free fortnightly RED RAG News - 666681 662302 Events - 666681 or drop a line in the box at acorn Going Out - 665864 Distribution - 669562 Next copydate - 27 September - - - GREENHAM A Tidal Wave... "10 million women in 10 days." 10 million women who never wanted (and still don't) cruise Missiles or nuclear weapons. 10 days because the largest Nato exercise since 1945 is happening on the East German border, and this time it will cast Britain £31 million. This is a practice for World War 3. Women are asked to come and bring their energy to Greenham. Men, it is hoped, will suppart this action to help make this miracle happen. Bring your own feed, tents, come self-sufficient and try to make any time you can to show the world we want and are prepared to act now for peace. September 20-30th For local details contact ann 68330 elizabeth 507065 - - - EDITORIAL Red Rag is Reading's only newspaper and it's free and has been for the past 5 years. (Note Pre-Celebratory Benefit Fun Gig on the 27th!) It is funded entirely by donations, benefits, jumble sales etc. It is supported by you and me. The collective who put it together are people who felt they would like to be involved. It is always waiting for new people (as well as the old) to contribute. We are all potential red rag collective members and we all have something to offer (see elsewhere as to what!). Copy (news and stuff) should be posted or dropped in to Box 79, 17 Chatham Street, or phone the news number if you wish to have someone else write it up. If you can type it, please make it clear (use a newish ribbon) and single-spaced and 12cm wide. We'll print almost anything that's not sexist, racist, supportive of oppressive regimes or very boring. We're all human and apt to make the odd bish, but feel free to comment and try to be constructive (wimp). Collective meetings (all welcome) are held every six weeks. Well that's it I think. Happy reading. 0X0, Paul "Realism is what we do not what we say." - - - VEGGIE DINING Friday 21st September, Fairview Community Centre, George Street, Reading. Veggy Dining is out of munny and back at square one - will have to start again by funding a meal with a week's ticket sales. This could be the last one so if you want veggy dining to continue do your bit to ensure all tickets are sold in advance. (The last two were not sold out by far.) Help is still needed with cooking, music, serving, washing up etc. If you want to help phone Mike - 588459. If you want to dine by candle-light with live music, be waited upon and served with a three-course home-cooking extravaganza wholemeal blowout with no trace of animals. good food, strange entertainments, maybe even teas afterwards, all this for £2.00 or £1.50 if you're unwaged. Tickets sold in advance at acorn bookshop, 17 Chatham Street. Remember helpers get free food. Saturday 22nd September. Reading Centre for the Unemployed? Food for the Miners' Rally will not be exactly veggy dining. The miners hopefully will be offered a variety of food which is being organised and co-ordinated by Jane Carter. Help is still needed for this. We need cooks, donations of food, extra help on the day maybe. The meeting on 19th September is still at 15 Stanley Grove at 7.30. All interested please attend! - - - OWING TO LACK OF INTEREST 20th CENTURY HAS BEEN...? Some seventy people, full of interest and enthusiasm, gathered at 20th Century Arts' first public meeting in July: community arts in Reading was off to a flying start. The second, trimmed to a fighting-fit ten full of ideas and projects, was actually doing community arts. Well... The third meeting, at Newtown Community House, considered the future of community arts in Reading, shook his head and walked hack up Cumberland Road to the bus stop alone. It wasn't me, either. Sic semper ars redingensis? - Dave - - - CITIZEN CAIN Squared Off In tribute to the Metropolitan Police let us be silent for a moment to consider the conclusion of Deputy Commissioner Albert Laugharne that for one of his officers to be a freemason could prejudice that man (the "square" is men only) "being accepted by colleagues and citizens alike as a man upon whose even-handedness it is possible always and unquestionably to rely". And let us then consider whether if that is true in London it is not equally true in the Thames Valley, and ask why Peter Imbert, our Chief Constable (and that of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire into the bargain) who is believed not himself to be in the "square", has not as some of his colleagues have done endorsed Laugharne's statement and distributed it for the benefit of his own force, or at least that part of it not on picket lines elsewhere. And whether Reading's Chief Executive Harry Tee, also believed not to be in the "square" himself, should not nail it to the door of the Civic Offices where it might serve to discourage some of the more suspect activities. And the County's Bob Gash the same. Seen But Not Heard The Borough's Leisure Committee has rightly drawn attention to the fact that the Council's own internal auditors drew attention three years ago to irregularities in the Recreation Department but that no action appears to have been taken until external accountants Armitage & Norton got into the act. And they have quite rightly asked whether the internal auditors have made similar discoveries elsewhere and if so what has happened to them. It's important not just because of the money but because a sticky palm is a sticky palm, and there are a lot of big developments about in which Council officers are involved and in which their evenhandedness is crucial. Citizens And Others Back in the sixties the United States spawned a White Citizens movement which I suppose bore the same relation to the Ku Klux Klan as Sinn Fein does to the Provisional IRA. Which is partly why the free Citizens Guide just published by the 'Evening Post' has come as a nasty shock to black and Asian residents of Reading who had supposed they were as much citizens of the town as anybody. For the mosque and most of the pentecostal and other mainly black churches are not included in the list of "Places of Worship". The West Indian Womens Circle is apparently not "Catering for the Ladies", and in fact there are no black or Asian organisations in that list, in the directory of clubs and societies, or in "Charities and voluntary groups". In the list of youth clubs there is Central but there is no mention of Apollo. And on the last page there is an entry for RCRE: it's the only one that doesn't include an address! Makes people feel real wanted. Patten's Revenge? For the past four years the trade union rep. on the Oxford Regional Health Authority has been John Power, who is also a (Labour) Oxford City and County Councillor. The unions made him their No.l choice for another term. The RHA, and their Chairman, Thatcher knight Sir Gordon Roberts, generously endorsed the nomination despite the trouble Bonn's caused them! But the DHSS has refused to play, and instead appointed the No.2 choice, Reading trade unionist Keith Jerrome. Which won't make much difference to the politics of the RHA, but might more parochially. For the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the DHSS is Oxford M.P. John Patten, who is tired of having his once-loyal local press filled with stories about cuts in the NHS. He's hoping he's transferred the ache to the head of another Thatcher knight and former Health Minister, Reading's own Sir Gerry Vaughan. A prediction: Gerry will be too wily to be caught. Tory Mace When Caversham's own Ron Jewitt has being touted as Mayor of Reading, the Tories made great play of the fact that Tory Mayors were non-political and didn't even attend Group meetings with their fellow Tory Councillors. Alas for past promises. Those same Tories are now complaining that not only does Ron still go to Group meetings but he is always telling then where they're going wrong. And opposition Councillors have noticed that, after attacking last year's Mayor, Labour's Doris Lawrence, for favouring "your own side" Ron is favouring his own side something rotten in the way he tries to protect Tory chairmen from opposition questioning. There's a blue ribbon round the Mace! Ground Rules As exclusively reported last time, the rows in Reading Football Club boil down to whether to exploit Elm Park and the land round it or make the big and, for some, profitable move to Smallmead: both the Baylis family and Maxwell assignee Cyril Townsend have admitted publicly their interest in a new stadium and are blocking Roger Smee's attempt to raise more cash until he agrees to go along. Some of Maxwell's shares remain available for anybody who wants a piece of that action, although not it seems for Roger himself, who is perhaps a bit too over-extended at the moment to embark on the move. Or why would he be trying to raise more cash at all? Beat The Devil Our church correspondent writes: Another local Thatcher knight, Wokingham M.P. William van Straubenzee, who represents the Church Commissioners (the C.of E. property arm) in the House of Commons, has defended their right to manage their churches without being overseen by the Planning Committees of local Councils. A right that has resulted in lots of churches being converted into luxury flats, office blocks or even workshops of distinction (turning in the nave succeeds rolling in the aisles). Perhaps we should have a sweepstake for the first Berkshire temple to be handed over to the money changers. Environmental Fishnote Our William has however been silent about the murder of the Emmbrook in his constituency by Gibsons Chemicals tipping waste products into it twice in three weeks. He hasn't even called for their prosecution. MoD Stakes Plessey, Racal, British Aerospace, ICL, Digital - the list of firms trying to recruit software people to work on defence communications systems just grows and grows. Ferranti is trying to buy CAP from the Government in order to get itself a whole pool of such people. But for Trident's sake, just how many different defence communications systems can the British armed forces support? The answer after the Belgrano leaks must be not many with any thought to the public safety! And who outside the Middle East is going to buy an expensive and untested system from Silicon Valley? How many Governments in the Middle East will survive long enough to take the inevitably late delivery? How long can all these defence divisions survive? Or, as the latest bid for Chubb by Racal hints, are they going to move into internal security systems instead? After the long-running saga of computerising PAYE is the next order from Big Brother to be the linking of the National Police Reporting Centre at Scotland Yard with the gossip bank on Thames Valley Police's own computer? And with the personnel files held by our major companies? Don't get paranoid: it's only 1984. Planning Ahead One man who clearly believes his firm will have a long-term need for more trained staff is the Chairman of the local Area Manpower Board, who is appointed by the Government to head this semi-secret Quango. And he is from Sperry Gyroscope in Bracknell, part of the very British Aerospace group involved in defence contracts. His colleagues from "industry" include senior staff from Metal Box, from ICI Paints Division and from the Reeds group (ex-owners of the 'Daily Mirror'). The Board also includes trade unionists and members from local government, education and voluntary organisations and it is serviced by officers whose hostility to, for example, the Reading Centre for the Unemployed has become a byword. It is this body, meeting in secret and generally having pathetically little time beforehand to read huge volumes of paperwork, that is supposed to manage the Youth Training Scheme, the Community Programme and other Manpower Services Commission activities promulgated from time to time by MSC boss and Thatcher protege (now a Thatcher peer...) David Young. With, of course, no public accountability. Bankruptcy The number of companies and individuals going broke under Mrs Thatcher has reached record levels, so it is perhaps not surprising that last year saw the formation of an Association of Bankrupts. Not a sort of Bankrupts Anonymous but more a sort of campaigning body opposed to bankrupts being "paraded and degraded through the courts and official receivers offices under archaic legislation". They feel, their secretary wrote recently in the 'Wokingham Times', bemused about the fuss caused by the withdrawal of the right to union membership at GCHQ because "compared to the loss of one's home, dignity and basic civil rights that the bankrupt often suffers the deprivation of Trade Union membership seems trivial by comparison". With of course the difference that the bankrupt has usually brought his misfortune upon himself while trade unionists at GCHQ had theirs thrust upon them by a malevolent Government. Keep it Coming! Citizen Cain - - - STOP PRESS Event Tues Sept 18 Keith Joseph (hatchet man for educ. & sci.) is arriving at about 10:45 to open the 'new' Food Studies building on the univ. campus (see map). There will be a protest picket, approx 10:20 to 13:00. Invite your friends & bring a brown paper bag. - - - HEALTH WATCH On Friday September 28 you will be offered a unique opportunity to see both how a major public service is run, and how it might be run better. There has been a lot of talk recently about the lack of local control over the police force. Another branch of the public service which lacks accountability in a similar manner is the health service, where millions of pounds are spent each year by unelected health authorities. West Berkshire Health Watch has arranged a coach to go from Reading to Oxford to see the Oxford Regional Health Authority at work. At its meeting on September 28, the Authority is expected to authorise its strategic plan which will involve the closure of twenty hospitals in the region, including Prospect Park Hospital, Blagrave Hospital, Hungerford Hospital, Smith Hospital (near Henley), and one of the Newbury hospitals in West Berkshire, to be followed later by Wayland (near Pangbourne) and Fairmile. Borocourt is expected to have fewer patients; and the privatisation of family planning services is also on the cards. There will be a lobby of this meeting, followed by a march to the centre of Oxford for a meeting of the Alternative Regional Health Authority, made up of local councillors from all over the Oxford Region, who will consider the alternatives to and implications of the real Health Authority's plan. The special coach will leave the Alder Valley bus station in Reading at 9am, returning by 5pm. Tickets cost £2 and are available from Acorn Bookshop, Chatham Street. This month West Berkshire Health Watch also offers you the chance to become a founder member at its first meeting on Monday September 24 7.30 pm at Reading Centre for the Unemployed, East Street. Amazing special privileges include never-to-be-repeated single-digit membership cards, and other astounding offers. West Berkshire Health Watch is taking over from Reading Health Watch and will cover the whole of West Berkshire Health District. The main aims of the organisation are to oppose the cuts in services, to promote accountability in the health service, to support efforts to give people more control over their health services and to oppose health service privatisation plans. If you are interested in health issues then please come to this meeting. Guy - - - SMALL ADS Electric Cooker for sale £20. Phone 65928. Jumble Sale with fresh fruit. 2pm. Sun 23 Sept in the back garden of 92a, London Rd. (unless wet). In aid of the landlord. Allegro for sale. No tax or MOT. Shocks need looking at. Runs OK but leaky fuel tank. P reg, gold coloured. £100 ono phone 374532 (Bridge). Windscreen and rear window for Mk 11 Cortina. Also some tyres. You collect - donation to the Rag. Phone 374532. Wanted, cheap or free, any household goods, i.e. furniture, bedding, kitchen equipment etc. Phone 588459 Double bed frame - free to good home (or donation to Red Rag) - tel. 52004 evenings to arrange collection. Fridge wanted, in working ordor, cheap or free. Phone 588459 - - - READING BETWEEN THE LINES... ... will shake hands with the streets at the same time as the next issue of the Rag - Monday 1st. October. Typing and proofreading will be done from this Monday 17th til Friday 21st on the golfball machine upstairs in Acorn Bookshop. Typists very much wanted - contact James on 584425 or at 92a, London Rd. There are various other areas that also need work, e.g. distribution and 'publicity'. Lay-out and paste-up (also indexing) will be Sat. 22nd to Mon. 24th. People are needed for this too, but they must have some skill as there's a lot to do in a short time. Finally, most important, folding and stapling, a Big Job, will be on Sun. 30th from 11am at the Reading Centre for the Unemployed, East St. - - - RED RAG Why not... have Red Rag posted to a friend (ex-Readingites or those living outside the delivery area, e.g. Wokingham, Maidenhead, Twyford etc.). All you need to do is send the name and address of the person plus an amount to cover postage (a pound will give someone the delights of Reading's only newspaper for 2 or 3 months) to Red Rag Posties, Box 79, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St., Reading. When the subscription runs out I will send a reminder to her/him so they can renew it if they wish. P.S. Can existing postal people send in their subs as soon as possible. This service was free, but I can't afford to carry on funding them for much longer. Floating around amongst the nebulous group of people who produce Red Rag is an SOS list of folks we can contact to help out in various ways: * people who have a car or bike and can sometimes take bundles out to distributors on a Sunday afternoon * people who might distribute a round when the regular person can't * people who can type occasionally * people who can stick the typed copy together at paste-up stage * those who can draw or trace headings * those who can compile the going out or events guide once in a while. It would be best if people volunteered when they wanted to, but maybe you just never get round to it. The current SOS list is now out of date and I'm doing a new one in October. If you want to help out sometimes and just need a prod, can you let me know and I'll include your name. If we use the list in rotation, it needn't mean very often, but every little helps. Either leave a note in the Rag box at Acorn Bookshop, or ring me at 662302. Sue - - - HELP WANTED! Distribution group D is presently without a regular distributor. If you could take over please ring Guy on Reading 669562. There are about 18 addresses on the round which covers the area shaded on the map. - - - GOT THE MESSAGE Are you having trouble getting your message across? If so you may be interested in a series of workshops and sessions we are planning for later this autumn. We want to help local community groups, pressure groups, trades unionists, others and ourselves work more effectively in publicising activities, bearing in mind that there's probably almost no money to do it with. Areas we hope to cover are designing and producing leaflets and posters, using the local press and radio, public meetings, exhibitions / videos and other promotions. At this stage we are still trying to work out the best way of going about things, and which activities to concentrate on; so if there is some aspect of getting your message across you want to get better at please get in touch and we can discuss how to deal with your particular needs. Write to us at Getting Your Message Across, c/o Reading VSC, 24 Westcote Road, or phone Guy on Reading 669562 or Clive on Reading 662302. - - - GARDENERS QUIZ TIME In the window of Acorn Bookshop in Chatham Street is a rather fine asparagus fern, some five feet high. It's frequently noticed, being an unusual variety. In fact, only the other week it was noticed by a policeman, who walked past twice, looking closely it the plant. The following Tuesday, three policemen, two constables and a sergeant, came to inspect it, looking at it through the window for some minutes. They then entered the shop and the sergeant asked the [non-plussed) workforce if there were any foundation to the "complaint" that they were "growing cannabis" in the shop. It is possibly unfortunate that the workers and customers found this query so quaint that their reactions were impeded by laughter. The officers were asked, before proceeding, if they wished to make fools of themselves. They were not deterred. Notwithstanding, they seemed satisfied by assurances that the plant in question is related to edible asparagus and to the smaller fern, which the sergeant did in fact possess. As the plant does not propagate from cuttings, none could be offered, but the sergeant said he "didn't like it much anyway". Obviously, Acorn was a "clean operation" and wouldn't be growing cannabis. Reassured, and informed, they left. L. - - - LETTERS Dear Red Rag, As everybody who is anybody reads the Rag I'd be grateful if you would publish this letter in the hope that I need never have to say all this ever again! Part of the Anarchist display at Acorn Bookshop describes Anarcha-feminism as "For feminism. For anarchy. Against gynarchy". This has left many visitors to the display a bit confused. 'Gynarchy' was chosen in the (erroneous) belief that it referred to the rule of any one sex over another. Thanks to the timely intervention of a local Greek scholar we now realise that 'gynarchy' only applies to 'government by women'. Someone even went so far to suggest that we only used this word to avoid saying 'against matriarchy' and offending someone. (Come on! When have Anarchists avoided saying something in case it offends?) So...the item in the display now clearly reads 'Against patriarchy. Against matriarchy'. We are not interested in replacing one set of dictators with an 'alternative' set. Be it by men, women, whites, blacks, Left or Right - a government is a government is a government is a government. And it's time we started creating something better. Jessica Tate. The following note from the Southern Association for Community Arts has been received by Cxx Arts: Dear friends SAFCA has decided to coordinate a resource of information and visual material about Community Arts work within our region. If you have anything please send it in. An exhibition of work in the region is being planned as a touring promotion of SAPCA aims and existence. The resource should be an ongoing collection so please contribute regular photographs, posters etc of your work. Roger Drury Items of information and display material should be sent to Peter Mason, Hampshire Recreation Dept., North Hill Close, Andover Road, Winchester, Hampshire, S022 6AQ. - - - C.N.D. BENEFIT at Horse and Barge Duke Street, Reading Friday 21st Sept 8:30 p.m. £1.50 waged 75p unwaged Ethnic / roots music from Mark T. / Mike Cooper Arda Berkshire / Chris Parr Paul Hancock Bring your feet and purses! - - - GOING OUT Sunday 16th Hexagon - Val Doonican - £3.50-5.50 5.30 and 8.30 pm Forbury Gardens - Katesgrove Steel Bank 3pm free Hurst Flower Festival - music by Reading Youth Orchestra 2-8pm Angies - Wokingham - Red Caversham Bridge Hotel - Readifolk 8pm The Butler, Chatham Street, free jazz, 8pm SHP, Bracknell - Bracknell Film Society weekend Monday 17th Hexagon - Masterclass by David Pownal 'till 22nd. 8pm daily & 2.30 Weds. & 5pm Sat. £3.50 / £4 / £4.50 + concs. The Bull - Nettlebed - folk evening Hurst Flower Festival 9-5 Tuesday 18th St. Andrews Church, London Street. An evening of chamber music. The Cantilena String Quartet. £2 8pm Tudor Arms - Gay Disco - free Royal Oak, Ruscombe (near Twyford) Folk evening tel 342981 Angies - New Orleans Jazz 8.30-12 SHP - film Rumble Fish (18) 7.45 dir. Francis Ford Copolla also 19th Wednesday 19th Martines - Gay Disco fortnightly 9-2 £1 Reading Town Hall, Organ recital by Christopher Kent - Elgar, Frank, Lizst, Bach. 7.45pm £2.50 SHP Wilde Theatre - Homestead Dance Company in "Dance Away" £2.50 7.30pm Thursday 20th Sportsman - Shinfield Road free music Angies - Sensible Jerseys Pegasus Theatre Oxford (off Iffley Road: buses 40-42 or 5) - Oxford Improvisors Co-op. Pete McPhail, Tim Hill, Sades, Dave Beadle (Fiddler Dave) v/n; Pete Hall bass/gtr/v/n; Matt Lewis drums; and many others plus Bloomin Arts Idiophonic Orchestra (the). 8pm £1.50/£1 SHP Video Workshop Screening 7.45pm Friday 21st Tudor Arms - Gay Disco - free Angies - Ruthless Blues The Griffin - monthly Irish Trad folk tel 590609 CND benefit - Aarda Berkshire (Irish band), Mike Cooper steel guitar, Mark T, Tim Hill, Chris Parr & Paul Hancock solos. 8.30 £1.50/75p. Venue is being kept secret from the Going Out Guide - try asking a peaceful person. Progress Theatre - Spreadthick "an evening of variety and humour" £2 on door. Paradise Club disco 9-2 SHP - GT Moore and the Outsiders 7.45pm £1.75/2 SHP - film Yentl (Barbara Streisand) 7.45pm 'til 26th SHP - film Gregory's Girl 11pm (also 22nd) Saturday 22nd St. Nicholas Church. Hurst. Bradfield Cathedral Organist - 8pm Angies - GT Moore and the Outsiders 9pm - 2am Hexagon - GT Moore and the Unknown 12.15 free Ryeish Green School. Fete in aid of Mentally Handicapped children - with the Soft Dogs - 2pm Flip'n'binge '84. Ekome, Urban Warrior, The Beatback Band, "free" candlelight dinner, disco light show, 7-late real ale bar £7.50 from Acorn, Reading Wholefoods, Pop Records, Listen, Grog Shop. Free Funkbus Shuttle regularly all evening from Reading Station. Phone 53946 for details. SHP Folk - Maggie Holland and Chris Coe 8pm £1.20/1.50 Sunday 23rd Forbury Gardens - Thames Youth Wind Ensemble 3pm free Caversham Bridge Hotel Readifolk 8.00pm free Angies - The Miller Family The Butler, Chatham St. free jazz Hexagon - NSPCC gala evening Keith Haines and Oriville (yeuch!) £6.50-7.50 7.30pm SHP Wilde Theatre - Academy of St Martins in the Fields - Corelli, Grieg, Bach, Vivaldi, Bartock 7.30pm £3.00/4.50/5.00 Monday 24th The Bull, Nettlebed, folk evening Tuesday 25th Angies - New Orleans Jazz 8.30-12 Tudor Arms - Gay Disco Royal Oak, Ruscombe, Folk tel 342981 Speakeasy, Andines Caversham 7.3 £1.50 Hexagon Oasis (with Peter Skellem) £4.50/5.50 8.30pm Wednesday 26th Hexagon - Hair Fashion and Hot Gossip show in aid of Dr Barnados £8.50 7.30pm Thursday 27th Angies - Jazawaki Sportsman - Shinfield Road, free music SHP - Abel's Sister - the Royal Court Theatre £3 7.30pm 'til 29th SHP Video Workshop screening 7.45pm Red Rag Benefit - Magic Mushroom Band, Chocolate Teapot, Disco, Lazer lights, Bar (late). Paradise Club 7.45 - late £1 u/w £2 others. Friday 28th Angies - Force Majeure Tudor Arms - Gay Disco 8pm SHP Mersey Post - Brian Pattern 8.30pm £2.75/£3 SHP - film Testament (PG) 7.45pm Paradise - Band 9-2 58647 for details Saturday 29th Angies - Jive Alive (lunchtime) Reading Town Hall - Handel's Messiah - Reading Bach Choir £2 (to sing or listen) bring you own score tel 872625 or 478097. SHP Folk - Come All Ye 8pm SHP file - Testament 7.45pm and 11pm (also 30th) SHP Music Stage dance, taped sound, piano and clarinet 8pm £2.50/1.50 students Paradise Club disco dj David Rodigan 9-2 Sunday 30th Angies - Juvessance Caversham Bridge Hotel Readifolk 8pm The Butler, Chatham St. Free jazz 8pm - - - RED RAG BENEFIT Magic Mushroom Band Chocolate Teapot Thur 27 September Paradise Club London St. Disco Lazer Lights Bar Tickets £2 - £1 unwaged from Acorn 17 Chatham St or on the door - - - CAROLINE TAYLOR Caroline Taylor, 8.7.56 - 7.9.84, died tragically in a road accident last week. Caroline was one of the original Greenham women and helped found and bring to light the Burghfield Peace Camp as well as organising the Walk for Life and helping on numerous peace events. Caroline was a vibrant and warm person who will be missed muchly by all who knew her. Anyone who would like to attend a memorial to be held at Molesworth on October 20th please contact Paul (%99995) for details. - - - REGULAR EVENTS Greenham Support Group (Women): meets fortnightly. Nightwatch every Thurs. Contact Ana 68330, Elizabeth 507065 or via Womens Centre, Abbey St. Alcoholics Anonymous: groups meet regularly in Reading (9 meetings a week), Pangbourne, Thatcham, Henley and Bracknell. Day and night info and help line - 597494. Labour History Group: meets monthly at Red Lion, Southampton St. Contact Kathy 590139 or Mike 867789 for details. Vegans: meet 1st Sun of month at 1, Orrin Close, Tilehurst. Contact Liz and Steve Shiner 21651. Amnesty: meets 2nd Thurs of. month at St. Mary's Centre, Chain St. Contact Jean 472598. History of Reading Soc.: meets 3rd Tues of month at Abbey Gateway. Cyclists Touring Club: outings Sun 9.15am. from Caversham Bridge or Henley. For details ring Richard on Bracknell 50849. Wednesday is Women's Day: at Centre for Jobfree, East St. Coffee, advice, courses etc. from 10.30am. Silkscreen Workshops: at Community House, 117, Cumberland Rd. Details from Clive 662302. Cruelty-free Toiletries: market stall every Sat behind Tesco. National Council for Civil Liberties: meets 2nd Mon of month at St. Mary's Centre, Chain St. Ring Paul 861582. Reading Recreation Arts Centres: painting for pleasure at Town Hall, Blagrave St. Mon 7-9, Tues 10-12. Details 55911 or 861289. Berks. Anti-Nuclear Campaign: meets 2nd Tues of month at Friends Meeting House. Also neighbourhood groups. P.O. Box 158, Reading or Phone Gill or Ed 594855. Vocal Workshop: meet at Acorn Bookshop, then on top of Chatham St. carpark every Tues 8pm. Labour Party Young Socialists: Weds at Fairview Community Centre, bottom of George St. 8pm. Reading Cycle Campaign: meets 2nd Mon of month at UB Cycles, London St. 8pm. Membership enquiries ring Chris Mayers 589178. General enquiries John Nixon 483183 or John Rigby 64667. Reading Birth Centre: meets 3rd Tues of month for food arid chat. Ring 61330 for venue. Beading Organisation for Animal Rights (ROAR): 1st Tues of month at The Crown, Crown St. Details from Alan 477790. Men's Group: meets weekly. For dates and venue, contact Box 28, Acorn Bookshop. Miners Support Committee: meets every Thurs 7.30pm. at TGWU office, 36, King's Rd Ring 590311 for details. Juggling Workshop: every weekday 6.15pm. near the Adventure Playground in Palmer Park (London Rd. side). Bring something to juggle with. Phone Pete 67430 for details. Photography: sessions every Tues 10-12, 1-3 at Centre for Jobfree, East St. Housing and Welfare Rights: Thurs eves at Community House, 117 Cumberland Rd. Reading Gay Switchboard: Tues and Fri 8-10pm. 597269 Mini Market: Thurs 9-1 St. Gary's Hse., Chain St. Women's Centre: open Tues 10-2, Wed 10-2, Sat 11-3. All women and kids welcome. Free Pregnancy testing Tues 7-9. Bring urine sample from 1st pee of the day. Incest Survivors Group: meets regularly. Write c/o Rape Crisis Line, 17 Chatham St. for details. Anarchists: meet every Mon (starts again Oct) Details via Box 19, Acorn Bookshop. Also Autonomists. Peace Pledge Union: meets monthly. Pacifist group. Contact 588459, 374532 or Box 10 Acorn Books. Ecology Party: meets 1st and 3rd Mon of month at 8, College Rd and 38, Long Barn Lane respectively. Contact Maria 663195. Socialist Workers Party: meets every Wed at Red Lion Southampton St. 8pm. Regular Monthly books and records sale At 4 Culver Road (side of College Arms) last Saturday of month 10-4. Contact 65533 - - - EVENTS Monday 17th. Wokingham Peace Group: meeting in Wokingham Town Hall at 8pm. Tuesday 18th. Reading Birth Centre: meeting at 20, Bulmershe Hd. at 12 noon. Please bring food contribution for lunch. Details from Electra 65648. Women's Diary Writing: fortnightly workshops at the Women's Centre, Abbey St. 7.30pm. A chance for women to explore and share together what they wish to share of an important but neglected aspect of women's writing. Wednesday 19th. YTS - One Year On: a review and a look into the future of youth training, with speakers. 7.30-9.30pm at Reading Centre for the Unemployed, East St. £1.20 waged 50p unwaged. Berks. Anti-Nuclear Campaign: committee meeting. Jury Rooms, by Abbey Gateway 8pm. All members welcome. Women's Performance Course: start of 10 weekly workshops aimed at finding and expressing womens' hidden talents. Reading Centre for the Unemployed, East St. 1 -3 pm. Veggie Dining: cooks meeting to plan for Friday. 7.30pm 15, Stanley Grove. Thursday 20th. Women's Uprising: start of 10 day gathering at Greenham Common for all women. Nonviolent fun. Acupuncture: talk by Reading Group of Traditional Acupuncturists, on treatment and diagnosis in acupuncture. Followed by discussion and questions. St. Mary's Centre, Chain St. Free, but phone 584191 or 692413 first for a ticket. West Reading CND: meeting 6, Cranbury Rd. 8pm. Peace Pledge Union: meeting to plan for a demo at the Military Fair to be held at the Hexagon on 29th. & 30th. 8pm. 15, Stanley Grove (off George St.) Friday 21st. Veggie Dining: 7.30 for 8pm. at Fairview Community Centre, bottom of George St. £1.50 (£2 waged) Get tickets early from Acorn Bookshop. Women's Assertiveness Training: start of a new course at Reading Centre for the Unemployed 1-3pm. Saturday 22nd. Prospect Park Hospital Defence Campaign: last day to sign the petition to save the hospital, so get to Acorn Bookshop quick! Berkshire Miners Rally: meet at Kings Meadow 11.30am. for march through the town and a rally at 1pm. (same place) Speakers include Tony Banks and representatives from Kent NUM, S. Wales NUM, NGA and NUPE. More details from Terri or Steve 590311, B'stoke 55074 or the TGWU 36, King's Road. All followed by Veggie Dining. Sunday 23rd. New Age Group: meeting at 7.30pm. with a "certified massage practitioner" Anne Parry. Phone Pangbourne 4317 (Eve or Anne) in advance. Vegan Group: walk around Hambledon led by Paul Briggs. Meet at Alder Valley Bus Stn. to get 329 bus at 11.30am. 3 mile walk. Car drivers please phone Paul on Wargrave 3391 for directions to carpark. "Threads": BBC showing of film about 13 years in the life and death of Sheffield after a nuclear war. Monday 24th. South Reading CND Neighbourhood Group: meeting at S. Reading Community Centre 8pm. with Berkshire's Emergency Planning Officer. "On the 8th. Day": BBC showing of film about the nuclear winter effect. West Berkshire Health Watch: public meeting to set up new health services campaign. See health article elsewhere this issue. 7.30pm Reading Centre for the Unemployed, East St Wednesday 26th. Peace Pledge Union: constructive planning (i.e. making placards or something) at 15, Stanley Grove 8pm. Phone 588459 for details. West Berkshire Community Health Council. Your local official health service watchdog meets for its AGM. Tonight it decides what it thinks of the plans to close Prospect Park Hospital. 7.30pm, 10 Gun St Thursday 27th. Stop The City: day of mass protest in the City of London. Anything goes (but violence). Red Rag: copy deadline and editorial meeting to sort out stuff for the next issue. Contact Dave via the Red Rag box (no. 79) at Acorn Bookshop, or on 666681. Women's Studies Part 2: Women's Centre, Abbey St. 7.30pm.-9.30pm. Topics to be covered include speaking and thinking, visual arts and literature. Pangbourne Peace Group: meeting 8pm. 1, Short St., Pangbourne. Fri 28 Lobby of Regional Health Authority, Oxford coach leaves Alder Valley Eus Station 9am. Tickets £2 from Acorn Bookshop. See health article elsewhere this issue. Saturday 29th. Wargames: exhibition of nauseating militaria, weapons, equipment and models. A days entertainment for the whole family so say the Hexagon. The Peace Pledge Union will hold some sort of presence/demo. Contact them via Box 10 Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St. or get to their planning meetings on 20th and 26th. Red Rag: layout and paste-up. Contact Dave for details of where and when... 666681 Sunday 30th. Collating Party: come and take part in this historical event... folding Red Rag and the new Reading Between the Lines at Reading Centre for the Unemployed, East St., Reading from 11am. Everyone welcome for any length of time - the more the merrier. You could bring food to share for lunch too! - - - READING GAY SWITCHBOARD is looking for volunteers to join its autumn training programme, starting in October. If you are lesbian or gay, have two free evenings a month, and feel that you can help, ring Switchboard on Reading 597269 on Tuesday or Friday 8-10pm. Switchboard would particularly welcome enquiries from women. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1984/1984-09-16.txt#3 $