OK, you probably think I’m going to ask you if you saw the Beatles in the Cavern Club, the night they first had Ringo on the drums. No, it’s not a Beatles question, though it does arise from a picture I’ve seen in books about the Beatles. You may have seen it: it shows a LONG line of people down the street, waiting to get into the Cavern. On a wall near the door, someone has scrawled the graffiti, “ABER RAG”.
What did ABER RAG mean? It almost looks German.
Well, it might be this, though I expect there’s no way to be sure…
How about Aberystwyth or Aberdeen Rag Weeks? Given the closeness of Liverpool to north Wales, I’d guess Aberystwyth (Aberystwyth College, University of Norht Wales. I did a field trip there in my dim, alcoholic, student past.)
I used to know a girl whose cousin dated George Harrison, do I get any points for that?
No idea what ABER RAG is/was, but Xerxes and Go alien could very well be right.
Go ALien is right, re. University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Aberystwyth rag (i.e. charity) collectors turn up practically everywhere - quite a far travelled lot.
Eek - and the horror of getting up so early!
Obscure, Javaman? hahahaha - thou shouldst know the SDMB better than that! 
http://users.aber.ac.uk/rag994/Home.shtml
(It is a great place and everyone shoudl go there - OK perhaps not everyone).
Just to clarify for non-UK-ers, RAG stands for Raising and Giving; a RAG society raises money for local and national charities. ABER RAG is indeed the RAG for Aberystwyth College.
Really? Got a cite for that? I have never heard that explanation before, and my instinct is to file it with all the others (For Unclean Carnal Knowledge, Ship High In Transit etc) under “B”.
My dictionary lists it under the second sense of “rag”, meaning “(Brit) to play rough practical jokes on”, implying that the rag week meaning comes from this sense, which makes sense to me. It says “origin unknown” for this sense, but I would be very surprised if it came from “Raising And Giving”.