RED RAG FREE FORTNIGHTLY 17 FEBRUARY - 3 MARCH Next Issue Co-ordinator unknown as yet - contact 665806 to find out Copydate 28 February. Send copy to Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, Reading and mark it for Red Rag. Distribution 669562 Going Out 782178 News 665806 Events 667060 - - - STOP PRESS Greenham Eviction Bailiffs arrived, at Blue and Yellow gates on Thursday afternoon knowing that the women would be all collecting their dole money. There were only three women at Blue and everything was taken including bedding. That evening four convoys went out. Please support the Greenham Women in any way possible. - - - RESISTING THE WAR MACHINE - MOLESWORTH As most people will have heard, just before midnight on Fed 3rd the military and police moved in to evict the Rainbow Peace Village from MOD land at Molesworth Airbase, Cambs (designated next site for cruise misiles in 1986) and to erect a barbed-wite fence around its perimeter to, as they put it, "secure the base", About 1500 Royal Engineers worked on the fence while armed guards lay in the grass. The police told the campers that they had 'til 6a.m. to leave or face forcible eviction. Most of the l00 or so people and 40 children decided to leave but a few wanted to hang on for as long as they could. The news report early the following morning spurred a couple of us from Reading PPU group + a friend to take the day off work and travel to Molesworth to show solidarity with those evicted and express our own opposition to the governments action. We arrived about midday to find the road leading to the main entrance blocked-off by police so we drove on around the base but every access road appeared to be closed and guarded by police, so it was back to where we started, We joined a handful of demonstrators in a road-side vigil and held placards ("Is Cambridgeshire a police state?") which seemed to embarrass the local police but caught the eyes of a few passers-by. It was noticeable that some vehicles were being let through the barricade. These were either marked "Royal Navy", "Police" or had US personnel in them! Some local villagers too, if they could prove who they were! We waved our support to the people in one of the last Peace Village buses to be towed away; and then it was off to join 60 or so others who were attempting to blockade contractors vehicles entering the works entrance at the rear of the base. A clear way through was found down a narrow country lane and we arrived to find a long string of vehicles clogging the single track road leading up to the entrance. There were army lorries with more wire and contractors' lorries carrying all manner of building equipment; sewer pipes, mixers, portakabins. etc. Further up we noticed one or two trying to come the other way! In between there were people standing and sitting in the road. We joined them while the police pushed a car away that had been used as a blockade. It was some time until a path was eventually cleared to the gates. When the convoy began to move again towards the base, a lot of us sat down in front of it and the police dragged us away. All the while others were leafletting and talking to some of the drivers. They said that they had only received instructions that morning directly from their bosses and didn't even know it was Molesworth until they arrived. This in effect prevented any union action or dissent by fellow workers. When things began to move again we staged another sit-down. This time the police were more rough, dragging people through mud and ditches. There were some amongst us who were calling to the police to stop supporting the "invasion of Britain by a foreign power". A display of nationalism which made this protester feel a bit uneasy. It's as if they were saying that if the missiles were British they would somehow be more acceptable! The three of us who had travelled up together went off to have lunch back at our van. More lorries began to arrive with motorcycle escorts; it all seemed so relentless. Later there was a further blockade of homeward bound lorries outside the Old School House in the nearby village of Clopton, the local peace centre, which escaped the police's attention for a while. When they did arrive people were hauled off and dumped in the porchway. There were no arrests. We left for home about 4pm. People take part in such actions for a variety of reasons. For me it symbolises a total rejection of the state's preparations for war and disregard for human values. It also creates time to discus issues with our opponents. The 60 or so of us who took part in last Wednesday's action remained non-violent throughout and acted with due regard to those around us. All is not lost! There is plenty of scope for further action. The original Molesworth Peace Camp still exists and the "Ploughshares Campaign" (wheat for Ethiopia) remains active. Peterborough Trades Council is putting pressure on its city council to boycott contractors who work at Molesworth. Most important of all perhaps is the fact that 200 or so affinity groups throughout the country have already pledged themselves to "giving back the land to the people". Here are a few telephone nos. to contact for up to the minute info: "Molesworth International Workcamps" Clopton 257. Reading Affinity Group - Paul Jardine Reading 483183. Some contractors involved with work at the base. Phone their M.D's! Warnick Tel Wickford 5544 (Permanent Fence). Peterborough Heavy Haulage Tel P'b 240305. Mobac, Preston Tel 099522165. Chris. - - - PPU MEETING Peace Pledge Union News... Reading PPU group met on Wed Feb 6th. About 12 people came alomg which included 4 new faces, Molesworth was the no. 1 topic for discussion which resulted in the revival of the Reading NVDA affinity group. A visit was planned for the following Sunday. A number of us expressed interest in the "Cruisewatch" campaign which is gaining momentum. In March we are hoping to meet up with Prem Kumar, a young Indian who is conducting a "peace walk" around the world! Next year there may also be a chance to join one of three bus trips to visit various UN capitals in Europe, organised by a Swedish peace group. Next meeting will be at 44, Gosbrook Road, Caversham - Everyone Welcome. For all details contact Deryck or Val on Reading 483416. - - - BEANS ON WHEELS Support for the Greenham food van continues in Reading on March 11, 12, 13 and 14. Groups from Greenham Women's Support, East Reading, West Reading and Caversham will have the van for one night each to transport a hot vegan meal to each of the gates. Anyone interested in being involved, please ring 483416. - - - THE GREENHAM SUPPORT GROUP ... is a group of women in Reading. We do: Regular nightwatches Practical support Local activities Fundraising Daytime visits Would you like to help? Ring Sue 476196. - - - CRUISE RUMOURS If you live outside the circulation area of Newbury and Reading local papers you could be forgiven for thinking that Greenham Common's cruise missiles were no longer an issue and the peace camp had disappeared. This is because direct references to the base and peace camp have all but disappeared from the pages of the national press and from our television screens. The reason was let out of the bag by Jerry 'Yappie' Yaple, Greenham's public relations officer. To celebrate the installation of Greenham's new C.O. - Col. John Bacs - the 501st Tactical Missile Wing held an elaborate and expensive reception for two hundred guests. Amongst those not invited were the British press and television. 'Yappie' revealed that the decision to exclude the British media had been taken jointly by the USAF and the British Ministry of Defence, "in accordance with the current policy relating to the Greenham base." If you want to read about the Greenham banquet then you'll have to rake around a USAF neighbour's dustbin for a copy of 'Stars & Stripes'. Felix Bowness - television actor, Woodley resident and scourge of the Greenham women - has been the subject of an eighteen column inch feature by Linton Mitchell in the 'Evening Post'. This sycophantic piece (known in the trade as a 'brown nose' job) manages to avoid mentioning Felix's attempt to turn the 'Clean-up Berkshire' campaign's awards presentation into an attack upon what he called 'those disgusting old women at Greenham'. However, Fleapits does bare, if not his soul, at least his phobias. He has a fear of flying, "I wont do it. I don't really understand why, but I'm frightened of it." Perhaps some friendly psychiatrist will reveal to him the usually held interpretation of an irrational fear of flying. Maybe this will bring him to an understanding of his strong aversion to the kind of independent and assertive women to be found at Greenham peace camp. Zed Feecher - - - ESCAPE FROM SEX GHETTO A woman with cathedral curves and the echo of some stranger's kiss loitering on her lips without intent. She was walking through the cemetery - cemetery junction. Am I in danger she is thinking - do these dead souls love a party? So she is thinking and quickens her noisy pace through this Hitchcock rainstorm. Home is warm, friendly and treacherous - safety in numbness. Oh I can see you know each other - Karen and fear - fear and Karen. Come out for a drink with me. Not the Dove or the Jack - somewhere a little more - um - eclectic... Do you want to come? Do you? "I feel a bit different from you John", she tells me, "I don't play with magic or flirt with dreaming suicide pacts. Take off your clothes - Just be a bit honest - eh ?" Reading is quite exciting underneath its surface. Its beating heart slithers like mercury down quiet unassuming streets. Oh it's not noisy like Manchester - it's not sexy like Nottingham - it isn't arty like Bristol - but it's all these things. There is a subtle humour in Reading that ebbs and flows through its flesh. 1972 was some time ago now but her friends still live there - well it was special and important. I told a friend a secret and watched it grow like a hungry virus till it found me and strangled me from the inside. Peter said Chinese whispers could break an Eastern avenue promise - well that was what god told me as well Pete ! Meanwhile I was still thinking - sometime soon Reading is going to wake up and find it's still asleep. You and I won't be alive Karen - but we should still be concerned. Well I know you are. So she quickened her walk, snatching glances behind her at something on the dark. "Give us back the night you bastards!" her heart screams "can't you offer more than a helpless grin John - a " nervous joke." "Look" I reasoned but it was too late. History repeats itself - so does geography. And then, just then, we were the vanguard of some life and death ideology. Groping for words with safe fugitive meanings. Naively camouflaged in the comforts of a detached vocabulary. And in this trivial meta-language we bathed and fawned like eunuchs at a Roman orgy. We were too stupid to be embarrassed. Don't talk to me about politics and sex. I've drunk too much philosophy to be seduced by that mythology - I shop in the Butts centre when I'm looking for a bargain. Summer didn't surprise me. Reading sometimes does but then I don't always live there in person. I'm ugly, I'm narcissistic - I love a fight. Campaigning... being progressive and provocative - are these armchair activities? "Well they can be John. You see what we must do now is to erode redundant preoccupations - jettison social conditioning - and we do that by confusion - by disassociation. Then people can be themselves - experience themselves. Dislocation is logics way of never having to say it's sorry..." I fell in love with Karen when she said that and I waved goodbye to Roman Catholicism and the Beatles. I closed my eyes thinking quietly - Oh yes and we would dismantle the architecture of a socio/sexual morality. These, my hands were the tools. I would use. Here, a fractured heart was my only weapon. Steve? - he was practice with snakes and other handfuls - I fell in love with his eyes first - eyes like lava. Yeah, I suppose he was good looking. The poverty of historicism generated a wealth of hysteria he even smelled like Poppa. He said he was psychic - that he could smell pornography. And so my friend I found pressure became precious. God! - with my heart I really began to respect blood. We loved being vulnerable - it was the only true route to strength and emotion. Excess was never a very flexible friend. OK - Fire! John Delahunty - - - GOING OUT GUIDE Sun 17th Feb: Readifolk - Caversham Bridge Hotel, 8.30pm Free Jazz, Butler, Chatham St, 8pm Hexagon: Stu Francis / Crackerjack show 2.30 + 5pm, £3 SHP - "This is Spinal Tap" (15) 7.45 Mon 18th: Bull at Nettlebed - Roaring Jelley (folk) 8pm SHP - "Splash" (15) 2pm + 7.45pm Univ: King Kurt + The Teenagers From Outer Space + Macholettes. 8-1. £3 Hex - "One For The Road" (Willy Russel), 8pm. £3.50-£4.50 Univ - Faculty of Letters Theatre: "Richard II", 7.30pm. Big Wheel Theatre Co. Tues 19th: Univ - Faculty of Letters, as yesterday Paradise Club, London St - Free Festival Benefit gig: Degenerations + 4 Minute Warning, 9pm. £1.50 / £1 UB40 Royal Oak, Twyford - folk + blues Tudor Arms - Gay Disco, 8pm, free Hex - as 18th SHP - ICQ (jazz) 8pm, £3 SHP - "Splash" (15) 7.45pm SHP Wilde Theatre - "Twelfth Night" 7.30pm all seats £3 Univ - Rag Week Jazz: 11.30am - 3pm free, 7pm - 12 £1.50 Wed 20th: RFT - "Company of Wolves" (18) 8pm £1.70 / £1.10 SHP - Twelfth Night as 19t: £3 - £4.50 Hex - as 18th plus matinees 2.30pm Univ - Rags Beerfest 10.30am - 4pm drinking, 7pm - 1am more drinking + Steinhaus Bierkeller Band: £? Univ - Richard II as 18th plus "Sexual Perversity in Chicago", 10pm University Opera - "The Elixir of Love", by Donizetti, 7.30pm. £1 - £3.50 Jive Dive at the New Yorker Thur 21st: RFT - as 20th. NB £1.10 with UB40 tonight Paradise - Pandemonium Dance Band (bug free funk) + Lost Weekend (country 'n' booze). £1.50 / £1, 9pm-12 Opera - Elixir of Love, as 20th, Great Hall, London Road. Bulmershe College - Trickster Theatre tel 663387 SHP - Dirty Strangers, local band, 8pm, 50p - £1.50 Univ - Rags - hypnotist, alternative cabaret etc. £? SHP - "Splash" (15) 7.45pm 2pm Hex - as 18th SHP - "Twelfth Night" as 19th. £3 - £4.50 Fri 22nd Tudor Arms - Gay Disco, 8pm, free Hex - as 18th SHP Wilde Theatre - Twelfth Night, 7.30pm, £3 - £4.50 SHP bands SHP - Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Bernard Roberts, 8pm. £3.35 / £3 Opera - as 21st SHP - "Splash" (15) 2pm + 7.45pm, "Over the Edge" (18) 11pm Target - "The Avalanche" Paradise - Dr + the Medics and The Teenagers From Outer Space. £2.50. 9.30 - 2am Univ - Rags Ball - The Bootleg Beatles + The Strolling Bones, £3. 2am bar Sat 23rd Southend Bradfield Village Hall - Ceilidh, for St Annes Opportunity Centre. 8-12 £2 including food Hex - final night of "One for the Road", + matinee at 5pm Opera - last night at London Rd Great Hall SHP - "Twelfth Night" £3 - £4.50. Final Night Target - Predatur Rag Week parade through town, 2pm. + Kid Jensen disco at University Student Union 8pm, £? SHP: Bryony (folk), 8pm, £1.20 / £1.50 SHP: "Splash" (15) 2pm + 7.45pm, "Over the Edge" (18) 11pm Sun 24th: Free Jazz, Butler, Chatham St, 8pm Readifolk - Caversham Bridge Hotel, 8.30pm SHP: "Splash" (15) 7.45pm Mon 25th: Bulmershe College, National Youth Jazz Orchestra: tel 663387 SHP - Wilde Theatre - "When The Wind Blows" (Raymond Briggs) 7.30pm. All seats £3 SHP - "Sunday in the Country" (PG) 7.45 Univ. Student Union lounge bar - free jazz 8.30 - 11pm Tues 26th: The Bull, Nettlebed: folk - Dave Field, 8pm SHP Wilde Theatre, as 25th, £3 - £4.50 SHP "Sunday in the Country" (PG) 7.45pm Hex - "Ruddigore" 7.30pm, £2.25 Tudor Arms - Gay Disco, 8pm, free Royal Oak, Twyford - folk 'n' blues SHP - The Bill Brunskill Band, 8pm. £2.40 / £1.50 Paradise - Miners' Benefit: The Goat Brothers Band + disco. 8pm - 12. £2 / £1 UB40 Wed 27th: RFT "Paris Texas" 8pm £1.70 / £1.10 Hex - as 26th, £2.75 SHP - When The Wind Blows as 26th The Crown, Crown St: Pandemonium Club, with the 4 Corner Saxaphone Quartet, the Cacophonists, guest. 8.30pm, £1.20 / 80p. (Improvised musics) SHP - "Sunday in the Country" (PG) 7.45 Jive Dive at the New Yorker Thurs 28th: RFT "Paris Texas" (18) 8pm £1.70 / £1.10 w UB40 Hex as 27th SHP - Video, Best of the Festival, 7.45 Bulmershe College - Trestle Theatre presents "Hanging Around", 663387 Merry Maidens, Shinfield: Socialist Worker Benefit disco. 8-11.30. £1.50 / 75p UB40 SHP - local bands 8pm 50p - £1.50 Fri March 1st: Tudor Arms - Gay Disco, 8pm, free Hex - Ruddigore, 7.30, £3.25 SHP - Mantis Dance Company SHP - bands Paradise - ? RFT - "The Black Stuff" - 8pm. UB40 discount Sat 2nd: Hex - last night, w. 3pm matinee SHP - Mantis Dance Co. Note: Any information to Mark on 782178. All messages before 10.30pm!!! Any pubs, clubs, local gigs etc especially of interest Mike Messer (SHP): please phone!! Key: - SHP: South Hill Park, Bracknell - 0344 484123 - Hex: Hexagon - Rdg 591591 - - - USA - NICARAGUA - THE CLASH The Vice-President of Nicaragua, Dr. Sergio Ramirez, spoke in Oxford University Debating Union last week, countering ten accusations the Reagan administration regularly makes against that country. Six tickets were provided for the Reading University Central America group by the Nicaraguan Consulate, so here's a summary of his speech which received a prolonged standing ovation: Accusation 1: "The Sandinista revolution is a part of the East-West conflict." Ramirez: When the United States invaded Nicaragua in 1912, the October revolution had not yet taken place. Accusation 2: "The Sandinista model is totalitarian" Ramirez: The dictator Somoza was totalitarian. In recent elections 80% of the population voted, over 65% of which voted Sandinista. There were seven parties involved covering the whole political spectrum. Accusation 3: "Nicaragua has strayed from the original principals of her revolution." Ramirez: This is an ironic condemnation from an administration which said it would destroy the revolution only months after it took place. Sandinista policy is still based on three principals: 1) Political pluralism. 2) Mixed economy. 3) Non-alignment. 56% of the economy is privately owned. Accusation 4: "Nicaragua exports revolution to the rest of Central America." Ramirez: Revolution cannot be exported socially or militarily. The need for it would not have risen if Central America had always had the power to determine its own future. Accusation 5: "Nicaragua arms itself to threaten others." Ramirez: Reagan has armed 10,000 mercenaries to fight the Sandinistas and has secured bases in Honduras and El Salvador. It is a case of David and Goliath. Accusation 6: "Nicaragua poses a threat to U.S. security." Ramirez: There are no foreign military bases in Nicaragua. How can 3.5 million people, struggling to survive, threaten the U.S? Are they going to send spy planes over Florida or mine U.S. ports? Accusation 7: "There is a civil war in Nicaragua." Bamirez: This has been artificially catalysed by the Reagen administration which has spent 150 million dollars in C.I.A. backing for the Contras. Accusation 8: "The Sandinistas repress indigenous minorities." Ramirez: The Nicaraguan government has declared its intention to give autonomy to Moshite Indian territories. Accusation 9: "Nicaragua wants neither peace or negotiation." Ramirez: President Reagan has destabilised the peace process in three direct ways: 1) By refusing to sign the Centadora treaty after Nicaragua agreed to its proposals. 2) By withdrawing from bilateral negotiations in Mexico. 3) By ignoring the judgement of the International Court of Justice at the Hague which condemned his policies in Central America. Accusation 10: "Nicaragua is an enemy of the United States." Ramirez: Nicaragua has no quarrel with the U.S.A., challenging only the U.S. intention of dominating her. The U.S. is not safeguarding its own national security by attacking a weak nation. Nicaragua asks only to be left in peace. The speech was followed by a debate on the motion: "U.S. policy in Central America is an affront to Western values." A leading New Right congressman turned up to oppose and the discussion became a competition for who could supply the best rhetoric between him and five students "debating the motion". Sergio Ramirez had left in triumph. In his absence nobody pointed out to those who accuse Nicaragua of being "Marxist-Leninist" that it was up to Nicaraguans to choose their form of government, never mind that this accusation was untrue. Nor that the achievements of the Sandinistas in meeting basic needs including the literacy campaign and the extension of health facilities free to the entire population are lessons for any westener. It is time more publicity was given to the successful implementation of their evolved perception of development. The austerity measures announced this week are a direct result of having to spend 40% of national income on defence. Clearly the Sandinista revolution is under severe pressure, both militarily and economically. If we want to see the continuation of this unique combination of mass participation, political pluralism and the meeting of basic needs it is up to us in Europe to stop Reagans covert war. To join the Central America Group for Reading set up by students at the University, contact: Martine Grice, Sibly Hall, Redhatch Drive, Earley. Or Richard Mee, same address Or Ben Rogaly, on 65285. Ben Rogaly. - - - (paid ad) JIM CROCKATT Carpenter Pococks Cottage, Mariners Lane Bradfield, Berks. Bradfield 744728 - - - AID FOR AIDS There has been a great deal about AIDS in the press recently. Most of the stories have concentrated on public reactions to the disease rather than on AIDS itself, so here is some information. AIDS is a condition which, prevents the body's immune system from working properly. The job of the immune system is to recognise and destroy foreign organisms. If it fails people may develop infections which they would normally be able to fight off quite easily. AIDS is caused by a virus, called LAV, which is thought to be passed on in two ways: during sex, or if a person comes into contact with infected blood. It is also possible that the AIDS virus is passed on through saliva, but there is no reason to think that the virus can be spread through the air or by touch. It seems that not everyone who has the virus develops the symptoms of AIDS, but that everyone who does develop the symptoms dies, sometimes quickly, sometimes after two or more years. There is no immediate prospect of a cure for AIDS itself, although doctors are becoming more expert at treating the infections and illnesses which follow the failure of the immune system. AIDS is endemic in central Africa. It is thought that Haitians working there took the AIDS virus back to Haiti and that Americans visiting Haiti took the virus from there to the United States. From the USA it has spread to Britain and other European countries. There is nothing gay about the disease itself. In central Africa it is a sexually transmitted disease like any other, and it is reasonable to expect that in time it will be so in the United States and in Europe. Some evidence suggests that this is already the case in New York. It is associated with gay men because most victims in Europe and America have so far been gay, partly because gay men tend to have more sexual partners than heterosexuals and lesbians, and partly because the disease was brought from Haiti by gay men who were on holiday there. At the moment there is no test which will tell you if you have the virus. There is a test which will show if you have antibodies to the virus. The antibodies are produced when the body recognises the virus in the bloodstream. This test is only available to people who are considered to be at high risk from the disease. There is also a test which measures the number of white blood cells in the blood. As the body's immune system is weakened there become fewer white blood cells. However there are many reasons why the number of white blood cells may decrease so this test does not prove or disprove the presence of the virus. If you are worried you should visit a clinic. The local clinic for Reading is the Florey Unit at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. This has greatly improved since I last went there and both doctors and nurses are friendly and helpful. The waiting room now has canned music from Radio 210 and a box of children's toys; the threatening notices on the walls have been removed and you are called by name rather than number. At the Florey Unit a doctor will give you a full clinical examination (which is completely painless if slightly embarrassing) and do a number of smear and blood tests. It takes about l 1/2 hours, most of which is spent listening to Radio 210 unless you take a good book. You normally need to make an appointment to visit the Florey Unit. Ring Reading 863355 Monday to Friday 8.30 to 12.00 to make one. From March there will be a non-appointment clinic on the first Wednesday of the month from 1pm to 5pm. You are asked to phone Reading 875111 extension 216 in the morning to check that the clinic will operate. The Florey Unit has issued a special leaflet about AIDS and also has copies of a leaflet "Some Facts About AIDS" published by the Health Education Council. You can also speak to the Florey Unit Health Advisor or a Nurse in confidence by phoning Reading 875111 extension 216. The AIDS Information Helpline 01-278 8745 is open from 8pm to 10pm Mondays to Fridays; or you can make general enquiries about AIDS by phoning Gay Switchboard 01-837 7324 which is open 24 hours. Guy - - - VEGGIE DINING Just a note to remind all herbivores that the next veggie feast is a benefit for the free festival fund 50p xtra on all tickets. Food to be prepared by Anarcho Veggie cooks, so come on down and get stuffed. Don't forget 22nd Feb, Fairview community centre George St. Tickets @ Acorn bookshop. - - - LETTER Dear Red Rag, Full marks to Grub Lust and Gilbert White for spotting that enticing ad for a 'Vegan Ramble' in a recent issue of Red Rag. Other no less astonishing events in a recent series of fun 'vegan' extravaganzas were a militant 'vegan' pyjama party and a hard-hitting 'vegan' barn dance. The meat and dairy industries can only applaud the transformation of the once-campaigning Reading & District Vegan Group into little more than a social club. Colin Howlett (co-founder and former member of RDVG) - - - STANDING ORDER MANDATE To (your bank's name and address) .............................. 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. - - - RED COLUMN (A different individual view of Reading and its surroundings) Schools participating in the Assisted Places Scheme, the Independent schools Information Service explained in the Reading & Berkshire Mercury, "have been especially selected by the Government because they were willing to take part in the scheme, have high academic distinction, are spread widely over the country and offer, as far as possible, equal opportunity to both boys and girls." Of the more than 40 local schools taking part in this advertisement only St Joseph's Convent claims to be part of Sir Keith's scheme. It's not clear whether the rest are insufficiently academically distinguished or feel they can make their profits without this forced invasion from those who can't afford their fees! Attaboy BCA's own David Wickins waste disposal and gravel group, Attwoods , will be reporting its half-year figures shortly, and is expected to show an annual rate of profit of over £5M. The Company's Deputy Chairman is Denis Thatcher (yes, the same), and they seem to be becoming more and more active in this area. Look out for more applications to extract gravel in Berkshire and for some amendments to the Mineral Plan for the county after the May elections. Unfond Farewell Speaking of waste disposal, Compton Councillor Steve Norris the man who more than anyone was responsible for Berkshire County Council's agreement with Grundons which cost the dear ratepayers £8M, is retiring from the Council in May. He is deputy leader of the Tory Group, on which all seems far from sweetness and light. Witness Tory Leader Gareth Gimblett's admission at a recent press conference that "Privatisation is something which needs careful analysis, as the Council has found to its cost with waste disposal.". Did Steve go or was he pushed? Euro-News But you will all be glad to know that your representative in the European Parliament, London-based Thatcher clone the Baroness Elles, is chairman of the Institute of Directors' European Advisory Panel. Who's that she's representing? The Barclays Connection Barclays Bank, a family institution dominated by nine nice southern families (they may be just about to appoint the first chief executive from outside the nine since the bank was founded in the eighteenth century) have always had a close connection with the Thames Valley. They took over the Reading brewers' bank, Simmonds (now reduced to a plaque in the Market Place). They nurtured ICL as long as it looked worth it. They house, in Henley, the Southern Region office of the CBI. So it can only be good news to their friends that they have been appointed by the Government to "advise" on the privatisation of the National Bus Company, operators of Alder Valley and owners of not only lots of buses but also lots of lovely town-centre sites in their very own Valley. Square Cross The decision of the Church of England synod to investigate whether free-masonry is compatible with Christianity has been greeted with concern and incredulity by Reading Borough Council's and Berkshire County Council's most public Christian mason, Joe Slater. Those who've watched his most unchristian votes on both Councils have no doubt where his loyalties will lie if a choice has to be made. Praise For Ollie "Oh, Ollie, look what a mess you've got us into now," quipped Labour's Tony Jones at the last Reading Council meeting at John Oliver, who was quivering about something in the blue corner. Not that, I understand, Tony was really after the part of Stanley Laurel himself, but our soccer-mad first citizen Ron Jewitt has now put in a bid for it. At the opening of the South Reading Leisure Centre, the Mayor went quite out of his way to praise the contribution to the Centre of John Oliver, who was Chairman of the Leisure Committee in 1983-4. He became Chairman because the previous Chairman on the old hung Council, Geoff Canning, had voted in favour of the South Reading Leisure Centre when the Tories had decided to vote against it so John was able to drive in on the loyalty band wagon. During his year as Chairman he did virtually nothing about the South Reading Leisure Centre, which is why it continued under its own momentum untouched by the mark of failure be brought to the things he did concern himself with, like the John Oliver Memorial Ice Rink. And since John was replaced by maverick Tory Hamza Fuad he has been unable to contribute constructively to anything. But Ron "Stanley" Jewitt's praise is another strand in the web of plotting he's been engaging in since that dread day to get the job back. Hamza's survived one vote of no confidence in his own group but must know his days are numbered. Puffing Billy(2) Another Tory who responds ill to opposition is Wokingham's M.P. and Church Commissioner, Thatcher knight William van Straubenzee. When two 11-year old boys wrote to him recently about experiments on animals he wrote back accusing them of having had their mummies' help and their mummies of doing, "what grown-ups call exploiting children". One of the mums got her own back by calling him "one of the last bastions of Victorian pomposity". I'm sure Church Commisioners should be all of that. Ponting Prize Following the decision of twelve good people and true that the State is not the Government, and by implication that the Council is not the ruling group and the Company is not the Board of Directors, all readers should seriously consider where the public interest now lies in what they know. I am thinking of instituting an annual Clive Ponting Award, one which can be awarded anonymously if required, for the most interesting leak that appears in this column. Entries in a plain brown envelope c/o Acorn! Citizen Cain - - - TEMPORARY CHANGES TO WOMENS CENTRE OPENING HOURS Lack of volunteers to be at the Womens' Centre during the week means that for the next few weeks we can only open up Saturday 12-2. We plan to go back to normal hours (stated elsewhere in the Rag) early in April. Pregnancy Testing is still available 7 - 8:30 Tuesday Evenings. - - - It takes up to 40 dumb animals to make a fur coat. But only one to wear it. If you don't want animals to be gassed, electrocuted, trapped or strangled, don't buy a fur coat. Greenpeace - - - LETTERS Feminists Beware! Feminists in Reading should avert their eyes from a billboard poster which may be up in Reading at this moment. It is the Greenpeace anti-fur poster, which depicts the bottom half of a woman dragging a fur coat behind her trailing blood, with the caption: It takes up to 40 dumb animals to make a fur coat, but only one to wear it. Since Greenpeace launched their anti-fur campaign, they have been deluged with complaints from outraged feminists saying that the poster is sexist. Nevertheless, the poster is going up all over the country as local animal rights groups raise the amount necessary to rent a site for a month - or longer. To complain that the poster is sexist and ignore its message is wilfully refusing to look at the issue fairly and squarely. Firstly, it is barbaric and obscene to take another animal's life just to wear its skin on your back - and totally unnecessary. Secondly, most fur coats are worn by women - so an anti-fur campaign must implicity be sexist - the anti-fur message has got to be got across to women. If the objection is that calling a woman a dumb animal is offensive, can I ask why? Why is it not offensive to call other animals 'dumb', but offensive when it's the human animal? Why is it OK to be speciesist, but not sexist? Anyway, surely the only women who may feel offended by the message are those who wear fur coats - and as these are the women at whom the message is directed it will have succeeded in hitting home. The animal rights movement has long realised that the struggle for human and non-human rights is one and the same. It is a pity that people who care so much about one kind of rights can so easily ignore another. NB: speciesism is discrimination against all other species because they are not the same as one's own. Debbie Loe Dear Red Rag Well, I've read through the Bestial Maniac's letter about the Bright Young Female Sparks and I have to admit that it sounds good. But does it mean anything? OK, B.M., I think I see roughly what you're on about, but couldn't you have found a simpler way to say it? Or maybe using all those long sentences is supposed to be a piss-take of some sort? English translation please! The Twilight Idol For Bestial Maniac please read Boring Misogynist. All pen, paper and surface ideology eh? Well Bestial Maniac what about your letter? What precisely were you getting at? If you've got something to say, then state it plainly, don't couch it in trendy non-speak. I found your letter extremely patronising and empty of any real content. It reeked of sour grapes. What is it that you are complaining about - women having multiple relationships, women discussing sexual relationships or women running their own lives without your help? For a start these articles have been written by two people who are out there doing what they're writing about. Mistakes and all. They both write from their own experience - they are plainly not pulling ideology from a hat. Neither of them claim to have solutions to anything other than the way they run their own lives. You seem to forget that it wasn't all that long ago that women had no control over their own lives, sexuality or relationships. We're starting from scratch, buddy. We've suffered at the hands of male domination, yet some of us don't want to ride rough shod over men in return and want to start out thoughtfully, honestly and openly. You are just another man in a male dominated society who can't bear to allow us the equality of freedom to think. "Bright Young Female Sparks" indeed. "These new moral-sexual orders are just further bars on the cage." Whose cage? Not mine but I suspect yours. "It's all been said before." Yes, it has - by men, for men, about men. And another thing - I think signing yourself "Bestial Maniac" suggests you have a rather unhealthy attitude to sex which colours everything you have, written. I'm not sure I should have bestowed such gravity on your letter by bothering to take the time to reply. Put your own house in order, take the beam out of your own eye. Then maybe you'll have something useful to say. Liz Swain. - - - VOLUNTARY PROJECTS PROGRAMME - WOMENS EDUCATION PROJECT A project to teach women practical skills e.g. Woodwork, Home Maintenance etc. is due to begin April 1985 under the direction of Reading Womens' Centre. We are looking for a project organiser (37 hours a week), an Administrative Assistant (18 hours a week) and Class Tutors (part-time, in relevant subject areas); you must be unemployed before joining the project. Women interested in knowing more about the above jobs should contact J.Kightley (Rdg 861582) or A.Turner (Rdg 67928), or write to Reading Womens' Centre, Basement, Old Shire Hall, Reading. - - - MINERS' BENEFIT REVIEW Rama lama! Rama lama fa fa fa!! - you bring your own ideology to jamborees such as these : a "miners' benefit" is not a political rally; the apparatus of the anti substructure structure addicts is, yes, as vulnerable to vagary as any, and So? So - the intended P. A. arrived so late that the prophetically (?) christened A Nation Mourns embarked, bravely using only the odd pluggable bit together with other found objects. Mournful? Ah, the tearful sounds of delicate despair, beauty in the blackness shining through: apparently dark titles - "Dying", "The Confusion", "The Burns of Love", and "All the Flowers Are Dead", poignantly lit up by simple synth, guitar and "Ian Curtis" voice. Did one song begin to sound like the last eventually? Consistent style or absent virtuosity? The absent support band from Henley left the stage undefended against The Rebels, rhythm, pure and simple: bassie, drums and many mike-masters toasting and turning over ground shaker rhythm. Perhaps these ex-Duncans would be even stronger with sparing sliced treble in the mix. But it did the heart good to hear them... So, two bands I'd like to see again - whether under the aegis of (gulp) politics or not... Sisyphus. - - - 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 Onion, 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 Wholefooda, London Rd Sugar Bowl, Wokingham Rd Sutherlands, Erleigh Rd Tech College, King's Rd UB Cycles, London St - - - GREENHAM REQUEST The women are having to cope with evictions daily, losing: firewood, food, blankets, clothing, all things needed to make this cold weather endurable. Please, please support them now they welcome support from men (during daylight hours only) and women at any time, so please pay them a visit. Yours in peace, Val. - - - MOLESWORTH REQUEST Oh no, not Molesworth again!! But seriously though folks, it is very important to give our support during the next few weeks, especially in non-violent direct action, because there's a consensus of opinion that the U.S. congress won't give the go-ahead for construction to begin if our security forces can't secure a more or less empty field, money for the project might be frozen for a year so it is really important to try to get there to make your presence felt. Yours in peace, Derek. - - - Anniversaries This Issue Sun 17th. USA 1909: Death of Geronimo. Mon 16th. France 1896: Andre Breton born. Fri 22nd. Spain 1900: Luis Bunuel born. USA 1966: Barry Bondhus dumps 10lbs of his shit in army draft files. Sun 24th. France 1848: Monarchy overthrown. Wed 27th. Russia 1917: Abdication of Nicholas II, the last non-marxist Czar. USA 1973: Three hundred Ogalala Souix liberate Wounded Knee. March Fri 1st. USSR 1921: Kronstadt revolt begins. - - - 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. Proceeds to Ecology Party 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 55415 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. Greenham Support Group (Women): meets fortnightly. Nightwatch every Thurs. Contact via Womens Centre, Abbey 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 via 665806. 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. Indian Community Centre, 2 Norris Road: Hindi Classes every Monday 4.30-5.30. Contact 667262 Punjabi Classes every Wednesday 4.30-5.30, also at Indian Community Centre as above. Courses at Centre for the Unemployed All courses are free to the unemployed. No enrolment, just turn up. Free creche available. 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. 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. Writing workshops at RCU. Thursdays 1-3pm. 10 sessions. All welcome. Women's discussion group, 10.30 every Wednesday in room 1 Joint Oxfam, Reading WDM, and WEB Conference, 'Debt Crisis and Hunger - two sides of the same coin' on March 9. We will explore these issues through games, working groups, speakers and panel. RCU: 2-5. To register send £2 (waged or £1 (unwaged) to Reading World Development Movement, 22 Hemdean Road, Caversham. Creche available (50p per child) Unemployed tutors wanted for Photography (basic) and Home Maintenance courses at RCU Also: Coming shortly; Improve your English / Improve your Maths, Alternative Medicine, Basic photographyx, Living in a multiracial society, Running an allotment, Unemployment: Whose problem? Womens Performance Group (Sats, March), Writers Workshop, Motorcycle Maintenance, Operating a small offset-litho printing press, clothes making, cartooning, outing planned to Nature Reserves. - - - URGENT URGENT URGENT Accommodation wanted - single woman & 3 children need 2 bedroomed flat, house or shared house. Ring 64178. - - - EVENTS I'm Marcus and I won't be able to continue the events for much longer, maybe only two more issues but preferably one. So anyone interested in taking over (perhaps only for four issues?) please contact me for info, diary, how to do it etc. Anyone can! Ring 667060. M 18 Reading Centre of the National Trust: Annual General meeting followed by two films; "Caring for the Future" (Management and Conservation work of the East Anglia region) and "Spring" (Gardens of the National Trust). Palmer Building, University of Reading, Whiteknights, at 7.30pm. Admission 50p to non-members. SHP - Create a play week (10.30am-1.30pm) £7.00/£9.00 for the week. 18th-22nd. Hexagon Mon 18 Feb - Sat 9. Mar Peter Gillies Oils, acrylics and mixed media concerned with 'genetic abstractions' and representing microscopic cells and the evolution of miniature life-forms. T 19 Council Meeting: 6.30pm, Civic Offices. Co-operative Development Agency: Open meeting to set up workers co-operatives. At the RCU, 4-6 East St. at 7.30pm. Ring Rdg. 596639 for further details. W 20 BANC - Library Friends Meeting House - Church St. 8pm - Reading CND business meeting: Campaign priorities and ideas for the month ahead. It's open to every member to offer help and ideas. Bier Fest - Reading University, Whiteknights. (Reading Intellectual Development Agency). T 21 Talk: "Foot Health and Shoe Fitting" by Mr. Scourse, merchandise and marketing director of Milwards. Organised by Reading branch of National Childbirth Trust. St Andrews United Reformed Church Hall, London Road Reading at 8.00pm - Admission 50p. F 22 Veggie Dining - Usual nosh - Tickets from Acorn with 50p extra for the free festival fund. See info in this issue. Berkshire Family History Society - A topic from the Berkshire Record Office. Adam Green, County Archivist, on one of the B.R.O. document collections. Park United Reformed Church Hall, Wokingham Road. 7.00 for 7.30pm. Further information from John Gurnett, tel. Reading 415169 S 23 SHP - Lincoln Portraits and Other Works by Timothy Hyman (Long Gallery & Stairs until 8. April) 62 Group Textiles (Main Gallery until 8 April) 23rd-16th Exhibition of Ken Box Paintings, a Southern Arts Association Exhibition. Reading Museum and Art Gallery, Blagrave St., Reading. Mon-Fri 10.00am-5.30pm. Sat. Close at 5.00pm. Admission free. Caversham Flea Market - St. Andrews Church Hall - Albert Rd., Caversham. Admission 10p Enq. 479852 - 10.30-4.30 Camden Centre, London. 7-11pm BSFS 40th Anniversary of the victory over Fascism. Celebration and Social - Music, Food, Speakers. £2.00; £1.00 unwaged. Reading University Rag Procession Through town. Start at approximately 2.00pm. S 24 Cyclists Touring Club - Ride to Brill. Start Henley Bridge, Henley 9.15am. With Richard Dunelow - 55 miles to meet with the Oxford section. M 25 Reading Friends of the Earth - Open meeting 8pm. Join us for a review of current campaigns and local issues. There will be reports from the national FoE Pesticides and Acid Rain workshops, and we will discuss the new Kennet Valley plan. All this and homebrew too! 27 Instow Rd., Earley. (No. 12 or 20 Bus to Beech Lane) Tel. 868260 Policy Committee (Rates) 5.30pm Civic Offices. Talk - 'Five Years of Waterways Improvements' given by D'Arcy Lee, secretary of Reading Waterways Trust organised by Reading Civic Society; Kennet Room, Civic Offices, Civic Centre, Reading 8.00pm. T 26 Renoir and the Earthly Paradise - Public lecture by Dr. John House (Courtauld Institute) 5pm in G10 Palmer Building, Whiteknights. Admission free. Stress and Distress D.M. Warburton, Professor of Psychology. 8pm. G10 Palmer. Building, Whiteknights. T 28 Talk - 'Rail Shape-Bristol Fashion', given by T. Nicholls, organised by Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. St. Marys Centre, Chain St., Reading. 7.30pm. Reading Tree Club Guided tour of the Bate Collection of Historical Musical Instruments in the Faculty of Music, St. Aldates Oxford. For details please contact Catherine Oliver, Tel. Rdg 874347 Red Rag Copy Deadline - Editorial Meeting F 1 Red Rag Typing - Headlines etc. S 2 Woodley Peace Group - Public meeting - Coronation Hall Headley Rd. Woodley 8.00pm. Illustrated talk - Causes of Poverty in the 3rd World - David Evans ex-director of Save The Children and with War on Want. Red Rag Paste Up - Printing Talking about Music - Anthony Hopkins, presented by Pangbourne Concert Club in the Drake Hall of Pangbourne College at 7.30pm. Booking and enquiries, tel. Pangbourne 3928 or 3277. Reading Tree Club Day Meeting on The Woods of Musical Instruments jointly sponsored with Reading University Extra-Mural Dept. London Road Site, Reading Univ. Booking £3.85 at the Extra-Mural Dept. or by post. Seminar with Swami Shivapremananda, a balanced programme of Hatha Exercises, breathing techniques(pranayama), philosophy and meditation, organised by British Wheel of Yoga, Southlands School, Northumbland Ave, Reading. 10.00am-4.00pm. Tickets non-members of BWY £3.00, (members £2.50) Contact Paul Goriup, 12 Monkley Court, Piggots Rd., Caversham, Reading. Rdg 471732. Find Out About Lipreading - An aid to communication for those with an acquired hearing loss. One Day School at Wilson Centre, Wilson Rd. , Reading. Tel. 55575. No Fee. S 3 Red Rag - Folding and Distribution Vegan - Chat and Pack - pack vegan + vegetarian leaflets for local Health Food stores - meet 2.45pm at 1, Orrin Close, Tilehurst, Reading tel. 418505 for details. Cyclists Touring Club - Ride to Lanbourn Downs (55m) Ride from Caversham Bridge 9.15am. M 4 'Acid Rain' One-day conference. Expert speakers. Council Chamber, Shire Hall, Shinfield Park, 11.00am-3.30pm. Organised by National Council of Women. Tickets £3.00 from 113 Altwood Road, Maidenhead. W 6 National Association For Primary Education - The Berkshire Branch invites you to hear James Hemming on 'Releasing Children's Potential' at the Annual General Meeting of the Branch. The Council Chamber, Shire Hall, Shinfield Park, Reading at 7.30pm. Parents, governors, teachers - all welcome. Please tel. Wokingham 794046 if you wish to attend. Horse Drawn Vehicles and Accoutrements Sale, Messrs Thimbleby and Shorland. Reading cattle Market (Don't they sell animals to be eaten??) Great Knolly St., Reading 10.00pm. More Belated Events! Sat 23rd Feb. Jumble sale - 2pm AUEW Hall, 121 Oxford Rd. 10p Adm. All proceeds to the miners. Tues 26th Feb. Miners benefit - Goat Brothers + support at the Paradise Club, London St. 8 til late. Adm £2 waged, £1 unwaged. Wed 27th Feb. Miners public meeting - Old Town Hall, 7.30 pm. A representative from Kent and Nottingham NUM, open to all, all welcome. A collection will be made. See leaflet in this issue. Wed 20th Feb. British Soviet Friendship Soc. Public meeting. Cynthia Roberts speaking on "Peace". At the AU£W Hall, 121 Oxford Rd. at 7.30pm - Free to all. - - - WOMENS SELF-EXPRESSION PROJECT Starting in March Free to Women No Experience Necessary A Series of Half-day Workshops on Saturday Mornings Led by Different Specialists Will Include an OVA Voice Workshop Dance Mime Acting Skills Assertiveness Yoga Creche Facilities Most Workshops will be at the Womens Centre For more information contact Penny - 662646 or Reading Centre for the Unemployed - 596639 - - - WOMENS CENTRE Reading Women's Centre has been based in the Old Shire Hall, Abbey St, since September 1981. But due to Council Plans for redeveloping the building, we have to move out in June of this year. We currently provide a free pregnancy testing service, childcare facilities, a venue for educational courses, and space for groups such as self-help therapy and creative writing groups to meet. In the future, we would like to be able to open the Centre more often in the day time for women to drop in for a coffee and company, and provide an up-to-date source of information, a snack bar, a counselling service (a bathroom, a sauna, who knows...) At a meeting held at the Woman's Centre on Februarys, we launched a campaign to get a new building. If any women would like to help in our campaign in any way they can, or if anyone knows of a suitable building we could use (must be secure, central, self-contained), please contact Sue Berry (125 Hemdean Road, Caversham, tel 473296). Or come to a meeting at the Women's Centre on Tuesday February 19 between 6.3O and 7.30. We need your support! - - - REVIEWS Wombats Weekly Hi fans Wally here [again!], reporting from the Old Town Hall Reading, the line-up Here and Now headlining Chocolate Teapot in support and non-starters this week the ant hill mob. With no 2nd support act Chocolate Teapot slipped into gear and away we went. This band are great favourites with the kids from St Annes opportunity centre who had turned out in masse to watch dance cheer and generally have a good time, playing well C.T. had warmed the town hall up to about the steamy level by the end of their extended set. I forgot the interval act in the prelude, between the music we had a treat, a genuine Riff Raff poet by the name of Dennis Gould keeping us entertained with ditties and satire to laugh and think is a loverly way to spend an interval in a music show. Onwards to the reason why so many people turned out, not the weather not the free festival not the technicolour backdrop but a band, fanfare please Toot Toot people of Reading are pleased to announce (talk about heros) Here and Now. With a new mini l.p. out soon and legal hassles you wouldn't believe the lads hit the stage shiver up the spine time as I recall how well they played very well in fact no super new songs but fine renditions of the ones they know. A most enjoyable evening rounded off by home arshole who felt an incredible need to smash some of the windows in the mens loos poor chap. I have a sneeky feeling the festival fund made home pennies, so keep it up and come along to the next one and hee what happens to U. Love and hugs Wally de Wombat - - - SMALL ADS Gas Cooker in good condition; can deliver if necessary; proceeds for Red Rag; contact Paul - 861582. Sharing: West Reading House - 2 rooms available. Largish and small. Gas central heating. Comfortable. Landlord requires employer's refs. Ring 596580 evenings and weekends. Unique, collectable - hand-painted cushion covers. Thursdays at WI market, St Mary Butts. Orders taken. For sale: Free / cheap / donation to Red Rag - Eko 12-string guitar (needs strings) - Slide guitar (no strings or pick-up) - Stereo cassette deck - 2x 10'' speaker cabinets (home-made), 50W? very solid - Sheltone reed organ and stand - Autoharp - Approx 200 3" tape spools with tape - Approx 12 5" tape spools (empty) Ring Laurence on Goring 873643 Volunteer Female volunteer urgently needed to assist with a group of young women aged 16-21, some with young children. The session is proposed for Wednesdays 11.30 - 2.00 near the town centre. Ability to relate with others, commitment and enthusiasm more important than experience. For further details contact: Anita Mountain, Reading Detached Work Unit, 2/4 Sackville Street, Reading. Tel. 595141 (if not available please leave a message on answer phone and I will get back to you). - - - TALKBACK The Real Time video collective was formed in May 1984 to fill a gap existing in Reading for community video work. It aims to help groups in the community gain access to video equipment, to run workshops and projects, to encourage exhibition of tapes and improve contact between groups involved with video. With these ideas in mind and to aid further discussion on video in the area we have produced a prototype newsletter called Talkback. In the first issue there's an introduction to access and distribution, some thoughts on young people and video, and a questionnaire from which we intend to produce a directory of equipment, tapes and video facilities in Reading. If you'd like a copy, it's available from Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St or by phoning 595605. The first issue is free; subsequent ones may have to be charged for. If you'd like to help with the next issue (deadline May l) or have any comments, articles or questions, please write to us c/o Box 625 Acorn Bookshop 17 Chatham Street Reading Clive and Jackie - - - MINERS SUPPORT COMMITTEE Sponsored by Reading Trades Union Council Public Meeting Support The Miners Wed. 27th Feb Small Town Hall Speakers: Malcolm Pitt President Kent NUM Paul Whetton Striking Notts. Miner - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1985/1985-02-17.txt#4 $