Free! RED RAG Reading's Thinest Only Newspaper Cash Squeeze Issue Next Issue: Copy deadline July 5th News, 662302, 724087; Events, 724087; Going Out, 61361 Don't tell us: we'll tell you. There is no F in money. There is no F in cash. There is no F in lolly. Nope! This issue's production collective has therefore made a valiant attempt to cut the coat to the measure of the collective cloth (or something remotely near it: there is no cloth - the emperor is bare-arsed naked) by including only what we regard as Red Rag's most nearly indispensable community-service content, shorn of virtually all excess verbosity, and devoting what space remains to bare-bones hard community news. If you miss Citizen Cain, in-depth comment, the pleading of righteous causes, the lighthearted bits and the cutesy dingbats, there's an answer: they'll be back when we can afford to print them. And if you're cheesed off with Red Rag's constant appeals for cash, put lots in our begging bowls, send us a cheque (Box 79, Acorn, 17 Chatham Street) or best of all fill in a banker's order form (obtainable ditto) so we can quit yapping and use the space for something interesting. There is no F in money, right? And without it there won't be even this such of a Red Rag to look forward to before very long. - - - NEWS (SQUEEZED) Half a Loaf for Motherhood... West Berkshire District Health Authority's decision to drop - for the tine being at least - its plans to close the maternity units at Newbury, Henley and Wokingham demonstrates yet again the ago-old political maxim that it's okay to be against almost anything but motherhood. The Authority's June 19th reversal of its original intention to close the out-of-Reading units and concentrate maternity services at Royal Berks follows the highly vocal protests that greeted the original proposals and sparked off major campaigns in Newbury and Wokingham. Mums and babies, as any mediaperson knows, are good copy. The Authority's turnabout on maternity units amounts to probation rather than reprieve: WBDHA will 'monitor the use' of the facilities, leaving the closure threat still dangling for possible reconsideration when the heat's off. The mentally ill, the mentally handicapped and the infirm elderly haven't the same access to warm-hearted public support: the District Health Authority's plans to put such long-term patients 'on the parish' as the responsibility of the Social Services and voluntary organisations remain largely unchanged. For them 'Care in the Community' is the other half of the loaf. It could prove a dry crust indeed. ... And Cold Home Comfort for Alcoholics? Meanwhile considerable mystery surrounds plans for yet another 'Care in the Community' scheme from the same stable, the Community Alcoholism Teams. The CATs are not yet out of the bag and no one within the community itself directly involved with alcoholism, alcoholics or their families seems to have been told who they are to consist of, how they are to operate or what back-up facilities and services they will be able to call on. What little anything-but-hard fact there is to be gained from a miasma of rumours and half-statements suggests that the teams - apparently scheduled to start operating in the autumn - will consist of good-hearted, kindly lay individuals, 'just good caring folks', and will work with the 'problem drinker' in the security and familiar cosy surroundings of the home. The prospect is one that appals everyone Red Rag has spoken to who's actually had to cope with alcoholism as a reality, whether as a non-abstinent alcoholic, a family member or close associate, or as a member of the 'caring professions'. Even for the alcoholic who still has a home the experience of detoxification is a harrowing one at best even with the round-the-clock supportive environment of a specialised detox unit. To expect that sort of support amidst the everyday hassles of even a 'normal' household, from those who for years have been bewildered if not totally alienated by the alcoholic's behaviour, with a modicum of help from a periodic Friendly Visitor, seems to those who have been through the wringer or accompanied others through it to be not far short of alcoholic delusion itself. By those who haven't, it will presumably be seen as 'doing something', as 'caring'. Not incidentally, one suspects, it will also be put forward as the 'reason' why it is no longer necessary to think about providing any detox facility at all - a facility that has not been available within the NHS to any alcoholic in West Berkshire since the breakup of the Oxford Regional Health Authority in 1981 closed the Ley Clinic detox ward to any but Oxfordshire residents. Quote of the Week From Reading Borough Council's spokesperson (now known to be the notorious William Stickers), explaining the policy of fly-posting 'cancelled' labels over band and gig posters: "We are trying to make Reading a tidier place ail round." - - - 20th CENTURY GOES PUBLIC Reading's new Community Arts Croup, 20th Century Arts, will be introducing the concept of community arts, and inviting community participation, at a public meeting on Friday July 13th (for luck) at Reading Centre for the Unemployed. The programme will include a 50-minute film, 'Somewhere in Stepney', explaining what community arts is all about through the example of four East London projects; the film will be followed by a discussion with, hopefully, a speaker from Southern Association for Community Arts. Time is 7:30 for 8, with creche and bar. The introductory meeting is to be followed by one a short time later to establish an 'official' organisation. For further details of the scheme, contact 20th Century Arts via Box 20, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham Street. - - - (THESE ARE PAID ADVERTS: they contribute a modest but useful anount of lolly to our funds (sic). Ads are accepted at the discretion of the collective: £5 1/4 page.) Futons Cotton filed HANDMADE MATTRESSES Can be rolled up during the day & either stored or used as seating Ideal for spare room, bedsits or as a space-saver Made in a range of colours, all cotton Large single £60 double £75 Other sizes on request For further details ring Rdg 65648 - THE ARTHUR HENDRE QUARTET The Horse & Barge Duke Street, Reading. Friday 29th June 8-11 pm £1 unwaged £2 waged Tickets available on door + Acorn Benefit for BANC Reading CND - - - GOING OUT GUIDE. Monday 25th June Reading nightlife dies. I can't find anything on. See events? Tuesday 26th Angies Wokingham: New Orleans Jazz. Tudor Arms: Gay disco Free. SHP: Literature lecture with Peter Pegnall on Beckett's "Malone dies" and "The Unnameable". 8pm, 50p. & film: "Silkwood" with Meryl Streep. 7.45pm. Wednesday 27th Hermit Club, Upper Deck, Duke Street: Live Music. RFT: "Zelig", Woody Allen's latest, a "pseudo-documentary" about a man who can change his personality and looks to mould to those he meets. 8pm. £1.60, £1 for members & UB40. On tomorrow too. Hexagon: "The Wiz". Generation Theatre Co. presents the musical version of "The Wizard of Oz". £2.25-£3.75. 7.30pm. On till 30th. Thursday 28th Till 1st July. Yes, it's here, Henley Royal Regatta. Full of some of the most dreadful people you could ever wish to meet. But it's always fun to be a yob amongst the nobs... SHP: Wilde Festival of Music. Reading Symphony Orchestra. Angies: Fast Buck. Central Club: Thursday special. Marcus, Musical Chemist, Young Lion, Nasty Rockers. £2.50, £2 members. Target: Scarlett O'Hara. Friday 29th SHP: Wilde Festival of Music. & films: "The Moon in the Gutter" with Gerald Depardieu, Nastassia Kinski. 7.45pm. "Rocky Horror Picture Show". 11pm. Films on tomorrow too, with just the Kinski one on Sunday. Angies: Jive Alive (formerly Motley Crew). Caribbean: Rock & Punk. The Clime as support group, ring Jed on 56347 for further details. Tudor Arms: Gay Disco: Free. Target: I Am Seven. Horse and Barge, Duke St. BANC Jazz evening with the Arthur Hendrade Quartet. 8-11pm. £1 unwaged, £2 otherwise. Tickets from Acorn. Old Fire Station, Oxford: 'Breaking Barriers' - free-form jazz with Paul Rutherford plus Battery Charger, Kike Cooper, Ghosts ... (same lot as usual in various guises). 8pm. Saturday 30th Angies: Ellery Bop. Target: Track Four. SHP: Films as last night and Wilde Fest. of Music. Too much going on to detail here. Central: Dance. Sunday July 1st Butler Chatham St.: Free Jazz. i.e. no moneys required. Readifolk, Caversham Bridge Hotel 8pm. Hexagon: Ardon Orchestra. £2-£4. 7.30pm. Monday July 2nd Hexagon: Harvey and the Wallbangers. 8pm. £3 SHP: "The Dresser", on till the 4th. Tuesday July 3rd Tudor Arms: Gay Disco, Free. University Great Hall London Rd. sites. End of Session concert given by Graduands of the Music Dept. 7.30pm Free. Wednesday 4th Hermit Club, Upper Deck Duke St. Live Music. RFT: "Nostalgia" Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky. Old Town Hall, Free lunchtime Organ recital by Christopher Hood. 1.10pm. Hex: Cambridge Footlights Revue. Your chance to see the ITV stars of tomorrow. 7.30pm. £2-£3. Thursday 5th Central: Thursday Special. Gems Magic. Friday 6th Caribbean: The Three Johns, Misfire £2 9.30-2am. SHP: Bracknell Jazz Festival. Saturday 7th Hex: Reading Youth Orchestra. 7.30pm. £2.50-£3.50. NUS, UB40 £1. SHP: Bracknell Jazz Festival. Central: Dance. Sunday 8th Butler Chatham St. Free Jazz . Readifolk Caversham Bridge Hotel 8.15pm. Hex: Craft Fair. 10am - 5pm. Admission 30p. SHP: Bracknell Jazz Festival. Monday 9th Hex: "Steaming" 8pm. £2.50-£4. SHP: "For Your Eyes Only". & "Heat and Dust". Tuesday 10th Oxford Apollo till 14th. "Wind in the Willows", £3.50-£5.50 Tudor Arms: Gay Disco Free. SHP: "Heat and Dust". - - - SQUEEZED Citizen Cain; a good a if over-long piece on women's role in the Miners' strike; an article on Community Arts and what they could mean to Reading; a report of the alternative Green Summit; Letters (we had a couple of good ones, one thought-provoking and the other relatively funny) and quite a lot of other Red Rag Regulars. They're still in the box for possible use if still timely: their omission was on grounds of space availability or lack of it, not editorial value judgements. Unless we get some more money, dammit, a lot of other good stuff is going to get squeezed out. - - - T-Shirt Sale At Acorn Keep Cool ACORN'S ITTY BITTY BIT! Sale starts next week. - - - CASH SQUEEZE! If you are already giving till it hurts to keep Reading's Only Red Rag alive, why not try getting someone else to help pay our bills? Run a benefit gig; sell pot plants; flog the Hexagon to an American tourist. Better still, offer to look after a collecting tin at an outlet that hasn't one. Don't just stand there: Use Your Imagination! - - - EVENTS Monday 25 June South Reading BANC: 180 Hartland Road 8pm. Discussion meeting on the state of the group and its future directions. Wednesday 27 June Garden open: 'The Old Rectory' Burghfield 11-4. Community Health Council: 10 Gun Street 7-30pm. Monthly meeting. Miners Day of Action: Lunchtime rally outside the Civic Offices 12-2pm. Details Miners Support Committee. Thursday 28 June Sonning Common Peace Group: Chiltern Edge Centre 7-30pm. Bob Wilkinson (NE Regional Officer of GMBATU) on peace movements in Russia. Friday 29 June Berks Family History Society: meeting. Details Mrs E J Longhurst Reading 874888. Saturday 30 June First of the Month Meeting: Reading Women's Centre, basement of Old Shire Hall, Abbey Street 12.00. All women welcome. Sunday 1 July Reading Cycle Campaign: Leisure ride starts Caversham Bridge 10-30. Details Paul Jardine 483183. Porton Down Protest: Porton Down Wilts. Candlelit Vigil: a Day of Action against cruelty to animals at the germ warfare centre. Wednesday 4 July East Reading CND: 71 Hamilton Road 8pm. Meeting. Wildlife Protection: St Mary's Centre, Chain Street 8pm. Talk with slides by Jim Barrington of League Against Cruel Sports. Thursday 5 July TUC NHS Day: local details Guy Bentham Reading 669562. Red Rag: Copy deadline and editorial meeting. For details and offers of help with the next issue ring Clive 662302. Friday 6 July Red Rag: typing. Saturday 7 July Plant walk: guided tour at Dinton Pastures Country Park, Hurst. Details Twyford 342016. Medieval Fayre: Hatchgate Farm, Hurst. Red Rag: Paste-up and printing. Nudes against Nukes: Hampstead Heath near South End Green 1pm. Stand Stoned Starkers and Lemmings. Sunday 8 July Vegans: short walk at Henley. Meet Reading Bus Station for 11-30 No. 329. Details Paul, Wargrave 3391. Craft Fair: The Hexagon, 10-5pm. 30p. Red Rag: Folding and labelling, from 11am. Help always especially appreciated here. For details phone Clive on 662302. Monday 9 July Women's Discussion Group: Women's Centre, Old Shire Hall, 8pm 'Earning a Living'. All women welcome. Reading Cycle Campaign: UB Cycles, London Street 8pm. Monthly meeting. Events Stop Press: Wednesday 27 June Gay Liberation Day: Students Union Whiteknights. Bookstalls, posters all day. Speaker from London Gay Switchboard 8pm Council Room Students Union. (This last isn't confirmed yet.) - - - REGULAR Photography: sessions every Tuesday (10-12, 1-3) at Centre for the Jobfree, East Street. Housing and Welfare Rights: Thursday evenings, Community House Cumberland Road. Gay Switchboard: Tuesday and Friday 8pm-10pm Reading 597269. Mini-market: Thursday 9-1 St Mary's House, Chain Street. Women's Centre: open Tuesday 12-2, Saturday 12-2. All women and kids welcome. Pregnancy testing Tuesday 7-9pm. Bring urine sample from first pee of the day. Incest Survivors Group: meets regularly. Write c/o Rape Crisis line, 17 Chatham St, for details. Anarchists: meet every Monday. Details via Box 19, Acorn Bookshop. Autonomists contact via the anarchists. Peace Pledge Union: meets monthly, always active. Contact 588459, 868384, or Box 10, Acorn. Ecology Party: meets 1st and 3rd Hon of month at 25 de Beauvoir Rd and 38 Long Barn Lane respectively. Contact Maria 663195. Socialist Workers' Party: meet every Weds, Red Lion, Southampton St, 8pm. Labour History Group: meets monthly at Red Lion. Contact Breda 584558 or Mike 665478 for details. Vegans: 1st Sun of month. 1 Orrin Close, Tilehurst at 2pm. Contact Liz and Steve Shiner 21651 Women's Peace Group: 1st Mon of month at Women's Centre. Contact Rheinhild 662873. Amnesty: 2nd Thurs of month. St Mary's Centre, Chain St. Contact Jean 472598. History of Reading Soc: 3rd Tues of month, Abbey Gateway Berks Humanists: meet 2nd Fri of month Oct-May at 8pm. Friends' Meeting House, Church St. Details Crowthorne 774871. Cyclists Touring Club: outings Sun 9.15 from Caversham Bridge or Henley. Richard 50949 Wednesday is Women's Day at Centre for the Jobfree, East St. Coffee, advice, courses, etc, from 10-30. Silkscreen Workshops: at Newtown Community House, 117 Cumberland Rd. Details Clive 666324. Practical Paradise Club: Women's Centre, Abbey St. Workshops, self-defence, keep fit... and fun. Suns, 2-6 Reading Recreation Art Centres: Painting for Pleasure at Town Hall, Mon 7-9, Tues 10-12. Details 55911 or 861289. Cruelty-free toiletries: market stall every Sat behind Tescos, Butts Centre. National Council for Civil Liberties: 2nd Mon of month. St Mary's Centre, Chain St. Contact Paul 861582. Reading Cycle Campaign: meets monthly at the Rising Sun, 1st Mon of month. For details ring 4831381 or 64667. Reading Birth Centre: 3rd Tues of month for food and chat. Ring 61330 for venue. Reading Organisation for Animal Rights (ROAR): 1st Tues of month at The Crown, Crown St. Contact Alan 477790. Reading Cycle Campaign: meets 2nd Monday of month at UB Cycles London Street, 8pm. Membership enquiries ring Chris Mayers Reading 589178. General enquiries ring John Nixon Reading 483183 or John Rigby Reading 64667. Beating Time Musicians' Workshop; every Friday afternoon at Reading Centre for the Unemployed East St. 2-30 to 4-30. Men's Group: meets weekly. For dates and venues contact Box 28 c/o Acorn Bookshop. GaySoc: Mondays in University Term, 8pm, Council Room, Students Union, Whiteknights campus. Miners Support Committee; meets every Thursday, 7-30pm, TGWU Office, 36 King's Road. Ring Reading 590311 for details. Nottingham Welcomes Careful Non-Subversives. - - - RED RAG is Reading's thinnest (this time anyway) and Brokest (almost always) Only Newspaper and has been published fortnightly from 1979 till now, at least. The current press run is 1500 copies, which are read singly or communally by around 4000 people who breathlessly await each new issue. Rag is produced by a nebulous and peripatetic collective of such divergent opinions that the paper as a whole has no political line or affiliation. When we have the space (read 'money') we print most of what we receive in the way of contributions; most of the copy oomes from outside the collective and reflects the opinions of the writer only (and possibly not even that) and not that of the collective. Articles should be signed in some fashion (preferably first name at least) and accompanied by a note of how to contact the writer in case we need to chop for space reasons - type, if possible, single spaced to a width of 12 cm (max). The collective lives in Box 79, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham Street, Reading, and always needs help as well as generous injections of cash. OUTLETS: Acorn Bookshop, Chatham St.; Listen Records, Butts Centre; Harvest Wholefoods, Harris Arcade; Centre for the Unemployed. East St.; UB Cycles, 56 London St.; Central Club, London St.; Rag Doll, Duke St.; Elephant Off-License, Derby St.; Fine Food Stores, 168 Oxford Rd; Fairview Community Centre, bottom of George St.; Harrison's Newsagent, Caversham Rd.; Ken's Kitchen, London Rd.; Jelly's Stores, Whitley St.; Number Sixty, Christchurch Green; Ken's Shop, Student Union, Whiteknights; Tech College, Kings Rd. (lib & students common room); Pop Records, 172 Kings Rd.; Rib 'n Roast, Cemetery Junction; Mace Shop. Crown Collonade, Cen. Jct.; Continental Stores, Junction; The Sugar Bowl, 26 Wokingham Rd.; Lings Chinese Fish Bar, Wokingham Rd.; Sutherlands, 55 Erleigh Rd. Begging - oops! - Collecting Boxes at Acorn, Pop Records, Harvest, Rag Doll and Mace Shop at the Junction. Use 'Em! - - - VERY SMALL ADS August Part Time Job Mainly childcare (2 children, 6 and 8) for 20 hours per week. Reference please. Tel. Lesley on Reading 68972. Person wanted for communal family house with 3 adults and 1 child (2 years old ). Must be committed to sharing, cooking, shopping, cleaning, feeding chickens, wood chopping, gardening etc. £25 p.w. and share of bills. Ring Electra, Kevin or Claire on Reading 65648. Room wanted for male, non-smoker, semi-veg. Distance no problem. Phone Reading 67227 and ask for Kevin (Room P5). - - - HELP! Red Rag urgently needs someone to compile the Events Diary. We'll show you how - it's not difficult. It involves looking at noticeboards and making some phone calls. If you can type it, so much the better. Preferably someone not already heavily involved with the Rag. Preferably someone on the phone, but we're not fussy. I've been doing it as an emergency stop-gap but I'm not going to do it much longer. A cycle accident on my way in to look at notice boards which will leave me in plaster for the next three weeks is just the last straw... James - - - VEGGIEDINING urgently needs more regular collectivists to help run this unique and improbable 100% veggiekosher do-it-yourself bistro, which happens fortnightly (in between Rags) at the glamourous Fairview Room (Community Centre), Reading's Most Exotic Venue (at the bottom of George Street where you can listen to the trains roll by). People are needed to co-ordinate, cook (usually one dish each, or shared), serve and/or provide ad hoc music. Helpers are needed for every session but urgently for Friday 29th June. Let the collective know what you are, willing to do and when (also what evenings are most convenient for general and fortnightly planning meetings.) Veggie Dining can be sought out, if you want to sought it out, in Box 495 (ask Ian why), Acorn Bookshop, Chatham St. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1984/1984-06-24.txt#3 $