New Cross Fire Memorial Service

I am going to the New Cross Fire event at the Albany tonight, but there's also a memorial service on Sunday 16 January (3 pm) at St Andrews United Reform Church in Brockley. As pictured here recently, the church features a stained glass window dedicated to the fire's victims.

The church was strongly linked to the tragedy, with many of the young people who were in the fire having attended the youth club at the church.

The youth club was mentioned by Les Back in a recent interview on reggae sound systems in the 1970s and 1980s:

'Any available space would be used. There were dances on Lewisham way opposite the college in houses. Lots of dances happened at the Moonshot youth club, so many dances there. And what kind of space is that? Well actually it was a gym. Lots of dances were in the place where the basketball court was. In Brockley, places like St Andrews church. There was a very radical, open minded vicar in charge who opened the church, they had dances in the church. Lewisham way youth club, regular dances there. They weren’t night clubs, they weren’t tailor made because there weren’t any tailor made spaces in those days'

(full interview at Tropical Waste)