I am pleased to hear you had the opportunity to do that, Nicky. Next time I head off South down the motorway I hope to visit too. I love AA history and it must be an amazing experience for those in the USA who can visit where it all began!

The woman we asked for directions from smiled when we asked, they get a lot of tourists from the US asking the same question but never knew WHY!

It was a truly amazing experience to stand in front of that stone, others have told me how moved they were when they went but I had never expected to feel emotional myself!

Nicky got some amazing photographs of it too!

Do post them up.

I almost went myself a year or so ago, but time didn't permit. What is the cathedral in itself like?

I am ashamed to say that we got there too late to see inside the cathedral itself!! It closes at 5pm and we only got there about 4:30 but concentrated on the tomb before we lost any good light by which to take photographs!! There is a large war memorial in front of the cathedral when walking from the tomb, so the view of the cathedral from the grave is not quite as Bill would have seen it.

There are some stone benches that would have been there then, and we saw a man sitting on one of them that possibly should become a 'friends of Bill's'!!

Sounds cool, I would love to visit and am gonna try and get down there soon with a group of AA friends, we've been talking about it for some time, although now you and lyn have told them why people have been asking there'll probably be a Bill Wilson theme park by the time I go and they'll be charging money to see it and giving guided tours around the bloody place! lol!

Thank you for sharing this. It makes me feel so happy. I have read the BB many, many times, and Bill's Story never gets old. It tickles my spine to think of Bill's life trajectory and the horror of it, but where it led him. And I, like millions of others, am alive because of Bill's life trajectory, Dr Bob Smith and the first 100, many of whom died drunk but nevertheless gave us our program.

I'm in Australia but I want to get to Akron Ohio too, and I will now definitely get to the Cathedral if I get to the UK. People not in AA would think a little cult-like if they knew our fascination about this stuff. I don't care if they do. I simply know, to the core of my being that AA has saved my life. I am very unsure about many other thiings, including my life's trajectory due to mental illness, but not AA. People in AA will fail me, and I will fail people too, but AA never fails me.

Wendy

Wow what a awesome exp to have. We just went to Bill's birth place in eats dorset VT and to stand on the same ground in front of the church steeple and then go into his childhood bedroom it blew me away and left me in awe. Isn't AA life cool

oh yes indeed Phil.

The place that we were on the way back from when we went to Winchester is a little place called the Isle of Wight and it was like stepping back in time! We stood outside where we were staying and there was SILENCE no cars, shouting, tv noise, sirens etc just pure silence.

We saw no fast food places, no Starbucks, no MaccyD's, No BK, no KFC!! (Actually, on our last day as we drove to the ferry, we saw a MaccyD's but other than that .....) No light pollution - dark really was .... well, DARK!

There was so little traffic on the roads we could just drop our speed down to 15mph and take in all the glorious scenery and views over the sea. We're planning to go again next year!!

I'm not really old enough to remember the song "Winchester cathedral you're bringing me down" but I remember my older sister's had the record.

I have been up to East Dorsett, Vermont numerous times to visit the Wilson House and Bill and Lois's graves. I have read the manuscript for the first edition of the Big Book while there as well as having attended meetings in the same room Bill met in. Visiting the grave was very moving.. So many things left there. Medallions from 24 hours up to 62 years. Notes from as far way as Japan, Europe, California, from all over the world. And Lois's grave has just as much stuff from the people of Al-Anon. Now I wish someday to go to Akron and see Dr Bob's place. Anyone up this way should stop in Vermont.

Sounds cool. Being from the states, I'll likely never get to visit.

However, being from Ohio, I hope to make it to the next Founder's
Day in Akron, Ohio.

hey happy I spoke to a guy at yesterdays noon meeting and we talked of plaing a trip to akron this comming yr I hope it works out. I always thought stuff like this was hokey but that exp in vermont changed my perception.

The stone that we saw is not the original stone as you rightly say cabledude, but it has been replaced only twice, once by another generation of Hampshire Grenadiers and more recently (1976) by the Hampshire Regiment because the previous stones had become illegible due to weather damage.

It is still in it's original place and when we stand before it we stand on the same ground that Bill once stood on, it's about feeling that connection and is not a shrine.

yeah i wondered if he had remembered it differently or just quoted the bits of it that best conveyed the message that he wanted to get across.