Two decades ago, just before Christmas, Dave Crawley thought his life was about to end as he lay in a hospital bed.
Suffering severe liver damage after years of alcohol abuse, his parents gave him some rosary beads, and a chaplain at The Princess Royal Hospital in Telford read him the last rites.
“I thought it was the end,” said the now 62-year-old. “I remember lying in the bed, and my mother asking if I would come home for Christmas, and I told her I wouldn’t be coming home at all.”
However, despite doctors’ fears, Dave managed a remarkable recovery; a turnaround he puts down to Catholic faith and, later, the support of his brother, Stephen.
“That night they thought I would die, my body clinically died, I had to be resuscitated, and I felt an out-of-body experience,” he said. “I had a blood transfusion, and that got me through the hospital part, then I went into rehabilitation – and that’s where my life was really saved,” he said.
With the help of his brother, Dave was finally able to give up drinking and get his life back on track, and now works as a mentor helping others.
To mark his recovery every year, the brothers celebrate in, perhaps, the surprising surroundings of Cheltenham Festival, where this year almost 400,000 pints of Guinness were drunk, many of them in the Best Mate Enclosure, where the pair got tickets for Gold Cup Day.
“I was a chronic alcoholic who thankfully got sober,” said Dave. “Then a rekindled relationship with my brother saved my life – now we come down here as a sort of celebration of what we have achieved every year.
“The drinking [at Cheltenham] doesn’t bother us at all, not in the slightest. It’s just funny when you see them all getting overly carried away. At the start of the day, people look all so smart, then at the end they’re in a right mess.
“You can smile at each other.”
The brothers bonded while Dave was in rehab in Weston-super-Mare after being discharged from hospital.
Stephen said: “I went down there to meet some of the people looking after David. We had a game of badminton and he was getting well enough to beat me, but I persisted he stay in there to continue receiving help, even when he wanted to go.
“It took resilience and faith, and finally he was able to come out, when he started supporting my business [called Telad] in mentoring other men.”
When Stephen, who had his own problems with drinking, organised a Christmas party in 2006, the pair made a vow never to drink again, and went to Cheltenham for the first time the following year.
“We’ve had plenty of chocolates and doughnuts over our time coming here, but never a drink.” said Stephen. “Some people might think it’s mad, but it’s funny really.”
The pair, who are both from the West Midlands and now run their consultancy companies, ended the festival with a winning bet on a horse – Johnny’s Jury – in memory of their father, who Dave said instigated his baptism.
“The horse won,” said Dave. “It was such a special moment as it brought us back to why we were here.”
