Deptford Urban Free Festival 1995

 Deptford Urban Free Festival was a great event that took place in Fordham Park SE14 every summer from 1990 to 1996. It got bigger and bigger, squeezing bands, sound systems and tens of thousands of people into what is quite a small space. I have scanned and uploaded the July 1995 programme on to archive.org (see full thing here).

'you can't kill the spirit' - a reference to the Criminal Justice Act which had come into effect

Just part of the line up - headliners were Skunk Anansie and Asian Dub Foundation, others playing included Back to the Planet, Here and Now and Grateful Dub

Sound systems including RDK Hi-Fi (dub), Innervision (including Liberator and Institute of Goa DJs) and Avit Army ('from South London combine gabba/techno/acid/hard trance and industrial styles. Free parties are the order of the day'. I remember dancing a lot that day.

See also: Deptford Urban Free Festival 1992

Flowers for Teon Campbell-Pitter in Fordham Park

Flowers in Fordham Park, New Cross, where 16 year old Teon Campbell-Pitter was killed on 13 April 2022

Another child killed, more children charged with his killing. Difficult to say anything meaningful, but Peckham-based Power the Fight are doing some good community based work around youth violence.

 

Domino's advert in Fordham Park

A new advert for Domino's Pizza was filmed in New Cross Gate's Fordham Park. 'The Official Food of Squads' features a group of young guys trying and failing to look cool as they wander through the park to a soundtrack of P.Diddy's 'Bad Boy for Life'.

Walking through Fordham Park with Deptford Green School in the background

New Cross Party in the Park 2016

Tomorrow (Saturday 3rd September) sees the New Cross Party in the Park returning to Fordham Park, a free community festival 'for all ages, with family events, arts and crafts, stalls, spoken word, as well as local bands and acts for all tastes from disco to reggae, punk rock, soul and folk'.

 

The party follows on from previous events in 2013 and 2014 (see report here), and traces its origins back to the legendary Deptford Urban Free Festivals held in the park in the 1990s. Remember seeing RDF  (Radical Dance Faction) back there then and they are playing tomorrow. 

 

Friends of Fordham Park SE14

It's the annual general meeting tonight (Wednesday 10th February) of the Friends of Fordham Park, from 7 pm to 8 pm in the Moonshot Centre in the park. If you want to get involved in caring for this oasis off the New Cross Road, come along.

Fordham Park is not one of those London  parks that are leftover fragments from when it was 'all fields round here'. Go back a hundred years to the 1916 Ordnance Survey map and you see not a green space but tightly packed urban streets, demolished in the post-WW2 period. Angus Street and Achilles Street are still there, at the north and south ends of the park, but in between no trace remains of Snead Street and Vance Street.

Music Monday: Anarcho punk 1984 in New Cross & Old Kent Road

'Not Just Bits of Paper', edited by Tony Bull and Mickey Penguin is 'A series of recollections, memories, imagined dreams perhaps from the collective memories of those who lived through the punk and anarcho-punk years' of the 1980s (available from Situation Books). It includes lots of flyers and other 'ephemera' and I noticed these two from the Transpontine area.

The first is from November 1984 and is for a gig at the Ambulance Station on the Old Kent Road. This famous squatted venue was in what is now the home of Blue Mantle Antiques across the road from Old Kent Road Tescos - confusingly it is generally known as the old fire station; maybe it housed both emergency services in its history (see more on the squat by the Ruinist). 

The line up for this gig looks good - Antisect were an incredibly powerful, almost heavy metal, hardcore band from Northamptonshire. 

No Defences, my favourite band from that scene, were very different - kind of mutant punk funk with mesmerising deadpan vocals. They recorded an album for Crass's label but it never got released - apparently there was too much bass for Crass to handle! Former members of the band are working on putting out some of that material now, so maybe it will finally get the appreciation it deserves 30 years later.

'No Defences' banner at the Ambulance Station-
'The worst thing imaginable is happening now'
(from Graham Burnett's anarcho-punk archive)

Karma Sutra were my friends from Luton, where I was living at the time. I travelled down with them in their van to the Ambulance Station a few times, and I know I saw them play there as well as Conflict, Chumbawamba, No Defences and State Hate, but I have no memory of seeing Antisect there,  so not sure if I was at this particular gig. Exit-Stance were from Milton Keynes and Sedition from Northampton.

The fire station in its hey day (opened 1903)

Hagar the Womb

The second flyer is for a gig at the Goldsmiths Tavern (now the New Cross House) on 12 May 1984. Headliners Hagar the Womb were originally an all-woman band which was very rare in the punk scene at that time, though later they also had male members including drummer Chris Knowles - who went on to become London acid tekno DJ/producer Chris Liberator. Hagar, once described by Billy Bragg as the new Shangri- Las, reformed a few years ago. Support act State Hate  were in the Conflict hardcore punk mode.

The picture below of Hagar the Womb was from an NME interview (11 August 1984), and was apparently taken in New Cross's Fordham Park in the rain. At least one member of the band then lived in the SE14 Nettleton  Road 1980s punk nexus (lots more about this band, and indeed the whole scene at the excellent Kill Your Pet Puppy site)

Three-sided Football returns to New Cross

Tomorrow (Sunday) sees the return of three-sided football to Fordham Park in New Cross with a new season under the auspices of Deptford Three Sided Football Club.

If you've never tasted the delights of the three-sided game, check out this recent Vice article 'The world's most anarchic, hectic sport':

'In keeping with the anti-authoritarian spirit that gave birth to the sport, the rules of 3sf are few, and considered more as guiding principles than steadfast laws. In general, the game should involve a ball, three teams and a hexagonal pitch – anything beyond this is subject to spontaneous revision. Unlike conventional football, a team doesn't win by scoring the most goals, but rather victory is predicated on how few goals a team concedes to its opponents'.

(the article actually credits me with a small role in relaunching the sport - as well as describing me somewhat dubiously as an artist - but the credit must go to Mark Dyson and the other players who have made Deptford/New Cross the global centre of the game!)

A special Midsummer Game  was held at the setting of the sun over the Hilly Fields Stone Circle on 21st June.

If you want to check out the game, and maybe even join in, come to Fordham Park tomorrow (by Deptford Green school) at around 1:30 for a 2:00 pm start. As well as Deptford Three Sided Football Club, teams participating include Strategic Optimism FC, Philosophy Football FC and New Cross Irregulars.

(see previous 3-sided football reports here - including the Association of Autonomous Astronauts 1998 match on One Tree Hill)

New Cross Party in the Park

The 1990s Urban Free Festival in Fordham Park was a major London event, bringing together people from what at the time was a big free party/squat/punk/rave scene. 20 years later (13 September), similar sounds were to be heard in the same place at the  Party in the Park - including Back to the Planet who were on the bill there in 1992. Quite a few of the people organising sound systems etc. were also veterans from that scene, as were some of the crowd.  But there were also lots of new young bands in the event organised by New Cross Learning, the Madcap Coalition and others.

Unlike last year's Party in the Park which was cursed by bad weather, this year it was sunny enough to bring out what may well have been the biggest crowd in the park since the final Urban  Free festival in 1995 - nothing like on the scale of  that event, which attracted about 30,000 people in very different times, but a decent free community festival.

Shocks of Mighty

Siren Sound System

Step 13 on the Siren stage by the Moonshot - great breakbeat anthems

New Cross Fire Memorial in Fordham Park

In Fordham Park, New Cross (Childeric Road end), there's a memorial to the victims of the 1981 New Cross Fire, with a bench set opposite it for people to sit and contemplate the memorial.

The memorial stone was installed in 2012 and lists the 14 young people who died as a result of the terrible fire on 18th January 1981 in New Cross Road. Fordham Park was where thousands of people gathered in March 1981 to head into central London on the Black People's Day of Action in response to the fire.

For more on the New Cross Fire see previous posts:

New Cross Fire: the Bleakest Moment

New Cross Fire: remembered at the Albany

New Cross Fire plaque in New Cross Road

Fordham Park Three Sided Football on BBC

Deptford Three Sided Football Club has been covered here before, starting off in Deptford Park and now playing on the first Sunday of every month in Fordham Park, New Cross (all welcome). Also have recalled the earlier  1990s Association of Autonomous Astronauts games on One Tree Hill and elsewhere.

Last week the game was featured on BBC News in a series on 'new trends that are beginning and old traditions that are coming to an end':

'It seems like a typical Sunday afternoon game of football, but there's a big difference - there are three teams on the pitch. Deptford 3S Football Club is playing Philosophy Football FC and Strategic Optimists FC, at the same time. This is the complex and curious game of three-sided football, an invention of Danish Situationist philosopher and artist Asger Jorn. Played on a hexagonal pitch, the rules are similar to normal football, but it is the team that concedes the fewest goals, rather than scores the most, that wins.This leads to all sorts of tactical subtleties, as BBC News discovered at a match in New Cross in London'.

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New Cross Party in the Park

Huge amount going on at Party in the Park in New Cross on Saturday 14 September, a big free festival in Fordham Park with loads of local musicians and other stuff. Ben Holland, Eddie Capone, Shocks of Mighty!, Unit 137 Sound System, The Pit Ponies, The Hotelles, The Fruitful Earth, Nunhead Folk Circle and many more - see facebook events page

Should be good, but to make sure it it is the organisers - New Cross Learning and Madcap Coalition are asking for people to lend a hand: 

'New Cross Party in the Park NEEDS ALL OF US on sat 14th september

New Cross Party in the Park is happening a week on saturday (14th) in Fordham Park between 1pm and 8pm with loads of great music, community stalls, food, drink and much much more - it's just the kind of thing that we need, if you agree can you PLEASE help and make sure that it's a successful event that we can do again and again. 

The people who are currently making this possible are a very small group of very dedicated people - but there's only so much they can do - if you can offer 2 hours on either the saturday or the days either side you will be able to enjoy the party that much more knowing that you are doing something to make it happen.

All you need to do is email newcrosspeopleslibrary@gmail.com saying which 2 hour slot(s) you want to do - simple, but i can assure you that it will be HUGELY appreciated'.

Free Park Films

New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival has now started, and tonight's big bike-powered movie is Skyfall in Fordham Park at 8.00 pm, featuring of course the famous New Cross and Deptford scenes. Forecast is that any afternoon rain will have cleared by then so don't worry about the weather - anyway last year's Fordham Park event went ahead despite heavy showers.

Next Saturday 4th May, E.T. is being shown in Telegraph Hill Park

Lots more free events - programme here

Deptford X 2012

I'm out of town for the first week of Deptford X, but suffice it to say that there's a lot to see and do at this year's contemporary art festival - full programme here.

Couple of events I am sad to be missing, but you don't have to:

Walking In The Footsteps Of Deptford’s Jack In The Green
Wednesday 1st Aug 11am - 4pm, starting out at Utrophia in Deptford High Street.

'David Aylward’s Rediscovered Urban Rituals, Ancient and Modern, Real and Imagined, Present this event. A talk, walk and the making of a collaborative improvised soundtrack to a experimental film that was produced to illustrate a mayday in Deptford 2006. No musical experience needed, although feel free to bring any small instruments. You may like to bring comfortable footwear'

Three-sided football tournament- Deptford Psychogeographical Association 
Saturday 4 August, 11 am in Fordham Park, New Cross

'Three-sided football (3SF) is a variation of football with three teams playing on a hexagonal pitch. It was devised by the Danish artist Asger Jorn to explain his notion of triolectics, a refinement of the Marxian concept of dialectics. Jorn wrote several essays during the late 1950s and early 1960s elucidating the concept but, as he admitted himself, struggled to define his concept using the written word. By providing the example of three-sided football, Jorn felt he was better able to give meaning to the flavour and texture of the triolectical method.

While it is not known whether Jorn ever participated in a real game of three-sided football, a number of games have been played and recorded by psychogeographical groups over the last twenty years. Some of the participants in these early experiments came together in 2011 to found a Deptford Three-Sided Football Club, and games have been held bi-monthly during 2012 to develop the tactics and strategies of the game.

The three-sided football tournament proposed by the club for Deptford X is intended to bring together creative protagonists from both the local area and across Europe who are interested in exploring the interaction between sport, art and non-linear game theory'.

There have been a number of three-sided games played recently in the local area, including in Deptford Park and on Goldsmiths green in March (the latter part of a project linking Millwall's community scheme with Goldsmiths MA in Art & Politics students). The games's situationist origins are interesting, but you don't have to worry about them, it is actually just fun to play a game where the winning team is the one that concedes the least goals (not the one that scores the most). More details at Deptford Three-Sided Football Club.

Urban Free Festival 1992

'The Dewdrop Inn. Deptford. For all the old punks n freaks' is a great facebook groups with loads of photos of that pub from the 1980s and 1990s. The Dew Drop Inn was on the corner of Clifton Rise and Angus Street SE14 - sadly now converted to flats (I will do a post about it another time). As the pub faced on to Fordham Park it was the main drinking hole during the legendary Urban Free Festivals held in the park from 1990 to 1995, which attracted tens of thousands of people from all over London and beyond. I have taken some of the photos of the festival from the facebook group to give a flavour of it - hope nobody minds, this is priceless cultural history.

1992 programme - Uban Free Festival III
Conscious Collective - 'You can't kill the spirt').

The line up in 1992 included Back to the Planet, Brain of Morbius, The Seas, Sensor, Fat Dinosaur, Sidi Bou Said, Attila the Stockbroker, Moral Panic, The Rythmites, Levitation, Dr Phibes and the House of Wax Equations, RDF, Test Department, Co-Creators, Community Charge  and many more. All this and the 'Free the Spirt Rave Big Top'.

Groups involved in organising the festival that year included South East Musicians Collective, SYLVIA (Support Your Local Venues and Independent Artsits), Conscious Collective, Dole House Crew (who squatted the Peckham dole office) and Sonic Relief with sponsors including The Dew Drop Inn, Music City,  Catford TUC Centre for the Unemployed and Lewisham Council.

I believe these photos were taken by Seran Tahsin, who was not sure whether they are from 1991 to 1992. I think probably 1992, because there is a great bit of film footage from 1991 and the structures look a bit different.

Dancing in Fordham Park in 1993

I had some great times at those festivals will write some more about the later ones at some point. Any good memories or stories, leave a comment as always (and why was it the Deptford Urban Free Festival when it was plainly in New Cross?!)

Update: here's a couple of interviews with people remembering the festival (film was made by people from Deptford.TV Collective in 2007)

New Cross Festival

The New Cross Festival, in Fordham Park, takes places in Fordham Park on Friday 29 July and Saturday 30 July. On the Friday evening, and all day Saturday, there will be a free programme of dance workshops and performances, live music, sporting activities in the form of the New Cross Olympics, arts and crafts, food stalls and more. Here's the schedule:

Friday 29 July

04:00pm Carnival Arts, Samba, Soca Workshops
07:00pm Community Musicians

Saturday 30 July

10:00am Carnival Arts, Samba Percussion, Soca Workshop
12:30pm Carnival Procession
02:00pm Circus Skills, Ivorian Dance, Arts & Crafts
03:00pm Fireromantics (local band)
03:30pm Griot Chinyere – African Storytelling
04:00pm Ivorian Dance Performance & Magic Book Theatre
04:15pm Open Mic Spot, Vietnamese Fan Dance
04:30pm New Cross Olympics
05:15pm A3 Dance Troupe, Pocket the Clown
05:25pm Vietnaese Lion Dance, Millwall Football Session
05:40pm Woodpecker Youth Club Performance
05:45pm Raie the Band (local soul/blues band)
06:45pm Tug O War & Competition Winners’ Presentation