Category: Recovery

The Clanton Group meets on Monday and Saturday at 7:00 pm for an open discussion meeting, on Thursday at noon for a closed Big Book study. All meetings are non-smoking.

History:

The Clanton Group was started in February, 1950.  There were three people at that first meeting, and two more at the second.  These five members formed the group, and are considered the co-founders: Red W., Myrtle W.J., Joe J., Cecil E., and Raymond P.  The archives contains a copy of a contract between a Mrs. Upchurch and the A.A. Club of Clanton Alabama for the lease of a hall located over the Klinner Furniture Store on Seventieth Street North, to commence on January 1, 1958.

The Clanton Group met at two locations — this one and another location in Thorsby — for a number of years.  The Thorsby location closed its doors on July 1, 2015 when their meeting space was no longer available to them.

The Clanton Group meets in two locations — this one in Thorsby, and another just down the road in Clanton, Alabama.

At the Thorsby location, the group meets on Tuesday at 7:00 pm for an open discussion meeting, on Friday at noon for a closed discussion, and on Sunday morning at 8 am for an open discussion. All meetings at this location are non-smoking.

The Strange Camels Group meets Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm for a closed meeting. All meetings are non-smoking.

History:

“They sometimes say all you need is a resentment and a coffeepot to start a new group. Drop the resentment, keep the coffeepot, and you had a new group in town. That group was Strange Camels, which started July 1, 2003 at Immanual Presbyterian Church Annex.” The name derives from Bill W.’s early writings where an alcoholic in A.A. is compared to a “Strange Camel” because they both start the day on their knees, can go 24 hours without a drink, and end the day on their knees.

The group started with six homegroup members who were looking for a smaller, more intimate group. The group’s conscience voted to divide the meeting when there are more than 24 people to afford this intimacy, and to allow each person a chance to share.

They now have a core home group of 22, and emphasize staying in the solution and adhering to the 12 Traditions.

The Tradition Three Group meets Monday through Friday at 11:00 am for an open meeting. All meetings are non-smoking.

History:

The Tradition Three group was first listed with the GSO on June 17, 1992. At that time, Carolyn C. served as the GSR and there were five group members. Open meetings were held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays on Mendel Parkway in Montgomery. The Tradition Three Group first appeared in the 1993-94 A.A. Directory.

G.S.O. Archives

The Sole Purpose Group meets at 7:30 pm, Sunday, Monday, and Thursday night. All meetings are closed. The doors open at 7 pm for fellowship. All meetings at the Sole Purpose Group are non-smoking.

History:

The first piece of correspondence that the GSO received from the Sole Purpose Group was a letter dated September 4, 1985. Jeri M., who served as the GSR at the time, wrote the following: “We would like to register with you as an official A.A. Group. We held our first meeting on 21 August 1985. We elected a GSR, Secretary and Steering Committee. Any informational help from headquarters would be most appreciated.”

According to a new group information form from September 6, 1985, regular meetings were held on Sunday – Saturday at 22 N. California Street.  Jeri M. served as the GSR and there were sixteen members.  The Sole Purpose Group first appeared in the 1986 A.A. Directory.

G.S.O. Archives

Visit the Sole Purpose Group at it’s new location. They moved in February of 2024 to Fraser Church at 6000 Atlanta Hwy, Room 3103 Montgomery AL 36117. We meet on Thursday at 6:30pm for Literature study of the Big Book and 12&12. Sunday we meet at 6:30 pm for a Discussion meeting. Both meetings are Closed and Non-Smoking.

The Living Sober Group meets Monday and Wednesday at 6:00 pm for a closed discussion meeting. All meetings are non-smoking.

History:

The Living Sober Group began as an A.A. meeting at the treatment facility inside St. Margaret’s Hospital in downtown Montgomery. The meeting was started in September, 1984, by Pal G., a recovered alcoholic who served as the Public Relations Director for the treatment facility.  At that time, A.A. members from the community were not allowed to attend.

The group registered with GSO in February, 1985.  At that time, the group met at several locations inside the hospital. They moved from St. Margaret’s to the First Alabama Bank building on Adams Street, where they rented the bank’s second-floor office space, which included a waiting room and two smaller meeting rooms. The group met there from November, 1985 until November, 1986, when the bank asked the group to move.

Buddy S., the GSR, contacted Rev. Mark Waldo, the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, and the church welcomed the group at their Clanton Avenue fellowship house. With this move, the group fully ended its relationship with the St. Margaret’s Treatment Unit.

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The Living Sober Group registered with GSO on February 5, 1985. At that time the group met in St. Margaret’s Hospital in Montgomery. Meeting times were Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 pm, and Saturdays at 3 pm.  Pal G. served as the GSR and there were 45 members. In November, 1986, Buddy S. informed GSO that the group would be located at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Montgomery. Group change forms reveal that the group once again changed their meeting location from the church on Clanton Avenue to [their present location] South Hull Street. The Living Sober Group first appeared in the 1985 A.A. Directory.

G.S.O. Archives

The Happy Hour Group meets three times a day Monday through Friday, at 6:30 am, noon, and 6:00 pm. They have a noon meeting on Saturdays, and a noon and a 6 pm meeting on Sundays. They have an open speaker meeting at 8 pm on the first Friday of every month. The Happy Hour Group also houses the District 8 Archives.

History:

In January or February, 2006, a group of about 15 men from the Fellowship Group met on a Wednesday evening at 6 pm at the Oak Grove Community Center because there was no meeting on Wednesday night at the Fellowship Group. They would walk through the twelve steps together using the Big Book. They decided that it would be great if they had their own meeting place. Thus the seed was planted, and Dan K. started to look for a place.

He found the storefront where Happy Hour still meets in the Eastdale Mall area. The founding members of the group were Dennis R., Sean H., Brian W., Richard A., Mike G., Dan K., Paul I., Matt, Randal, and Christy H. The first meeting was held sometime at the end of May, 2006, attended by five or six people. After a host of work fixing the place, a Grand Opening speaker meeting was held during the middle of June, 2006.  The speakers were Don T. and Joe “Hollywood” S. Over 150 people attended, with a closed-circuit television bringing the speakers to the back room.

From that core group of eight to ten members when the group started they have grown to over 100 members on their phone list. They hold up to three meetings a day, 365 days a year.  In the beginning they were lucky if three people came to the noon meetings. Today there are as many as fifty.

The Legacies Group meets every weekday at noon; Wednesday and Friday at 8 pm; Sunday at 9 am. All meetings are non-smoking.

Legacies also hosts the monthly Intergroup meeting at 8:00 am and the District 8 meeting at 9:30 am on the first Saturday of each month.

The Chisholm Group meets at 12:00 noon and 6:00 pm Monday through Friday and at 6:00pm on Saturday and Sunday.

The last Saturday of each month, the Group holds a Chip Celebration, with fellowship and food, followed by an open meeting at which members who have celebrated milestones — 30, 60, or 90 days; 6 and 9 months; and anniversaries — share their experience, strength, hope, and gratitude. Family and friends are invited.

The front door is located off the open parking area found by going between the two buildings in the picture above. All meetings are smoking, with the exception of the Sunday night speaker meeting, the Chip Celebration, and Movie Night.

History:

The Chisholm Group was started in 1988, when Lenny Bolton, the new pastor of Chisholm Baptist Church, recognized the need for an A.A. group in the community, after meeting with many of its residents.  Early efforts by Joe S. and Judy C. didn’t take root until Lenny met Don T. — a sober member of A.A. who had recently returned to Chisholm from Texas — and asked him to try again to get a group started.

The group met for a short time in a small building behind the Chisholm Baptist Church until a small building on the corner of Pickett Street and Lower Wetumpka Road was rented. Group membership grew over the years, and they recognized the need for a larger facility. In February, 1998, the group moved to 2906 Lower Wetumpka Road, where they met for nearly 10 years.

In September, 2007, the group again moved, this time to Congressman Dickerson Drive (Federal Drive). Since that time, the group has moved twice more. The group meets every day, and the last Saturday of each month is a “Celebration of Life” open meeting. All the members who have “picked up a chip” during the month have an opportunity to pass it on by sharing how they did it.

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The Chisholm Group was registered with the GSO on April 6, 1989. At that time, closed discussion meetings were held on Thursday nights at the Chisholm Baptist Church. Bennie W. served as the GSR, and there were approximately ten group members. This Chisholm Group first appeared in the 1990-91 A.A. Directory.

G.S.O. Archives

The Fellowship group has 6 meetings weekly. These include two book studies, a beginners meeting, closed discussion, and an open speaker meeting. There is a women’s only meeting on Sunday night.  All meetings are non-smoking. There is an Al-Anon Family Group that meets in the gymnasium at the same time on Sunday (2 pm), Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  See the meeting schedule for details.

History:

The Fellowship group of Alcoholics Anonymous was formed February 1997 by a few members from another group. These few AA members decided to start a meeting on the East side of town. The Fellowship group met at a treatment center off Atlanta Hwy on Mendel Pkwy. They met there for about two years and in 1998 had to relocate.. A committee found a room available in a church on Bell Road. Once again growth came and after 2 years there was in need of a larger space.

In the year 2000 they moved to 5 Bell Road, Montgomery AL. to a  church annex where they continue to meet. The Fellowship group continues to grow and over the years have added more meetings to their schedule.

The Fellowship group of Alcoholics Anonymous in District 8, Area 1 welcomes all and hope you keep coming back, one day at a time!

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The Fellowship Group was originally known as the Bell Street Group.

G.S.O. Archives