RED RAG Reading's Only Newspaper 9 jan - 3 feb free fortnightly FUN Co-ordinator for the next issue is Jackie. If you'd like to help, leave a message on 669562. Other numbers:- News 662302 Events 667060 Going Out 782178 Distribution 669562 - - - GOING OUT 20th Jan - 3rd Feb Sunday 20th. * SHP The Orchestra of St. John's Smith Square. Handel/Bach. £3.75/£2.75. * SHP film "The Hit" (18) 7.45pm. * Butler, Chatham St. Free jazz 8pm. * Caversham Bridge Hotel Readifolk 8pm. free Monday 21st. * SHP film "The Hit" (18) 7.45pm. Tuesday 22nd. * Tudor Arms Gay Disco. 8pm. free. * Old Town Hall, Blagrave St. A Funky Reggae Party in aid of Ethiopian appeal. 6pm onwards. £2/1.50. Hurricane Force & Urban Warrior plus body popping and break dancing + veggie food. One Love....... * SHP Berks. Youth Jazz Orchestra 8pm. £3.50/2.50. * SHP Bracknell Fusion Dance Night. 8pm. £2 * SHP film "The Hit" (18) 7.45pm. * Paradise Club Free fest. benefit. No Defences, Plague Circuit and Paradise Now. £1.50/£1 UB40. 8pm. til late. Weds. 23rd. * New Yorker (by the Kamada). Jive Dive disco * RFT "The Verdict" (15) 8pm. Members only. Sidney Lumet film. * SHP "The Hit" (18) film. Thurs. 24th. * Sportsman, Shinfield Rd. Free music. * RFT "Black Shack Alley" (PG) 8pm. Dir. Euzham Palcy. * Progress Theatre "The Soldier's Tale". Music by Stravinsky, text by Ramuz. 7.4pm. The Mount, Christchurch Rd. Tel 477594. * SHP Buckshot plus Jon Addis. 8pm, £1.50/ £l/50p. Friday 25th. * Tudor Arms Gay Disco 8pm. Free. * Hexagon Radio One Disco Party with Steve Wright, 8 til late £5. * Progress Theatre as 24th. * Paradise Club, Some like it Hot + Tennessee 3. 9-2 £2.50(?). * SHP Community Dance Gala - dance groups from all over Berkshire. 7.30pm. £2.50 / £1.50. * SHP Takashi Shimizu (violin) and Gordon Back (piano) 8pm. £3.00/3.25. Debussy, Grieg and Wieniawiski. * SHP film "Another Country" (15) 7.45pm. * SHP Friday Live : local bands & cabaret. Sat. 26th. * Hexagon Boys from Brazil 12.15pm. free. * Hexagon Chaka Khan 8.30pm. £9 (Sold out?) * Progress Theatre as 24th. * Pangbourne College concert of madrigals, motets, folk songs, spirituals, given by Phoenix Choir. 7.30pm. Tel 373928/373277. * SHP Community Dance Gala as 25th. * SHP film "Another Country"(15) 7.45 and 11.00pm. * SHP folk. Pat Ryan 8pm. £1.20/1.50. Sunday 27th. * Butler, Chatham St. Free Jazz 8pm. * Caversham Bridge Hotel Readifolk 8pm. free * Hexagon Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra - Anton Wit conducting. Inc. Strauss, Brahms, Mussorgsky. £4 - 7.50. * SHP film "Another Country"(l5) as 25th. Monday 28th. * HEXAGON Wrestling Spectacular (groan) 7.30pm. £2/2.50/3. * SHP film as 25th. Tuesday 29th. Tudor Arms Gay Disco 8pm. free. * Paradise Club Miner's Benefit. Ring to check 51312/56847. * Hexagon 60's Spectacular presented by Alan Freeman. Including Billy J. Kramer, The Marmalade and more that you hoped you'd never hear again. £5/4 8pm. * University Palmer Building, Room G10. Trombone and Soprano. 1.10pm. * SHP film as 25th. * SHP Park Swing Band (jazz) 8pm. £1. Weds. 30th. * Martine's Gay Disco 8-late £1.50. * New Yorker Jive Dive Disco * RFT "Carmen" (15) dir. Carlo Saura 8pm. * Hexagon 3pm all day. Hair '85 - a gala put on by Reading Guild of Hairdressers. Late night dancing and cabaret. £4. * SHP Opera Factory present "Punch and Judy" 7.30pm. £3.50/£2 (not suitable for children). * SHP film as 25th. Thurs. 31st. * Horse and Barge, Duke St. Ecology Party benefit in Lower Deck. 8pm. £1.25 (?) with Richard Cox Smith, Paul Hancock, Mike Cooper, Mark T., Chris Parr and others. * Sportsman, Shinfield Rd. free music. * RFT "Carmen" as 30th. * Hexagon The Homolka Trio 12.45pm. - 1.30pm. Silver collection. Free. * Hexagon Lee Everett "an evening of claivoyance". 8pm. £3.50. * SHP Opera Factory as 30th. * SHP Johnny Kramer Band 8pm. Friday 1st Feb. * Old Town Hall, Blagrave St. Free Festival Benefit with Here & Now, Chocolate Teapot and Anthill Mob. 8.30pm til late. £3 on door, £2.50 in advance (tickets from Acorn, Pop Records, Listen, Music Market and Tech Coll. Refectory, and Bulmershe. * Tudor Arms Gay Disco 8pm. free. * SHP Bernard Roberts plays complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas Op 22 in B flat major, Op 28 in D major, 0p 106 in B flat major. 8pm. £3.25 * SHP film "Broadway Danny Rose"(PG) 7.45pm. * SHP Friday Live: local bands & cabaret. Sat. 2nd. * Hexagon The Bruce Boardman Band 12.15pm. Free. * SHP folk. Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs. 8pm. £1.20/1.50. * SHP film as 1st. Sunday 3rd. * Butler, Chatham St. free jazz 8pm. * Caversham Bridge Hotel Readifolk 8pm. free * Hexagon Rodgers and Hammerstein Gala 7.30pm £5/6. * SHP film as 1st. * SHP Bournemouth Sinfonietta 7.30pm. £3.75/2.75 - - - PAINT THE TOWN - OFFICIALLY Well, not quite the whole town: not yet. Only, so far, 8 1/4 feet of plywood hoarding between the Hexagon and the Ramada. But that's a start toward filling Reading with community-generated murals. And a start is better than wittering on about lack of support for community art. Support? Yes, a mural or set of murals on the hoarding actually has the okay of its owners, the Borough Council, the backing of the Cleaner Reading Campaign and several gallons of undercoat donated by the Building Department. Intrepid snowmen from Box Office have risked frostbite at intervals to rub down the plywood and get the first undercoat onto the panels, a process that we hope will be completed when the temperature soars to 0 C. From there on out the space is available to as many community groups as can be squeezed onto it: there are eleven panels approximately four feet high and 7 1/2 feet long, and our idea is for one group to do each panel. The proportions and relatively small size should make design relatively easy and execution fairly quick: the hoarding is supposed to be coming down in April, so time is of the essence. If a group likes its panel well enough to want to keep it, we can probably arrange it when the time comes, or a panel might end up being a preliminary study for a larger and more permanent effort - both Box Office and our well-wishers in higher places see the project as the forerunner of things to come. So ideas, please! So far as we're concerned there's no need for the panels to follow a common theme, though some relevance to Reading as a community would be nice. And unfortunately the project isn't 100% Open Access: having stuck their necks out more than a bit by giving us the go-ahead, the Council staff concerned have specified that the content be 'non-political' (at least overtly or obviously) and will have to vet the design sketches. And because it's what we're about, preference will go to groups from the community at large - community associations, youth clubs, schools, affinity groups and so on - rather than individuals or 'Art' groups as such. But we're open to ideas from anyone: if you're into painting things on walls with official blessing, write to us or drop in to Reading Centre for the Unemployed in East Street between 9.30 and 4.30 Mondays to Thursdays or Noon to 1.30 Fridays, or phone us there on Reading 596639. If you can't get onto us during Centre hours, try Reading 666681 evenings and weekends; there's usually someone who can take a message at least. Box Office - - - PPU MEETING 9.1.85 Reading Peace Pledge Union met on 9th January, but low attendance meant a fairly small agenda, but we had a few reports and talked about forthcoming events. We heard about the "Anti MacDonalds Day" on Jan. 19th, an idea from London Greenpeace to protest about the exploitation of animals and humans by the burger chain and to bring to the publics attention what MacDonalds are really doing (for instance the fact that rain forests in S. America are being cleared to make room for cattle grazing). Most of us will again be helping to prepare food to take in the minibus to Greenham Common Peace Camp - Reading will be doing the run again on Mon. 21st Jan. (East Reading area - phone Lynne on 65955), Tues. 22nd (West Reading - phone Tracey and Mike on 588459) and Weds. 23rd (Caversham - phone Val and Derek on 483416). Help with making food or going to Greenham to dish it up is welcome. Contact numbers as above. Some of us have been taking part in Cruisewatch, a nightly vigil on the roads around Greenham to watch out for Cruise convoys on the loose. Reading should soon be covering Mondays each week. The watch entails sitting by the roadside in a vehicle or otherwise with the company of a shortwave radio to keep in contact with four other posts. It is an excellent way for men to support the women at the camp, but the hours may be prohibitive - midnight til 3am. If you are interested in helping, you can find out more from Joe Sturge on Rdg. 663412. We had a report from Molesworth Rainbow Village's Xmas and New Tear gathering. The village is under construction, and there are about 100 people living there with little police presence. No-one knows when evictions are likely to start to make way for extensions to the base in preparations for Cruise, so it is very urgent that work to construct the village goes on as quickly as possible. The next meeting of the PPU will be on Weds. 6th Feb. at 44, Gosbrook Rd., Caversham (the only one in the road with a bay window) at 8pm. Phone Val or Derek on 483416 for details. - - - INTERESTED IN PLAYWORK? Reading Recreation Taster Courses are for adults (anyone 15+) who want to work with children aged 7-12, either voluntarily or as paid workers. The children might be at a playscheme, junior club, in a playground, at a Community House, Sunday school or wherever children gather together. The courses give you the chance to meet other people who work with children, exchange ideas, chat, learn new skills, get a better understanding of the challenge of working with children. The courses are all run on a friendly basis and should be fun for all. You will be expected to join in, so come dressed for action (casual clothes, training shoes, and for the craft and painting sessions aprons or overalls). The sessions will take place on two consecutive Sundays, Feb. 10th and 17th each day starting at 9.30 and finishing at 4.30pm. Lunch will be available (at a cost of £1.50, and there will be a creche for small children, but we need to know numbers for these in advance. Older children are welcome to join in. We hope people will come all day and use the lunch and coffee breaks to meet us - from the Activities Section - and other people who are interested in play. Each session will be free. Please fill in a booking form, available from Reading Borough Council Recreation Dept. (4th. floor), Civic Offices, P.O. Box 17, Reading RG1 7TD or ring 55911 ext. 2069 and ask for Mike Champion. - - - LETTER Dear Red Rag, Does Reading Borough Council's clean-up squad seriously think 3 public notice-boards will suffice for the entire graffitti and flyposting populace?! I mean be reasonable! But seriously folks......clearly there is a need for people with little income who advertise gigs, jumble sales, meetings etc. (especially benefits and good causes) to have some cheap way to promote their function. Traditionally this method has been graffitti and fly-posting - painting on the walls and wallpapering. So let's have more public hoardings if one is not in favour of these traditional methods (personally I am). Yours for communication between all people that doesn't cost the earth! Paste Pot Pete - - - FUNKY REGGAE PARTY / SOS FAMINE ETHIOPIA One Love In support of Radio 210 Ethiopian Appeal, I.S.W.E. &co presents: !Funky Reggae Party! 6pm - midnight 22nd Jan Good veggie food - come hungry! Hurricane Force - Urban Warriors Special Appearance! Promherdon - UK Bubblers - Surprise guests! Boor-Popang & Break dance competition - lot of prizes! at Reading Old Town Hall Admission: £2.00 waged, £1.50 unwaged, £1.00 children and youths. Refreshments available. (sorry Pogle) - - - (Paid Advert) RESTRICTION plus sounds by Enterprise + 2 Bad Crew Food by Veggie Dining - Bar till late! - Lightshow unlimited Central Club Sat, Feb 9th 8pm - 2am £3 on the door Promoted by Panther - - - A RED COLUM - a different individual view of Reading and its surroundings First Jostle My identification of Cllr. Joe Slater, Chairman of Age Concern Reading and scourge of Readibus, as the Tory candidate for Mayor of Reading this May was a bit premature. His (square) hat is still very much in the ring but as the Tories realise they are likely to lose control in 1986 and will be out of the Mayoral stakes for a couple of years or so after that no less than four other candidates have been lobbying hard to get a chauffeur-driven Damlier to take them to the football and the other perks of the post. Prominent amongst those is Ron Jewitt's fellow Caversham Councillor, Fred Pugh, whose unrepentant stand against aid to starving black babies at the last Council meeting was intended to prove he was a man of, admittedly reactionary, principle. A Square Cop? The departure of Thames Valley Chief Constable Peter Imbert to be Deputy Commissioner at the Met. does confirm that the Met is serious about not allowing freemasons to take it over completely. Imbert is not on the "square" but there'll be strong lobbying in the Valley to make sure his successor is. A Berky. Cough It's not really surprising that Berkshire County Council is one of those local and health authorities identified by the BMA as profiting from tobacco shares (the W. Berks. Health Authority, perhaps surprisingly, is clean). But on the County Council the officers have fiercely resisted every move to look at the pension fund's investments from anything but a purely mercenary point of view. The rows about investment in South Africa have been legion. That investing in companies which are systematically poisoning your ratepayers might not be in the public interest won't have occurred to them. Lord Of The Mansion? Leisure Chairman and Tory maverick Hamza Fuad, who was the victim at the last Reading Council meeting of an attack from the previously totally silent Anna Bradley, an innocuous Southcote Councillor obviously put up to it by an increasingly strange John Oliver, still doesn't know who has been talking to Harry Tee about taking over Hamza's biggest booby prize, the Mansion House in Prospect Park, which our Chief Executive wants to hand over to some office developer who will over the next 125 years make a clear profit out of it of £20M at today's prices. Who could this developer be but the man with the golden strings into Reading Borough Council, Roger Smee? Wokingham Standards I noted recently that Henley magistrates had fined Pritchards, who empty their dustbins, for overloading lorries. Wokingham District Council apparently overload theirs too. But respect for the law by the Wokingham Tories is such that this was discussed only behind closed doors at a recent meeting of the Community Services Committee, chaired by the drug industry's own Michael Flaherty. Greenhamgate Again The Watergate burglary which eventually ended Richard Nixon's presidency was in the tradition which he began in his early days, in California student politics where he and his friends developed "rat-fucking", a technique of winning elections by stuffing ballot boxes, cancelling your opponent's meetings for him, putting out fake literature (remember the Canuck letter which finished Ed Muskie?), and so on. We haven't observed rat-fucking so much in British politics, but some of the antics of the Freedom Association, their friends in RAGE, and the Coalition for Peace through Security come close. Like their joint attempt to get the Greenham women struck off the electoral roll on the grounds that they are there for political reasons... SnFl 2 The West Berkshire Health Authority (Vice-Chairman Steve Norris. M.P. late, to his distress, of Private Eye) is committed in its 10-year strategy to advising the Thames Water Authority to raise the concentration of fluoride in our water supply to one part per million and to bearing the costs of doing this, as soon as a court ruling which prevented fluoridation is overturned by Parliament, which is why it's slightly ironic that in Parliament on January 15th Steve Norris M.P. (Con. Oxford East) voted against a bill intended to do just that. Building Line The railway line from Slough to Windsor was built for the benefit of Queen Victoria and is still much used by visitors to the town. That is not however why British Rail is under such strong pressure to sell it off as the first privatisation nibble at the national rail network. The Windsor Station site, nestling nicely under the Castle walls, has a charm and a value all of its own and some of the big hotel and leisure companies (like big Tory contributors Trust House Forte and Grand Met.) have profitable plans for it much more interesting than running a mere public service railway line. Family Practice New Family Practitioner Committees are to supervise GP, pharmacist and opticians services from April 1st. The boundaries were decided last month and the Chairman of the Berkshire FPC, Mr Godfrey Odds, has been announced. It is of course in the best tradition of public service that Mr Odds is a former Tory County Councillor, a colleague in fact on the Council of Dr MacWilliams who now chairs the East Berkshire Health Authority, having been defeated in Reading Minster Ward in the 1981 elections. All the members of the new FPC are appointed by the Minister of Health, somewhat to the consternation even of Tories who have represented local Councils on the old FPCs for years. People nominated to the new FPC haven't, incidentally, yet been told whether the Minister finds them acceptable. And to cap it all, on April 1st, the day on which they take up responsibility, they are likely to have to implement new restrictions on what drugs can be prescribed on the NHS about which they have not been consulted. Isn't democracy wonderful? Moles Wanted This column survives on nuggets of information fed to it by people who feel Rag's competitors don't always give the whole truth. If there's something you want more people to know about tell me via Acorn. Secrecy guaranteed. Citizen Cain - - - ACORN'S BIT From ancient news to new age policies From Anarchy to politics via Socialism Poetry, writings from all walks of life Music, words pictures all this and much more nay be found in the new style pamphlet section at Acorn. Everything you wanted to know about anarchism but were afraid to ask, Inglan is a bitch, poetry from Linton Kwesi Johnson, WorldWatch papers, notes on world resources, Garden Kay and Soil Association pamphlets hints and advice on your gardens the food from them and ways to improve them the natural way, Malcolm X, the man and his ideas also Socialism and Man by Che Guevara, Vegetarian and Vegan recipes for all tastes including those jaded by meat and chemicals. Just a taster of all the pamphlets newly displayed, and easily accessible now available at Acorn take care A.Corn. p.s. New Ova record (+ cassette) arrived - £5. "Possibilities" A.Mazing! - - - RED RAG Red Rag is Readings only newspaper and is produced fortnightly by a collective of volunteers. It is free and can be picked up at any of the outlets listed below, or even delivered to your door by a dedicated distributor. Phone Guy on 669552 for this. It is financed entirely by readers donations, but the odd paying ad. is also taken (£7 / 1/2 page £12 a page). There is a standing order form somewhere in this issue, so you pay the painless way if have a bank account. Most of the material is not written by the Red Rag collective, and views expressed are not necessarily the same as ours. We usually print anything sent in providing it is not racist, sexist or supportive of an oppressive religion, or boring. Poems stand little chance of getting in, but we'll try to pass them on to someone who can publish then elsewhere. If you can type, articles should be typed single spaced and 12cm. wide, then send copy to Box 79, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham, St., Reading by the Thursday before production (31st. Jan for next issue). Collective meetings are held every 6 weeks, all are welcome to come and contribute. The next meeting is on Sun 24th. Feb 1pm. in the Top Flat, 117 Kendrick Road. Warning Because of problems with the computer which produces the Red Rag distribution list, there is a danger that we will not be able to distribute the next issue to all the usual addresses. If this happens, we will distribute to outlets only, so you will have to pick up your copy of the Rag from one of the following places: Acorn Bookshop, Chatham St Central Club, London St Centre for the Unemployed, East St Elephant Groceries and Off-licence, Derby St Eurofoods, Crown Colonnade, Cemetery Junction Fairview Community Centre, George St Fine Food Stores, 168 Oxford Rd Gill Newsagent, Caversham Rd Harrison's Newsagent, Caversham Rd Harvest Wholefoods, Harris Arcade, Friar St Jelly's Stores, Whitley St Kan's Kitchen, London Rd Ken's Shop, Students Union, Whiteknights Ling's Chinese Fish Bar, Wokingham Rd Listen Records, Butts centre Mo's Place, London St Music Market, Union St Number Sixty, Christchurch Green Pop Records, King's Rd Rag Doll, London St Reading Wholefoods, London Rd Sugar Bowl, Wokingham Rd Sutherlands, Erleigh Rd Tech College, King's Rd UB Cycles, London St - - - THIS IS A BRIEF SUMMARY of one of the main issues discussed at the last collective meeting. The issue being the exclusion of copy from the Rag's end of year edition. It was unanimously decided that as co-ordinator and printer for that edition, we should write a piece in explanation. What had become a highly controversial subject for many of those involved, resulted in some very constructive discussion about collective policy, and many different views were expressed. To give a full account of the meeting, including dialogue, would far outweigh the amount of attention such copy deserves. More important are the results in terms of collective policy. As in the past, most copy will still be either accepted or edited (after consultation with the writer). However, contentious copy will be referred to full collective meetings. The most important effect of this should be that people feel more able, whatever stage of production they are involved in, to communicate any doubts on copy content. It should not be only those present at the editorial meeting who have the power to refer copy to collective meetings. This is needed for collective policy to work, and only by this participation can collective policy grow and develop. A copy of the letter is available in the Rag box at Acorn for anybody who wants to read it. We hope that the Post and Chronicle will find the results of our discussion useful, as they seem more concerned with lack of information than anyone else. Are they desperate for news? Jackie and John - - - VEGGIE DINING Don't miss Veggie Dining on Friday January, 25th as the Reading and District Vegan group will be combining their years of experience (?) in vegan cooking to bring you such culinary delights as... Well, we haven't decided yet, so buy your ticket now in anticipation from Acorn Bookshop, Chatham Street - £2 (wage-earners) £1:50 (unwaged). Veggie Dining is always an excellent showpiece for veganism - sure to convince any doubters that vegan food is tasty, varied and nutritious... without any animal produce. It's all happening at Fairview Community Centre, George Street (off Oxford Road) from 8:00pm. P.S. This one is sold out. Next one 8th Feb. Keep your appetites! - - - FREE FESTIVAL BENEFIT GIG Paradise Club (London St) No Defences plus Plague Circuit and Paradise Now Tuesday 22nd January 8-12 £1.50 & 1.00 (unwaged) "Your imagination cannot take you here" - - - FRINGE 85 Whatever else anyone might think of the official 'Culture'-orientated Reading Festival of past years -- 'Staid' is one of the milder comments we've heard -- its attempts to generate a lively and popular 'fringe' have met with underwhelming success. With any luck at all, this year's Fringe, if not the Festival proper, is going to be something else again. If nothing else, the basic approach and attitude behind it is different - already. The overall co-ordination has been handed (with sighs of relief, apparently) over to Box Office. We may not know what we're doing, any more than anyone else, but we do at least start with a commitment to the whole community and a highly elastic idea of what constitutes 'art', 'culture' or whatever. As before - and it's a key part of what a Fringe is supposed to be about - the ideas and most of the action will have to come from whoever wants to put on an event, but we will be actively hunting out and encouraging anyone and everyone we think might have something to put into the two weeks between May 11 and May 25, and providing whatever help we can to make that 'something' a success. 'Whatever help' amounts basically to time, ideas and publicity. We can try to locate good venues, try to schedule things so as to conflict as little as possible with others that might attract the same audiences, and make sure that everything happening under the Fringe banner gets the maximum in advance publicity and high visibility on the day. We will also be doing our damnedest to line up subsidy and sponsorship for events so that groups or individuals with limited means but something worthwhile to offer can do it without ending up hopelessly out of pocket. What we can't do is invent Fringe happenings out of thin air or raise money on the strength of nebulous 'Wouldn't it be nice if...' ideas. So if you have anything you want to do during the Festival fortnight as part of the Fringe - and 'anything' really does mean practically anything so far as we're concerned, so long as it's for other people - get it down on paper in coherent form and let us have it. We have a lot of ideas of our own, and some of them are pretty concrete. We want to see lots and lots and lots of things happening on the street and other open spaces, and not necessarily just in the town centre. We are already getting together a mobile entertainment along the lines of an old-time concert party that we can take to old people's homes, lunch clubs, hospital wards and the like. We are hoping to get together a 'Covent Garden in Reading' with free or low-rental stalls for artists, craftworkers and other members of the Fringe economy and space for street performers. We are after every inch of display space we can wangle for exhibitions of paintings, photography, sculpture or just about anything else from the community. We want to scatter large, bright, spectacular objects all over town. But we need ideas, and people who want to translate them into reality even if it's only for two weeks. So please - bands, performance groups, buskers, painters, jugglers, clowns, action sculptures, anybody - let's hear from you. If you want to put on a gig, get in touch. If you feel like building an enormous icosahedron of painted cardboard in the Market Place, get in touch. If you want to float a pink-and-lavender battleship down the Kennet, get in tough. And please, please, please, if you can spare time and/or talents - even if it's a talent for addressing envelopes - get in touch; we number a scant single handful of persons at the moment. That makes for a good blue-arsed fly act, but the more of us there are the more we'll be able to do. To do better by the Fringe than in the past wouldn't be much of an accomplishment - to do only as well we'd count a major failure. But we want to do a lot better, and make the Fringe into a real celebration for the whole community, by the whole community. Come help us. We are to be sought out, if you want to sought us out, at Reading Centre for the Unemployed, 4 - 6 East Street, 'phone Reading 596639, between 9.30 and 4.30 Monday to Thursday and 12 to 4.30 on Fridays. Or grab one of us on the street. Or phone Jo on 666681 where you may find us evenings and weekends or at least leave a name and number so we can get back to you. So it's your town, OK? Do something with it! - Box Office - - - CRITIX COLUMN Another Free Festival fundraiser was held at the Paradise club on 8/1/85, featuring bands from Reading, Bracknell & Luton, coming from further than anybody else who turned up Kama Sutra the headlining band, anyhow back to the opener Cosmetic Plague a local 3 piece band these young musicians had the courage to stand up and improvise for about 1/2 an hour in front of a sparse audience which included heckle from hecklers who had turned up, what we need is support to drownout heckling even if it is comic, I should point out the banter was non-malicous with plenty of laughter in it. When the Barcelona Bus Company hit the stage the audience had filled out a little and the atmosphere risen by a few degrees with their very to the point lyrics the B.B.C. played an enjoyable set, personally I thought a better one than their first one in Reading at the Old Town Hall supporting Here and Now. With people still creepin in trying to make the Paradise look full Kama Sutra exploded upon our ears. Having come all the way from Luton they played their music like it should be played loud, people still turning up as Kama Sutra leave the stage, these people obviously thought it important to turn up and offer their support towards a free festival in Reading, yes that's right Reading where the majority seems to like to play it safe and not come out and have a playful time. I don't think it should be that hard to fill the Paradise Club if you want a weekends free entertainment in the summer. In all fairness it was cold and if everybody switched off at home and went dancing at the Paradise try and imagine what would happen and you'd only know if you turn up at the next Reading Be-In at the Paradise again on the publicised well publicised I might add date, always advertised as a Free Festival Benefit. This plea written by a worn out Wally de Wombat. - - - STANDING ORDER MANDATE To (your bank's name and address) .............................. ................................................................ Please pay to the account of RED RAG, Co-operative Bank, Reading (08-90-16), a/c no. 50148637, the sum of ..................................(words), £............(figs) on ..................................(date), and on the same date every month / 3 months until further notice. Signed ....................................... Date............. Your name........................................................ Address.......................................................... Your a/c number................................................. Please send this form to Red Rag, c/o Box 79, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham Street, Reading. NOT to your bank. - - - REGULAR EVENTS Anarchists: meet every Mon Details via Box 19 Acorn Bookshop. Also Autonomists. Alcoholics Anonymous : groups meet regular in Reading (9 meetings a week), Pangbourne, That chain, Henley, & Bracknell. Day and night info and help line - 597494). Amnesty: meets 2nd Thurs of month at St. Marys Centre, Chain St. Contact Jean 472598. Astrology; A beginners class starting 4/2/85. Please contact Sue on Reading 669571 for details. Aikido Club: Relaxation, body / mind co-ordination, self-defence for women and men. Every Tuesday St Saviour's Church Hall, Berkeley Ave. Ring 667863 for details. Books and Records Sale: every last Sat of the month. 10-4 at 4 Culver Rd (side of College Anns). Contact 65533. Berkshire Humanists: meet on the 2nd Friday of every month, at the Friends Meeting Hse. For details ring the secretary on Crowthorne 774871. Cruelty-Free Toiletries : market stall every Sat behind Tesco's. Cyclists Touring Club outings Sun 9.15am from Caversham Bridge or Henley. For details ring Richard on Bracknell 50849. Ecology Party: meets 1st & 3rd Hon of the month at 8 College Rd and 38 Long Bam Lane respectively. Contact Maria 663195 History of Reading Soc.: meets 3rd Tues of month at the Abbey Gateway. Housing and Welfare Rights: 1st Thurs morning every month at the Community. Hse. 117 Cumberland Rd. Incest Survivors Group: meets regularly. Write c/o Rape Crisis Line, 17 Chatham St. for details. Labour Party Young Socialists: Weds at Fairview Community Centre, bottom of George St. 8pm. Labour History Group: meets monthly at Red Lion, Southampton St. Contact Kathy 590139 or Mike 867789 for details. 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. Mini Market: Thurs 9-1 St Marys Centre, Chain St. National Council for Civil Lib: meets 2nd Mon of month at St Marys Centre Chain St. Ring Paul 861582. Peace Pledge Union (PPU): meets monthly. Pacifist group. Contact 588459, 374532 or Box 10 Acorn. 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. Reading Recreation Arts Centres: painting for pleasure at Town Hall, Blagrave St. Mon 7-9 Tues 10-12. Details 55911 or 861289. Reading Gay Switchboard: Tues & Fri 8-lOpm 597269. Socialist Workers Party: meets every Wed at the Red Lion Southampton St. 8pm. Silkscreen Workshops: at Community House, 117 Cumberland Rd. Details from Clive 662302. Sahaja Yoga Meetings: Every Fri. At 7.30pm approx. At St. Davids Hall 26, London Rd. Rm. 3. All welcome, no charge (we apologise to all those who turned up before to find no meeting but they will definitely start from the l8th/l/85.) Traditional Festival Dance: Every Wednesday, at the Friends Meeting Hse. 6 Church St. From 7.45-10, Adm. 75p. Ring Anna on 864665 for details. Tai Chi Classes: Every Wed. at R.U. Students Union in the Main Hall. 16/1-20/3. 12-lpm Long form (intermediates) and 1-2.30pm Short form & General practice (everyone). Contact Nick Booth on 873672 or 875123 ex 6221. Vegans: meet 1st. Sun of month at 1 Orrin Close, Tilehurst. Contact Liz & Steve on 21651. 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. At the basement, Old Shire Hall, Abbey St. Beside Abbey Gateway. Dance: Penny Bodman welcomes all women who want to improve their self awareness and confidence. Every Wednesday at 8pm at the Womens Centre. Greenham Support Group (Women): meets fortnightly. Nightwatch every Thurs. Contact via Womens Centre, Abbey St. Courses at RCU Jobsearch: A course to develop your job finding skills, Tuesday & Thursday l-3pm until the 25th Jan. Silkscreen: Come and print your own posters, cards etc. Tuesday l-3pm. Womens Self Defence: Learn to value and defend yourself in the supportive group. Wed. 10am-12 noon. Carpentry: Learn to use woodworking tools and chose your own project. Mon. l-3pm at the Wilson Centre. Wilson Rd. Dance Fitness: Learn basic routines, and develop your creativity and fitness. Men & Women welcome. Thurs. 10-12 noon. Womens Confidence-Building: Gain confidence in your own abilities working in a supportive group. Friday l-3pm. International Cookery: Learn to cook dishes from the Carribbean, Asia Greece, & others, until the 6/2/85 on Wed. l-3pm at the Collier Centre, York Rd. Skills for Co-ops: A 10 week course starting in the beginning of Feb. Market research, Raising finance, & Financial records and control. Contact Maureen Cotter on 596639. Reading Shelter Group: meets on the first Thursday of the month at the Centre for the Unimpressed, South St. 8.00pm Start. Details Mark Goldup 863153. 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. Box office community arts workshop: Mon-Fri at the RCU, Jo & Dave can be contacted at 596639 or occasionally on 666681. Digging on the Dole: Grow your own on Caversham allotments, John goes every Wednesday 10-12. Also: Coming shortly; Improve your English / Improve your Maths, Alternative Medicine, Photography, Living in a multiracial society, Running an allotment, Unemployment: Whose problem? Womens Performance Gp., Writers Workshop, Motor-Cycle Maintenance. Hopefully it'll all be sorted out by the next Rag, but ring RCU at 596639 or the Reading Adult College on 55575, for further details. A free crehe is available! - - - SMALL ADS Roneo Duplicator: small and primitive but believed to be usable. Free to a good home, Ring Reading 473205. Pete Rowe: can you help me? Please contact Nina on Reading 669694. Room to Let: for an easy going person in a shared house in Newtown. £60 per month plus bills. Contact Mark on Reading 64275. Renault 4 (P reg) with radio! Works very well but I can't afford to run it anymore: hence no tax or MOT. £100. Ring 662302. Vauxhall Viva (N reg) - very nice, good runner. Needs a bit of work (exhaust needs fixing) but basically OK. No tax, no MOT. I can't afford to mend and run it - if you can ring 669154 for more details. PS - not a lot of money required. - - - FREE FESTIVAL Free festival news - there isn't any! That's not entirely true, but it has been a bit sluggish over the last two weeks. First off, the Karma Sutra, Barcelona Bus, and Cosmetic Plague gig went down quite well, there were just under 90 people present who appeared to have a good time. Unfortunately, because of the heavy cost involved in getting the gig together we only made £3.20. (We found £1.20 on the floor!) Thanks to everyone who came, £3.20 is better than losing money. We have now got somewhere to store the waste paper, (if you read the last report you will remember that we want to collect it to help the fund) so if you ring Pogle on 599995 he will give details of where it should go. The next couple of weeks will be busy ones for us. This Tuesday sees another of the paradise Club 'Tuesday night Benefits' this time its the turn of south London rock bands 'No Defences' (who have a synchronized slide show with their act) and 'Plague Circuit' who will be appearing with Reading band 'Paradise Now!' they blend theatre & rhyme with music. Sounds interesting... On Friday 1st February we have a special benefit gig at the Town Hall with the one and only 'Here & Now', in support will be 'Chocolate Teapot' (who sound like a reggae inspired Jethro Tull) and the gradually becoming famous 'Anthill Mob'. Tickets will be on sale soon at Pop Records, Acorn Books, Music Market and Listen, plus Reading Tech & Bulmershe colleges. See you soon? Alan Rush. - - - EVENTS Key Hex - Hexagon, Queens Walk Reading. Ring 591591 SHP - South Hill Park, Bracknell. ROAR- Reading Organisation for Animal Rights RCU - Reading Centre for the Unemployed. 596639 PPU - Peace Pledge Union. Ring Mike 588459. BANC- Berks Anti Nuclear Campaign. Ring 594855. 20th January Sunday Vegans: Ramble around Wittenham Clumps, with Paul Briggs. Walk includes a hill-fort, the river Thames & Roman town. About 3miles. Meet at 1 Orrin close, Tilehurst at 10.30, lifts available. Details from Paul on Wargrave 3391. 20th-17th Feb. SHP: Landmarks - Recent photographs by Paul Hill in the Long gallery and stairs. Also Aspects of Art - in the Main gallery. 21st Monday. Public Meeting: The limits of Conservation and Planning control, with Michael Manser, vice-president of RIBA. Organised by the Civic Soc. The Keimet Rms. Civic Offices, 8pm. 22nd Tuesday Reading Trades Union Council: AGM. at RCU 4-6 East St. Reading. Lecture: Power and Responsibility in Education, Mrs Alison Beevers, former head of Garth Hill Sch. Bracknell. In the Middle Hall, Bulmershe College. Tickets can only be obtained from the Principle's Secretary, Jean Eves ex 224. Sounds like an under cover job to me! 23rd Wednesday Housing Committee; meeting at 6.30pm Civic Offices. 24th Thursday W.I. market: St Marys Centre, Chain St. 9-lpm cakesfruitvegtablesflowersplantshandicraftscake Railway Correspondance and Travel Soc.: A Colour slide show, Preserved Railways. At St Marys Centre, Chain St. Leisure Committee; meeting at 6.30 Civic off. 25th Friday Humanists: Meeting at the Friends Meeting Hse 8pm. Topic: in view of recent liberal developments in the Church and the fact that over 90% of the people go to church, have the Humanists a future? Veggie Dinning: A vegan meal by those that know! The Vegans are cooking tonight(?) Tickets on sale only in advance from Acorn. £2 waged £1.50 unwaged. At Fairview community centre, George St (Sold Out) 26th Saturday Free coach to Cheltenham: One year gone; still fighting on. GCHQ Trade Unions and TUC March & Rally. Bus leaves at 9.30am sharp from the station. Assemble at 12, Central Cross Drive, Pitville, Cheltenham. March at 1pm. Rally, Montpellier Gdns. For seats on the coach" ring Chris Borgars on 581144 ex 358 or 477073 - home. Book sale: Waylen Hall, Waylen St. Organised by the United Nations Association. 26th-l6th Feb. Covering Ground: Recent photographs of the Reading Landscape; by Jim Harold and Geoff Weston. Exhibition in the Museum, Blagrave St, Mon-Fri. 10-5.30, Sat. 10-5pm. Adm. Free! 27th Sunday Cyclists Touring Club: Inkpen, a ride to the hills SW of Newbury with Jon Gent (60m). Leaves from Caversham bridge at 9.15am. 28th-17th Feb. Monday Hex: Group Six; an exhibition of photos in the Lower Foyer, Queens walk. 29th Tuesday Lecture: Crime: a fuss about nothing? Dr P Waddington, Sociology lecturer. At the Palmer Bdg. University, Whiteknights, at 8pm adm. Free. Transportation Committee: 6.30pm Civic Offices Also: Open Forum at the Paradise - see ad on p10. 30th Wednesday Tree Club: A talk: Firs: the Genus Abies, By Keith Rushforth. At the Old Library Bdg. LT4 University, London Rd. Contact Catherine Olver for details on 874347. Environment Committee: 6.30pm Civic Offices 31st Thursday Ecology Folk Night: At the Horse and Barge Contact Maria on 55415 (sorry!) W.I. market: St Marys Centre, Chain St. 9-lpm Resources Sub-Committee: 5.30 Civic Offices. Red Rag Editorial: For time and place ring on 669562 1st Friday February Planning Committee: 2.30pm Civic Offices. Red Rag Headlines etc. See above. 2nd Saturday SHP: Silk Screen Printing; a 2-day Course with Brian Gurtler director. Sat. 10.30-5pm £8.50/£9.50 & Sun. 12-5pm same price(!?**!?) ROAR: Aylesbury Animal Rights Group are having an Anti Fur Demo in Aylesbury. Ring Dave 54098 Red Rag Paste-up and Printing: ring 669562 3rd Sunday Cyclists Touring Club: Silchester, a 10.30 start from Caversham bridge, with John Hutton (40m). Red Rag Folding & Distribution: 669562. 5th Tuesday Vegan Talk: The Vegan way of Life. By Laurence Main (sec. of Vegan Soc.) At St Marys Centre, Chain St. at 7.30 prompt. Reading Waterways Gp.: 6.30 Civic Offices. 6th Wednesday Imprint Soc. Dr Margaret Smith: Pagination and Foliation in early printed books: an innovation in book design. Meeting at the Dept. of Typography, Whiteknights, at 7.45 for 8pm. PPU: mtg. 44, Gosbrook Rd, Caversham. 8pm. 7th Thursday Anarchistic Video Show: Stop the City & Call it Sleep. At the Crown Pub, Crown St. Free! Reading Shelter Gp.: AGM at the RCU for 8pm. Policy Committee: 5.30pm Civic Offices. - - - HERE AND NOW Friday 1st Feb plus Chocolate Teapot and the Anthill Mob 7.30 til late. Bar £3.00 on door £2.50 in advance Free Festival Benefit Reading Town Hall - - - (Paid Advert) OPEN FORUM on The Left in 1985 Tues 29th January 8pm at The Paradise Club With Speakers invited from The Labour Party, The Communist Party, The Socialist Workers Party and Workers Power. All are welcome - - - THE GIG ON THE 9TH Sat, Feb 9th, at the central club, Bristol's hottest reggae band, inna fine style - Restriction (article in Observer col supp, 3/2/85), will be playing along with the hardest funk sound system from the west - Enterprise & 2 Bad Crew. Good food will be provided by Veggie Dining (contact Mike - 588459, or Tim - 584769, if you can help with food preparation etc.), with all proceeds going towards the free festival this summer, so go on an empty stomach and eat lots. The bar will be open till late, this is a non profit making gig, and is a one off, so make it a date, dont be late, check the gate, arrive at 8. Abbasinew - - - RED RAG BAG 15 Hot Hits from Local Bands The Red Rag cassette; 60 minutes of fab music available now, for only £3 from:- Acorn Bookshop 17 Chatham St; Rag Doll Duke St. Also available from Pop Records & Music Market. - - - The Blob Sets over another issue... $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1985/1985-01-20.txt#3 $