In recognition of my incredible friend "Ben" who, as part of his recovery he climbed to the top of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain to climb in the UK. Like climbing the mountain, "An Addict's Climb To Recovery" is the most demanding of all.

At the top of the mountain Ben collected a single rock to act as a reminder of his achievement. Very soon after meeting, Ben gifted me his rock, knowing I found solace from my medical conditions and symptoms through Stone Sculpture. This precious gift was in recognition of the strength of friendship we had built and the level of 'sharing' we both felt willing to offer.

This was obviously an extremely emotional moment for the two of us, Ben giving away his 'medal of honor' and me receiving it. Ben asked me what I would do with the rock to make it in to a sculpture, to which I quickly responded "Absolutely nothing, it is perfect as it is!". Instead, I immediately located a piece of scrap Burr Elm from a wood turner which I believed would be ideal to present the rock to the world. True enough, without any adjustment, the rock stood proud and tall on top of it's new base.

I continued to refine the base and in the process, to my amazement, a 'foot' started to appear. I then worked to further enhance the 'foot' questioning whether it was "The Foot Of The Mountain" or "The Foot Of The Climber".

The resulting Sculpture is deliberately called " BEN's 'nevis' " as to me the man is far bigger than the mountain he physically climbed and will continue to climb throughout his recovery!

Everyone should feel comfortable getting the support they need for issues with drugs, alcohol or mental health.

With You work with people on their own goals, whether that’s staying safe, making small changes or stopping an unwanted habit altogether. By providing people support in a way that’s right for them either face to face, in their local service, community or online.

A donation of just £8.40 could mean someone being able to access a support session with a trained advisor through Webchat. That one session could be lifesaving. Clearly, a larger donation would go even further to support people like BEN!