Story of Jay creator of SLE

The friends we very close and in passing discussed the potential to host an actual music event and how good it would be to do for family or friends, unfortunately it was to be only a pipe dream.

Over time the three friends began to drift apart one of the friends moved away to pursue a career, the other stayed in his home town of S. Wales and the third well he joined the armed forces and travelled to war-torn countries to help the people reclaim their lives. It was here that the third friend learned to appreciate the meaning of what it is to be alive and although had witnessed deplorable tragedies of war always had in the back of his mind his family and his friends realising the importance of these individuals was key in the creation of SLE as it ensured that his will to survive was strong, it was here he finally understood what it truly meant to be a comrade, a friend, a brother in arms and although he made new friends none were ever the same as the ones he had once left behind.

When he finally came back to integrate into society, it was hard and he craved his friends and what was once normality or so he thought, this was not to be as his friends had moved on and he felt alone, lost and confused. No longer able to the contact and comradery that he once felt from his friends or the few friends he had in the forces, he was truly alone and turned to the drink to seek solace at only 21. It was indeed dark times.

It was one day whilst in JD Weatherspoons the third friend was sat drinking next pint after next until the barman refused to serve him any more, confused the friend turned to the barman and asked “why won’t you serve me? I’m still sober?” to which the barman replied, ” That’s the trouble, it is not even 1 pm yet and you’ve drunk 15 pints and you are still sober, sorry I can’t serve you anymore.” Needless to say, this barman became a friend also.

Lets call the third friend in this story “Jim” it’s easier that way…

Jim spent days thinking about what had happened and how he came to this point, he was emotionless, unfeeling, and dark inside this was born from conditioning. There was nothing inside and he was truly lost. It was now that he realised that he was no longer the person he once was. It was going to be a long road, but he vowed to get back as much of his humanity as he was capable of doing.

And so he did, let the battle commence…

He battled his demons, for many years turning what would appear to others as an insatiable appetite to achieve into his driving force to return to his former self, he battled depression, racism, culturism, anxiety, poverty, and separation from everything he loved, but he would never give up because he wanted what he once had and that was more important to him than losing the battles he faced. Against adversity you must always stand strong, and he believed this more than most, he was beaten by life but to give up that was never an option.

It should never be your option to ever give up on what you believe in.

He fought to gain access to his children which had been dragged through the courts filled with lies and deceit that affected his family and him.

He pushed himself in work to achieve what others were unable to, relentless and always moving forward his strength from desire and his desire from the need to succeed, to find himself and repair what was once whole that had become fragmented.

Strength comes from within, it comes from the human spirit, never to give up never to surrender and to never be not heard.

After coming to terms that he was never to again become the person he once was, as life had indeed taken its toll, Jim remembered the days as a 14-year-old boy and the friendship he once had, and he once again remembered what it was like to feel part of a team, it was here and now that he reached out to one of his friends with the thought that he could reunite the three for one finale reveille, one last stand together brothers in arms and from all those years ago the memory of that one united goal, that to have that event for family and friends.

From this SLE was born.

Now you may be wondering why it took so many years for this to happen, the truth is fear, Jim feared rejection from the other friends, he worried that they had moved on not needing him to be part of their worlds, the thoughts of rejection echoed in his mind and although he had reached out before it had come to very little as the busy lives of the other friends hadn’t included him, but this time it was different and Jim knew it.

He was determined to make it work, he made it a priority in his life and applied the same level of commitment and intensity that had driven him on for so many years before.

This is SLE, This is what it means to be SLE, We are all SLE and we WILL always be SLE.

” This goes out to the rule breakers, the music makers, the boundary shakers, it goes out to the misfits and
the non conformists, those that stand to be counted, for the differences that are between us disappear because united we stand strong, this is for you the listening masses, no matter where you are or what you do;

We are all SLE “

JAY