This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 Years Ago

A deprived part of South London was on the verge of a £1bn regeneration – bringing fresh hope from jobs, new housing and sporting opportunities.

The area around Millwall’s ground, The Den, was set for a huge overhaul under plans unveiled by property developer Mushtaq Malik.

His vision for a neglected corner on the borders of Southwark and Lewisham would transform the area now being marketed as Surrey Canal.

With the £450million Shard just minutes away, it was the next area of South London to be thrust into the spotlight of regeneration.

Among the optimism, the plans were met with caution by some local business owners who feared they may be forced to move away.

Security guards at Tate Modern were left scratching their heads after campaigners managed to leave a 1.5 tonne installation of their own in the Turbine Hall.

The group of art-loving campaigners managed to get their hands on a 54ft long wind turbine blade and carried it into the building in protest at the museum’s sponsorship deal with BP.

The audacious stunt was the biggest in a series of visual protests against BP’s support of the art charity and its world-famous gallery on the South Bank.

A group of more than 100 art fans, who call themselves Liberate Tate, carried the tip of their turbine across Millennium Bridge before joining it up with two other pieces and assembling it in the Hall.

Five teenagers who prowled the streets holding up strangers at gunpoint for kicks were locked up for a total of 82 years for shooting dead a professional dancer.

Daniel Famakinwa, 20, was showered with blows as he waited to catch a bus home from the West Norwood Snooker Club in Norwood Road in the early hours of August 6.

Adrian Rhodes, 18, then delivered a flying kick to the victim moments before Ezekiel Charles-Stirling, 18, blasted him with a 9mm pistol at around 3.45am.

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20 Years Ago

A pet rescue business that helped ferry animals to vets across South London warned that if repeated attacks on its vans did not stop it would have to close down.

An attack on the vans at the Brixton branch of The London Animal Ambulance Service (LAAS) was the latest in a spate of attacks, which company boss Des Smith warned could spell the end of the road for the service.

The attacks had decimated the LAAS fleet of 10 vans, which were used to help people get their pets to the vets.

Health bosses warned that primary care in Lewisham was at “breaking point” because there were not enough GPs to meet demand in the borough.

There were 12 vacancies across the borough and all GP surgeries in the north of the borough had closed off their patient lists to newcomers.

GPs also complained that new patients were being sent to them by Lewisham Primary Care Trust even though they had closed their lists.

Residents living in a historic row of alms-house’s celebrated a trust’s 250th birthday with a party.

Residents of the Anchor Trust’s Almshouses in Bankside, which were built to house the poor of Southwark said their 22 homes were a haven of peace and tranquillity.

Overlooked by Tate Modern, and set in an acre of gardens, the homes were built in 1752 after Charles Hopton, a wealthy merchant, left money for them in his will.

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30 Years Ago

An annual swimming competition had to be held at Tooting Bec Lido amid fears that pollution in the Thames had reached unsafe levels.

Members of the South London Swimming Club had been holding their annual swimming competition in the Thames for 70 years but in 1992 they were forced inland by concerns about the level of bacteria reported to be in the Thames.

Instead swimmers taking part in the club’s River Mile event were forced to use the Lido on Tooting Bec Common.

A South London gang who masterminded the biggest steal to-order car scam were jailed.
The four men, who came from Lambeth, Croydon and Kingston were sent down for a total of more than 24 years after a trial at Southwark Crown court.

The two ring-leaders were jailed for seven years each for handling stolen cars and parts in 1989 and 1990.

Conditions on a housing estate which had become a haunt for drug addicts had worsened despite calls for a council to take urgent action.

Residents living on the Bell Gardens Estate off Peckham Hill Street, Peckham, said crack addicts were congregating in the stairwell on the estate while smack addicts were leaving needles and syringes dumped on the estate.

Following complaints from residents, Southwark police recommended that the council install entrance security systems and lockable gates.

The council said work to clean up the estate had been delayed by insurance claims following an arson attack on the estate, but promised that work would get underway.