcoholics Anonymous helpline on 0800 9177 650.