This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 years ago

It was a crime that sent shockwaves across the country.

Thusha Kamaleswaran, a little girl with dreams of becoming a dancer, was gunned down and paralysed for life as she played in a Stockwell shop.

The mindless thugs who shot the five-year-old through the door of her uncle’s shop in a bungled gangland assassination have been convicted.

Following the verdict, Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey echoed the thoughts of the nation.

She said: “There is something wrong about the criminal justice system that allows people on serious charges to get bail and then continue to destroy lives. It is time for people’s first offences to be treated much more seriously.

“Many of these gang members are laughing at the police and the law.”

Teachers have paid tribute to a teenage pupil who was killed in a road collision.

Olatunji Adeyanju was knocked off his bike in Deptford Church Street, at the junction of Bronze Street, at around 5pm last Friday.

Tributes to the 17-year-old have been paid by his headteacher at Addey & Stanhope School in New Cross Road, and from Second Wave Youth Arts in Creek Road, Deptford.

The scheme to pedestrianise a public square in the heart of an affluent neighbourhood has been thrown into fresh turmoil.

Daniel Moylan, Transport for London (TfL) deputy chairman, has said Labour-run Lambeth council’s plan to pedestrianise the Clapham Old Town “Triangle” is not “wholly convincing”.

The town hall wants to move two bus from the square to surrounding streets and only allow buses to park up in four “dead stops”, where they would not be able to pick up passengers.

20 years ago

More than 150 pensioners were joined by the Mayor of Southwark to hold the borough’s first party to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

The party was held at the Britain At War Experience in Tooley Street, London Bridge.

Councillor Hilary Wines joined the group for an after-hours tour of the museum before they all sat down for a hearty meal of pie and mash.

The meal was followed by an energetic knees-up led by a Pearly King and Queen.

The then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, announced plans to release thousands of prisoners fitted with electronic tags in a bid to cut the prison population.

Prisoners who were not violent, gang members or drug dealers would be eligible for release with strict restrictions, using the home detention curfew scheme.

At the time, Brixton prison in Jebb Avenue housed 738 prisoners but a crackdown on street crime was expected to lead to a rise in inmates.

A football pundit and former England footballer helped to open a new swimming pool in Sydenham.

Sport England chairman Trevor Brooking visited the new leisure centre in Kangley Bridge Road to officially open the 14m training pool for youngsters.

The maximum depth of the pool was 3ft, meaning young children would be able to learn to swim.

The existing 25m pool was also given a makeover as part of the £3.7million project, paid for by Lewisham council and Sport England.

30 years ago

Princess Diana gave poor families a boost when she visited a centre set up to lend them a helping hand.

A fanfare and flowers greeted the princess when she arrived at the Barnardo’s-run St Luke’s preschool centre in Gosterwood Street, Deptford, which was set up to help struggling families caught in the poverty trap.

She was given a guided tour of the facility, chatted with staff and saw plans for a new building.

Ambitious plans to open crèches at railway stations were announced by Network SouthEast.

The company planned to open 10 crèches for staff and commuters’ children.

The plans for the crèches – five of which were earmarked for stations south of the river – would be designed to look after around 50 youngsters each.

Rail bosses hoped the crèches would be part-funded by private businesses.

Disabled groups across South London launched a campaign to fight plans for swingeing cuts to the number of reduced-rate taxis they would be offered.

More than 2,000 disability groups descended on Downing Street to demand action over the reduced number of taxis allowed to take part in the Taxicard scheme.

At the time, the cards allowed severely disabled people to pay just £1.50 for a £9 cab fare to take them from their homes to shops and appointments, with borough councils picking up the rest of the tab.

The councils also cut the number of trips that the disabled could make in a year before the cards ran out.

Compiled by charlie@slpmedia.co.uk

 

Picture: Princess Diana visited a care centre in Deptford this week, thirty years ago.