This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 years ago

Behind closed doors, in a secret location, artists are working on a huge installation that will be unveiled tomorrow.

Giant 8ft high, 4ft wide boards are being used to spell out a positive message and will be set up in Brixton town centre, with the grand unveiling taking place at noon.

The same type of wood used to board up shops damaged during the riots in early August is being used for the piece.

The temporary installation is part of an effort organised by residents to boost the area in the wake of the London riots.

Businesses in Brixton were targeted on Monday, August 8, with Currys, JD Sports and T-Mobile among those looted.

Binki Taylor, of Mayall Road, Brixton, said: “I got in touch with the council the day after it all began and said I felt so unhappy about what was happening.

“It felt eerie, the streets were empty and everywhere was boarded up. It was awful, like the joy had gone.

“Brixton is an amazing place. It’s vibrant and friendly and with so much going on.

“It felt terribly sad that the Brixton that people were seeing on the news looked so different.”

Taking bendy buses off two routes and replacing them with single and double-decker vehicles will reduce capacity, it has been claimed.

But Transport for London (TfL) has disputed the calculations, saying the number of spaces on buses on one route have gone up and will be monitored on the second.

London Mayor Boris Johnson is overseeing the axing of all the bendy bus services in London by the end of the year.

Lib Dem London Assembly transport spokeswoman Caroline Pidgeon said she had carried out detailed research on the issue.

She looked at the impact on the 436 from Lewisham and the 453 from Deptford, which is being changed over from November 19.

She said the 436 route would have 180 places per hour less on weekday peak time mornings and 145 fewer on weekday peak time evenings.

Her research also found capacity on the 453 route would lose 280 places per hour on a Saturday.

A graphic designer who ran an online international drugs operation has been spared jail.

Devout Muslim Shahid Shaikh, 37, was caught with 43,000 pills, including valium, testosterone and anti-anxiety tablets, following a police raid on his house in Chelsham Road, Clapham, on December 3, 2009.

Shaikh showed officers to an upstairs bedroom which had been used as a distribution centre for clients across the world.

Police seized eight different kinds of drugs and, after testing, they were all found to be genuine, prescription medication.

Among the boxes and packaging were 36 prepared envelopes ready to be posted to addresses around the world, containing 30 to 120 pills each.

Judge Peter Beaumont sentenced Shaikh to a 12-month jail term, suspended for 18 months, and 250 hours of unpaid work, when he appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday.

20 years ago

A survey of shame slamming the quality of life in South London received a more than frosty reception from council leaders.

Lambeth’s Tom Franklin and Stephanie Elsy from Southwark went on the attack after a league table showed the boroughs were the seventh and 14th worst places to live in Britain respectively.

The survey by consumer analysts Experian was based on eight quality of life categories, including fear of crime and school performance.

Councillor Elsy said: “What utter rubbish. Southwark is a brilliant place to live.

“Crime is falling and schools are performing better.” Cllr Franklin said: “This report is an absolute cheek, written by people who don’t know Lambeth.”

A woman believed to be one of South London’s oldest residents celebrated her 108th birthday at her Catford nursing home.

Lucienne Cull toasted her incredible milestone at Bowood Nursing Home surrounded by cards, including yet another from the Queen.

She was only six years younger than the oldest person in the world, and had lived in three different countries.

Born in 1893 in Boulogne, France, Mrs Cull moved to England in the first decade of the 20th century.

Soon after the First World War she married East Dulwich painter William Cull and settled in South London.

A 10-YEAR plan was launched to combat Southwark’s teen pregnancy rate, which was the highest in the country.

The council had been told by the government to slash the number of expectant under-18 mums by 60 per cent over the next decade.

Sex and relationship education, sexual health services and quality of life for teenage parents were being targeted in a project that was to get £600,000 from the government.

More than 300 girls aged under 18 were getting pregnant in Southwark every year.

The conception rate for 13- to 15-year-olds was 15 for every thousand conceptions.

30 years ago

Steve Coppell acted swiftly to replace Ian Wright with a £1.8million swoop for Sunderland’s goal ace Marco Gabbiadini.

The Crystal Palace boss had been linked with Sheffield United’s Brian Deane and Southampton’s Alan Shearer.

But it was the 23-year-old Gabbiadini that Coppell believed was the right man to fill the vacuum left by the departure of Wright to Arsenal.

Coppell was disappointed to have lost Wright the week before in a £2.5million deal, but saw Gabbiadini as a man to boost his side’s firepower.

Prime Minister John Major returned to Brixton, above, and pledged his commitment to free fellow South Londoner Terry Waite from captivity in the Middle East.

He said: “I can only say that every effort to get him free will be unrelenting.”

His comments came during a visit to the Remploy factory in Effra Road where 123 severely disabled people were employed making kettles, fans, inhalers and strip lighting.

Mr Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s special envoy, who lived in Blackheath, was kidnapped in January, 1987.

As soon as the PM jumped out of his chauffeur-driven Jaguar, he announced: “It’s always good to be back in Brixton.”

A 100-year-old boxing club pulled out of a borough’s youth service following a cut in its funding.

The move by Lynn Athletic Club in Wells Way, Camberwell, followed a decision by Southwark council to relegate the club’s status to a non-priority group.

The move resulted in a funding cut for trainers’ fees from 10 hours a week to a possible one-and-a-half hours.

Honorary secretary Ken Collins said the club would have to turn away potential new members, which would include boys referred to the club by the police and social services.

A council spokeswoman said: “We want to spread the money around by allocating a smaller number of hours to a wider range of activities.”

Compiled by alexandra@slpmedia.co.uk