This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 Years

Campaigners prepared to mount a £40,000 legal challenge against an incinerator which they said would send plumes of toxic smoke over South London.

Plans for the waste disposal plant were given the green light by the Mayor of London’s office, despite fears that the pollution would lead to more South Londoners developing health problems like asthma.

The £200million Wallington facility was described as an “environmental disaster” for parts of Southwark, Lewisham and Lambeth by a former Southwark councillor.

More than 100 youngsters were given the chance to join sessions led by a top contemporary dance company.

Social enterprise Coin Street Community Builders arranged the sessions for children living in Lambeth and Southwark who might otherwise have not had the chance to take lessons.

The sessions were led by contemporary dance company Rambert.

Three South London councils joined forces with five other town halls to fight London Mayor Boris Johnson’s proposed fire station cuts.

Southwark, Greenwich and Lewisham councils wrote to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to support the bid to overturn the cuts.

But a spokesman from his department distanced the minister from any sort of intervention, saying: “Decisions about fire stations are a local matter”.

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20 years

House-proud residents were shocked to learn that the new windows they had spent thousands of pounds installing in their homes would be ripped out by a council and new ones fitted – at their expense.

Leaseholders were told they would have to foot the £16,500 bill for the new windows to match their council home tenant neighbours on the Setchell Estate in Southwark.

But the council said the renovations to the estate, designed to keep its housing stock in a decent modern condition, had been in the terms of the leases they had signed.

A boxer who quit his job as fascist leader Oswald Mosley’s chief bodyguard when he learnt his boss was developing an anti-Semitic agenda was remembered by a blue plaque at the care home where he died.

Born Solomon Mendelhoff in the East End, Ted ‘kid’ Lewis, a former welterweight champ, died in Clapham Common in 1970.

In a 20-year career, Lewis won 215 fights – 71 by knockout – drew 24 and lost 44.

On learning that Mosley was becoming more extreme, Lewis is said to have decked him and walked casually away from the room and his job.

Scotland Yard put its full resources at the disposal of South London’s police in its biggest day of action targeting mugging hot spots.

Uniformed offices were joined by plain clothes police and dog handlers in a blitz on crime, while helicopters were scrambled to aid proceedings.

The aim of the operation, codenamed Safer Streets 3, was designed to pick muggers off the streets and arrest them in their homes.

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30 years

Campaigners staged a fight to have a pelican crossing installed in their road.

Lambeth council had agreed to pay for the crossing in Clapham Common North, next to the junction with Valley Road, and had even laid the electric cabling before the Government vetoed the plans, saying it would cause too much traffic congestion.

But when the council’s Tory opposition councillors threw their weight behind the campaign, residents were hopeful of getting their way.

Sweethearts young and old took a trip down memory lane when dresses from the two World Wars went on display.

The Imperial War Museum, in Lambeth Road, Lambeth, held two evenings of fashion shows as part of its Forces Sweethearts exhibition.

One of the dresses worn by a model was made for a woman from parachute silk.

Two friends were in the running for a nationwide hunt for the title Best Friends of the Year.

Tracey Wharton, from Streatham, was nominated for the award by her pal Brigitte Hatton, and the pair were named in the final five in the competition.

The pair had been firm friends since they had shared a flat together for five years in the 1980s, and had stayed in touch after Brigitte moved to Scotland.

The prize was a shopping spree for the winners in Paris.

 

Generic Picture: Pixabay/cwizner