Drink Sensible Think Matthew - Making you aware of the dangers of alcohol abuse

Why "drinksensiblethinkmatthew"? Alcohol is a part of life for lots of people including me. But maybe just taking a few moments to think of what happened to my son Matthew will make you aware of the tragedy alcohol abuse can cause. It was the early hours of New Years Day 2005, the worst day of my life. My wife and I received the phone call that any parent in the world would not want when we were told by the hospital that our son Matthew had passed away. He was 19 and my first thought was that it was a practical joke. Matthew had been at a New Years Eve party only hours before that life changing phone call.
At the start of the party Matthew had been drinking lager but then became involved in a drinking game, drinking shots of Ouzo. After the game he went out to the back garden and finished drinking the bottle in quite a short space of time, which resulted in him collapsing. He had drunk so much alcohol that his brain became depressed and started to shut down his respiratory system. I did not realise that alcohol could have that much power. The shock of the news made my heart beat so fast that I thought I was going to have a heart attack. My wife almost collapsed at the news but was saved by a table nearby. After the horrible formalities we had to endure, which you may be able to imagine and a very difficult period in our lives my wife and myself attended the inquest into Matthew’s death in May 2005. It was confirmed at the inquest that he had died of alcohol poisoning. After the inquest I made a statement to the media and from that day I have done interviews for local press, national press, local and national radio and appeared on well known TV programmes including documentaries within the UK and abroad. This intense media attention encouraged me and after a suggestion from a friend, in December 2005 I started to do talks in colleges and schools telling my story and offering advice about alcohol abuse. I am still continuing to do these talks today.
I have done over 100 presentations and spoke to thousands of teenagers. I am pleased that so many of the students are interested and are eager to know more about the dangers. After the talks the students are asked to complete a brief feedback form. The comments prove to me that the message is getting through and this gives me the impetus to carry on. You can read some of their comments now by clicking here. If you have your own comments go to Visitors Book and put them down. I hope you do. After discussion with my wife and friend it was decided to start this website so that everybody in the world can learn about the dangers of alcohol if abused. I do drink alcohol myself within a social situation as do many others around the world. However this story proves that if alcohol is abused it can be FATAL!!!!! In Memory of Matthew Loveday By Clive Loveday Matthew's Father
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