Rag Rag : The Rag Rag Annual Magazine, 1962

University of Manchester Student Union

Rag Rag

<p style='text-align: justify;'><b>Content warning: As an historical item, some content in this magazine contains language and imagery that reflect the prejudices of the era, which are offensive, oppressive and may cause upset. This is not condoned by The University of Manchester, but we are committed to providing access to this material as evidence of the inequalities and attitudes of the time period.</b></p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The 1962 Rag Rag magazine was produced by students to raise money for charitable causes across Manchester. The ‘mushroom-cloud’ cover references ongoing nuclear tensions. It cost a minimum of two shillings, with extra donations encouraged. The main beneficiaries this year were the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, the Booth Hall and Monsall Hospital and the Ancoats Settlement. Other beneficiaries included the Little Sisters of the Poor, Dr Barnardo’s Homes, various aid societies, children’s youth clubs and support societies for the elderly.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Features include ‘Do you remember?’, a series of joke historic documents relating to the Second World War, and a map of the Rag Day procession route on March 6th. There are also jokes referencing longer drinking hours legislation, purges and oppression in the USSR and oil and turmoil in the Middle East. There are cartoons and poems throughout, mostly short sketches and word play. Some cartoons show sexualised female imagery.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>There are advertisements for Hatchett storage tanks, the District Bank, the Co-operative Emporium, British Road Services, Alexian Brothers Nursing Home, Manchester & Salford Trustee Savings Bank, the Invalid Children’s Aid Association, Granada TV, Lewis’s, Lancashire Steel, Total Oil, Nelson Tobacco and others, as well as job advertisements for nurses at Hope Hospital, Ladywell Hospital, the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and Salford Royal Hospital.</p>