What do you think?
Rate this book
The Club on the Edge of Town
'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.' A deeply moving memoir of how a group of artists fed their local community during the Covid pandemic. When crisis hits, and audiences stay home, what’s the most useful thing a theatre company can do? The answer was to become a food bank and one-stop-help-shop for those in need. In fifteen months, Slung Low would go on to deliver over 15,000 food parcels.
- GenresNonfiction
215 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2022
3 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 15, 2022
We all need an Alan in our towns, what an inspirational amazing guy. This is a book I will be urging everyone to read. A tale of how you can get things done.
May 12, 2022
Such a good read, I have long had a crush on Slung Low. This is the type of work that inspires me in my own practice. Having worked in different arts organisations, it’s fair to say that the systems don’t or don’t want to allow for such innovation, and care for people and communities. Talk is cheap!
This book is such a pleasure to read, nice flow, very episodic and definitely feels like the first in a series, with so much more to be said. It’s bold statement to a community, that doesn’t shy away from the hard conversation and just how difficult good work really is. Including how much is invisible and how challenging humans can be sometimes, to their detriment. Questioning everything from food security to arts funding, while proposing ways we could have better conversations.
Some of my favourite quotes:
“There are three clear values that Slung Low operates by.
Be useful.
Be kind.
Everyone gets what they want, but no one else gets to stop others getting what they want.”
“Standingbefore them and telling them to check their privilege is not only tactically stupid, but also tone deaf to a community
that, whilst far from being at the bottom of the pile, have been badly led, lied to, abused and over worked for generations.”
It’s a book that was hard to put down and easy to read in a couple of sittings. I kept stopping myself to soak a little more up.
This book is such a pleasure to read, nice flow, very episodic and definitely feels like the first in a series, with so much more to be said. It’s bold statement to a community, that doesn’t shy away from the hard conversation and just how difficult good work really is. Including how much is invisible and how challenging humans can be sometimes, to their detriment. Questioning everything from food security to arts funding, while proposing ways we could have better conversations.
Some of my favourite quotes:
“There are three clear values that Slung Low operates by.
Be useful.
Be kind.
Everyone gets what they want, but no one else gets to stop others getting what they want.”
“Standingbefore them and telling them to check their privilege is not only tactically stupid, but also tone deaf to a community
that, whilst far from being at the bottom of the pile, have been badly led, lied to, abused and over worked for generations.”
It’s a book that was hard to put down and easy to read in a couple of sittings. I kept stopping myself to soak a little more up.
April 29, 2022
Timely, angry and humane look at how Covid impacted a Leeds community and what Slung Low theatre company did to help. A must read.
February 3, 2023
There are bold claims in the foreword to this book about people reading it in one sitting but it certainly lived up to the challenge as I finished it on the day it arrived in the post!
I'd eagerly anticipated the book because it dealt with a number of subjects that were close to my heart. The book was about the challenges faced by a very different kind of theatre company; one rooted in the kind of Leeds community (Holbeck) that my Dad's family had grown up in before he headed south in the early 1960s to serve in the Army, and based not far from my beloved Leeds United.
It is the story of a theatre company ('Slung Low') that had taken up residence in Britain's oldest working men's club ('The Holbeck'), where it had forged a vision of a cultural and community 'space' where the local community can be inspired, enriched, entertained - or just get together. As the book charts, it then faced head-on the challenges of the pandemic, when it could either 'go-under', or open itself up, and provide whatever the community needed, whether that simply be a friend when no one else was there, or very practical support for real needs. It stepped up and became a non-means tested, self referral food bank, an essential part of the fabric of that community, delivered with love.
As you can probably tell, I fell in love with this book too. I did indeed read it in one sitting. I'm not usually a fast reader (I put that down to nystagmus and double vision), but in the case of this book, I devoured it in the space of a few hours.
The book is drenched with stories, and brimming with hope, yet at the same time, does not shy away from hiding the realities and divisions facing many of our communities. It provides real inspiration, pointers for how we might be able to do something to find catalysts to spark the generation of 'social glue' and discovery of an inter-generational mission where we might all be inspired, enriched, entertained, and supported to help each other. As you might guess, it helps provoke some real questions about where power lies, and how we make change. It is not academic.
As Hilary Benn MP writes in his introduction, "With zeal, energy, cheerfulness, and a wilful refusal to let bureaucracy and obstacles get in the way, the team helped to feed many people in Holbeck over the months. And all the while, they tried to live by their principles. First, be useful. Second, be kind. And third, everyone gets what they want and no one gets to stop anyone else getting what they want."
Alan Lane is Artistic Director of Slung Low, and the book is as much about his vision and energy as it is about the club - he is a real inspiration. He has written a beautiful book ("Thank you!"), and is at the helm of a beautiful thing. I thoroughly recommend his book, and following Slung Low's mission on social media. I really hope to be able to drop by next time I have an excuse to visit Leeds.
I'd eagerly anticipated the book because it dealt with a number of subjects that were close to my heart. The book was about the challenges faced by a very different kind of theatre company; one rooted in the kind of Leeds community (Holbeck) that my Dad's family had grown up in before he headed south in the early 1960s to serve in the Army, and based not far from my beloved Leeds United.
It is the story of a theatre company ('Slung Low') that had taken up residence in Britain's oldest working men's club ('The Holbeck'), where it had forged a vision of a cultural and community 'space' where the local community can be inspired, enriched, entertained - or just get together. As the book charts, it then faced head-on the challenges of the pandemic, when it could either 'go-under', or open itself up, and provide whatever the community needed, whether that simply be a friend when no one else was there, or very practical support for real needs. It stepped up and became a non-means tested, self referral food bank, an essential part of the fabric of that community, delivered with love.
As you can probably tell, I fell in love with this book too. I did indeed read it in one sitting. I'm not usually a fast reader (I put that down to nystagmus and double vision), but in the case of this book, I devoured it in the space of a few hours.
The book is drenched with stories, and brimming with hope, yet at the same time, does not shy away from hiding the realities and divisions facing many of our communities. It provides real inspiration, pointers for how we might be able to do something to find catalysts to spark the generation of 'social glue' and discovery of an inter-generational mission where we might all be inspired, enriched, entertained, and supported to help each other. As you might guess, it helps provoke some real questions about where power lies, and how we make change. It is not academic.
As Hilary Benn MP writes in his introduction, "With zeal, energy, cheerfulness, and a wilful refusal to let bureaucracy and obstacles get in the way, the team helped to feed many people in Holbeck over the months. And all the while, they tried to live by their principles. First, be useful. Second, be kind. And third, everyone gets what they want and no one gets to stop anyone else getting what they want."
Alan Lane is Artistic Director of Slung Low, and the book is as much about his vision and energy as it is about the club - he is a real inspiration. He has written a beautiful book ("Thank you!"), and is at the helm of a beautiful thing. I thoroughly recommend his book, and following Slung Low's mission on social media. I really hope to be able to drop by next time I have an excuse to visit Leeds.
April 17, 2022
Very readable account of a theatre based in the Holbeck area of Leeds - poor, deprived, run-down - and their transformation into a food bank during the Covid crisis. This is a highly readable and thought-provoking work about the people of the area, the attitudes both within the area and outside, the systems that cause such difficult conditions and the inspiring story of what Slung Low, the theatre company, is trying to do and how. Into all this comes Covid, forcing everything to shut and the company looks at what it can do instead of theatre, and the answer seems to be delivering food, so that's what they do. It's a really powerful story and an honest account of what people say and do, how the system treats them, how and why arts funding should exist and all kinds of other stuff as well. Really well worth a read.
August 3, 2025
Where to start with this book apart from, 'saying everyone should read it?'
A true story of everyday heroes in inner-city Leeds during the covid pandemic, this is a super humbling book about a theatre company supporting their local community. It's a brilliant example of how we're all superheroes and have the power to make the world a better place together, and completely took me by surprise when I randomly picked it up at the library.
That makes it sound like a feel-good book, and lots really not, as author Alan details ongoing bureaucracy and local politics (both in government and the community) as hurdles to overcome. As Alan says, "Stories matter. They remind us why we do things". We all have a part to play in showing up - what's yours?
A true story of everyday heroes in inner-city Leeds during the covid pandemic, this is a super humbling book about a theatre company supporting their local community. It's a brilliant example of how we're all superheroes and have the power to make the world a better place together, and completely took me by surprise when I randomly picked it up at the library.
That makes it sound like a feel-good book, and lots really not, as author Alan details ongoing bureaucracy and local politics (both in government and the community) as hurdles to overcome. As Alan says, "Stories matter. They remind us why we do things". We all have a part to play in showing up - what's yours?
April 23, 2022
This would be an ace series. The book is episodic. By the end you can feel him fitting in chapters at the end of 12 he shifts as Theatre Director/Saviour if Holbeck. It’s funny and bold, walking quite fine lines around competing rights and needs of those in his world. Everyone describes it as a read -in one-sitting thing and it was that for me.
April 22, 2022
Actual life heroes. Medals or capes, which ever.
July 6, 2022
Amazingly good! Inspirational.
August 6, 2022
Reading aloud to D was tricky - fair amount of wobbly voice by the end. Terrific, though. And true.
January 30, 2023
Magnificent. A must read.
January 31, 2024
Inspirational story. Little moments making massive change
November 25, 2024
Brilliant book. inspiring. There is a lot to learn about being human in this book.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews