Woman's battle with alcohol prompts dry disco

A recovering alcoholic who battled addiction for years has organised what is believed to be Milton Keynes's first dry disco.

Melanie Prince said her addiction resulted in her life "getting completely out of control".

She said she ended up in hospital and was told she "needed a liver transplant and might not make it through the next six months".

She has now been sober for seven years and hopes the event at The Grand Sultan in the city on Saturday night will show people they can have a great night out without alcohol.

Prince said she would repeatedly wake up in her own vomit and sometimes even drank perfume.

She said she went to prison for an arson offence she could not remember committing.

"I did half my sentence and was released on a home detention tag to a hostel in Reading to complete my sentence," she said.

"The support there was great but it all stopped when I left and so I began drinking again."

• Details of information and support with addiction are available in the UK at BBC Action Line

Prince said she would drink until she passed out.

"I had not seen my children for months and had no support within a 100-mile radius," she said.

In June 2020, she said, she had given birth to a healthy baby girl called Mabel, despite having been told by doctors she could have no more children as her organs had been so badly damaged through drinking.

Fortunately, she did not ultimately need a liver transplant.

The dry disco is very personal to Prince, who hopes it will be the first of many in the local area.

She believes the reason people relapse in early recovery is boredom and loneliness.

"Alcohol had become my entire identity and going sober means you lose all of that," she said.

"You lose the only acquaintances you have; habits and the only way you know life.

"I wanted to create something for people in recovery, to show people that life is absolutely still worth living to the maximum."

Money raised through ticket sales will support the work of Drug and Alcohol Family Support (Dafs), which helps and empowers families of people living with addiction.

Valerie Forsey, from the service, said: "Dafs absolutely applaud Melanie's initiative to provide an exciting, fun, alcohol-free venue for those who are, for a variety of reasons, not interested in frequenting venues where alcohol is available.

"Alcohol is a legal substance, so for those in recovery, and sometimes their loved ones, it is impossible to find a leisure venue for a night out without the pressure that brings.

"To have somewhere to go for a good evening out without the pressure of alcohol consumption all around it is a welcomed and exciting prospect."

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