This week 10, 20, 30 years ago
10 Years Ago
The battle to save a hospital’s A&E and maternity services began in the High Court.
Mums from the “Lewisham Buggy Army” and pensioners were planning to take part in a protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice.
During the three-day hearing, lawyers Leigh Day were to argue that the decision to downgrade the services at Lewisham Hospital within three years was unlawful.
The decision was made by then Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, on the recommendations of a government appointed administrator tasked with addressing the bankrupt South London Health Care Trust.
Tributes poured in after the death at age 53 of a Gurkha councillor who founded the South London Nepalese Gurkha Association.
Cllr Gam Gurung was the first Gurkha councillor for the Labour party in the UK and the first for any party on Merton council.
The teacher and former soldier had been diagnosed with cancer and died six months later while still undergoing treatment at St George’s Hospital in Tooting .
A housing officer and a bailiff were shot in the street while evicting a tenant.
The drama unfolded on Wednesday at around 9.50am in Strathleven Road, Brixton.
A 59-year-old woman serving as an income officer for Metropolitan Housing arrived with a court bailiff, who was in his 60s, to evict a tenant from a terraced property.
The income officer was shot in the knee and the man was shot in the hip and leg.
Armed police were captured on video by a neighbour forcing their way into the property.
They arrested a man and seized a handgun from the house.
20 Years Ago
Archaeologists excavating a Roman amphitheatre unearthed what they believed to be a 2,000-year-old tub of face cream – complete with finger trails.
The find was made at the excavation in Tabard Street, Southwark.
Other finds from the site included a bronze foot and a plaque containing the oldest known reference to London, which was an advertising board made by a Champagne importer.
The Fire Brigade announced plans to team up with mobile phone companies in a bid to cut the number of crank calls.
Figures showed that more hoax calls were being made than genuine ones.
The mobile phone companies agreed to help track down people who repeatedly made hoax calls by handing over the contract details of people found to be abusing the 999 system.
The brigade had been called out to more than 11,000 hoax calls in a year – 4,000 more than to genuine fires.
A wildlife pond and plaque in memory of a much-loved teacher were unveiled at a school.
Michelle Johnson was 32 when she died in August 2000.
Her parents, Peter and Christine Stacey, donated £2,000 for the memorial at Rathfern School in Rathfern Road, Deptford, where she taught.
The Friends of Rathfern School contacted the charity Learning Through Landscapes, which built the pond.
30 Years Ago
Fed-up tenants who claimed that they were living on a “forgotten estate” called for urgent action to halt vandalism.
Angry leaseholders on the Vincennes Estate in West Norwood wanted Lambeth council to use its muscle to stop outsiders making their lives a misery.
They said hooligans had been breaking their windows, ripping up saplings and covering walls with graffiti.
Residents said that, while Brixton was being treated like “a jewel in the crown”, their estate had been left to rot.
Cannabis, ecstasy and LSD were seized after police raided a pub as part of a drive to combat drug-dealing gangs.
More than 80 officers and sniffer dogs were involved in the raid, which resulted in 13 arrests.
Eight were charged with drug dealing or drug possession offences, while four were given police cautions.
One was released without charge.
Pensions were left fuming after being forced to wait for two weeks for their pension books to arrive.
Two Streatham residents who contacted the South London Press said post office staff had told them to go to the Department of Social Security (DSS) office to ask what was causing the delay.
One 99-year-old lived more than a mile away from the nearest DSS office.
A DSS spokeswoman admitted that sometimes the books went missing in the post, but denied that there was a particular problem in Streatham.
Generic Picture – Pensions were left fuming after being forced to wait for two weeks for their pension books to arrive
Picture: Pixabay/Alexas-Fotos