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David Anglin

Delusional Thinking? Or Indomitable Spirit... Connecting to Ubele


Photo taken by David Alexander



My friend Joe over the years has said that when I’m ready I use a form of Jedi Mind works, allegedly. However, today as I was travelling back from Leeds as part of a training day for grantees of The Phoenix Way fund, I thought to myself hmmmm maybe I have just a touch of the force within. The reason I say this is because for a game we played as part of the training day which was to build the tallest tower possible using just 30 pieces of paper, sellotape and a ruler, I may have channelled inner Yoda in helping the room come to the best conclusion. 😅


Now hear me out first before judging, because for this game the team I was in, started of not talking with each other much as we all had ideas for how the tower should be built. But a smart idea from a team member of rolling paper and going as high as possible formed a whole universe of ideas for me. We ended up formulating plans for a paper towel that would rival the Eiffel Tower though I knew the importance would be in the foundation especially as the tower needed to be able to hold an apple, and so gave ideas to the team for how best to do this. 


Now without a doubt, what we were creating influenced half the room, as our mammoth of a tower could be seen from afar. We saw similar builds being produced, and when the time elapsed for building passed, we watched as each group presented their works of a paper tower though only two were able to complete the task of holding an apple. 

It was now our turn our collective heartbeat could be heard from here to high heaven. We wanted to secretly add more foundation, though had to accept our fate and that it'll be what it'll be. 

The time was now and the host for the game placed the apple at the top of our high tower. What I forgot to also mention which was a game changer for our tower was how a wife of who I will refer to as 1 half of a power couple came up with the idea, for creating a simple but very effective paper holder for the apple (You'll see it in the photo)


The apple was placed on our top, and like bearing the weight of the world on its shoulders it was no Hercules, it leaned, the group's heart sank, and mine sank even further as I was the biggest voice for the look and importance of the foundation. But like the birth of a child after so many attempts a miracle occurred, as the leaning tower found equilibrium and held the apple for what felt like to me were minutes, though in reality more likely seconds... though long seconds... Allegedly. 


Now in my mind, that was a win, as I wasn’t certain it would even hold that long, but as it was a win in my mind I felt it should be a win in everyone else’s mind too 😑 and so when everyone else was in excited chatter and debate about who won. I felt like we were the winners 😑.  When the room was asked by a very fair judge 😅 "If they felt we won," I put up both my hands just to emphasise my belief and hoping it’ll inspire others. The rest as they say is history… 😁✨😂


Even though I’m making jokes about this, I want to talk about a more serious thing it made me realise, as I was in a room filled with real powerhouses of people who have tirelessly strived to make their communities a better place. Similar to me and my unwavering belief in the paper tower, they would not accept any defeat in championing for their communities. For example, I talked with Yvonne Field OBE the founder and director of Ubele and I asked her how she got Ubele to this place of being able to actively support and fund so many from the black and brown communities. I was inspired when she told me her history of fighting for equality starting from watching her mum fight to get her into a school who planned to keep her out due to racism of that era, and how this motivated her as just a 13 year old with her friend to set up and run a highly popular youth club in Deptford. I instantly understood how the achievements of Ubele were possible. 

Even thinking on this subject made me remember my conversation with Erinma Bell MBE and her Husband Raymond who I called earlier the power couple, as they have been actively fighting for their community of Manchester Moss Side, in reducing violence in the area, especially during the era when it was known as a gun capitol.  


These conversations made me realise that to make a difference you have to be 'delusional' in your thinking, as on paper it will look impossible, but believing wholeheartedly in your 'delusional' thinking can make things happen that others belived was impossible. 




With that being said, I am very happy to say that Red Light Busking has been funded by the Phoenix Fund via Ubele and the National Lottery community fund. This allows us to carry on our service for working with young people referred to us from organisations like social services, family intervention and youth justice services. 

Currently, we run a weekly music studio project for these young people, where they get the chance to create music, discuss current issues they are facing with our team of professionals and have their horizons broadened through the creatives/ musicians we invite to the sessions every month. To read an example of one of our former young people who went on to great success please click here


Please consider making a donation to our music studio project for trauma impacted young people.



I'm also happy to say that we're also offering a new therapeutic music intervention, starting in Redbridge. The purpose of this project is to re-engage young people in learning who are struggling for a variety of reasons, including trauma, behavioural difficulties and other life challenges while enabling them to achieve a BTEC qualification and offering support to school staff. 

For more information about this service please contact us via email @ info@redlightbusking.com


Lastly, for those who have followed us over the years, for the events, exhibitions and live music aspect of Red Light Busking, hold tight as we have some very exciting projects in the pipeline that I'll be updating you with soon.







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