He ran his first ever half marathon in Cheltenham on Sunday 30th September 2018, just a year after having to leave his job in a pub to save himself from drinking. The proceeds from his run are being donated to our charity.
He said: “I was overwhelmed by the support the Licensed Trade Charity gave me, so just to say thank you I am raising money for them. The level of help from the charity was amazing and has helped my family survive while I got over my illness, paying rent and helping with bills. I cannot thank them enough.”
A bar manager for nine years, David was unable to control his drinking as he was constantly surrounded by alcohol. He said: “I was ruining my relationship with my wife and children. One thing that sticks in my mind is when my daughter said to me last year ‘daddy why do I always see you drunk?’ That hurt me and I finally admitted that I had a problem with alcohol and needed to sort things out before I lost my children and wife and more importantly my health was not good due to drinking.”
David needed to stop working in a pub to remove temptation so quit work, but wouldn’t have been able to do this without the support of the Licensed Trade Charity. We gave David a short-term hardship grant for six months to help with living expenses whilst out of work and an educational grant to buy uniforms for his two sons and daughter.
Having been alcohol free for just over a year, David completed his Cheltenham half marathon in 2 hours 5 minutes, and is now working with Cheltenham Town academy FC in the sport performance analysis department. He is doing a three-year course in sport performance at Hartpury College, and we also supported this by providing a new laptop which David needed for the course.
Sponsorship of his impressive performance helped him raise money for the Licensed Trade Charity so it can in future help someone in a similar position to him.
Watch the video below to get a full experience of David’s journey with our charity:
