Bristol Fashion 2.0 is a digitised platform for story telling and this is the story of an Independent AA Journal in England which started in 1968 , ran until 2005 and was then restarted in 2010 .  With thirty seven years of unbroken, monthly hard copy publication, it became something of an institution among its subscribers who comprised, at their peak, a worldwide readership of over one thousand.

The Bristol Fashion Journal was a means of communication between the readers as birthdays were marked, obituaries were printed and conventions and retreats were publicised. If you lived locally, in the West of England, hard paper copies were available free on the first Monday of each month at the Newcomers group at 103 Queens road Clifton.  Due to its longevity and evolution into a well-connected platform of communication, they recorded events and happenings across the Fellowship over a span of many years and, together, the Bristol Fashion archives contain a history of the birth and growth of AA in the West of England.

Bristol Fashion was also a vehicle for Spiritual Retreats, organised by the editors who wished to highlight the fact that the AA programme is, at its heart,  a spiritual programme.  It covered all the aspects of an alcoholics life but with a special emphasis on Steps Three and Eleven of the AA programme's Twelve Steps to recovery. These two Steps involve a personal surrender to a God of one's own understanding and the development of effective communication with this Higher power through Prayer and Meditation. Over the years, retreat givers included Priests, Ministers, Rabbis, Psychologists, Monks as well as ordinary AA members with years experience of working the Twelve Steps.

Each month the editors of this Bristol Fashion 2.0 blog will endeavour to draw out and curate some of the contents of the host of articles contained within the past editions to make them accessible again for a new readership to enjoy. Also included in Bristol Fashion 2.0 website, you will be able to find a growing set of recordings of the many speakers who came to the AA Reunions in Bristol over the years, as well as snapshots and material telling the wider story of the treatment of alcoholism, the evolution in how it was understood within the wider community and together, the new editors efforts to help continue to carry the message forward.

Echoing the original editions, "we publish Bristol Fashion (2.0) for your information and enjoyment. Any mistakes you find are there for a purpose. We (will) publish something for everyone and some people are always looking for mistakes."

The Editors.