One Evening in Castlefield (High Wycombe)

On Thursday 17th January at 7.30 pm Wycombe Drug Prevention Club met for the first time in 2008. The meeting was held in the newly revamped Castlefield community centre. The evening had two parts. In the first part Mr Don Wallington reflected on his family's struggle with their son's drug problem. He couragesously reflected on his relationship with his son who unfortunately died about ten years ago due to an overdose. Don explained how eventually he and his wife, Maureen, who have been working with the DAAT as a volunteer for over a year came to terms with the loss of their son.

Within the last twelve months Don and Maureen have campaigned tirelessly against drugs. They have given talks and shared their stories with others on many occasions hoping it would stop others going down the same path their son took.

In the second part of the evening the group reflected on Don's talk and discussed approaches which parents can adopt to have an appropriate discussion about drugs with their children. It was mentioned by one of the members that some parents may not feel confident to talk about drugs with their children even if they have a fair level of knowledge about drugs. She believed the next step for the DAAT can be to provide opportunities for parents where they can drop in and learn some communication skills on how to communicate their concerns with their children.