At our last book club meeting we discussed ‘The Club on the End of Town’ by Alan Lane and were overjoyed to be joined by Alan on Zoom to talk about his work at Slung Low Theatre Company, based in Holbeck in South Leeds, in particular during the Covd-19 Crisis when they pivoted to become a non means tested, self referral food bank. Having seen Alan speak at Theatre Forum last May, Paul and I felt compelled to do what we could to share this story. If you missed it, you can watch the interview back below. Be warned Alan is a passionate guy and so there may be some colourful language, but we think you’ll enjoy the conversation he and Paul had.
As Alan says in his book, “There are children in Holbeck without crayons. Living in a city with an opera company. An Opera company paid for with money from all of us. Until everyone has crayons no one gets opera. That’s what I believe.” – Alan Lane
‘The Club on the Edge of Town” is a deeply moving memoir of how a theatre company took over the management of the UK’s oldest surviving working men’s club in the UK and battled bureaucracy, resistance from naysayers, and a global lock-down to galvanise the community during the Covid pandemic, running a non-means tested self-referral food-bank that delivered 15,202 food parcels to people in need during the pandemic.
‘The Club on the Edge of Town” is available to order from Amazon.