This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 years ago

Herne Hill Harriers teenager Katie Snowden won a gold medal in the women’s 800m at the Commonwealth Youth Games.

Snowden, 17, took the gold in the Isle of Man with a time of 2mins 11.2secs despite windy conditions.

She was pipped on the line by a Ugandan athlete by a hundreth of a second.

But her rival was adjudged to have impeded her and was disqualified after an appeal by the England team manager.

The gold medal was a fitting reward for the talented teenager, who is coached by James McDonald.

She bounced back in the race after overcoming illness in the days leading up to the games.

A Town hall is to write off a debt of almost £70,000 of taxpayers’ money which it paid in error to a charity which no longer operates.

Labour-run Southwark will write off the £69,721 it paid to the Federation of Black and Asian Drug and Alcohol Workers in 2004, council report has revealed.

The report states council bean counters did not realise payments had been made in error to the charity until April 2005.

It reveals Southwark’s attempts to recover the debt were hampered when the charity – which had not filed accounts since 2002 – failed to respond to letters and invitations to meetings.

Southwark’s cabinet member for health and adult social care, Councillor Dora Dixon-Fyle, said: “The debt arose in error in 2004.

“Since then, significant effort has gone into investigating the matter and recovering the monies.

“Unfortunately, this and other methods have proven unsuccessful and indeed the organisation, a charity, has long since stopped operating.

20 years ago

South London pride was on the line ahead of a clash between Crystal Palace and Millwall at Selhurst Park.

The game between the Division One sides was to be the first time the two teams had met in a competitive fixture since 1996.

Millwall boss Mark McGhee was a veteran of many fervent Celtic v Rangers clashes, while Palace manager Steve Bruce had competed in passionate Manchester derbies.

Bruce said: “There’s one thing for sure, there’s nothing like a local derby game and from what I’ve been told Palace v Millwall is no different.”

A heroic chef evacuated from his office, when disaster struck in New York, turned around and ran up 27 floors – to turn off his ovens.

As thousands panicked among the devastation, Robert Atkins, 31, formerly of Abbeville Road, Clapham, fought to keep calm.

Worried about leaving the lit ovens, he persuaded a security guard to allow him back into the Citibank building, next to the World Trade Center.

But after completing his mission he watched in horror as the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed.

A group of forgotten children was being taught at a makeshift school because secondary places couldn’t be found for them at a school in Lambeth.

About 90 Year 7 pupils, aged 11 to 12, were being taught at the former Mortimer special needs school in Dingley Lane, Streatham.

The school was originally closed under a shake-up of special-needs education in Lambeth.

But then it was renamed The Woodfield Centre and opened to pupils who had nowhere else to go.

30 years ago

The battle of the sexes was about to be given a new arena with women’s wrestling making a return to South London.

Grapple fans were to be treated to a clash between 20-stone Klondyke Kate and eight-stone Julie Starr at Lewisham Theatre in Rushey Green, Catford.

The two contestants were preparing to demonstrate their body slams and elbow smashes after a 50-year ban on women’s wrestling in South London was lifted.

A spokesman for Lewisham council, which owned the venue, said the bout was a one-off and the authority was waiting to see what the public reaction would be like.

An open gate leading to lethal railway lines heightened fears over the dangers facing children tempted to play on the tracks.

The gate in Aubyn Hill, West Norwood, was spotted by a resident hanging open just weeks after a seven-year-old boy was killed on the railway line.

The gate led to an overgrown embankment and the tunnel under Gipsy Road – and was close to two primary schools.

A British Rail spokeswoman said the gate had been unlocked to give access to maintenance work teams and may have been mistakenly left open.

Motorist Sanjay Patel didn’t spare any expense when it came to having the biggest and loudest car stereo.

Sanjay, 21, from Forest Hill, came top in a national competition the previous month at Wembley Stadium to find the loudest car stereo.

His Volkswagen GTi had a £7,000 sound system that could generate music at a car-shaking 140 decibels.

Deptford-based Advance Vehicle Alarms, which was among the suppliers of the car’s sound equipment, said demand for super-loud stereos was rising.

Compiled by alexandra@slpmedia.co.uk

Pic: Katie Snowden won a gold medal in the women’s 800m at the Commonwealth Youth Games ten years ago