Bonne année, dear reader. Society Diary hopes you enjoyed a restful festive break and now feel refreshed as we fearlessly stare down the barrel of another 12 months of charity sector news.
To add some extra joy to your January, some of you may have decided to set yourself a little New Year, New Me challenge such as giving up booze, fags or meat.
With this in mind, Diary sat down with Mr Dry January himself, Alcohol Change UK's CEO Richard Piper, for some reflections on 2024 and plans for the year ahead.
Richard, you once jumped out of a plane dressed as an Oompa-Loompa. Why?
I was CEO of Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity and we were raising funds for the charity. We went for the world record for the most skydiving Oompa-Loompas in the air at one time. The bloke from Guinness World Record didn’t turn up for some reason, but apparently 50 plummeting Oompa-Loompas was an amazing and terrifying sight. Most excitingly for me, I lived.
How did you find last year’s Great North Run in the pouring rain?
Honestly, I have never enjoyed a half marathon so much. There were a quarter of a million Geordies lining the streets, A-roads and industrial estates despite the rain, and they were just brilliant. I smiled so much that my face hurt as much as my feet. And I beat my 2-hour target (by 30seconds) which as a 52-year-old with a club foot, I’m pretty proud of.
Congratulations on being one of the 100 most influential people in 2024. Do you ever use your influencing powers for evil?
Absolutely. I use my powers to tell the truth about alcohol harm, so that people can make their own choices, free from the false and misleading claims of the alcohol industry about their products. The alcohol industry doesn’t want us to know the truth, so to them I am evil. We’re not anti-industry, but we are anti-harm, and until the alcohol industry is more honest and more committed to ending the harm that its products cause, I won’t stop calling them out.
Are you excited about your favourite month – January?
Beyond excited! Welcoming droves of people onto one of the planet’s most iconic behaviour change challenges is a real privilege. This year, we’re going bigger and bolder than ever with the Dry January challenge. Some might even say edgy. Let us know what you think!
Most people who take part are regular drinkers who want to cut back, much like myself before I gave it a go, and just as it was for me, the Dry January challenge is life-changing for so many. If you take part in the Dry January challenge using the Try Dry app, the odds are literally in your favour – it doubles your chances of having a totally alcohol free 31-days compared to just trying to be booze-free on your own and helps you get so much more out of it – saving a load of dosh, sleeping like a baby, having more energy than a puppy, feeling calmer, and having fresher-looking skin.
For those unaware of the Dry January challenge, please explain why you have banned them from drinking alcohol for a month.
Ha ha! There are plenty of things I’d like to ban, but alcohol isn’t one of them! We believe in a world where adults can choose to take whatever substances they choose. We also believe that no-one should experience avoidable harm. We’re not anti-alcohol, we’re anti-alcohol harm.
When the clock hits midnight, do you confiscate everyone’s champers at NYE parties?
The good news is that the Dry January challenge doesn’t start until you wake up on 1 January! So, if you want to dance in Trafalgar Square until the early hours of the morning with your glass of fizz in your hand, all good! Interestingly, sales of alcohol-free sparkling wine are skyrocketing, mainly because it tastes great and causes you no harm at all, so you can dance better, for longer!
What about professional snooker and darts players who need booze to perform?
These are elite sportspeople, and can do no wrong, in my eyes.
What tastes worse, alcohol-free wine or vegan cheese?
Vegan cheese. Hands down. But it’s getting better! I will be very happy when the day comes that vegan cheese tastes as brilliant as the low and no-alcohol options we’re able to enjoy. I’m a massive beer fan and alcohol-free beer allows me to have all the fun, without any of the negative effects!
Who would win in a fight, the Dry January challenge or Sober October?
If the fight is who delivers the most behaviour change, the Dry January challenge would win by a knockdown in round one. We’ve now supported 1 million people – not bad for a small charity – to change their relationship with alcohol, saving so many lives and helping many more to become happier and healthier.
Our friends at Macmillan run Sober for October as a fundraising campaign, not for behaviour change (despite alcohol causing seven cancers). And they have more supporters than us, so are going to generate more funds. We’ll let them have that! Merit on both sides, really, and hats off to them for such a great campaign!
Does Alcohol Change UK do anything from Feb onwards or just chill until New Year?
We shut down, feet up and kick back from 1 Feb to 1 December...
Just kidding. The Dry January challenge is only part of what we do. Our Try Dry app is a year-round tool – like Garmin or Strava for your drinking – and it contains loads of other challenges like Sober Spring (a 92-day challenge) and our missions, which I love. You can set yourself a mission of doing pretty much anything, just once, without alcohol, such as our ever-popular Sober Sex Mission, which sometimes comes before and sometimes after, our Dry Wedding Mission!
