The C.O.R.E. Trust

The former Marillion singer Fish writes in the first person about his friendship with Leven and about the CORE Trust. He says he met Leven in the bar of the Marquee in Wardour Street, in the middle of his own “Incommunicado” phase; in the conversations of the following years the subject kept returning to Leven's idea of a clinic that would treat not only the body but the soul of those suffering from addiction. Fish contrasts this with the government's anti-heroin advertising campaign, which he criticises as superficial, and says he donated at Leven's request. Through Judy Totten, a CORE PR consultant, he met the New Zealand acupuncturist Murray Douglas in 1987; a large part of the text is a testimony to acupuncture, hypnotherapy, Bach flower remedies and medicinal herbs. On Leven: a Scot “through to the core”, formerly the frontman of an underrated band, who came to CORE after his own drug problems; he is no longer involved in the clinic, and the last Fish heard was that Leven was in Australia preparing a career as a poet and singer. CORE is now run by Carol Wolf, who founded the Trust with Leven; the centre in Lisson Cottages (Lisson Grove) has been renovated and was reopened by Princess Diana on 19 September, and the WHO is interested in the model. The text ends with an appeal for donations.