This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 Years Ago

A project to rebuild the iconic Crystal Palace got the go-ahead. ZhongRong Group wanted to build a new attraction at Crystal Palace and restore the 180-acre park.

It meant the construction of a replica of the Victorian palace – built to house the Great Exhibition of 1851 – which was destroyed in a fire in November 1936.

The project, announced by the Chinese investment group aimed to create more than 2,000 permanent and temporary jobs.

Four housing blocks in South London were highlighted as among the worst offenders for calls to the Fire Brigade for non-emergencies.

Wendover in Thurlow Street, and Bradenham in Boyson Road, Woolworth, Maydew House in Abbeyfield Road, Bermondsey and Eddystone Tower in Oxestalls Road, Deptford had a combined total 73 call-outs in 12 months.

A midnight walk which raised £50,000 to help support bereaved children in 2012 was set to take place again.

Staff and volunteers from St Christopher’s Hospice invited supporters to join them to raise money for the charity’s Candle Project.

The project was set up to help children and young people who had lost somebody close to them.

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20 Years Ago

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, code named Safer Streets 3 was designed to pick muggers off the streets and arrest them in their homes.

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30 Years Ago

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 Best Friends of the Year.

Tracey Wharton of 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 even after Brigitte moved to Scotland. The prize was a shopping spree for the winners in Paris.

 

Generic Picture by Mircea – All in collections from Pixabay