Slade Green Goes Marching On!

Slade Green Goes Maraching On! is the result of a research and development project with Three Rivers Bexley focused on alternative approaches to community engagement. The project highlights the plight of an under-resourced borough of London through the folk process of chant writing to describe and activate social history, expressions of resilience, and demands for the future.

The project responded to the loss of community spaces due to years of housing developments, initially made evident by the local football stadium “The Small Glen” being sold to developers whilst the grassroots team play in the park next door. Through active research, PWT explored how to celebrate and amplify the community resistance and resilience they found, and how they might support the existing culture and energy rather than prescribe a new activity from outside.

PWT designed and deployed a community ultras group that uses methods from grassroots football including chants, banners, costumes and sound devices to voice local concerns. Through interviews and engagements with the people of Slade Green, football chants were re-worked and performed to express political opinions and develop support for the local Slade Green Knights FC and the wider community. The chants were performed at training sessions and football tournaments within Slade Green with a publication, chant writing instructions and other ephemera being shared with the team for future use.