Lancashire friends launch sober events company Flamingo AF and already have Russell Brand as a fan!

In the summer, the Post reported on the surprise of Chorley residents as Stef Smith from Wheelton was seen sailing down the Liverpool Leeds Canal on a flamingo, alongside two friends, as part of her mission to show you can still have fun without drink.

Now the 38-year-old IT worker has teamed up with another alcohol free friend, 30-year-old mum of three Lily Quek from Ormskirk, to launch their own sober events company called Flamingo AF, which will offer unique, fun and booze free activities to men and women in the North West.

Stef, who switched to an alcohol free lifestyle last year explained: “The name came about from the canal ride, as the flamingo ended up being the sign of sobriety, after that, we started using it everywhere.

"Then we were just blogging our own sobriety journeys on TikTok, me coming from a binge drinking angle, and Lily from a recovering alcoholic angle so we're opposite ends of the scale, but we became friends through TikTok, and then we got talking about how for us, in our age group, there's absolutely nothing out there for us to do in the sober community other than like walks or coffee dates, really recovery based things but we just wanted to do things that were still fun, like going out, partying, but not be made to feel funny about it.

“So we just kind of said, we know there's people out there that want this, we’re going to do it.”

The pair put on a trial event, a yoga meditation retreat in Brinscall, and found the interest for it was “massive”, filling out the spaces instantly, and receiving messages from others asking for more.

Flamingo AF was then born, a brand they say has a quirky name with a double meaning, and is for those who want to join a “flamingo flock”, where fun is first and foremost, and which is based in the North, unlike most sober events they see.

Wanting to do something big to get the brand going, the pair have organised “the launch party of 2023”, featuring performers, a photo booth, vegan food vendors, and they hope “the king of sobriety” – Russell Brand, who has openly battled with addiction in the past.

Having already reached out to Brand’s team without receiving a response, when Stef and Lily launched Flamingo AF on social media, they also began a 30 day campaign called ‘Shamelessly begging Russell Brand to attend our event’, in which they posted videos on TikTok to get his attention, and asked their followers to tag him in the comments.

Lily commented: “We felt a bit silly at first, and we did have people going what are you doing this for, he’s not going to respond, but we continued doing these videos, and then we got an email back, so started thinking, ‘oh my god, this might actually happen’ and then we got a video from him and we were absolutely gobsmacked.”

On day 26 of their campaign (November, 5), Russell posted his own TikTok response to the ladies’ campaign, in which he expressed interest in attending, and since then his team have been in talks with them about further involvement.

Stef said: “They love the idea of what we're about. We're an events place, not a support place, we've made contact with Alcohol Change UK, because we want to be really clear that if you need support, or if you are alcohol dependent, we're not the place for you, but we can pass you on to people who can give you the support you need, and Alcohol Change UK are actually coming to the event as well. So he loves what we're doing, and thinks it's a really fresh idea, they seem really excited about it.”

Lily added: “Even though we're not a support group, as a byproduct of what we're doing, we're enabling people who are in early sobriety to meet alcohol free friends, there is a level of community about it. We have a Facebook group, and that's grown arms and legs, it’s so supportive.”

Although it is not guaranteed that Russell will attend, the momentum of their campaign built up so much that when tickets for the Flamingo AF launch party were released, it sold out in two days, and just six hours after Russell posted his video.

Now with a waiting list of around 60 people, the launch party is taking place on February 4 at Bloom Building in Birkenhead. It will have a completely dry bar, and Flamingo AF have already confirmed a collaboration with Thimpson & Scott’s Noughty, who will be providing their alcohol free prosecco.

The venue is charity run, with all the money from the raffle going towards The Open Door, a mental health charity for young adults, and there will also be small business stalls running throughout the event, as well as a clothes swap to promote sustainability.

To find out more about Flamingo AF, including other future events, visit their website, or follow Stef and Lily’s individual TikTok pages.