Page 28 - link magazine

NEWS & VIEWS
28

LOCAL HER

If there were awards for commit- arthritis which has caused two hip
ment to community life in West replacements and a third opera-
Swindon Roy Williams would tion due, Roy is modest about his
come top of the list. efforts. "I haven't thought about
In 1980 he started the Fresh- why I do it, perhaps I'm mad
brook Friendship Club for pen- really. But I suppose it's nice to
sioners and then moved on to achieve something, all these
start the Freshbrook Sunday people turning up each week for
Day Care Centre four years ago. a meal they probably would not
With a regular band of four have otherwise. As a disabled
helpers Roy provides lunch for person living alone and not
between 60 and 80 pensioners cooking for myself, I knew what
and the disabled, including 15 it was like once." Roy Williams, second from right, and the Freshbrook Sunday Care
deliveries to those who are Care centre helper Sue Leigh- Centre Team.
housebound. The care centre field described the club as having
meets every Sunday throughout two aims. "It ensures that the LOOKING AT 'THE VISION' WITH
the year in the Willows Hall at pensioners and disabled who A WEST SWINDON CONNECTION
Freshbrook School. come get a good cooked meal at
To get the lunch organised Roy least once in the week, and we 'A spectre is haunting Europe: down the top films, the best
does most of the work before the provide a happy social atmos- the spectre of unbridled satellite American soap operas, the most
popular sitcoms, the best sport
day. On the Saturday before phere where members can get television.'
Christmas he cooked 31 lbs of together. If it wasn't for Roy's Next week BBC 2 screens a and game shows, they are able to
beef and 20 lbs of turkey in his energy and commitment, the haunting television drama called capture the hearts and minds of
ordinary domestic sized cooker club would not exist." 'The Vision' which depicts the all who watch. And of course, in
in his flat. On Sunday morning Cooking good food is only one future when unregulated direct between the programmes that
he was up at 6 a.m. and had of Roy William's interests. For satellite broadcasting falls into everybody wants to watch, the
peeled a 55 lb. bag of potatoes over five years he has been powerful and unscrupulous hands. viewers are treated to a right-wing
Earlier this year the BBC film message which seeks to distort
before his helpers arrived to involved in the West Swindon
complete the preparations. They Family Project Advice Centre. crew and stars Dirk Bogarde and their view of the world, discredit
Lee Remick set up shop at West opponents and manipulate demo-
all worked together to serve a There, he has provided welfare Swindon's Windmill Hill Business cratic processes.
beautifully cooked lunch to 88 benefit advice to a huge number
people which was followed by of people in need of confidential Park. To convince those in the The controllers of 'The People
entertainment into the afternoon. and expert information on all production and others passing Channel' realise that Europeans
by, an enormous sign board was might not take a fancy to the
With prudent buying, raffles aspects of the complex benefit
and other fundraising efforts by a system. erected at the entrance announc- all-Americn bible thumping
ing the home of 'The People righteousness, so they emplyoe a
support committee the care centre Most people involved in volun- Channel', and silver satellite top TV personality played by
was able to provide the meal to tary work don't expect to find signal receiving dishes were to be Dirk Bogarde to give a cosy,
members at a cost of l.00. The themselves in the limelight. How- seen dotted around the hi-tech familiar face to their sinister
club is so profitable that it was ever, it is important to recognise office blocks.
able to take its members on four the enormous amount of volun- project. And to guarantee their
trips to the coast and a number of tary energy that goes into devel- In a recent review in the viewing figures, the channel dis-
nights out earlier in the year - oping a community. Lots of Observer magazine 'M', the tribute satellites free of any
without any charge. people must feel indebted to Roy setting for 'The Vision' was charge which are, naturally, tuned
described 'as both bizarre and exclusively to their satellite.
Roy, who is 65, has no catering Williams and his care centre
experience except that which he team for providing a bright light unreal. On the fringes of a Mass scale satellite television
Swindon Industrial Estate, a is just a few years away by all
has gained over the last few and enjoyment in their lives. windmill perched on a hillock is accounts. With more and more
years. Despite being afflicted by
reflected in a huge sheet of black of the media becoming concen-
mirrors, the wall of a sinister- trated in fewer and fewer hands
A BUM DEAL looking office block.' and the unregulated, freedom of
'The People Channel' is con- the skies beconing, the deceptive
trolled by American evangelical, power of television may see 'The
DEVISED AND PERFORMED BY fundamentalist Christians who Vision' become a reality some
GREENDOWN YOUTH THEATRE see satellite broadcasting as their years from now.
way of converting Europe to their • 'The Vision' will be shown on
WED. 27th, THURS. 28th, FRI. 29th JANUARY way of thinking. By beaming BBC 2 on 10th January.
7.30 p.m. IN THE DRAMA STUDIO,
GREENDOWN COMMUNITY SCHOOL
ADMISSION: £1.00, Concessions 50p
'A Bum Deal' takes us into a strange world where women are
in charge - at home and at work; in the world of business and
the shadowy underworld. We follow the investigation of
'Bogart' into this 'upside down' society, where we see its
effects through a day in the life of one family. As the characters
'scratch beneath the surface' a sinister truth is discovered:
men can never succeed because everything is controlled by
all-powerful female mafia. Fortunately there is a ray of hope
represented by the 'Free Spirits', a kind of exclusively female
Hells Angels; but to find out what they do you must see 'A
Bum Deal'. Suitable for 11 years upwards.