Poet and human rights advocate launch poetry collection at Wolverhampton Recovery Walk
Wolverhampton won a national vote of the annual event and hosted the 2025 UK Recovery Walk on Saturday, September 13. This walk and event celebrated those who have made a recovery from drugs or alcohol and served as a reminder that recovery is possible and that support is available.
The Recovery Walk was sponsored and supported by SUIT Service User Involvement Team, Good Shepherd Wolverhampton, Recovery Near You and City of Wolverhampton Council.
Annemarie Ward CEO, Faces and Voices of Recovery Ward, said: “This is more than just a walk it s a declaration of hope, resilience and the power of community”.
This festival style celebration had a ‘Recovery Village’ situated in West Park from 1-5pm which featured an outdoor stage area with live artists and bands. There were family fun activities such as inflatables, fun fair style rides and food vendors. There was also a creative tent with free hands on activities, such as speed drawing with Hannah Boyd-McKee and Graham Stubbs, clay flower bomb making, bag printing, silent disco by the Geese Theatre and spoken word and poetry with Wendy Dosset and Saida Chowdhury.
There were also many organisations and support available in the ‘Recovery Village’ for those currently seeking help from alcohol or drug addiction.
The acts that were introduced by the Mayor of Wolverhampton before the walk started. The procession walked past landmarks of Wolverhampton. The acts that got the crowd going on the main stage were certainly, Hit the Dhol, Emma Smallman-Drum and Bounce, Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, Detox Factor and the Geese Theatre.
Wendy Dosset - spoken word artist and poet started the day with poetry rifts, inviting everyone to write slogans of recovery and attaching them to the bandstand. It was a great idea as it made people feel instantaneously involved. She also performed her powerful poetry at the end of the day too.
Poet Saida Chowdhury, who has been writing for over 20 years, was excited to be launching her debut poetry book, ‘Broken Minds’. She was so thankful to Christiane Jenkins of SUIT to have been given this opportunity and platform to share her work. Supported by old friends and new, they listened as she read from her new collection and spoke about the importance of breaking the stigma behind asking for help when suffering from problems. She also spoke about how much she admired the bravery of the individuals seeking help and the wonderful work by individuals and organisations helping people on the road to recovery.
The artwork featured on the front of ‘Broken Minds’ had been gifted by Christiane Sarah Jenkins, Creative Lead of SUIT (Service User Involvement Team) and accompanied Saida for everyone to see.
“I am so thankful to Christiane for her beautiful artwork, kindly naming the piece ‘Kintsugi’ to mirror the theme running through my book. Kintsugi is a traditional art form of putting broken pottery back together with liquid gold to accentuate and beautify the cracks and thereby recognising the cracks as being valuable parts of the object’s history. I wanted to apply the same philosophy to humans and their physical, emotional and mental scars. Together we can help, heal and grow.”
The book launch was a success with the Cllr Craig Collingswood, Mayor of Wolverhampton saying ‘He was looking forward to reading it’.
