The Arsenal Foundation

“I believe in community and cooperation”

Arsenal in the Community All Change Arts

The Arsenal Foundation has helped to fund Well Versed, a poetry and performance group for older people run by All Change Arts. One member tells us how it has enriched his life

“My name is Anthony M Baker, although I am known to my friends as “Arsenal Tony”. I am 77 and I was born and bred in Islington. I live in Highbury now – where we had a stadium once.

“I’m retired now, but I started work at 15, and I’ve always done buying and selling of one kind or another, either in a shop or a store or on the telephone. I have been involved creatively from childhood into senior life and now I’m a regular member of Well Versed. I’ve performed poetry in theatres and in the pub. I have a degree, even though I come from working class origins. I’ve stood at the Leeds United away end when Don Revie, the Leeds manager, foolishly said, “Southern teams are soft!” – so most things are not scary for me. 

“I believe in community and cooperation and bring that into the positive things I do. I’ve performed all over including the Almeida Theatre, Sadler’s Wells Theatre and The Lamb Pub.

“Well Versed is All Change’s company of older people, who produce poetry and performances in collaboration with poet Francesca Beard, supported by a team of All Change associate and guest artists and partners including Almeida Theatre, Improbable, Sadler’s Wells, University of the Arts London Central Saint Martins and Arsenal in the Community. 

“I found out about Well Versed a long time ago, 2015 – I think it might have been through Age UK originally. I went along because it sounded interesting, and I think that first session was in the actual Arsenal Hub, where the indoor pitch is. We did a mix of movement, poetry and photography together. I remember feeling welcomed, that’s the main thing. That – and the writing – made me want to come back. I liked that there was always something interesting and challenging coming up.

“There have been a lot of highlights: appearing on stage at the Almeida Theatre and Sadler’s Wells; doing poetry recordings at the Premises Studios off Hackney Road; improvising with students at Central St Martins and the Arsenal first team; performing at the National Poetry Library at the Royal Festival Hall. 

“It all felt a little bit scary, in a good way, but thinking about the other people – it’s always been a co-operative effort, wherever we’ve been – was always a help. Although we’re a really diverse group, we’re a strong community.

“The best thing has been performing in all different places. It’s good to tell friends and people I know about it, where I’ve performed and what happens. Having an anthology and my own zine of poetry – In His Own Words, published this year – all helps in the different groups I’m in. My “celebrity status”, both in my local pub and in the wider community, has improved significantly – although I refuse to give autographs!

“It’s always interesting and challenging. There’s always something new – that’s the challenging bit. And interacting with the group keeps it interesting.

“Oh, and yes I am an Arsenal fan. I was taken over to Highbury as a child in the 1950s and that was it. There’s no going back. You start at Clock End, then go round to the North Bank and then you get a season ticket – there’s a kind of rites of passage.” 

For more information visit allchangearts.org

Why I write

I write because it’s not allowed
I write because my parents didn’t
I write because no one else does (in theory)
I write for a time capsule
I write for the moment that this is
A unique unprecedented period
For most of humankind
I write as a reaction
to other people’s thoughts,
feelings, ideas, opinions
I don’t know why I write
by Anthony M Baker

Best Days of Your Life 

Above the woodworks in Upper Holloway,
rats and mice,
taking wood bundles to the neighbours,
at a price,
for pocket money
on the side,
fighting all the time
at Duncombe Road School
“Have I won?”
“Who’s on my side?”
by Anthony M Baker