This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 Years Ago

Southwark council called on Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to rethink proposed cuts to London Fire Brigade which would have seen Southwark Fire Station close and Peckham lose one of its two engines.

The council cited the fatal blaze at Lakanal House in Camberwell as an example of why the cuts should not be implemented.

The town hall explained that for high rise blocks such as Lakanal House, three fire engines are needed before the blaze can be tackled.

The two men charged with the murder of a soldier in Woolwich appeared before separate courts.

Michael Adebolajo, from Romford, Essex, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with the murder of Lee Rigby on May 22 and the attempted murder of two police officers.

He was remanded in custody, set to appear at the Old Bailey for a bail hearing the next day.

The 28-year-old was charged on release from hospital, where he was being treated after being shot by police at the scene of Drummer Rigby’s death.

A major push to save Lewisham Hospital’s emergency and maternity services began in the run up to two judicial reviews.

The Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign upped its fundraising drive to ensure it had £20,000 in the kitty to cover potential legal costs.

The High Court was set to test the legality of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s decision to downgrade Lewishams hospital.

A range of fairs and festivals were organised and schools launched fundraisers.

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20 Years Ago

An MP urged education bosses not to put a nursery into the hands of a private company.

After visiting the Norwood Centre, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, Tessa Jowell called on Lambeth council to reverse its plans for its future.

Her pleas came amid growing concern from parents about the future of nursery staff at the much-loved centre.

The children’s centre was one of five run by the local authority, which wanted to farm them out to save £200,000 a year.

Traders in Bermondsey Market lambasted Southwark council for leaving their punters with what they claimed was the worst public toilet in London.

And they decided to kick up a stink about the ladies loo on the corner of Tower Bridge Road and Grange Road, because they said it was putting off visitors.

Traders said there had been a marked decline in the standard of the toilet and said it had got to the stage where few people dared to venture down to it.

The council said it was aware of the problem and planned to install two new ones as part of a regeneration of the area.

Thousands of residents spent the day in a popular park to mark the 125th anniversary of when it first opened to the public.

Francis Mayow left the land which became Mayow Park, Sydenham for public use after her death in 1878.

The Mayow family had moved to the area 100 years earlier and lived in the Old House in Sydenham Road, from which they managed the estate for the next century.

Community groups set out stalls and put on the usual festival fare for visitors to mark the milestone in June, 2003.

The friends of Mayow Park took advantage of the occasion to announce plans to restore the fountain in the park if funds could be found.

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30 Years Ago

Town hall bosses came under fire after it emerged that they were paying housing benefits to a woman living 200 miles away.

Former Lambeth Mayor Joe Singh claimed that he had tipped Lambeth council off about the problem and the authority was in the process of trying to claw money back from the woman in June 1993.

The authority claimed the woman owed them in excess of £10,000 because she had been claiming the cash for years even though she owned a home in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

A council spokesman said it was the Department of Social Security’s job to check that she was legitimate as she was also claiming disability allowances.

A Brixton prison officer was subjected to a three-month nightmare ordeal after being bitten by a prisoner with HIV.

The guard was bitten as he tried to restrain the man, who drew blood when he bit his victim on the arm.

The unnamed officer was taken to hospital where specialists said it was too early to tell if he had been infected with the virus.

The officer had been due to marry but was told to wait three months for the result of the HIV test before having unprotected sex with his partner.

More than 200 tenants were left without water over the bank holiday weekend after workmen left them high and dry.

The residents had to spend five days lugging water up to their homes in Kemp House on the Loughborough Estate, Brixton, while engineers tackled the problem.

Council workers thought they had the problem under control within hours, but Thames Water discovered that the mains pipe was still leaking two days later and cut off the supply.

The company then refused to reconnect the supply as they said council workers had botched repair work by using the wrong type of pipe