This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 Years Ago

The number of patients having operations cancelled hit a nine-year high because of “crisis” conditions in an overstretched A&E department according to a top doctor and MPs.

Government figures revealed that King’s College Hospital, in Denmark Hill, saw a 155 per cent increase in the number of non-elective surgeries- such as hip and knee replacements- in a period of 12 months.

It also saw an increase in patients waiting more than four hours to be treated and admitted, or discharged from, its A&E.

House prices in South London were booming with some boroughs reporting among the highest annual rises in the country.

Average properties in Wandsworth, Merton and Lambeth all rose in value by 10 per cent in a year while Southwark prices also increased by more than most parts of London.

Lambeth’s average price rose 9.2 per cent while Southwark’s leapt by 6.8. Lewisham saw an increase of 6.2 , which matched the London average.

A typical house in Merton worth £330,971 in April 2021 cost £368,639 in April 2013, an 11.4 per cent rise.

A mum said the health of her two young children was deteriorating because her home was riddled with damp.

Roxanne Grant, of Lee High Road, Lewisham, said she did not know what had caused damp patches to appear on the walls and ceilings of her two bedroom flat.

But the 25 year old said that despite numerous appeals to her landlord for help, her situation was worse than ever.

She said her 18-month-old son had developed asthma and she regularly had to take him to the doctors for treatment.

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20 Years Ago

The number of crimes being committed by kids in Southwark fell sharply in 2003.

According to figures published by Southwark’s youth offending team, burglary, car crime and robberies carried out by people aged under 18 had halved in just two years.

The team had introduced new tactics for dealing with young crooks, including forcing them to sit and talk with their victims.

Drama and theatre programmes were brought in for some in a bid to lure them away from crime, while others were put on community rotas charged with cleaning their streets and estates.

Green-fingered South Londoners faced years of waiting for an allotment with Lambeth rated the worst in the capital.

In 2003, the borough had just 28 free plots, while Lewisham, Wandsworth and Southwark fared little better.

All four boroughs ranked in the bottom third of councils for the number of available plots.

The situation prompted the Green Party to call on councils to do more to free up neglected green spaces for Londoners wanting to get their hands dirty.

A South London council announced proposals to cut speed limits in back roads and town centres by 10mph to make them safer for children and pedestrians.

The plans were tabled by Mayor of Lewisham Steve Bullock, who said areas such as Blackheath Village would benefit from traffic being limited to 20mph.

The plans were in line with the Government’s designs for the country as well as the views of Lewisham council’s opposition parties.

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30 Years Ago

An RSPCA inspector hit out at a magistrate for banning a woman from owning a dog for just two years even though she had starved an adult pit bull terrier to death in her home.

The inspector launched a stinging attack on the magistrate outside Camberwell Magistrates’ Court after the sentence was handed down.

He lambasted the magistrate who passed sentence on the woman for his leniency after a different magistrate, who first heard the case against her warned her that she faced jail for her mistreatment of the animal.

Three car loads of teachers had to be escorted into school by police after parents gathered outside to stage an angry protest.

More than a dozen parents turned up outside the school in Balham to protest about controversial tests being administered to their children. The 14-year-olds were due to sit SATs for the first time.

Teachers at the school were boycotting the tests, so Wandsworth council drafted in supply teachers so it would comply with the Government orders.

A lifetime of service with London Underground earned a man an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Joe Hegarty, 57, from Tooting Bec had worked for the company since 1955, when he joined, aged 20, as a railwayman – a post which no longer existed by 1993.

He had started his working life as a ticket inspector at Shepherd’s Bush Tube station, before completing stints at stations across South London.

 

Picture: Pixabay