RED RAG Free 9th Dec - 5th Jan Next issue Write to Red Rag, c/o Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, Rg. Coordinator - Paul 52947 News - 662302 Events - 591025 Going Out - 669154 Distribution - 669562 Copydate 3rd Jan '85 This week 15 million turkeys will have their throats slit to celebrate the birth of the prince of peace. Merry Christmas? - - - FIGHT WINTER AT GREENHAM As you may have read in the 29th. Oct. issue of the Rag, there is a mini-bus in the area which transports hot food to the women's peace camp at Greenham Common every evening except Saturday. The recent wave of evictions at the peace camps have meant that the women are virtually unable to prepare proper meals because of loss of equipment and the constant threat of more evictions. The wet weather and lack of dry wood also makes it impossible to keep fires going. The mini-bus was bought, insured and converted by members of Ascot Nuclear Disarmament Group, and many peace groups and support groups in Berkshire and Oxfordshire run the meals service on a rota system, taking anything from one to seven days at a time. About 15 or so people met in Reading on November 14th to discuss a local group taking part in the scheme (the Greenham Support Group in Reading have also already cooked meals and taken the bus to Greenham), and Reading was put on the rota on 17th, 18th and 19th December. The work will involve one person driving the bus and lots of people each cooking a few portions of a dish (yet to be decided), and one or two others to go along in the bus to dish the food out. We are also hoping to pick up wet clothing and blankets from the camp, get them dry then return them. There will be (or was for most readers) a planning and cooks meeting at 44, Gosbrook Rd., Caversham on Sunday 9th. Dec. at 8pm. For insurance reasons you need to be over 25 to drive the bus, but we need drying facilities and help with cooking from anybody, any age. Also we need financial donations to buy food and petrol. If you can contribute any sort of help, you can get more information from John (483183) or from Valerie & Derek (483416) if you couldn't make the meeting. B. Willows - - - LETTERS I don't usually bother to reply to the predictable sort of letter Paul Hartley wrote in the last Red Rag full of contrived self righteous indignation at the Wood Green Stop The City action. The hypocritical "We're the respectable members of the movement and we condemn the actions of the extremists" type of letters are both cowardly and beneath contempt. But when I and others are compared to football hooligans, granny bashers and even killers I can't take this pacifist's verbal violence lying down. There is a very big difference between the indiscriminate violence of soccer hooligans and discriminate organised acts of sabotage against capitalist properties and institutions which have a stranglehold over us. The purpose of the action was not to harm anyone but to cause economic loss to the banks and monopolies who promote exploitation and militarism, to disrupt the drudgery and routine of things and in particular, during the miners strike, make whatever small contribution we can to drawing police away from the picket lines and pit communities under paramilitary occupation. Also, rather than "scaring" the elderly leaving holes in shop windows can be quite handy for them to slip needed provisions in shopping bags as they walk past (as seen in '8l riots). I don't see how this can possibly be described as typical of the actions of a repressive regime but it is instead a hint at the kinds of action needed to resist one. As for confirming people's worst fears Paul Hartley has done this quite well by collaborating with the authorities in portraying militant direct actionists as mindless thugs which they are not. By perpetuating this sort of myth he is encouraging state violence and public hostility against us. Constructive criticism is to be welcomed but cheap slurs only cheese me off and cannot be tolerated. I too once looked at the world through rose tinted glasses and believed that I could change society by being ever so nice nice nice. But experience has taught me over the years that a more physical response to the hierarchical environment around us is not only necessary but good. Using fear as a spring board and letting oneself be swayed by timidity one never succeeds. Only the bold and resolute can achieve radical change. Erik. 897 Oxford Road, Reading, Berks. December 2nd 1984 Dear Rag, Having enjoyed the well-argued attack in the first eleven paragraphs of 'The Great Empty Office Conspiracy' on the Thatcherist mania for office development I was baffled by the reference in the twelfth to protesters about all this being handed old Labour Party internal memorandums by Council planning officers. Planning officers can no doubt answer for themselves, but any of them would I'm sure be bound to confirm that all they've had from the Reading District Labour Party and Labour Councillors over the past many years has been relentless opposition to excessive office development in the town. Alone among the major parties, the Labour Party took part in the Public Inquiry into the Central Reading District Plan a year ago and our main call then was for a strict rationing system to be imposed on planning permission for offices over the next ten years to stop the "concrete virus" eating up any more of our residential streets. We showed that on the Council's present policies the sites they had identified for office development would all be used up within the first three years or thereabouts of the 10-year plan and we showed that there were enough empty offices in the town to provide desks for all the unemployed office workers in Reading several times over. One of Mr Tebbit's economies is that statistics on the skills of the unemployed are no longer collected, but as a result of a question I asked at the last Council meeting I can tell you that Reading now has enough office space empty, under construction or being planned with planning permission to provide desks for 89% of all the unemployed people in the whole Reading Travel to Work Area, regardless of whether they're looking for office jobs or would run a mile at the thought. It's because we have exploded the myth that office development brings jobs and recognise instead that much of it merely brings empty assets in company balance sheets that the Labour Party has campaigned against the sort of gross over-development Reading has suffered and argued against individual development schemes on the Planning Committee and elsewhere. Your "post-situitionist beserker" is welcome to a copy of our Manifesto at the last Borough elections if this will convince him! Pete Ruhemann (Chair, Reading District Labour Party) - - - POSTIES - Why not have Red Rag posted to a friend living outside the Reading distribution area; Wokingham, Pangbourne, Henley or ex-Reading folks who have moved further afield. - All you need to do is send the name and address of the person requiring the Rag - and name of the donor if it's a pressie - plus an amount to cover postage. A pound will give someone the delights of Reading's Only for 2 or 3 months. When the subscription runs out, I'll send them a reminder so they can renew it if they wish. - Also if you know of any other community newspaper around, please let us know and we'll be glad to do an exchange - new ideas always useful and welcome. At present we receive the Leeds Other Paper, Exeter's Flying Post and Sheffield's Alternative Paper. These are available in the Rag box at Acorn. - So next time you write to your granny up north or a friend who has moved further south, ask them if they can sound out local community publications.! No postage required for exchanges! Subscriptions, other publications, cheques, views, etc should be sent to Red Rag (Posties), Box 79, 17 Chatham Street, Reading, Berkshire. Happy Days, Paul (present postal personage) - - - RED RAG 1985 CALENDAR "red rag ....... 1985" ^ ^ | | | | Reading's only year in case calendar producing you forget fortnightly Coloured paper (wow)! Real photographs of bits of Reading, are you in one of them? Dates, very useful For only 90p the Red Rag Calendar can be yours. Available 20th Dec from Acorn Bookshop. - - - LETTERS Red Rag's policy is to print anything that is submitted unless it is sexist, racist or supportive of an oppressive religion or excessively long. Those present at the editorial meeting found the following letter sexist, racist and very offensive. However we thought it was necessary to print it, in full. This is because we felt it was a criticism of the Rag and everything the Rag stands for. We cannot simply ignore this kind of attitude as it is only a blatant expression of the attitudes that we are surrounded by every day. We feel it is more dangerous to ignore this than to print it and let the readership see for themselves. As printing this letter contravenes the Rag's policy of not printing offensive material we felt we had to explain the reasons for its inclusion. This also contravenes the Rag's policy of not including comments on articles in the same issue. Normally articles submitted to the Rag do not come from within the collective and we print them irrespective of whether we agree with the views they contain or not with no comments attached. As this was such a blatantly controversial letter we felt we could not print it without making our feelings known. The four people at the editorial meeting who made this decision feel that we would like anyone who has any feelings about the publication of this letter or about the way we have gone about doing it to comment by a letter, article or by coming to a Rag collective meeting. We hope by printing such a letter there will be some constructive discussion within the Rag. - - - St. Georges Hall, Elmhurst Road, Reading. This space is here because the printer does not think that collective policy can be re-determined at editorial meetings. John H - - - STOP PRESS Tuesday 8th Jan Barcelona Bus Company & No Defences 8.00pm. till late £1.50 / £1.00 unwaged. Free festival benefit: Paradise Club. - - - WANTED Room wanted for 1 month for student on placement in Reading.... Anything Considered (pref. cheap!) tel. John 669154 (leave message if out please). - - - GOING OUT Sunday 9th SHP - The London Gabrieli Brass Enesmble (family Christmas concert) SHP - Company of Wolves (18) 7.45pm Monday 10th SHP film - "Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?" (15) 7.45pm The Bull Nettlebed - Folk £2 Tuesday 11th Paradise Club - Miners Benefit with the Ant-Hill Mob 8-2 ish RUSU Xmas Ball - Sweet Diatribe, Fabulous Falling Angels 8-2 late bar £3 SHP - as 10th Tudor Arms - Gay Disco, 8pm, free Wednesday 12th RFT - "The Leopard" (PG) 7.15pm Jive Dive Disco - Fives Bar SHP - as 10th Thursday 13th Paradise Club London Street - Lion Roots + Ali Boo, 9 till late, £2 Video Workshop screening. South Hill Park, 7.45 pm Central Club - Black Music Worldwide Target Butts Centre - Chain Reaction Sportsman Shinfield Road - free music Friday 14th Paradise Club - Sunglasses After Dark + support, 8pm-2am Ploegan Piano Quartet - French evening, SHP, 8pm, £2.25 / £3 / £3.25 SHP film - "Purple Rain" (15), 7.45pm end 11pm Gay disco - Tudor Arms, 8pm, free Saturday 15th Paradise Club - Positive Force, Street Level, Soul to Soul Hi Tec. £3.50 SHP folk - Sara Marogan and Mary Eagle, 8pm, £1.20 / £1.50 SHP film as 14th Target - Quaser Sunday 16th Target Butts Centrs - Some Like it Hot Butlet Chatham Street - Free jazz, 8pm Readifolk Caversham Bridge Hotel - free, 8pm SHP film - "Purple Rain" (15), 7.45pm Monday 17th Christmas Party gay disco - Martine's (opposite station) 9pm - 2am £1.50 members, £2 guests "Cinderella" Hexagon 2.30 and 7pm, price ??? Girls will be boys, ugly old men will be ugly old women and they all live happily (sic) ever after. Very British (incomprehensible to others), very trad (even the Show Biz interpolations), great stuff if you can stand it and the only thing around to take the kids to. Pity. Goes on and on and on, times as here except Saturdays 4.30 ad 8 and Sundays (on the Seventh Dat mammon rests). SHP as 16th Tuesday 18th Red Rag Bag - live gig with Soft Dogs and Instant Fish (what will Veggies and Roarers say about it all?) to launch Reading's Only Cassette Album. Paradise Club, London Street 8 till late. £1.50, £1 waged. Gay disco - Tudor Arms, 8pm, free SHP as 16th, Hex Cinders as 17th (and forever?) Jive Dive Disco - Fives Bar Paradise Club - Beat Back Band + support 8 - late, £1.50 / £1 Wednesday 19th SHP and Hex no change Thursday 20th Paradise Club - Raiders Hi Power + Ali Boo, 9 l late, £2 "Aladdin" South Hill Park - "an action-packed Christmas show", it says here. See comment on Cinderella at the Hex. 7.30pm, £3.50 / £2.50 Video Workshop screening - SHP, time unspecified Central Club Black Music Worldwide Sportsman, Shinfield Road free music Hex as before. Ho hum. Friday 21st Paradise Club - UK Subs + The Scanners, 8pm - 2am, £??? Gay Disco Tudor Arms, 8 pm, free SHP film Mr Mum (PG) 7.45 pm SHP Music at the Park, 8 pm SHP 'Aladdin' and Hex 'Cinderella' no let-up Saturday 22nd Paradise Club - Star Rhapsody + Disco + "Dynamic Bodypoppers" 8pm - 2am, £2.50 SHP folk - Christmas Party with Len and Barbara Berry + Ran Tan Mummers (prehistoric panto, sort of, and just as traditional and/or objectionable) 8 pm, £1,20/£1.50 Target Butts Centre - Haze Hex Cinders as before only 4.30 and 8 pm SHP Aladdin as 20th, film as 21st Sunday 23rd Target - Howlin Horrors SHP - Christmas concert (no more details) Butler, Chatham Street - free jazz, 8pm Readifolk Caversham Bridge Hotel, 8pm, free SHP film as 21st Monday 24th Readings Own People Show - All over town centre from noon or thereabouts as office junior and others prepare for the Festal Day. Buskers too - be nice to them The Bull Nettlebed - Folk Club, 8pm Tuesday 25th Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas (Tudor Arms Gay Disco probably cancelled!) Wednesday 26th Paradise Club London Street - Hurricane Force Steel Band, 8pm - 2am, £??? Jive Dive Disco - Fives Bar (?) Martines - Gay Disco cancelled SHP - "Aladdin" 3pm and 7pm, otherwise as before Hex - same old "Cinderella" - see 17th Thursday 27th Paradise Club - Timmy John, 8pm - 2am, £3 door / £2.50 in advance Central Club - Black Music Worldwide Sportsman, Shinfield Road - free music SHP and Hex pantos as Wednesday Friday 28th Paradise Club - Guana Batz + support, 8pm - 2am, £??? SHP film - Romancing the Stone (PG), 7.45pm Gay Disco Tudor Arms, 8 pm, free Hex and SHP pantos same as Wednesday Saturday 29th SHP folk - The Kings Hat Banc, 8pm, £1.20 / £1.50 SHP film and "Aladdin" as 28th Hex 'Cinderella' at 4.30 and 8pm Sunday 30th Readifolk - Caversham Bridge Hotel, 8pm, free Butler - Chatham Street - free jazz, 8pm SHP film as 28th Monday 31st The Bull Nettlebed - Folk Club, 8pm, £2 SHP film as 28th HEX "Cinderella" as ever was but at 1 pm and 4.30 pm Tuesday 1st Jan Happy New Year (and condolences to hung-over heads) Gay Disco - Tudor Arms (?) 8pm and free, if so Hex as 17th. Will it never end? Wednesday 2nd New Years Gay Disco - Martines 9pm - 2am, £2 (members £1.50) Jive Dive Disco - Fives Bar Hex as 17th Thursday 3rd Central Club - Black Music Worldwide Sportsman, Shinfield Road - free music Hex as 17th and apparently from time immemorial Friday 4th Gay Disco Tudor Arms, 8pm, feee Hex unchanged Saturday 5th Hex "Cinderella" (still), 4.30 and 8pm - - - THE PERSONAL REMAINS POLITICAL I am writing in response to the article "The Cosmo Girl's Guide..." by Jan Dark, which appeared in Red Rag two issues ago. I disagreed strongly with the article and am writing to explain why, particularly as I felt that the style of the article led one to believe that Jan Dark was an authority on "Non-Monogamy", that she was the expert and hers was "the alternative" to monogamy. In explaining why I disagree with Jan' Dark's point of view, I have had to state my attitude towards monogamy and what I understand by the term. However, those are only my thoughts and personal approach to the question of relationships. I do not simply wish to say that Jan Dark is wrong and I am right, thereby replacing one doctrine with another. I am aware that what I say may have little relevance to other people's experience. Those are only ideas that have helped me to understand the relationships in which I have been involved. What I say is not meant as a new moral order, but hopefully to stimulate further debate on a very complicated, controversial and all to _ often, taboo subject. My first criticism, of the article was the attitude towards celibacy, which made very angry. "There is only one good reason to be celibate - and that is because you don't like sex, which is a pity." Apart from anything else, I found this patronising in the extreme. I also think that it supports the idea that, if you are celibate, for whatever reason, then there is something wrong with you. It puts yet more pressure on people to view sex as something that is of primary importance in their lives, a belief that is very much part of our culture. It denies the right of the individual to choose what is right for them, and encourages feelings of inadequacy in people who, for whatever reason, are not engaged in a sexual relationship. This kind of statement, however, is not new. The concept of the "Frigid Woman" is often used to ensure that women are kept in their place; available to the male partner, as and when he wants, and on his terms. It is used to ensure that women conform to the submissive role, or are rejected by society. The concept of the supposedly insatiable male sexual appetite is used to ensure that men feel there is something wrong with them if they do not take up their masculine role and associated power. Apart from this, there seem to me to be many very good reasons not to like sex; sexual relationships, like all relationships in this society, tend to be based on an imbalance of power, on control and submission. Sexuality, as we are led to understand it, is defined in these terms, and it is very difficult for us to re-define it for ourselves. There have always been women who have chosen celibacy as an alternative to the constraints of marriage, despite the economic difficulty in escaping it. It is still a relevant choice in our society today because the energy we spend worrying about the problems within our relationships could possibly be channelled in a more potentially rewarding direction. Celibacy is not necessarily a means of avoiding taking emotional risks, unless this means the risk of losing one's individuality in couplehood. Celibacy does not necessarily involve the denial of emotional involvement, and some people find it makes it easier to express their emotional needs more honestly. Celibacy can be a positive choice that people make to create space for themselves. Through it they find their own identity, discover their own needs and find self confidence through themselves and not as the result of a dependency on another person or persons. And if celibacy is not a permanent choice, which it often isn't, it can provide space to recover from sustained relationships. The article then proceeds to discuss multiple relationships. However in my opinion, what is discussed is not what I understand by the term non-monogamy, and is no alternative to monogamy and its associated problems. These are the problems of an "open marriage". "we have emotional needs and desires outside our primary relationship" "then you discover that your Favourite Human Being is falling in love with someone else" "what FHB needs to do now... is to make it clear if there is a No. 1" "if you live with your No.1 or anchor partner" The concepts of primary relationships, favourite human beings, No.1 or anchor partners are essentially monogamous. Jan Dark says she has not had the experience of being without an anchor partner and I would therefore say that she has only experienced essentially monogamous relationships. Non-monogamy, to me, does not mean having one major relationship, combined with various secondary relationships, neither does it mean a combination of several parallel monogamous relationships within which the rules of power balance are not challenged. Monogamy to me is the personal enactment of the power control and ownership, that exists in every relationship in this society, from the state to the governed, from employer to worker downwards. It is representative of our patriarchal, capitalistic society (or any society that relies on authoritarianism) at the most personal level. However it is not a relationship that is imposed by the state, neither is it a natural relationship, but the reasons that it is chosen as natural and normal are much more complex. It is a relationship that our society encourages us to hold as ideal, an ideal induced by a very subtle set of cultural messages, at a conscious and unconscious level, and based on the notion of romantic love. This ideal plays on our insecurities and the monogamous relationship is the expected, socially and economically validated means of our finding identification, and confirmation of ourselves, in this society. The institutions of heterosexuality and marriage and the history of reproductive control have had parts to play in determining the laws of monogamy. We have the choice to determine who we engage in this relationship with, but once we have "fallen in love" and chosen our partner, there are rules, expectations, and controls on our behaviour, that are immediately brought into play. Sexual expression is legitimized within the relationship but banned outside it, and we look for our own worth through our partner, therefore becoming dependant. If the rules are broken we become insecure and jealous. This is a result of the "internalised social conditioning which tells us to feel jealous, insecure or possessive when a loved one loves someone else". These are the jealousies Jan Dark discusses. However they are a product of breaking the rules of a monogamous relationship, and not a result of challenging monogamy itself. We can say what you did, or I did was good, or bad, the relationship worked, or it didn't, but this does not actually challenge the terms of the relationship. In this case I would agree with Jan Dark; jealousy is quite likely. However I feel that the way she suggests dealing with it merely reinforces the insecurities, dependencies and control that form the basis of this type of relationship. One person still has to find confirmation of their worth through the other. They are dependant on affirmation of love and specialness from their partner and the partners power is maintained. This does not solve the problem of jealousy and dependency, but rather validates and increases it. The only result of "favourite Human Being" moving heaven and earth to reassure you that they care and that you are special is to increase their power over you and to confirm your dependency on their affection. Challenging monogamy is hard. We fear losing the power we gain in having an exclusive knowledge of another person's intimacy. We are sexually insecure. We fear competition in the market of love. We fear the lack of control, and the otherness of our partners sexual relationships elsewhere and we fear that if sexuality and emotion are expressed with more than one person their capacity to love us will be reduced. The only way I can see of challenging this is to find one's own autonomy. I do not believe that people realise themselves through other people. The Jealousy caused by feelings of inadequacy can only be fought from within. I feel that it is important to find one's own identity, discover one's needs and desires and find one's self-confidence through oneself, and not as the result of one or several monogamous relationships. This is not a question of dividing feeling nor about dividing time. Our sexuality should not be a commodity. We should not like someone 80% therefore give 80% of our emotion, 80% of our time or expect 80% return. We have got to find ways of caring, giving; sexual and non sexual that are not commodity based and do not depend on affirmation through state, society or partner. People must define for themselves an autonomous sexuality that is not defined or controlled by what our society means by the term 'sexuality'. Only when we can give freely of our autonomous selves can we hope to enter relationships on an equal basis, and not relate via interdependencies, feelings of inadequacy, imbalances of control and involvement in power games. Jackie - - - RED RAG What is Red Rag? Red Rag is Reading's Only Newspaper. It has just had its fifth birthday. It is free and comes out every fortnight, and is financed entirely by donations and benefit gigs. It is produced by a collective, to whose next meeting, on Sun 13th Jan, 4 pm at 92a London Road, you are very welcome. Help is always welcome too, as are articles: most of the Rag is written by people outside the collective. All articles should have a signature, and a contact phone number or address. Copy deadline is the Thursday before production: for details see front cover. Money It has been fairly healthy recently, but it is rapidly getting less so. A donation of 10p per copy would be sufficient to cover printing costs. But as we don't believe in miracles, we'll just ask you to fill out the standing order form in this issue. Surely you can afford £1 per month? And don't forget the collecting boxes in the outlets? - - - Paid Ad Reading's only Workers' Co-operative UB CYCLES same day bicycle repairs renovations new & second hand bikes spare parts... UB Cycles 67 London Street Reading phone 509089 Open 8.30-6.00 Monday to Saturday 10.00-12 noon Sundays - - - RED RAG BAG 15 Hot Hits From Local Bands 60 minutes for only £3 The Red Rag cassette contains 15 tracks, all from local bands. It's all there: pop, jazz, folk, dub and funk. Most of the material is original and previously unreleased. It includes tracks from the Soft Dogs, Lost Boys, Beating Time, Ghosts, Jeopardy Brothers to name but a few. Our intention was simply to give what we regard as good music produced locally a wider hearing. The bands donated their music and we've kept the price as low as possible; any money made goes to Red Rag. The cassette is available from Sat 15 Dec from Acorn, at the Red Rag benefit on Tues 18 Dec at the Paradise Club or by phoning Clive on 662302 or Tim 669562. - - - CRUISE RUMOURS With a 'B' movie actor in the White House it's appropriate that a local bit-part T.V. actor should want to jump on the bandwagon. In this case it is Woodley resident Felix Bowness, the actor who plays the man who runs the donkey rides in 'Hi-de-Hi', a banal T.V. comedy show set in a 50's holiday camp. Just as the influx of USAF Greenham Common families into Woodley seems to have passed its peak, the good souls of this Liberal stronghold are faced with a Fifth Columnist in their midst. Last month Felix appeared at the 'Keep Berkshire Tidy' awards presentation in full riding gear complete with whip. He then surprised his audience by launching into an attack on the Greenham Common peace campers. "The county", he suggested, "would be a lot cleaner if you got rid of some of the stinking old women there." Award winners gaped at what was supposed to be a speech congratulating them on their efforts. The organisers made a brave effort to shut him up but by now Felix had the bit between his teeth. "I have been told to watch what I say because the press is here", he announced, "but that's what I want to say....get rid of them!". USAF personnel will have no difficulty in expressing their gratitude to Felix for his brave stand (he's in the 'phone book) or they could buy him a pint at his favourite pub - the 'Bull and Chequers' on Woodley Green. Despite their attempts at a 'hearts and minds' operation the Greenham Common USAF personnel remain about as popular as any army of occupation. To ease one burden - on the local housing stock - the Americans have bought a plot of land near Newbury with the intention of building their own housing estate. This might help to prevent alienating the local population any further. Ironically, the increasing number of USAF personnel at Greenham Common has generated a series of stories and rumours of the kind which, a year or so ago, used to circulate about the Greenham Women and the peace camp. The tales of loud American back-garden barbeques going on late into the night, vomit over the garden fence, nocturnal car-door slamming sessions, etc, all seem to be connected in some way to the availability of duty-free booze from the PX stores. Newbury Video has threatened to ban all USAF personnel after having £1,500 worth of tapes ripped-off in the past few weeks. The owner, Brian Burgess, said, "Many of them come in here drunk now. I had to throw a couple of drunks out on Friday evening." One place these particular customers didn't get drunk was at Newbury's 'Starting Gate' pub whose landlord, Brian Rightson, has banned all American servicemen - "Because every time they come in here there is aggravation", he explained. Rumour has it that, in the event of a real 'disperse missiles' alert, the greatest problem facing the USAF Commander would be finding enough of his crews sober enough to operate the damned things. Zed Feecher - - - SAHAJA YOGA There will be regular meetings of Sahaja Yoga at 7 p.m. every Friday at St. David's Hall, 26 London Rd., Reading. Everyone is welcome to obtain their Self-Realisation and a deeper awareness. All are welcome - no charge. Enquiries Tel. 01-673-1956 - - - FREE FESTIVAL Do you fancy a free festival in Reading for 1985? We do! As part of the Reading Anarchist Group's 20th. anniversary celebrations, we would like to put together all of the necessary parts that create the physical environment for an outdoor music festival. There is a lot to be considered, apart from obtaining a site, negotiating with local authorities, and fixing an entertaining line-up, we have to organize the basic facilities for the festival to happen. The basics that we need are, a scaffold stage (covered), a marquee or two, a PA system, stage lights, 440 volt generator, plus water supply and toilets. A free festival is a fine concept until one gets down to the real nitty-gritty of putting it together - the main problem being that everything mentioned above has to be paid for. (With exception to the line-up, who will be playing because they are 'into' it). As usual the Reading anarchist group is pennyless, but that has not stopped us from dreaming of a good time next summer. It just means that we have to get it together to do some fund raising. We need between £750 & £1000 to ensure a successful festival. We have started the fund raising by putting on benefit gigs at the Paradise Club in London Street. The first one, a couple of weeks back, cost us £60 because of the low turn out. We can't afford that to happen again, otherwise we will have to forget the whole thing. We desperately need your support at all of the future events, so that we can be financially on target next summer. If we only hold 20 benefits that each make £50 (about 100 people) we will be able to do it. So, its all up to you really, (the anarchists always say that!) if you want a Free Festival, come to the Paradise Club on Wednesday 19th December with £1.50 or £1.00 if unwaged and dance the evening away with 'Other Brothers' and the 'Beatback Band'. If you really can't handle dancing to sixties soul & pop, you could, for the same price, have your eardrums ruptured by the Barcelona Bus Company and No Defences on Tuesday 8th January 1985. We look forward to seeing you at both events. Incidentally, we would be pleased to hear from anyone who has access to the basics that have been mentioned above, or anyone that wants to be constructive in any way. A in action, box 19, Acorn bookshop, Chatham St. - - - RED RAG WINTER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION Paradise Club, London Street 8 'til Late Tuesday 18th December The Soft Dogs ++plus++ Instant Fish £1.50/1.00 unwaged - - - BURGHFIELD A stands fox Aldermaston B stands for Burghfield C stands for Contamination, Cancers and Children Born Dead Apparently one nuclear weapons factory in the Reading area isn't enough. I read today that AWRE Aldermaston is to manufacture plutonium for the next generation of weapons. Building work has already started, along with discrepancies about the cost. However my concern lies with the existing nuclear weapons factory - Burghfield. I am trying to gather as much information as possible about the activities of ROF Burghfield, and am especially interested in the convoy that travels from there to Coulport in Scotland, transporting warheads to and from the Polaris submarines. There is also strong reason to believe that the marked increase of stillbirths among women in Reading shows a significant connection with the release of radioactive waste from Burghfield. It is essential that the facts be made known so that we can act on the findings. If you can help with any information on any of this (there is a court case involved) and support, please leave messages for me at Acorn Box 238. Brenda Women's Peace Camp, Greenham - - - MINERS STRIKE The miners have been on strike now for nine months and the vast majority up and down the country are still remaining solid in their resolve not to be starved back to work. Why A Strike? The fight is not about pay rises. The Miners are fighting for the right to work. That is, the right to live as civilised human beings, where their families and communities are secure. I repeat the now hopefully well know NCB plan, which is to close 70 pits and put 70,000 Miners on the dole scrap heap. The Miners are suffering for all of us. They are on starvation rations and now have to freeze due to the onset of winter. The Law and The State Their fight affects everyone of us in Britain. The defeat of the NUM would mean a massive increase in the unemployed as other industries will be affected. It would also mean virtually the defeat of ail organised labour. Our rights to organise, to affect changes in society would come up against the full force of the law; a law used in the interests of the Capitalist State as articulated by the present government. We would be pushed back to the dark ages of ignorance, poverty, repression and police rule. Social Security The recent underhand action by the government over payment of Social Security is a political move (ie the increase from £15 to £16 of money deducted from any Social Security payment allowed to Miners Families) aimed at turning the screw one more turn, to try to demoralise more miners and pressure them to return to work. This cut in income is aimed directly at hurting the wives and children of miners just before Xmas when mining families are already struggling to keep going. Current Progress The media campaign to make us all think the strike is crumbling is having a hard job. The carrot of Xmas Bonuses is no more than money already owed the Miners. - - - P.P.U. The PPU is a pacifist group which has been working for peace for 50 years. Its campaigns tend to focus, not so much on any particular type of weapon, but on the political and social structures on which violence end oppression depend and on personal attitudes and relationships. Through its links with War Resisters International the PPU is part of a world-wide network of people whe are working in a similar way. The current Reading PPU group has been active for about two years. Our meetings are small and friendly. New people, either committed or just curious, are always welcome. Our last meeting was at Mike and Tracey's on 28 November. Among other things we discussed: Joining in mass non-violent symbolic civil disobedience (or whatever) at Trafalgar Square in London at 6.00pm on Wednesday, 12 December to mark the fifth anniversary of the NATO decision to site cruise missiles in Europe. We will meet at the bus stop in front of Reading railway station at 3.45pm to catch the 3.55 X1 coach. Everyone committed to non-violence please join us. The fare is a couple of pounds or so. For more info contact David - Pangbourne (37) 3153. War Toys campaigning. Sales of toy tanks, guns, Action Man, etc. are an indirect part of the macho-sexist conditioning of boys for war. Getting our message to Christmas shoppers is very worthwhile. We decided to reprint a modified version of our own leaflet on this subject. Next session of leafetting shoppers will be on Saturday, 15 December. More leafletters would be very welcome. Meet at the front of the Hexagon at 2.00pm (or in the tar a bit earlier). There is also a possibility of simple street theatre for those interested. Contact Paul - 52947. We made arrangements to set up a display of PPU materials in Acorn. Why not go and have a look at it? We discussed our contribution to the "meals on wheels" service to the Greenham women' s camps. We are in the rota for providing meals on 17, 18 and 19 December. More help is wanted with cocking and other jobs. Contact Derek or Valerie - 483416. We discussed ways of raising urgently needed funds for this service - look elsewhere in this issue. We had a jolly account of adventures some members had in the woods around Longmore RAF camp in Hampshire a few weekends ago when a cruise convoy was having an outing there. And we talked about lots more things, both enormously important and utterly trivial. Why not treat yourself to a stimulating and enjoyable evening? Come along to our next meeting at 8.00pm on Wednesday, 9 January at 15 Stanley Grove (off George Street). Happy Solstice, David - - - SMALL ADS Wanted: Room wanted for one month, by student on placement in. Reading - Anything, considered (preferably cheap). Tel. John. 669154 (leave message if necc.) Unique, Unusual and Ideologically Sound Gift Wrappings hand-printed by unique, unusual and ideologically sound hand-printers. On sale at Acorn and (hopefully) other good places - all profits in aid of tools and unscroungeable materials and services for Box Office, Reading's very own, unsubsidized free-range community arts team. - - - CITIZEN CAIN Raynerstown The agreement between Marks & Spencer and Tesco to develop jointly some nice juicy hypermarket sites in the still relatively prosperous south-east cuts across an important plank the Tories and Liberals were squabbling over building into their election platforms for Berkshire County Council next May. For who can doubt that when M&S boss Lord Rayner (Thatcher civil servant hunter, retired) lobbies her to force Berkshire to plan for major residential development and a big new shopping centre south of Reading her Environment Secretary will get an urgent memo ordering urgent action? No way are Gareth Gimblett and/or Jim Day a match for the eight building firms in the Consortium plus Derek Rayner! Truth Drug Lilly, a US drug firm with a UK base just over the border in Hampshire, have enlisted their local (Tory) M.P. in a campaign against some of their products being banned from the NHS by Norman Fowler in favour of cheaper generic equivalents. This is the same company that was slammed by the British Medical Association for misleading advertising last month. They had claimed that one of their antibiotics, Keflex, did not cause rashes when the drug's data sheet had states that indeed it could. Private Water Tom King's order to the Thames Water Authority to repay £69M of loans next year instead of £19M, and push up prices to do so, is beginning to look much more sinister than a seasonal offering to Nigel Lawson. Firstly, it'll effectively hide any additional costs TWA might suffer as a result of taking over the Thames Barrier and some smaller schemes from the GLC when and if Ken is decapitated. Secondly, increasing water rates now builds up the TWA cash position nicely so that privatisation in say 1986 (to follow Telecom in 1984 and British Airways in 1985) will be an attractive option. Thirdly, it will increase pressure for water metering, which TWA Chief Executive Roy Watts (ex-BA) is actively investigating and set the scene for a general meter scheme next year. That metered water would then be subject to VAT under EEC directive No.6 would be a useful bonus in helping Mr Lawson (the same) to reduce direct taxation in favour of indirect taxation just before the next Election. Is not strategy a wonderful thing, dummies? Thomson's Directives The first Lord (Roy) Thomson, 'tis said, got into the media business because he took over a small company in Canada that made radio sets and felt he would sell more sets if people had more radio to listen to. A profoundly commercial posture which still pervades the Thomson organisation today, and their various enterprises such as the Reading 'Evening Post'. The amount of advertising space in the paper has been pushed to the very limit beyond which it would not be registered by the GPO as a newspaper (free sheets like its 'Standard' off-shoot aren't) but there are still repeated threats to close the paper as part of a rationalisation of the Thomson-empire. The up-beat Saturday edition (on the streets as from about 10.00 a.m.!) is another move to keep the paper in being. If VAT is introduced on newspapers, as many sources insist, the extra 2p on the cover price might well mean the 'Post' would fold. And a useful if imperfect source of some news would be lost to the people of Reading. Or would channel TV courtesy of not-yet-Lord (Robert) Maxwell substitute? Tory Ticket Reading West M.P. Tony Durant, having risen to the dizzy heights of a junior whip, is causing real anguish to Tory colleagues on Reading Borough Council by his refusal to come out against the 'buses' White Paper and the Bill to implement it that Nicholas Ridley is planning for later this session. Transport Chairman Geoff Lowe is said, most unusually, to be speechless at the let-down but Tony, unlike Reading East's Gerry Vaughan, is still trying to climb the greasy pole and won't blot his copybook now. Less understandable to Cllr. Lowe is how two of his Tory colleagues on the Borough Council, one of them the Mayor and the other, Joe Slater, a long-serving member of the Transport Committee and in line to be Mayor next year, have supported the Borough's campaign against the White Paper but as County Councillors have supported the White Paper's proposals. Could this be because they suspect a vindictive Mrs Thatcher won't let than be invited to Royal Garden Parties or are they just too political for their own good? Pattie Cake Chertsey & Walton may be on the fringes of Silicon Valley, but its M.P., Geoffrey Pattie, the new Minister for Information Technology, looks like forcing a lot of /high tech. firms to cash in their chips. His announcement that state aid for information technology is to be frozen as a step towards its eventual opposition hasn't had as much publicity as the cut in regional aid but may be even more significant. With a £2.5B per annum deficit in electronics trade, and a warning from NEDO that our IT industry might sink below viability in about 18 months, not to mention a ruling that all software products must get an export license to prevent them being exported to the Russians, a number of local firms are I'm sure feeling that the sun is setting before it's even properly risen on IT in the UK. The US and Japanese companies who've got facilities in the area are however laughing all the way to the electronic till. Fowled A Mr Arthur Taylor, chairman of the National Association :of Health Authorities, has reassured readers of the 'Sunday Times' that the introduction of general managers into the NHS was going to be all right because "All health authorities have had to submit to their regional health authorities, and eventually to the minister, ... their proposals for identifying the general manager" for their authority. What he did not say, how-ever, was that in the Oxford Region at least "proposals for identifying" the general manager have meant "the names of the proposed general managers", and that all eight Health Districts in the Region have been forced to forward their nominations to the Minister for his approval or otherwise. Following his leader's example, the Minister's question in each case will no doubt be "Is he (or of course she) one of us?". And if the answer is no the District will be told, as one in the Midlands already has been told, to try again. Now actually that Saatchi & Saatchi (propagandists by appointment) have taken over the Hay group, one of the bigger placement agencies, Health Districts might just be ordered to use Hay's instead. Either way, each District GM will be a certified supporter of Tory policy on NHS cuts and privatisation of NHS services. A Merry Christmas to all my sources Citizen Cain - - - YULETIDE GREETINGS FROM ACORN It's that time of year again, so before you give up and resort to bathcubes, take a look at your local super-radical bookshop ;we might solve your problems, and you'd sure solve ours! Frivolous stuff: Ronald Reagan's Reign of Error, Thatcher's Reign, Lucky Bag (Victoria Woods Songbook), Pick of Posy, Princess Di. the National Dish, Adrian Mole (both), If only Again (Steve Bell), Life in a Scotch Sitting Rofim vol ii (Ivor Cutler), A Good Bitch and Wonder Wombin (both feminist cartoons), Bachelor Boys, Is Anybody out there? (French cartoons), and Brick's new one Too Much Pressure. Good Reads: Shame (Salmon Rushdie), The Name of the Rose(Eco), The Scent of India (Pasolini), Nights at the Circus(Angela Carter), Life and Loves of a She-Devil (new Fay Weldon), So long and thanks for all the fish (Douglas Adams as in Hitch Hikers etc), Moise and the world of reason (Tennessee Williams), Who lies Inside (Timothy Ireland, won the Other Award), The Tao of Pooh (honest), Greenham Common - Women at the wire, lots of Alice Walker, I know why the caged bird sings, Happy as a Dead Cat, This Place (new novel by Andrea Freud Loewenstein), Seeing Green (Jonathan Porritt), World View '85, And our faces, my heart, brief as photos (the new John Berger), Signed, Sealed, Delivered (about women in pop), Men in Frocks (what it says), Pen Rhythms by Benjamin Zephaniah, Crystal Spirit (George Woodcock on Orwell), London for Beginners, Compass Rose (the new Ursula Le Guin), State of Siege, about the Miners' struggle, Magnetic Storm (the new Roger Dean) The Book of Mercy (ditto Leonard Cohen), In a dark Time (a dialogue on war collected by Nicholas Humphrey and Robert Lifton). This is getting too long! Lots of good children's books. Vegetarian cookbooks from 25p upwards. More women's blues records; Sweet Honey in the Rock back in and going fast, and very soon, the new OVA album, Possibilities. Also the usual rash of right-on diaries and calendars with some new ones: The Animals Diary and the Women and Manual Trades Calendar as an alternative to "girly" ones. We're open Monday to Saturday 10-6, and till 7 on Thursdays till the 24th, when we shut at 2pm. Open again Friday 28th and Saturday 29th, then shut till Wed 2nd. ok? We being now Maggie, Mark, Liz and Ian ...from little Acorns.....have a good time! Acorn Bookshop, 17, Chatham St. Reading. Tel: 584425. - - - DRAFT ANSWERS Ql) Why has the Timber and Brick Information Council launched a propaganda drive to improve the image of timber and brick building? Al) Because the shares of the Barratt Group (strongly tipped to buy the Tay Road site in Reading) remain at less, than half their "high" largely as a result of recent TV exposure of Barratt's building methods? Q2) Why has Newbury District Council refused to fund a full-time and part-time organiser for the Newbury Citizens Advice Bureau, although volunteers there are already dealing with 1,000 queries a month? A2) Because Reading CAB organiser Joan Ruddock was a founder member of the Newbury Campaign Against the Missiles and, despite growing problems with drunken American servicemen in the town, the Rotary Club's welcome to cruise has not yet worn out. Q3) Why was the farmer brick kiln at the corner of Tilehurst Road and Honeyend Lane (the last left from a flourishing Reading industry) "de-listed", i.e. taken off the list of buildings to be preserved? A3) Because a former Tory Alderman was interested in developing it, and is even more interested now as the development opportunities pile up in nearby Prospect Park and perhaps at the Reading FC ground down the road. - - - STOP PRESS Acorn Bookshop's long-running court case - The Verdict After much time, three Reading Magistrates have in their wisdom decided that Hunters Thompson is not obscene, nor William Burrough nor most of the other titles kept by police after raiding A.B. in April last year. However, one of the Freak Brothers mags (No.2 - the one they had most copies of), various other comics, Cannibals, Alchemy, Marijuana potency, Caretaking, The Wild Sin Semilia, a Child's Garden of Grass and Cooking with Cannabis, will all be pulped in two weeks time unless we appeal. Technical manuals, and books and comix which presuppose familiarity with drugs have now been deemed obscene and liable to corrupt, in Reading, whilst Knockabout Comics and Airlift have just had practically everything returned at their forfeiture cases in London this same week. To take these decisions, with all their inconsistencies and contradictions, into account could be very difficult. The missing books, including Legal Highs, Hells Angels and Marijuana laws of the World, are still missing not returned, not listed for forfeiture, not in evidence. The books we're now allowed to have back are still, well not at the court, not at the police station, they will write to us... The complaint about the way the raid was conducted, instigated by a local councillor, is still going through the system. No costs were awarded to Acorn at all. Thanks to donations, the fund is reasonably healthy, but we'll need some more before we can tie this thing up. A. Sulphate. - - - BOX OFFICE Reading Centre for the Unemployed 4-6 East Street, Reading RG1 4QL Telephone: Reading (0734) 596639 Community Arts is alive and veil and living at Reading Centre for the Unemployed (where else?) five days a week, morning and afternoon. And going out to the community where it belongs - not sitting around waiting for the world to beat a path to Its door with amazed gratitude and open purse. Giant idiophones at Palmer Park in August and Veggie Dining in November; Parliament in flames at Waterloo Meadows on Bonfire Night (so that's what the bit of obscure in-jokery a couple of Rags back was all about!); Berkshire's biggest Xmas stocking, lovingly sewn together in a Cemetery Junction garret by mailbag-experienced Berks the night before, hung from the roof of South Reading Community Centre to advertise the Readibus Users' Christmas Fayre; piles of outsized gift-wrapped (but empty, alas) cardboard boxes there and at the Paradise the following night for the Miners' Support gig; cardboard trains for kids, giant jigsaws and suspicious individuals trundling Tesco trolley after Tesco trolley of cardboard, timber, carpet-roll centres and other such offcuts of the allegedly affluent society through the middle of town. That, up till now, is Box Office, an actual alive-and-kicking free range community arts operation in and for Reading. History sometime, next week, not new. Where it's at now is RCU in East Street where New Boy Martin Salter, literally within hours of taking over as Co-ordinator, gave us his blessing, a corner to work in and "Don't bother me: get on with it. The answer is 'Yes'". We're there (almost always, unless we're out doing something in the community at large) Monday to Friday during Centre opening hours (9.30 to 4.30 except Friday, when things start happening at noon) as a workshop and resource for RCU users, and others. "Artistic" experience and skills are neither necessary nor particularly desirable: preconceived ideas are the last thing we need. We welcome ideas - the more outrageous the better: if you fancy building St Paul's out of chewing gum wrappers and sticky tape you're our kind of person. We need practical skills - unless we can find a mechanic or three we'll never get Wendy's Twittering Machine built. A couple of house-painters would be an admirable asset when we start disguising the 84 feet of grotty plywood between the Hexagon and the Ramada as a work of public art. (Yes, we do have permission, the blessing of the Cleaner Reading Campaign and the promise of 25 nicker toward the cost.) And without a few people who know how to hit mails in the right direction from the blunt end our fondest dreams are likely to blow down in the first hint of a breeze. But we don't intend for it to stay in its corner, however public. We have already started putting some of our brainstorms to work in an after-school club. We want to take them to others, to school-holidays play-schemes, to youth groups and schools and day centres. We want to share ideas and skills with the elderly, the physically and mentally handicapped, the ill and the alienated and the just plain bored. We are already working to establish the contacts and working links that will be needed if we are to be a real community operation and not just a down-at-the-heels alternative to South Hill Park. But we can't contact everyone at once. So we welcome any invitations from any community organisation or group. With our present very varied assortment of skills we can offer improvised music, story-making and play-making, making things to look at and touch, fantastic food-making and general imagination-stretching. What we are not about is doing things for others or at them: what we do, we do with the groups and individuals we work with. Apart from the space, existing facilities and moral support, of the Centre for the Unemployed and the £25 promised for our first mural project, all we have to go on is imagination, inspiration and the Social Wage: what we can't scrounge we buy out of our own pockets or, more often, make do without. This is no more than we expected: we have believed from the very start that purse-strings will be opened, if at all, only when something is actually happening and being seen to be happening. Sure, we hope in time to tap grant funding money from wherever we can get it, though we also realize the potential pitfalls - we don't intend to end up willy-nilly in somebody else's pocket. So we do intend to charge for our work outside the Centre, and we are looking for things we can make for others at a fair price. Who knows? Someday we may even be able to pay ourselves a wage of sorts. Meanwhile, we are looking for projects that want doing, we are looking for practical support in return for what we have to offer, and as always we need people and things. We need materials, we need tools, we need muscle and imagination. So come to us at RCU, or we'll come to you. Once again, we're at the Centre pretty well whenever it's open. We can be reached there by phone - Reading 596639 - during the day, or for the time being at least on Reading 666681 evenings and weekends (leave a message for Jo or Dave). Post to Box Office, c/o Reading Centre for the Unemployed, 4-6 Bast Street, Reading RG1 4Q1. It's happening, right? Help us keep it happening. - Box Office Box Office needs... Paper - part rolls of wrapping paper, lining or wall paper, card, old computer printout, etc. Paint - any kind but especially white or pastel vinyl and emulsion; also brushes, rollera and trays, etc. Part-used spray cans, any colour, always useful. Timber - especially plywood, blockboard,.hardboard, chipboard, softboard, etc. in reasonably large bits. Chicken wire, garden netting, etc. Adhesives - PVA white glue, latex (Cow or the like), wallpaper paste. Spray-mount, gumstrip, sticky tape. Cord, string, twine, rope, wire. Tools - any hand tools for wood or metal working; scissors and craft knives; serviceable power hand tools (it would be useful to know where we can borrow more specialized ones). We urgently need a staple gun. Services - Free or dirt-cheap workshop services for major projects: woodworking, metalworking, welding, electrical work. Also transport when needed. And just about anything else - before you throw it away, see if you can throw it our way. - - - EVENTS Monday 10th Baby massage by Anne Parry, organised by the Reading Branch of the National Childbirth Trust. It is being held at the Community Health Council, Gun St, Reading at 8 p.m. Admission 50p. Hexagon - An Exhibition by Paul Wilson,. Varity and Unity. Tuesday 11th Only 11 more shopping days to Christmas. Wednesday 12th Imprint Society - An Open Evening. Please bring along your 'Alternative', unusual and interesting posters for discussion. It is being held at the Typography Dept. University 8 p.m. Free. Thursday 13th A Policy Committee Meeting-, 5.30 p.m. Civic Offices, to find out how they dropped policy out of Committees. The History of Reading Society. 'From Old Dissent to Rational Dissent' - Presbyterians and Unitarians in Reading, by Dermot O'Rourke, Reading Abbey Gateway, at 7.30 p.m. Reading and District Beekeepers Association. Mr Bill Dartnell of Southampton will talk on 'Experiences of Beekeeping Flueologist'. St. Andrew's Church Hall, London Rd, Reading at 7.30 p.m. Friday 14th Christmas Market - raffles, stalls, games etc at Little Heath School, Little Heath Road, Tilehurst 7.30 p.m. Plaegan Piano Quartet - French evening, music by Faure and Chauson. French Cheeses and a glass of wine included in the ticket. At S.H.P. Bracknell, 8 p.m. for tickets ring Bracknell (0344) 484123. The Bucks, Berks and Oxon, Naturalists Trust. A talk on Farming and Conservation by Charles Flower. Theale Village Hall, Englefield Rd, Theale at 8 p.m. 14th and 15th A Sale and Exhibition of original oils organised by international artists. At Reading Town Hall, Belgrave St, Reading. 10-5 p.m. Admission Free. Saturday 15th Winter Wildfowl - a birdwalk at Dinton Pastwes Country Park, Davis St, Hurst. Begins 9 a.m. for approximately 2 1/2 hours. For details ring Twyford 342016. Christmas Fair in aid of B.B.0. Naturalists Trust at St. Mary's Centre, Chain St, Reading 1-5 p.m. Berkshire Archaeological Society - Mark Bownden and Susan Lobb will talk on Archaeological Investigations at Pingewood, the Friends Meeting House, Church St, Reading, at 2.45 p.m. Reading Astronomical Society - presents members slides of Astronomical Instruments. Christmas refreshments. St Peter's Church Hall, Church Rd, Early at 7 p.m. For details contact Mrs. Muriel Wrigley on Rdg 62180. Open forum, questions on pregnancy, child birth and child health. Organised by the National Child Birth Trust, St. Andrew's United Reformed Church Hall, London Rd, Reading, at 8 p.m. Admission Free. A Dance organised by the Georgians Modern Sequence Club, at Alfred Sutton Girls School, Green Rd, Reading. 8-11 p.m. Admission £1.25 includes refreshments. Sunday 16th Young Ornithologists. Field outing - local hedgerows with possible fieldfare and redwing. 9.30 - 11.30 a.m. Meet opposite the Cunning Man Inn, Burghfield Rd. For more details ring Mr. B. Uttley on Burghfield Common (329) 2894. Cyclists Touring Club. Watership Down, meet at Caversham Bridge at 9.15 a.m. 55 miles, organiser Jon Gent. Covering the Famous Hill on the North Hampshire Downs. Monday 17th A Hexagon Exhibition running until 5th Jan 1985. Rolf Richardson's 'Faces, and Places', an Exhibition of Colour Photographs. Tuesday 18th Reading Birth Centre, a meeting at 12 noon, at 25 Elm Park Rd, Reading. Bring food and contributions for lunch please. For details ring Sally on Rdg 584191. Friday 21st West Somerset Railway Association - 'Christmas Pudding', an informal meeting with member's slides and a resume of the W.S.R. in 1984. St. Mary's Centre, Chain St, Reading, at 7.30 p.m. Non-Members welcome. Tuesday 25th 364 days until next Christmas. Thursday 3rd Jan Red Rag Copy Date Friday 4th Jan Red Rag Headlines and Typing Saturday 5th Jan Red Rag Paste up Sunday 6th Jan Red Rag Distribution - - - MORE EVENTS What Are You Doing Next Tuesday? A one-off self-help supportive workshop, or whatever, on coping with the family, food and frolicsome festivities which loom upon us. Are deep breathing exercises the whole answer to grandfather's politics? Is there any known way of surviving days upon days of Royal Family Reports on the television? What if you wake up on the day and don't feel like talking to anyone til, say Friday? What is this Christmas thing anyway? Please bring your ideas and imagination to: 24, Norwood Rd (phone 666681) at 8.00pm. Reading Shelter Group meets on the first Thursday- of the month at the Centre for the Unemployed, South St. 8.00pm start. More details from Mark Goldup, 863153. Next meeting Jan. 3rd. 1985. - - - JOBS Applicants aged. 18-24 must have been out of work for 6 of the last 12 months; if over 25, for 12 out of the last 15 months. Applicants must be receiving unemployment or supplementary benefit. This is a Berkshire County Council Community Programme Agency Project. 1. Gardening Instructor To conduct a training programme in horticulture for Mentally handicapped people, and embody in all training activities the principles of independence, stressing normality, respect for the individual, adulthood and risk-taking. 4 vacancies - 35 hour week, £84.00 per week 4 vacancies - 25 hour week, £60.00 per week 2. Gardening Supervisor To develop a basic understanding of the horticultural training needs of mentally handicapped people, and to prepare a programme to suit individual requirements. To supervise and control the training programme. To train 8 Gardening instructors. 1 vacancy - 37 hour week, £7005 p.a. Duration 56 weeks. Please contact - Mr. A. Goulbourn 'Jobline' Reading 861122 - - - REGULAR EVENTS Alcoholics Anonymous: groups meet regular in Reading (9 meetings a week), Pangbourne, Thatcham, Henley, & Bracknell. Day and night info and help line - 597494. Labour History Group: meets monthly at Red Lion, Southampton St. Contact Kathy 590139 or Mike 867739 for details. Vegans: meet 1st. Sun of month at 1 Orrin Close, Tilehurst. Contact Liz & Steve on 21651. Amnesty: meets 2nd Thurs of month at St. Marys Centre, Chain St. Contact Jean 472598. History of Reading Soc.: meets 3rd Tues of month at the Abbey Gateway. Cyclists Touring Club: outings Sun 9.15am from Caversham Bridge or Henley. For details ring Richard on Bracknell 50849 Wednesday is Womens Day at Reading Centre for the Unemployed (RCU) 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's. National Council for Civil Lib: meets 2nd Mon of month at St. Marys 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 Campaigns (BANC) meets 2nd Tues of month at Friends Meeting Hse. Also neighbourhood groups. P0 Box 158 Reading or Phone Gill or Ed on 594855. 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 and chat. Ring 61330 for venue. Reading Organisation for Animal Rights (ROAR); 1st Tues of month at the Crown, Crown St. Details from Dave 54098 or Jeff 476529. 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 Kings Rd. Ring 590311 for details. Photography: sessions every Tues 10-12, 1-3 at RCU, East St. Housing and Welfare Rights: 1st Thurs morning every month at the Community Hse. 117 Cumberland Rd Reading Gay Switchboard; Tues & Fri 8-10pm 597269 Mini-Market: Thurs 9-1 St Marys Centre, Chain St. Women's Centre: open Tues 10-2 Wed 10-2 Sat 11-3. All women & 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, details via Box 19 Acorn Bookshop. Also Autonomists. Peace Pledge Union (PPU): meets monthly. Pacifist group. Contact 588459, 374532 or Box 10 Acorn. Ecology Party: meets 1st & 3rd Mon of the month at 8 College Rd and 38 Long Barn Lane respectively. Contact Maria 663195. Socialist Workers Party: meets every Wed at the Red Lion Southampton St. 8pm. Greenham Support Group (Women): meets fortnightly. Nightwatch every Thurs. Contact via Women's Centre, Abbey St. T'ai Chi Classes; beginners & intermediate. Open to all. Tues lunchtime, intermediate. Wed lunchtime, beginners. Contact Nick 875123 (ex. 6221) or Martin 853670. £3 per session plus large reduction for unwaged. Traditional Festival Dance: every Wed until 19th Dec. Friends Meeting Hse. 6 Church St. Rdg 7.45-10, 75p ring Anna 864665. Dance Fitness: at RCU, East St. Weds 10-12. Details 596639. Carpentry: Free course at Adult College, Wilson Centre, Wilson Rd. Mon 1-3 For unwaged. Ring 596639 Digging on the Dole: at RCU free course for unwaged. Ring 596639. Womens Assertiveness Training: Free at RCU for unwaged. Fri 1-3 Creche available. Phone 596639. Drama Workshop: Free to jobfree at RCU. Practical workshops in drama technique for beginners & experienced performers. Tues 1-3 until review in Jan. Drinking or Gambling Problem? Feel you cannot talk? Alone & lonely? Then you may want to talk to Michael at RCU, who will be pleased to talk in strictest confidence. Every Tues 2-4pm. Books and Records Sale : every-last Sat of the month. 10-4 at 4 Culver Rd (side of College Arms). Contact 65533. Astrology: beginners class. Started mid-Oct. Contact Sue on 669571. Sahaja Yoga: Regular public meeting every Fri at 7pm at Music Rm, St Davids Hall 26 London Rd. All welcome, no charge. Contact 01-673-1956. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1984/1984-12-09.txt#3 $