While hundreds of families wash down their New Year's day lunch with a couple of glasses of wine, today one man will be celebrating the fact that there is no alcohol on his table.

Renald Borg, a former alcoholic, is more than happy to welcome the New Year surrounded by his family and savour the precious moments with them without the risk of an alcohol-induced blackout.

"Ever since I stopped drinking, two years and five months ago, I appreciate things so much more. I appreciate what my wife does for me and the time spent with my two sons," says Mr Borg, 36.

"I learnt that, if I drink what children drink, I behave like a man but that adults' drinks reduce me to a child. Alcohol robs you of everything. It's a sickness. I didn't love myself when I used to drink, so how could I love my wife and children," he argues as he glances at his wife, Silvana.

"This will be the best New Year as I'm starting to feel safe and not scared he might start drinking again," she says with a hopeful smile.

"Living with an alcoholic was scary," she adds, recalling the 11 years of hell spent with her husband and his drinking addiction. Her youngest son, Wayne, clearly lived his mother's pain as his eyes well up while his parents recount what they term a "soap opera". The 11-year-old soon stands up and leaves the room as he struggles to suppress his tears.

"He's a very sensitive boy. Both he and his elder brother, Jean Claude, suffered because of their father's drinking," his mother excuses him in a soft, affectionate tone.

The turning point in the family's life was a traffic accident that knocked Mr Borg to his senses and made him realise he was drowning his life in alcohol.

It was July 20, 2006. Mr Borg had been drinking for 11 hours non-stop. He decided to leave the bar where he had been and drive to another one. "I was at the Pietà traffic lights when I lost control of the car and slammed against the car in front me. With the crash I sort of sobered up. The first thing I did was go check on the woman I crashed into..."

Nobody was injured but there were legal and financial consequences he would have to face. He ended up in court and was fined for drinking and driving and his car, a Daihatsu Charade, which he was still paying in instalments, ended up being sold for a pittance.

"But I had been lucky," he now says looking back. "That was the day I stopped drinking. I realised that I couldn't keep living like that."

He called a social worker at Sedqa and the rest, as they say, is history.

"Two years and five months passed since then. And I feel that I am two years and five months old and not 36. I've only been truly living since I stopped drinking," he reflects.

Mr Borg's problems with drink started at a very young age. He was still 14 at the time and thought he had found a "solution" to his natural shyness by sipping confidence from his father's wine bottles. As he grew older he started drinking more and, when he started working, he had more money to spend on alcohol. Initially, he would drink with friends but then he also started drinking alone and even took the bottle with him to the bathroom.

At the age of 22 he met his wife, who was 19, and immediately told her he was an alcoholic.

Looking back she admits that she had no idea what that meant at the time. She shudders as she remembers all the fights they had when he would arrive home drunk and smelling of alcohol.

"He used to drink every day. He'd send our sons to buy alcohol. The children used to see everything.... My son's headmistress called me many times to ask me why he used to cry so much at school. He would tell her he was crying for me, his mother, because his father used to drink. I was embarrassed to walk in the street and face people's comments and looks," she says.

"He'd bring strangers to our home claiming they were his friends. Once, I'll never forget this, we went to a fair and he filled the basket under our son's buggy with beer bottles. I wanted the earth to swallow me."

During those dark times Ms Borg tried to separate from her husband several times but, at the same time, wanted to help him with the problem.

He had tried to stop drinking before. He would stop for a short while but would start getting terrible headaches and return to drinking again.

"I'd also look for every excuse to pop open a bottle. I would pick fights with my wife so I'd have an excuse to leave the house and blame my drinking on her," he says.

Mr Borg had been going to Sedqa for help for several years but he was never truly committed before the day the accident triggered something deep inside him.

"But it's all over now. I keep in contact with my social worker as I know I'll never be completely cured from my habit... It's a sickness that will remain with me till I die. However, today, I'm proud of who I am. I walk down the road with my head held high."

The services of Sedqa, the agency against alcohol and drug abuse, can be reached through Supportline 179.