38. A cassette recorder for Tony: A great example of gentle and brave community building
Small actions can be very effective, particularly when they have a generative element.
The Meadows is a large park near the centre of Edinburgh, located to the south of the historic Old Town. On the site of the drained South Loch, the area was common land for centuries and was the site of the huge International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art in 1886, when much of the area was covered in exhibitions and buildings. Only a few traces of the exhibition remain, including this sun-dial near what was the main entrance. An arch made of whale jawbones survived until only a few years ago but seems to be beyond restoration. Today it’s a popular space for recreation with joggers, children’s football, exercise groups, the odd Quidditch game as well as gatherings, protests, fairs and festivals through the year. On fine summer evenings the fields are full of younger people socialising with barbeques and beers (and sometimes the police for company!).
Mark, the Meadows and Tony
I have a Saturday morning routine of taking a long energetic walk for exercise. I have various routes around the city which take 1-1.5 hours, and one of my favourites is around the Meadows. Not only is it a good open space to inhabit, there’s always a lot going on with outdoor gym classes working with kettlebells, tiny children having soccer coaching with suitable sized kit (unlike at my primary school in the 1960s where 5 year olds played with full sized goals!), dogs making the most of the trees, people of all ages jogging, running, walking and meeting up. And then there was Tony.
Tony busked. He stood in the same grassy spot most weeks, just off the path towards the northwest corner, by a lamp post. He was there so often that the spot was definitely worn by his feet. He played acoustic guitar and sang. I didn’t even know his name at this point. Here’s the thing - he didn’t really look like a busker. An older man, quite slim and tidily turned out in a lambswool-type pullover with neat hair… he didn’t look like the archetypical art student or old rocker at all. And, in some ways, he didn’t sound like a busker either. No stirring renditions of Streets Of London or Blowing In The Wind here – Tony’s songs were original and in his own personal style. He would acknowledge people as they passed, including me as I sometimes put a pound in his collection for brightening the day. He was a warm presence on the Meadows and a regular part of the place.
Tony disappears
Then one day in June 2023, Tony wasn’t there. Not unusual, he didn’t always perform. But as the days and weeks passed, his absence became more noticeable. I vaguely wondered what might have happened to him (and didn’t do anything about it). It turns out that others were thinking about Tony too, and with more purpose than me.
One day I saw that someone had stuck a notice on the lamp post near where Tony usually stood. It said:
We miss you Tony. Please leave a message or a gift here for Tony.
There was also a QR code on the notice with an email address for a Justgiving page.
Next to this notice was another:
He’s still in hospital. Was a bad fall & led to things on health. I hope to bring him to play maybe in October, now and again. His mobility is not great. Thanks to all for kind and sweet words. Chris. PS Tony is touched.
I went to the Justgiving page, discovered that it had been set up by Neil Millar some months ago, and got in touch. Neil told me the story of how he used to see Tony on his walk to work at the University of Edinburgh, had chatted with him and even exchanged Christmas cards in years gone by. And despite all this he had no idea who Tony was, where he lived or how to get in touch with him.
Getting in touch with Tony
Neil had seen a previous message from Chris on the lamp post saying that Tony was in hospital. But this too gave no means of connection. He says:
I put up the Justgiving page on 19th June… I was hoping that someone would contact me through the page to let me know how to contact Tony. When nobody did, I tried standing on Tony's spot and singing (with signs up saying to stop me if they knew Tony). That led to someone I knew posting on the Friends of Meadows and Bruntsfield Links (FOMBL) members webpage, and I submitted an article into their newsletter - but still had no word about how to contact Tony. Then I had to pause for the whole of August because the lamppost was covered up with a massive Fringe hoarding!
After this Neil decided to publicly add his email address to the poster on the lamppost, asking people to get in touch with him if they knew how to contact Tony. He had some concerns about getting spam messages, but didn’t. He says:
It was only in early September, as a bit of a last resort, that I decided, after a fair bit of reluctance, to put my email directly on a poster on the lamppost asking anyone who knew how to contact him to email me. I was unsure about having my email up in public - but in fact it was fine. Chris saw it and got in touch in early September and then Chris’ wife also got in touch.
In Neil’s view (and mine too), it took him to trust in the goodness of people that they would respond to a QR code, and it also took a lot of people to trust and have faith in humanity to click on a QR code stuck on a lamppost that could have taken them anywhere or been harmful or malicious. Neil points out that Chris and also his wife took a leap of faith too in responding to the poster in September and contacting him to share (with a stranger) how to get in touch with his friend Tony. Even though he had set up a Justgiving page, there was no guarantee that he was trustworthy.Â
After three months, there was finally a route for Neil to contact Tony. A dozen or so people have contributed to the Justgiving page so far, with warm messages of appreciation and support. Neil went to see Tony in the care home where he is recovering. Just over £100 was raised, and Tony wanted a cassette recorder to record his songs! (I suspect this tells us about Tony’s generation, which is also my own, in terms of technology.) Neil wondered whether such devices are still available; they are, and last weekend he was able to take a new cassette recorder and mic to Tony (below). They were able to record five of Tony’s songs. Neil reports that Tony was very touched that so many people had donated and sent him such warm wishes.
Fundraising – for someone you don’t know
I think this is a story of small but remarkable courage and persistence. Neil tried various ways to get in touch, including singing himself in the same spot! He started a crowd funding campaign for someone he didn’t have any contact with, or idea how to contact. He put his name and contact details out there in public. Neil’s friends were sceptical about whether anyone would respond at all to such an unusual invitation. He persisted even when his sign was hidden by Fringe festival posters. And, in the end, contact was made, Tony knows that people miss him and support him, and we are all more connected.
Connecting a community
My good friend and colleague Cormac Russell is an expert and advocate for Asset Based Community Development (ABCD). His lates book The Connected Community is full of examples of how communities have useful resources already lurking, and how the key is to start to connect these resources, people, skills, time, experience to allow them to work together and co-operate. I think that Neil’s actions here are a fine example of this. Encouraged by Tony’s friend Chris leaving an initial message, he not only decided to take action but did it in a way that allowed others to connect with him, and in the end with Tony. And he did it without having any way to actually contact Tony or his friends. This is a relatively small step, but one which could multiply, expand and amplify.
In another world, Neil could have done this without the generative and connective element. He could have tried to find Tony or Chris to give some money. But instead he offered a route to anyone passing the spot who wanted to join in. That’s a small difference but a key one.
Conclusion
There are some excellent learning points here for anyone seeking to organise both humanely and effectively.
Give people opportunities to connect (as well as the means to do so). That way, the right people can come forward to get involved.
Making small steps is a good way to proceed. Do something and see what happens – even if there’s no response, that’s one less thing to try in future.
Connecting people is a simple and effective way of drawing on resources, skills and experiences – much easier than trying to do it all yourself.Â
It’s good to act with a little bravery and stand up for something – then people can see you and rally around. If you don’t stand up for something, you might be at risk of falling for anything.
The Justgiving page for Tony is at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/tony-who-sings-on-the-meadows. It’s still open.
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Dates and mates
My own work in micro-local neighbourhood community building is online at
where you can find our Village-Builder Handbook, podcasts, blog and other resources.
Cormac Russell’s inspiring work on the importance and value of the neighbourhood along with many great stories and practical tips can be found at Nuture Development. His latest book The Connected Community (written with John McKnight) is an unmissable aid to anyone involved (or just interested) in the creation of better neighbourhood communities.
