PRSC and the community of Stokes Croft lost a legend last week, with the untimely demise of Mr Tony Fortune.
Man about town, face around the place, and all round local hero, Tony arrived at the PRSC in 2018, bringing a whiff of London’s East End to this vibrant corner of Bristol.
Tony also brought with him a passion for meeting people, making a difference and getting involved, along with a history of puppeteering and street theatre, and a recent qualification in Community Development.
Oh, and some terrible jokes! Including (but not limited to)…
“I am sick of following my dreams, so I’m just going to ask her where she is going”
“They caught the Mexican flasher: Senior Willy” and
“I used to be scared of attractive women, until I found out that they were just as scared of me”
Sometimes flying solo, and sometimes as part of a double act with Mr Powers the dog, at the PRSC Tony turned his hand to everything including leading workshops; painting walls; inspiring a tv show called Powers and Fortune; cleaning floors; sorting stock; working the door for The People’s Comedy (even warming up the crowd sometimes!); writing and performing puppet shows; distributing tents and magazines to those without homes; and filling the unofficial role of PRSC community outreach officer by stopping everyone he met in the street to tell them about the PRSC, often dragging them inside to meet the crew and look around our buildings.
Tony was a man who had lived a full life, and who was open with his stories of addiction, recovery, violence, mental and physical health difficulties, past mistakes and past adventures, but he never stopped reflecting how he should live his life, or how he could help others to get through their own struggles. “In all the insanity I have been stabbed, shot, I have a titanium cheek bone, lost everything several times – homes, lovers, work, most importantly myself. I look back and I have to ask was it worth it?” or to as he put it another way “I have done things that would make your toes curl so much that you wouldn’t be able to take your shoes off for a month”.
It’s hard to put all we knew and felt and loved about Tony into words, so we’ll leave you here with his own. This is a poem he wrote in 2018, based on ‘But I can’t‘ – a 1940 poem by W.H.Auden.
Time only knows the price we have to pay
Fate always works it out
There are no fortunes to be told,
We make our own future so I’m told
What happens tomorrow has yet to unfold.
Time will say nothing except I told you so
Time only knows the price we have to pay.
The future can be bright, or bleak
Depending upon what we seek.
Ther are no fortunes to be told,
We make our own future so I’m told
So what I see is what’s in me
Look for beauty and that’s what we will see
Time only knows the price we have to pay
See ugliness and that is what we are.
There are no fortunes to be told
Will time say nothing but I told you so?
We make our own future so I’m told.
If I could tell you I would let you know.
We make our own future so I’m told
So what I do today affects tomorrow
So I have to be careful of what I do
A word once spoken cannot be taken back
So I have to think before I talk.
People come, and people go,
They affect me and I affect them,
So always be aware of that ripple effect.
Because what I do or say next
May affect my next step.
We make our own future or so I’m told
I have to always remember that domino effect.
Because it may affect where I land next.
We have no details at present, but please contact PRSC if you’d like to be informed about the wake or funeral.
Thanks and credit to Colin Moody and Claudio Ahlers for (most of) these photographs.
Powers and Fortune, starring Tony Fortune and Mr Powers, was made by Bev Milward and Colin Moody with the help of Maryem Meddeb and William Underhill.
