LARC UPDATE/NEWSLETTER, APRIL 2002

Stop press: Free yoga sessions every Tuesday evening from 5.30-7pm, starting on April 23rd, for people of all abilities.

If you would like to be sent a LARC introductory leaflet, please email, phone or (preferably) write to us sending an SAE. Contact details below…

This is the first of what we hope are regular updates from LARC, in this case to let everyone know what the latest situation is with the building as it feels like it is taking forever due to frustrating delays with the council etc. However, the latest good news is that we have officially occupied the building (as of 1st March, 2002) - hurrah! Unfortunately we’re still ironing out health and safety issues with the council, and as such can’t use the top floor office space at the moment. (By the way, the groups set to use that space are LARC itself, London Reclaim the Streets and Indymedia’s Offline project, as well as occasional campaigns and needs that’ll arise down the road.)

So we can use the rest of the building for meetings, making banners/artwork etc., and for other events. And there are still many jobs left to do - we need as much help as possible to finish off outstanding building work. We also need lots of people to get involved in the working groups that are now required if we are going to get the building up and running quickly and comparatively smoothly. So if you have any amount of spare time each week, why not put your name down on the work rota or let us know if you're interested in joining one of the following groups:
Fieldgate general admin, gardening, organising events, finance & fundraising etc. These working groups aren’t properly organised yet, so there’s plenty of scope for developing them if anyone is interested.

And talking about getting Fieldgate up and running means finding money on a regular basis. There will be bills to pay plus other costs, as well as maintenance of the building. We may have to fork out substantial amounts for rates each year as well, though we have made an application to the local council for a discretionary rate rebate. (In case you didn’t know, the building is owned by a company limited by guarantee, of which there are about 10 directors. The company is set up is such as way as to prevent those directors from being able to profit from their position; in fact, we’ve set it up in a similar way to a co-op…)

One obvious way to help finance the building is by having regular benefits, which have started to happen already. Donations by those who use LARC are another way of raising some funding and any donations would be very welcome. If anyone has other ideas or suggestions about ways we could generate income to cover our running costs or even reduce them, please, please share them with us.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS AT LARC:

The ‘Festival of Alternatives’ (www.ourmayday.org) comes (partly) to LARC:-
Sunday 28th April 10-4pm/Tuesday 30th 4-7pm: ‘Free Market’, the money-free shop. See separate leaflet for full details, (www.reclaimthestreets.net)
Tuesday 30th, 11-1: website design workshop.
Thursday May 2nd, 12-7pm: health and healing day.
Friday 3rd 11am: prisoner resistance workshop
2-3.30pm: Rising Tide climate justice workshop (www.risingtide.org.uk)
4pm: feminism workshop?
7-9pm: Peoples’ Global Action workshop (www.agp.org)
Sunday 5th 7pm: anti-militarism direct action workshop?
Monday 6th, 3pm: how to start and run a food co-op?
4-5.30pm: food autonomy w’shop ( http://www.resistanceisfertile.com/english/)
6pm: No Borders workshop (www.noborder.org/)
6pm: Films: ‘Incitement to Riot’ & ‘New Kids on the Black Bloc’.
8pm: film and talk from the Simon Jones Memorial Campaign,
(www.simonjones.org.uk/)

May 15th 7.30pm: London Social Centres meeting

May 18th: OPEN(ING) DAY from midday onwards, including tours of the building, tea and cake, probably loads of stuff left over from the Free Market to take away, and lots of surprises we haven’t thought up yet! All welcome, and there’s a working Saturday to prepare for that on May 11th, from midday.

May 25th: women’s day.

Regular events:
Free yoga sessions every Tuesday evening from 5.30-7pm, starting on April 23rd, for people of all abilities.