This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 Years Ago

A memorial bearing the names of 574 men who perished overseas has been given a major facelift in time for the 100th anniversary of the start of First World War hostilities.

Volunteers unveiled the results of months of hard work to bring the Stockwell War memorial back into a fitting state.

Brian Barnes, the artist who painted the original mural next to the memorial tower in 1998, has also spent months repainting the work – come rain or shine.

Transport bosses caved in to pressure from parents after they were bombarded with emails demanding safety rails at two road junctions to be kept.

The “Nappy Valley” mums reacted furiously when TfL put removal notices on the pedestrian guard rails near the playground and a nursery in Clapham.

But one week after a petition and hundreds of emails and letters were sent TfL’s way, the authority said it had “listened to the concerns of residents” and would not be removing the features after all.

A pub was added to a town hall’s protected list after a hard-fought campaign by regulars who were worried it might be brought by a supermarket.

Wandsworth council added The Wheatsheaf in Upper Tooting Road, Tooting, to its “local list” after pressure from more than 8,000 people who signed a petition, including comedian Mark Thomas and MP Sadiq Khan.

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20 Years Ago

A cache of weapons including blades and acid was uncovered just one hour before a football match between arch rivals Millwall FC and West Ham.

Police found the stash at a Tube station just before kick-off. The haul, which also included a scalpel, were thought to have been left by thugs for a post match punch-up between rival hooligans.

The find was made at Canning Town in east London. More than 800 officers were drafted in to police the game.

A new report found that more people in South London were packing up and leaving than in any other part of the UK.

Statistics showed that 18,900 more people left South London than arrived in just 12 months.

The mass exodus was thought to have been a response to spiralling property prices. Lambeth was the worst affected area, according to the Office of National Statistics.

A South London based library of feminist literature was facing closure because a council withdrew its funding.

Southwark council had been paying the £12,000 annual rent for the Feminist Library in Westminster Bridge Road, but decided to pull the funding.

The group was trying to find another site for the library, which first opened in 1975 and the council agreed to continue paying until the move was made.

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30 Years Ago

Coffee and biscuits were served up in the most unlikely places as part of a charity fundraiser which is still going 20 years later.

Venues taking part in the Macmillan Cancer Research World’s Biggest Coffee Morning included Ashton’s Funeral company in Brixton Road, Brixton, and Brixton Prison.

Away from South London the Labour Party conference was set to host an event and Volunteers were planning to stage a coffee morning for the charity on the Great Wall of China.

Thieves were stealing plants and shrubs from the grounds of a hospital.
The thieves had pinched olive trees, bedding plants and saplings, worth hundreds of pounds, from the grounds of St George’s Hospital in Blackshaw Road, Tooting.

He said most of the thefts were taking place during the evenings or at weekends and asked visitors to the hospital and its neighbours to keep their eyes peeled.

A borough’s bid to take over a neglected cemetery was laid to rest.
Wandsworth council offered to take over the land maintenance of the Streatham Cemetery in Garrett Lane, Tooting, from Lambeth council in July 1993.

But Lambeth council refused on the grounds that Wandsworth said it would farm out the work to private contractors rather than keep on current staff.

Instead, a funding boost was given to the maintenance service and by October 1993, Lambeth said the cemetery had been improved.

 

Pixabay: Pixabay/Totskie_69