13th May and 27th May, 11am-6pm
Free school: Come along and hear about something you've never thought about, try out something you never imagined, or improve your life with a new skill or knowledge. A wide range of speakers and facilitators have been invited to share their thoughts, knowledge and skills they are passionate about. Topics include health, local history, physics theories, local campaigns, bike and computer maintenance, energy crisis, education, pregnancy,....
Drinks, snacks and cakes will be available.

FULL PROGRAMME - printed programmes are now also available in the Cowley Club.
Any changes to the prgramme will be announced here first!

SAT 13TH MAY
11-12am: Workshop—Spoken Word—Demonstration and participatory workshop

11-12.30am: Workshop—Autonomous Health—This is a basic intro to Do-It-Yourself health, drawing from the politics of the feminist health movement. We want to look at how we can create more autonomy in our lives and less dependency on doctors and pharmaceutical companies. Men and Women welcome.

12am-1pm: Talk—Civil Liberties—Lessons from Smash Edo – Smash Edo have been campaigning against local arms manufacturers EDO for two years. They have recently won a groundbreaking victory against injunctions imposed under the Protection from Harassment Act, part of a wider attack on the right to protest. Smash Edo have not negotiated with the authorities and persisted, and this talk will reflect on how this has worked, what they have learnt, and what could happen next.

12.30am-1pm: Participatory Workshop—How to Make a Raw Nettle Salad—Do you believe you can eat raw nettles in a tasty salad without getting stung? Enjoy this nutritious and abundant wild vegetable as nature intended.

1-2pm: Talk—How to Set Up a Housing Co-operative—Co-operatives offer us a chance to take escape landlords and take back control over our housing. Legalities and practicalities will be covered, step by step, with handouts.

2-3pm: Talk with discussion—Squatting—Find out what squatting is, who does it and how and why, and the pleasures and problems of making your home in an empty house.

2-3pm: Talk—Quarks and Quasars, Gluons and Gravity—A Whirlwind Tour of Physics in the early 21st Century—We live in an 11 dimensional universe. An apple falls to the ground because it follows a straight line through curved space time. Some of the fuzz on your TV is the echo from the Big Bang. Welcome to the strange view of the universe held by modern physicists. This talk uses the story of gravity to take you from the familiar to the near fantastical, teaching you things you should know, things you’ll be amazed to know and things you just may not believe.

3-3.30pm: Talk—The South Downs Chalk Grassland - a Tropical Rainforest in Miniature—A comparison of 2 ecologically rich habitats and Man's role in the creation of one and the destruction of the other. A beginners guide to simple ecological principles like soil structure, nutrient cycling and inter-species competition and why these things matter .

3-4pm: Talk/Discussion—Introduction to Queer Theory—a slightly academic but still politically relevant look at Queer Theory

(TIME CHANGE!) 4-5pm: Participatory Workshop—DIY House Maintenance—An introduction to basic DIY in the house – how to change a plug, how to change a fuse, and what should be in a basic toolkit.

4-5pm: Talk and discussion—Why Fuel is Becoming so Expensive – An Introduction to Peak Oil—With petrol prices skyrocketing and gas and electricity bills higher than ever, this talk looks at the real reasons for the looming energy crisis. Most experts believe that oil production will ‘peak’ during the next 10 years having an unprecedented impact on the global economy and bringing an end to life as we know it. The talk will be followed by a discussion debating the current situation and the implications for us all in the 21st century. (Also see ‘The End of Suburbia’ being shown during the Film Festival earlier in this week).

5-6.30pm: Workshop—Navigation—An introduction to navigation for beginners. Learn some basic skills to go walking in the mountains.

5-7pm: Participatory Workshop—Screenprinting—Come and find out how screenprinting works using photo-emulsion paint in a dark room to burn an image onto the screen. Please book for this workshop as spaces are limited by emailing  cowleyclub@yahoo.co.uk

SAT 27TH MAY
11am-1pm: Workshop—What Does an Informed Choice in Childbirth Really Mean?— Saying no to doctors, what midwifery is and more. Scenarios, group work and discussion.

11-12.30am: Presentation and Discussion—Desk Top Publishing and Print Design—Designing and producing posters, magazines, newspapers, flyers, books etc. With brief introduction to some of the software you can use to do this – Quark Xpress, Photoshop etc.

12.30-1.30pm: Talk—Subversive Sussex – Stories of rebellion, squatting, strikes, sabotage, smuggling... Including the butcher who tried to cleave the cabinet; the chimney sweep who fought for Brighton’s poor.

1-1.30pm: Workshop—Language Skill Swap—An informal but facilitated skill share of foreign languages. Let’s teach each other how to greet someone in as many languages as possible, or how to pronounce things correctly—so come along too if you are a native speaker of a foreign language!

1.30-3pm: Presentation and workshop—Popular Education: Learning for action—How can you teach people about something you care about in a way that encourages them to want to do something about it? Brief presentation on how popular education has been key to building social movements around the world, then skill sharing activities around issues of the global economy, climate change and local action planning.

2-3pm: Workshop—Mental Health Awareness—This workshop is intended to give people a better basic understanding of practical issues involved in mental health, how to spot signs of deteriorating mental health, and how to cope with mental illness. There will be a quick talk followed by Q&A. Topics covered will include; the different ways in which mental illness can occur, effects of medication, provision of services and how to access them, how the Mental Health Act is used, its implications and possible effects of any proposed changes.

3-4pm: Talk and discussion—A Brief History of the Human Subject—From Descartes' discovery, 'I think, therefore I am', to Foucault's claim that the individual will disappear like footprints in the sand, the question of the human subject has held an enduring fascination for Western thinkers. This whistle-stop tour of our favourite attempts to deal with this problem has an unashamed bias towards their importance for the possibility of political action.

3-4pm: Workshop—Free Alternatives to Windows for your Computer—Most computers currently use Microsoft Windows, but there are free, community developed alternatives that are just as useful. Come and find out about Linux and free software, and pick up a free copy to take home with you...

4-5pm: Presentation—How to Stop Your Computer Breaking—Worried about viruses, Trojans, spyware? If you run Windows on your computer you are potentially exposed to thousands of destructive malicious programs which can slow your computer down, hijacks your web browser, steal your passwords, report on your activities, wipe your hard drive, or just stop your computer from working. This presentation teaches Windows users the basics to protect yourself from the barrage of nasty software on the internet and how to tune your computer to make it work more efficiently and do what your want it to do. CDs of free software and handouts will also be made available.

4-5pm: Q&A—Repression and Resistance in British Prisons—A questions and answers session with anti-prison campaigners. Why oppose the prison system? What is prison life like? How does privatisation effect prisons? What is practical solidarity?

5-6pm: Practical workshop—Bike Maintenance—An introduction to some basic repairs for your bike. Learn how to fix a puncture, adjust your brakes and gears correctly, and more if time allows... Unfortunately, space restrictions mean you can’t bring your own bike!

5-6pm: Talk and Q&A—Foraging and Winemaking—Make your own mead, wine and cider from things that grow for free locally in the wild! Find out how.