In July 2007, the Hands off Haywood High Community Group was set up to defend the interests of Haywood High School during the Schools' reorganisation programme being carried out by Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the private company Serco. It was fairly obvious at the time that SoTCC and Serco wanted to close Haywood, and to build a new school on another, unsuitable, site. The Community did not want this to happen.

Over the next eight months, the Hands off Haywood High campaign was fought to keep the school on its present site, and to have it refurbished or rebuilt. Many of the group became skilled campaigners, and built contacts throughout the City and surrounding areas. The community drive to keep the school on its present site was successful, but the school ended up being one of the last in the City on the list for refurbishment. It was decided to continue the campaign to make sure that the school receives its full share of BSF monies - the campaign was renamed Hands ON Haywood High.

In the 2008 City budget, the Council proposed to close the "Splash Pool" at Dimensions Leisure Centre, Burslem, to save what was, in terms of the overall Council budget, a paltry sum. No consultation was undertaken before this measure was announced to the public. The Dimensions pool is well used by the public of the City and of the surrounding area. The announcement was greeted with incredulity and anger. Another community campaign was born - Supporters of Dimensions Splash (SoDS).

It was realised that there is a need for a "Community Voice" campaigning within the City of Stoke-on-Trent. There are, obviously, Residents' Associations and other groups that represent people on a very local scale, but there is also a need for people who will work together to help mobilise the more localised RAs and groups, and the Community at large, when a new campaign is needed.

The group which has come together through the HoHH and SoDS campaigns would now like to help Communities and groups throughout the City of Stoke-on-Trent and surrounding areas.

Since the group is based in the Burslem area, close to Haywood Engineering College and Haywood Hospital, it was logical to name it something like the Haywood Area Community Forum. This was subsequently modified to the Haywood Area Voice Of the Community (HAVOC). This could be paying homage to Shakespeare's Marc Anthony in Julius Caesar "Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!", or maybe to the earlier quote from Grose's History of the English Army, circa 1525: