Angi Naylor is a renown BASW / SWU activist, social worker, and folk singer who has been a member of the SWU Executive Committee since the union was formed.
After announcing her retirement earlier this year, the SWU Executive arranged for a special surprise meeting in August where friends and colleagues from across the social work community joined SWU General Secretary John McGowan and SWU Chair Dave Callow online to say farewell to Angi Naylor. This event was hosted by John from Angi and her wife Maureen’s home on August 6th, 2024 with many joining in online to share memories and celebrate her legacy within the social work community of kindness, respect for others, activism, and song.
John said, “I first came across Angi when I joined the SWU Executive when the union formed just after 2011. At that time I was going ‘Who is this person?’ You could really feel her energy. Angi was a great mentor for me and as a mentor really built up my skills. She has acted as AAG Chair and SWU Vice Chair, and brought her experience of being active in campaigns.
“Angi, you’ve been such a great person to have at SWU. The legend, friend, and fellow activist – you will be deeply missed in SWU and more widely throughout social work. Your contribution will remain enshrined in our history.”
Alongside an AAG Campaign Action Pack mug from the SWU Executive, John presented Angi with a Harry Venning original drawing of Angi marching alongside Clare from Clare in the Community.
BASW Lifetime Achievement Award
At the event, John presented Angi in person with the BASW Lifetime Achievement Award awarded to her by the BASW Council. BASW CEO Ruth Allen was also there online to present Angi with this award and spoke of why Angi so deserved it:
“The BASW UK Chair and all of BASW Council are so pleased to give this award to you, Angi. It is only the third award of recent years.
“You have been a huge, dedicated contributor to BASW and SWU over decades, joining the association in 1980 and active ever since. Your commitment to social work values and to fellow social workers and members has been unstinting throughout. You have taken these values into your years of peerless activism and protest. And, of course, you are our straight-talking social work poet in song. You are compassion in action.
“You have always supported BASW staff too. My personal thanks for your kindness, reaching out particularly throughout Covid. You keep us on our toes and are always positive and encouraging. You always remind us to look after ourselves as well as our members.”
The event ended with a round of music. Dr Peter Unwin, Poet Austeriate, played his guitar and sang a deeply touching original song called “Angi Naylor, There’s Only One You”.
Angi said, “If you hand me a guitar I’ll conclude with a song, a Methodist hymn – it’s just a feelgood song and it’s true.” Angi played “When I Needed a Neighbour” and everyone joined in for the chorus of a heartfelt “The Social Workers Chant – Boot Out Austerity”.
More about Angi
Angi joined the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) as a student member in 1980 and is especially proud of her 10 years of work with the BASW Special Interest Group on Ageing (SIGA), including two terms as SIGA Chair. After the Social Workers Union (SWU) formed in 2011 Angi joined its Executive Committee, and she has served as SWU Vice Chair for the past two years.
Angi has also been Chair of the Austerity Action Group (AAG) since its inception in 2017. The AAG was born out of the Boot Out Austerity campaign, famous for its anti-austerity protest march from Birmingham to Liverpool, and has been funded by SWU since 2019 to continue campaigning for a more socially just society. Angi feels passionately about addressing the growing divide of digital poverty and fairly remunerating those with lived experience for their time and expertise.
She is also a great supporter of the musician led We Shall Overcome movement that has held over a thousand events nationwide fighting austerity and raising help for those suffering most in our communities.
Angi shared two of her favourite quotes:
“I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
– Etienne de Grellet, Quaker missionary
“It’s a folk singer’s job to comfort disturbed people, and disturb comfortable people.”
– Woody Guthrie
Watch the video that Angi recorded for SWU’s 10th Anniversary Celebration on the origins of the Austerity Action Group, social work’s rich history of protest from the 1973 Cuts Can Kill campaign to the 2017 Boot Out Austerity march, and of course her famous anti-austerity protest song “The Social Workers Chant – Boot Out Austerity”: