The Fresh Princesses of the South West
This is the true story of how we started Mindful Art Club.
Now this is a story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there
I’ll tell you how we started Mindful Art Club, yeah.
In… the east side of Plymouth I was born and raised,
In the pubs is where I spent most of my days,
Chillin’ out, maxin, relaxin’ all cool,
I even started smoking, when I got to art school!
When a couple of guys who were in the AA
Said I could stop, and then they showed me the way,
Jim said, YOU’VE got a story to “share,”
Coming to rehab? But I got scared.
So.. What do I know about how to get clean?
This was way, way back in twenty-fifteen,
I went to the meeting and it wasn’t so bad,
Next thing I got a job in the rehab.
(Amy Winehouse cameo appearance:
They told me I should work in rehab but I said no, no, no.
Yes I got clean, but how I did that I don’t know, know, know.
It’s one day at a time, and my sponsor thinks I’m fine,
She said that I could work in rehab, so off I go, go, go.)
Emma worked there teaching meditation,
Her art class, was a sensation,
Our lives were so rich, our lives were abundant,
Until that day we got made redundant.
The rehab closed, everybody laid off,
Clients moved on and staff paid off,
My dad died, then Emma’s did too,
No dads, no money and nothing to do.
So now we’re on the dole, we went for a coffee,
At a pub called The Bank, with a Romany gypsy,
“Let me look in the palm of your hand,”
He read between the lines, and he saw big plans:
Go! Get the people that need you the most
Gabor Mate’s “hungry ghosts,”
Johann Hari, “Chasing the Scream,”
They’re all on a list, waiting to be seen.
So with lived experience,
And charity funding,
We launched Mindful Art Club,
With homemade bunting.
In our first art club there was seven or eight
And we yelled to the dole, “Yo, see ya later!”
We looked at the group and we knew we’d arrived,
Because we were directors of a social enterprise.
© 2026 Peggy Pegworth