Just a few of our 40 stories
Rebekah Simms nee Farley
Daughter of Peter Farley
"I was just 12 years old when my Dad started The Matthew Project. I really had no idea what this meant or the impact it would have our family or on so many people. Peter Farley was just my Dad , he had been a teacher and was now starting a new job. He rented a little office on St Giles in Norwich , it had been a Taxi office and was upstairs above a shop."
Lisa
The Jewellery Maker
"I have been a member of The Matthew Project since 29th of November 2023 after I self-referred to support in my recovery from alcohol addiction as I had reached a crisis point in my life. My addiction had crept up as it has a way of doing and I knew that I needed to make some serious changes in my life, or it would be detrimental to my physical and mental health."
Andrew Barwick
Colleague
"It was partly over a lunch with Peter Farley that I heard something of his vision, and his quest for funding, for someone to work directly with those who had been arrested. An ‘Arrest Referral Worker’ to work in Norwich police custody (Bethel St at that time) and Norwich Magistrates Courts, with those with high offending and substance misuse."
Mark Farley
Peter Farley's Son
"In 1980 Dad was Headmaster in Sheringham at a residential school for boys who were underfunctioning educationally but when the school planned to relocate to Lincolnshire Mum & Dad didn’t want to move our family and so, unbeknownst to us children, Dad handed in his notice to the school and started to look for a new job."
Amy
The Sister
“I want to remember Ben, and to raise awareness of The Matthew Project and the support they offer; we have benefited from this as a family since Ben died. I also want to humanize those who have died from drug and alcohol misuse. They are someone’s brother, sister, mum, dad, son, daughter—someone’s loved one!”
Pete
OTW Employee
"I was born in Gateshead in 1961. I was never really interested at school, but I was well behaved most of the time and usually punctual (which would stand me in good stead in my later career). After leaving school in 1977, I first worked in the construction industry for 6 years, but always thought there was something else."
Anonymous RSP Member
RSP Member
"The Matthew Project has really helped me to settle in Norwich, make friends, have a purpose, given me hope and helped me to build my new life in recovery. It improved my confidence, self-esteem and helped me understand my addiction. NLP helped me to not look back and use my past to help me in the future."
Matt
The Musician
"From the early 00's I had been using drugs and alcohol regularly. It went hand in hand within the music industry. For over twenty years my substances of choice gave me the drive and functionality to perform my job effectively however, I was totally unaware of the long term phycological damage it was doing to me."
M.B
Royal Navy Veteran
"I became homeless a few weeks or so before the lockdown started & I was living in my car at the time. The effect that this had on me & my mental health was immense. My self-respect as well as my self-worth was absolutely zero. Luckily for me I was found by an outreach team who were able to help which was a huge relief but once they realised, I am an ex-service veteran they contacted Outside the Wire."
Anonymous RSP
RSP Member
"I DONE IT! When I first walked into The Matthew Project in January, I'd heard good things and that it was different to other drug and alcohol organisations, but I didn't realise just how good it was going to be. I was lost and broken and felt like I was just watching life go by, while I was just trying to hang on somewhere at the edges. My mental health was really low and there was too many things to deal with on my own."
Margaret Farley
Peter Farley's Wife
"40 years ago we got started on the adventure of The Matthew Project. We had no idea where it would take us but were trusting God that it was part of his plan for our lives.
It seems so long ago now but I want to tell you more of the journey we had. To start with I was not really very involved with it except to keep encouraging Peter to keep going and trusting God that he would lead him in the right path. My memory of some of it is very hazy and especially of timings and dates."