I am the Official mascot for AFC Wimbledon, Haydon the Womble I am the last Womble to have been named by Elisabeth Beresford the creator of the Wombles, I can be seen at every AFC Wimbledon match banging my bin and clearing up litter to keep the crowd cheering on the team. I love High fives and cuddles, the person who er looks after me is Dean Parsons who is married to Kelly Jane and has a daughter named Charlotte, I am extremely proud to represent Haydon on the plinth, and I hope I can add to Gormley's excellent project.
What can I say what a great time I had, I hope you enjoyed it too, thanks for everyone that came and gave me their support it meant a great deal to me.
UPDATE I DID IT!
Well what can I say I made way towards Trafalgar Square at 3.30 and arrived at 4.30 at the Oneandother green room/office/two tiered portacabin, I was greeted by the team, and briefed about what would be happening, I then went and checked out the size of the plinth, to ensure I didn't fall off, and managed to catch a cake from the lovely lady who was currently on the plinth, I gave it to my helper for the day Paul. Then made way back to the office to give my interview and take my photo's.
I waved off the lady who was up before me (apologies I forgot her name) and then started to get ready/get excited (apologies to the team I was like a kid at Christmas) Then the moment came and i got in to the cage to lift me to my hour of destiny.
The reason for my idea was that Antony Gormley had decided to bring the plinth that normally housed statues to life, so I decided to get the crowd to play musical statues so as to turn life to statues, the opposite of what Antony was achieving.
It started well, and I got quite a few joining in to YMCA but unfortunately due to only 2 days notice I could not get a better sound system, and the wind was keeping the music away from a big area of the crowd, but I was not going to let this stop me and I carried on with The Timewarp (my tribute to the Timewarp plinth who was coming on later after me) before I gave a tribute to the late great Michael Jackson, so as keep my work current. I hope noone was too shocked my a Womble groin grabbing!
I then wanted to spread some love as well as smiles around the square/world, as I feel art is very much about expressions and you cannot get a bigger expression than the expression of love. So this is where I gave out roses to the ladies and gentlemen in the crowd in fact Sirius who has entered himself for a moment on the plinth got one himself, so it was nice to give him a small gesture for his support.
I really should give the reason why I felt I should apply to be on the fourth plinth, well I came to discover Antony's work after seeing the structure at Greenwich and wondering what it was, when looking it up I discovered it was the Quantam cloud, so i researched his thinking behind the structure, and discovered the way he liked to think outside the box, when he did his work, and I liked this and was intrigued by it, so when this latest project of his came up, I knew I had to try and be a part of it, and I have to say I feel very privileged to say that I Haydon the Womble am a piece of art!
Anyway back to the plinth, I hope I managed to make people smile and have a warm glow, because I just wanted to spread some happiness across the world, because I am a firm believer in when you smile at a stranger and they smile back as they walk past you a stranger catches that smile and passes on to another, and together we can spread a smile around the world, which at time has too much hate, and together with a slight change of attitude we can make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race.
I would just like to end with a few thank yous
Firstly to my wife and daughter for letting me go through with another crazy idea.
To Rob and Paul for both helping with my hour to come in to place.
And to all the Dons fans who turned up to cheer on a Womble on a Plinth!
Not to mention everyone at the Oneandother team who work so hard to put every Plinthian at ease.
And to the fellow Plinthians who all support each other, and I have to say it is touching how a project can bring so many people together, to support one an(d)other.
