It was always a work in progress. There was always stuff. People were always having ideas and doing it. Suddenly, it was very much a place where, yes, you know, my friend suggested to put a cafe in? Yes, do it. The library, the recording studio, you know, I mean, all those things came after people with ideas. And not only the ideas, but the wherewithal to go and do it, which was one of the things that I always thought was good about it was, look, you can do it, but you’ve got to not only have the idea you’ve got to get your hands dirty as well … we were living it. Dave Gropper I was developing my ideas and stuff and everything that I was involved with the 1 in 12, that helped to develop my skills. I went on to be involved in stuff like Queerruption, which was an international queer gathering. And a lot of that, the stuff that I’d learned at the 1 in 12, transferred nicely over to that … the 1 in 12 was my school. Deek Good I guess I hadn’t really made a connection between punk and any kind of intellectual endeavours necessarily at that age, either … I didn’t have any idea that it was associated with intellectual pursuits like reading, necessarily. But they got a library, I suppose – mad - and a cricket team! It was dead Interesting. Sam Barrett But I think what the 1 in 12 club gave is almost this invite to sit down and talk about (anarchism) and understand it. There was more of an academic understanding of what anarchy is … and how you can actually incorporate it into your life. Gordon Mackintosh Ah, right, I’m an anarcho-syndicalist. And that was because of the club, and particularly, you know, to do with people like Tony Grogan, who was really, really good at explaining things … So, you know, the club to me was a kind of like a political school, in a way, I guess … it’s where I owned all my politics. Emma Marshall I became, actually, a cellar manager for years and years and years based on doing all the pipes and cleaning the lines at the club and learning all that … It was the first time in my life that I’d experienced that. That actually you could do your own thing, and as long as within reason, and obviously you’re not hurting anyone, then it was acceptable, you know? It was just like, “Well, if you want to do that, crack on.” Heather Allan
I mean, Protag taught me how to replace a piece of glass in a window, so he was always really, really involved in the club. He was in the library collective, and I started going to the library collective, and then I’d start going to the club more and more, and I wanted to work in libraries. So I met some other radical librarians through the library collective, which was amazing, like, they helped me prepare for applying for jobs, and kind of play that game of getting a job, which is hard if you just don’t think like the mainstream. And then that helped me get a job in libraries. Fanny Accordian I think the really good thing about the 1 in 12 Club was that at that stage, it really allowed us to grow up in all senses of the word, because we were able to sort of learn how to play and learn how to be musicians while doing gigs, and we never felt unwelcome in that space. Jenny Harris I am a firm believer in, like, meeting people where they’re at and, you know, the different expressions that political radicalism can take. But I also think it’s probably good sometimes to, like, be someone who can hand that kid who’s 15 or whatever a book of theory that’ll help give them some way of expressing the things that they’re feeling. And I think the 1 in 12 does that. I think we need places like that. And it’s a tricky one, because it’s not about telling people to think they’re wrong or right in certain ways, but it’s like, allowing ourselves to give collective shape to a politics that a lot of people feel or have a sense of as well. And also being able to learn from them and learn from each other, and not assume that the thing in the pamphlet is right. Joel White I always fancied myself as being able to do it on my own terms … and the 1 in 12 Club was exactly that. It was the place that nobody else had any pre-judgements on what good drama should be … We did an awful lot for the Theatre in the Mill that year because our play was sold out, and most of their plays weren’t, but they didn’t want us back because, you know, we were a little bit unruly. And so, anyway, we had to try and fit into an existing, real theatre world. And if I’d, you know, taken my proposal as me to that theatre world it would have been just poo-poo’d. But we have the strength of the 1 in 12 club behind us. Noel Batstone
PART THREE: A PLACE OF CREATIVITY
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