1971 Bill W. passed away on January 24, 1971.

In April, at the opening of the 21st General Service Conference, our Western Mass Delegate spoke, representing all the North American Delegates, at the memorial service opening the conference. Bill, Dr, Bob and the early AA’s and non-alcoholic trustees had laid a solid foundation, and AA at its 21st General Service Conference had truly come of age.

During the course of this year the Public Information Committee temporarily went defunct as a result of lack of attendance.

1972 The Public Information Committee is back. Newly organized and well attended meetings are taking place with immediate past Delegate Margaret C. serving as the chair. This committee has met ever since on a monthly basis as a service committee of the Area.

Dick D., the primary architect of the Area 31’s service structure, took office to serve as delegate for the 1972 and 1973 term.

Towards the end of the year the Area Committee voted to endorse the nomination of Margaret C. to the post of Trustee-at-Large from the Untied States, to serve on the AA Board of Trustees, for 4 years.

1973 Margaret C. of our small Western Mass area was elected General Service Trustee-at-Large to serve from 1973 through 1977. In this trustee position emphasis is placed on representing the entire fellowship rather than a geographic region. 

In 1973 AA growth, which had increased slowly, now began a rapid increase perhaps due to increased education about our illness and the number of newcomers arriving from Honor Court and new treatment programs and halfway houses for alcoholics.

1974 Brief discussion was made at the December 1973 Area Meeting regarding the possibility of establishing the Committee for Cooperation with the Professional Community (CPC). In February 1974 a motion was made and passed at the Area Meeting to establish such a committee. Past Delegate Dick D. became the first chairman of this committee. This committee has met on a monthly basis ever since as a sub-committee of the Area Committee.

1975 A committee was formed in December of this year to investigate the establishment of a Western Mass Intergroup Office. The office was in place within a few months. The new Western Mass Intergroup Office undertook the task of providing its groups with the option of purchasing AA literature directly from their area. This eliminated the need to but from other Intergroup offices or from the General Service Office in New York.

1976 January of this year saw the beginning of yet another service committee of the Area, the Grapevine Committee. Although it did not start out as a committee, the seed was planted with the appointment of James P. to serve as the Area Grapevine Representative. This rep would report on a monthly basis at the Area Committee Meeting.

1977 Districting of our Area was finalized this year. The districting story begins back in 1975 when Bob T. was serving as our Delegate. Worcester had just redistricted the groups in their location and districting of Area 31 was on the lips of our Area Committee. After much discussion it was voted that Western Mass begin districting its area. Bob T. appointed Collete R. to chair an Ad-Hoc Committee responsible for mapping out the area into districts. After more than a year of discussion, the area was mapped into four districts. The districting plan was activated in May of this year with two District Committee Members (DCM’s) per district and District Committee Meetings being held monthly. It is interesting that, as well as the District meetings, one General Service Representative (GSR) per AA group also continued to attend the Area Meeting along with the DCM’s therefore creating a monthly Assembly. By October of this year the Area had been redistricted into five districts.

1978 Another year for AA firsts in Western Mass. The first official meeting of the Grapevine Committee was held on May 31, at the Western Mass Intergroup Office. In attendance were five Grapevine Reps from various groups in Western Mass. This committee has met on a monthly basis ever since as a sub-committee of the Area.Since the districting plan was activated, the Area Committee meeting/Assembly has become too large with more and more GSR’s turning out. So in order to simplify matters, the GSR’s began attending only the District Meetings, where they would relay and receive information from the DCM’s. The DCM’s would then attend the Area Committee Meeting and, on behalf of the GSR’s they would convey the individual group’s activities. This created the need for a place where the Area Committee and GSR’s could meet to take care of the Area’s business. This became the Area Assembly. 

The first official semi-annual Western Mass Assembly took place on June 3 of this year at the Mitteneague Church in West Springfield. It was successful one-day event which featured committee reports, a brief conference report by Delegate John M., the election of John S. to the position of Area Treasure and inspiring comments by past Delegates Dick D. and Margaret C.

1979 Dick D. was elected at the General Service Conference of this year to serve as the North East Regional Trustee for the next 4 years. During his term as trustee he served as Chairman of the Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Board (AAWS).

1980 At the January Area meeting this year a motion was made and passed to create an Area Archives Committee. Immediate past Delegate John M. was appointed the first chairman of this committee. As with most matters in AA, it took most of this year to get things organized. The first meeting of this committee took place December 10, 1980 at the Western Mass Intergroup Office with 7 reps present. This committee has met ever since as a sub-committee of the Area.

1984 The first Western Mass Young Peoples Conference Committee Conference was held at Westfield State College. It was a weekend of workshops, meetings, fellowship, food, and fun. People from all over the Area came to join in this event making it a huge success.

1990 In February, the Berkshire Intergroup was formed. Towards the end of the year another service committee of the Area was formed. The Treatment Facilities Committee met for the first time at Holyoke Hospital on November 29th. Rick D. was appointed the first Chairman of this committee.

1991 As a result of the growth in AA in District 2 it was voted to split the district.

This action created a new district, District 6. District 6 covers part of Northern CT and Southern Massachusetts. Their first meeting took place in February of that year.

1993 A motion was made and passed at the Fall Assembly creating a new position on the Area Committee. The position of Area Registrar was first held by Jack O’D. that year. It is an appointed position with a vote on the Area Committee. This was amended to a non-voting position at the 2001 Spring Assembly.

1995 A motion was made and passed at the Spring Assembly this year to create a new position on the Area Committee. The position of Area Archivist is a non-rotating, appointed, non-voting position. This position is was held by Jerry B. Also this year our Area 31 was honored to host the Northeast Regional Forum in West Springfield.

1996 AA continues to grow by leaps and bounds in Western Mass. There are now appox. 270 groups/meetings and over 5000 members in our area.

1997 This year marked the first annual Spring mini-conference/assembly. The idea resulted when our current delegate Jack B. realized at his first General Service Conference (1996) that he didn’t feel as though he had much input from the area as he would of liked. The mini-conference was established as a way for the delegate to receive feedback from the area on how they feel on certain agenda items.

2000 At the Spring Assembly, the Area considered but decided against setting up a committee to study the feasibility of combining District 1 with another District. Support was given to District 1, and at the Fall Assembly the DCM reported that the District was alive and well. Also at the Fall Assembly, the Treatment Facilities Committee was dissolved and its functions were taken up by the Institutions Committee.

2001 A motion was made and passed at the Spring Assembly this year to separate the Area Chair and the Alternate Delegate position on the Area Committee, thus creating a new position of Alternate Delegate.

2002 In January, John F. was elected as the Area’s first Alternate Delegate.

2003 An Ad-Hoc committee to determine if there is a need for an Hispanic District in Area 31 was formed. The findings of the committee were presented at the 2005 Spring Assembly.

2004 At the Spring Assembly, the Guidelines for the Area 31 Western Massachusetts were passed unanimously. An ad-hoc committee was formed to look for a new space for the Western Mass Archives, which never really had a home since the Triangle Club disbanded in 1996.

2005 A new space was found for the Western Mass Archives at Cabotville Industrial Park in Chicopee, MA. The Area Committee and all standing committee meetings would move to this new location. The were over 250 registered groups and 440 meetings in Area 31. The Ad-Hoc committee to determine if there is a need for an Hispanic District decided at this time to disband for at least 1 year. Area 31, for the first time, hosted a Hospitality Suite at the 2005 International Convention in Toronto Canada. The Western Mass Young Peoples Conference took place in Chicopee, MA
on August 13th.

2006 At the Spring Assembly, a new system for committee chair rotation is approved: the Area Chair appoints a new co-chair for each standing committee every year, and the existing co-chair rolls into the chair.  In November, Area 31 is incorporated and granted 501(C)3 status.

2007 On July 29th, 2007 Dick D. Passed away.  He was the primary architect of Area 31's service structure and served as Panel 22 Delegate in 1972 and 1973.  In 1979 he was elected and served as the Northeast  Regional Trustee for 4 years.

At the Fall Assembly Jerry B. turned over the Archivist position after serving for 12 years.  With the approval of the Area Committee Bobbi P., Area 31's Panel 56 Delegate (2006-2007), was appointed as the new Archivist.

2008 On May 1st 2008 the Area 31 Service Committee and all Standing Committee of Area 31 left their residence at The Cabotville Industrial Park in Chicopee, to take residence in their new location at The Grace United Church on 474 Pleasant Street in Holyoke, MA.

Information courtesy of the 2008 Area Handbook