'Into the 80s and beyond' at Corner New Cross

Corner is 'an LGBTQ+ led neighbourhood coffee shop and creative space in New Cross' that opened earlier this year. As well as serving up very good coffee it has a gallery space downstairs which currently features 'Mike Owen: Into the 80s and beyond', an exhibition of work by the music and fashion photographer featuring iconic images of Kylie, Annie Lennox, Joan Collins, Marc Almond and many more. The exhibition continues until 8 January 2023.

Leigh Bowery in one of his final photographs

Corner is at 117 New Cross Road, SE14 5DJ.  In the summer it even has a beach at the back!

Women of Lewisham

The 'Women of Lewisham' banner outside Prendergast School on Adelaide Avenue SE4 features a number of women associated with the borough. From left to right author Malorie Blackman, singer Kate Bush (who lived in Brockley), Suffragette Emily Davison, community activist Sybil Phoenix and housing/open spaces campaigner Octavia Hill (who helped create Hilly Fields park).

 

Nurses Strike at Guys Hospital

Nurses at Guys Hospital joined the strike called by the Royal College of Nursing on 15th December, and were supported by other health workers on their picket line outside the hospital on St Thomas Street SE1.

The picket line was overshadowed by the Shard on the other side of the street [insert obvious point about obscene property wealth vs. underpaid care givers]

'A Nurse is for Life not just for Covid'

Chants included:  'I'm a nurse, what's my worth', 'claps don't pay the bills' and 'you clapped us, now back us'.

 

The first all out nurses strike in London (?): Maudsley Hospital 1988

Striking nurses are in the news, a rare occasion but not unique. There was a wave of nurses strikes in Britain in 1988, starting with a one day walkout at North Manchester Hospital in January and spreading to hospitals in London and elsewhere. Nurses at the Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill were the first to strike in London, walking out for the day on 2 February 1988 a day ahead of a national day of action which saw strikes and protests in many places.

Above and below - pickets at the Maudsley on 2 February 1988

Militant, 5 February 1988

 

 The day of action on 3rd February included a march called by London hospital strike committees which was blocked by police in Whitehall with four arrests. I remember the demo moving to block the traffic on Westminster Bridge.  

Two weeks later on the 16th February there was a further day of action in London in which 12,000 hospital workers took part.  The day ended up with several hundred marching to the town hall in Brixton for a rally. Nurses at the Maudsley again went on strike.

Guardian, 17/2/1988

Another day of action on 14th March saw London bus crews, dockers, miners and others taking unofficial action in support of NHS workers. I was working at Lambeth Council at the time and some of us marched to join the protests outside the Maudsley Hospital and Kings Hospital on the other side of the road. I think it was on this day that I took these two rather poor pictures!

'we care, do you?- Kings Hospital, 1988

Pickets in the rain outside the Maudsley

Guardian, 15 March 1988

 It was very much a rank and file led movement with nurses at individual hospitals organising one day strikes and days of action with limited support from national unions. Nurses were divided between three unions- NUPE (National Union of Public Employees), COHSE (Confederation of Health Service Employees) and the Royal College of Nursing. The RCN was opposed to action, though many of its members argued at the time for it to change its no strike policy; the leaderships of the other unions were decidedly lukewarm. The TUC did call a big demonstration in support of the health service on 5th March, with a crowd of up to 100,000 in Hyde Park, though some angry nurses tried to storm the stage to speak as no health workers had been invited to address the crowd

The movement was largely successful. The Government had been planning to offer a 3% pay rise and was also intending to scrap national pay bargaining. In the event a new clinical grading structure resulted in average pay increases of 15%.

Concerns about whether the pay rises would actually be implemented led to another walk out at the Maudsley in September. This was one of the the first indefinite strikes by nurses in Britain, lasting for 12 days from 5 September 1988. 

Guardian, 6 September 1988

'Maudsley Hospital Nurses Strike... the strike is aimed at forcing the government to honour its promise made in May of this year to fully fund the new Clinical Grading system'

'COHSE Maudsley 898 Branch Strike Bulletin - A massive vote of congratulations to all those COHSE members who have contributed to making the first week of the (first ever) indefinite strike by Nurses such a huge success... The sunny weather and generous donations from passers by on Denmark Hill have confirmed that the public (and God!) are behind our struggle to get nurses the rewards they deserve to protect patient services from Tory policies'

As with all strikes in the NHS, workers did not simply abandon patients. As detailed above there was an agreement in place for strikers to provide cover in emergencies or if there was 'a dangerously high proportion of staff who do not know the ward'

 [update - as stated above, the Maudsley workers believed they were the first ever nurses to stage an indefinite strike, and this was how the strike was reported at the time. However Michael Walker at the COHSE history blog records an earlier indefinite strike at Tooting Bec Hospital in 1975. That lasted for two days, so the Maudsley strikers were certainly setting some kind of record with their 12 day walkout- at the very least the first nurses strike to last continuously for more than a week]

The first ever rugby union match - on Peckham Rye in 1871

Peckham Rye has a long sporting history - birth place of running clubs South London Harriers and Blackheath Harriers, early site for Gaelic Athletics Association sports and much more. More recently a place for various kinds of football -  soccer, rugby, American football and  Australian rules football, and lets not forget Peckham Rye parkrun.

But it seems that it may have a particular claim to fame as the location of the very first match played under rugby union rules.

It seems impossible to say when the first game of rugby football took place.  In the early 19th century there were various local forms of football being played in different schools and places, with no common rules. The variation developed at Rugby school was only one of them, and when the Football Association was founded in 1863 it agreed rules based on most players not being able to touch the ball with their hand - the start of modern 'soccer'. Some clubs split away as they wished to continue the rugby style game, with players allowed to pick up the ball and run with it. But still there was no one agreed set of rugby rules until the Rugby Football Union was founded and codified the rules of the game in June 1871. Two Peckham-based clubs - Lausanne and Gipsies - were among the  21 founding clubs.

The 1871-72 season started on 30 September 1871 and the Sporting Life listed six matches scheduled for that day including one on Peckham Rye between Football Company and Harlequins. 

It is not clear whether all of these were played under the new rules, and a report of the Peckham Rye match in the Sportsman (4 October 1871) states very specifically that 'This was the first match where the play was under the Rugby Union Rules, and they worked admirably, more especially having the ball down at once, and thus preventing the long and serious mauls so complained of in the London-Rugby game'.

The match was also reviewed in a separate report in the same paper on 7 October 1871: 'The football season was inaugurated on Saturday in various suburban localities, but the first match which I will notice is that between the Harlequins and the somewhat pretentiously designated "Football Company", a new association, playing, as I understand, under the Rugby Union rules'. It appears that the Company, 'having their headquarters at Peckham Rye' were declared victorious but fascinatingly neither report thought to mention the score.

The Football Company was apparently an occasional side set up by members of the more established Gipsies. The former had their HQ at the Prince Albert (presumably the now closed pub on Consort Road), and the latter at the Kings Arms on the Rye. Lausanne FC were based at the Rosemary Branch on Southampton Way (source: Black & Blue 1871). None of these Peckham rugby clubs or pubs survives.

[news stories found at British Newspaper Archive]

Farewell Nunhead Beer Shop

The Beer Shop in Nunhead Green is celebrating its 8th birthday this weekend, but sadly this will be its last as it will be closing this month. The landlord has declined to renew the lease and with plans to convert upstairs into a flat another bar there seems unlikely.

The place is always friendly and usually busy and will be greatly missed, as will its great selection of beers and ciders. 

Amidst the general gloom about pub closures I saw the Beer Shop as a sign of optimism. Sure some old boozers were disappearing but was it the end of the world if new spaces of alcohol-tinged sociality were springing up in places like, in this case, a former wool shop? But sadly the optimism seems to be misplaced - it seems that places that pop up can just as easily vanish at the whim of property owners, regardless of how valued they are by communities.

Any way so long Beer Shop folks and thanks for the cider, good luck with your future adventures.

 

New record shops in New Cross and Camberwell

Not one but two new record shops in the area...

Planet Wax at 318 New Cross Road, next to the New Cross House, is not technically new. It was previously in Deptford Market Yard but has relocated. As well as a record shop specializing in jungle/garage/dubstep/techno/electro etc it has a dubplate studio and a bar. As such it will be hosting regular events including tomorrow night (Friday 25th November 2022) South London producer/DJ Controlled Weirdness.

After becoming a promising place to hang out Deptford Market Yard is looking a bit empty at that end. Aaja music bar has also gone, currently operating next to the Birds Nest. As the new flats nearby fill up a few residents have taken to complaining about the noise - I don't know where they thought they were moving to - making it inhospitable to Deptford nightlife.

Meanwhile in Camberwell 'Dash the Henge' has opened on the site of the longstanding and much loved Rat Records (348 Camberwell New Road). An eclectic selection of old and new vinyl plus live music events - Dash the Henge is also a record label.

Aloha Dead live in store on 26th Nov 2022

 

Telegraph at the Early of Derby closed - open mic has moved

The Telegraph at the Earl of Derby pub in Dennett's Road SE14 is on the market for sale or rent after it was closed suddenly by its owners in August this year.  The pub has been through several changes of management over the last few years and its future now looks uncertain. 

The pub has had some popular nights including Phil Nice's pub quiz - now relocated to the Old Library Bar at the Music Room in New Cross Road - and Archie Shuttler's Open Mic night. The latter is being relaunched on 17th November 2022 at the Old Nun's Head.

 Here's a few moments from what turned out to be the last open mic at the Telegraph on 18 August 2022. Hopefully the pub will be revived and there will be more nights there in future.

Millwall Mapped - exactly where was the Old Den?

In 1993, Millwall FC moved from the Old Den in New Cross to the New Den not far away to the north of Surrey Canal Road. The ground was demolished and housing replaced it. Thanks to the wonders of the National Library of Scotland's  map collection it is possible to show the precise location by overlaying an old map on a current street plan (use the site's 'transparency of overlay' feature). 

As you can see, John Williams Close now occupies the stadium's former whereabouts. You can work out easily enough where the goalmouths were too - the Cold Blow Lane end by Bannister House and at the Ilderton Road end by Gasson House. 

Autumn in Telegraph Hill Park

Autumn has finally come, a cherry tree down in Telegraph Hill upper park (Kitto Road SE14) in a storm last week. Some suggested struck by lightning in a storm, others that the wind alone did the damage.

Twilight skyline watchers

 

South London Gas Protests 1936

Unaffordable gas prices... boycotts... mass protests. Yes all this was happening not just now but back in 1936. The South Metropolitan Gas Company in the Old Kent Road supplied gas across South London and in that year brought in a new scale of charges which critics argued meant that the 'poor are to pay more and the better to do will reap the benefit... A boycott has been discussed and it already it is apparent that large numbers of consumers are putting this threat into effect'. From the starts, women were at the forefront of the movement - the New Cross Women's Co-operative Guild put forward a demand that  'the question of the price of gas be reconsidered and adjusted on the basis of a flat rate per therm whatever the consumption' (Daily Herland 18/9/36)

Demonstrators marched to the HQ of the Gas Company in a series of protests. The Daily Mirror reported that on 30 September 1936 10,000 took part in a demonstration - ''the street was blocked and the crowds sang to pass the time. Hundreds signed a petition of protest. Police had to divert traffic'

Daily Mirror, 1 October 1936

A week later 'Several thousand demonstrators from Deptford and Camberwell marchds to the head offices of the South Metropolitan Gas Company in the Old Kent Road to protest against the new charges. One speaker, amid applause, urged housewives to refuse to burn gas for at least s day' (Daily News, 8/10/36). A banner read 'Down with the new gas charges, we fight to win'. 

'Gas protest by women marchers', Daily News, 8 October 1936

Then after another week, the Gas Company announced it was scrapping its new charging structure. As well as street protests they had faced opposition from South London MPs and Councils, including Deptford. On the day the decision was announced 'To the swirling music of bagpipes played by kilted men, 250 South London housewives, many carrying banners' marched again on the offices (Daily Herald 15/10/36).

Chinese protest posters in New Cross

A series of protest posters have appeared around New Cross with the hashtags #FreeChina #EndDxicatorship (referring to  Chinese leader Xi Jinping who has just had his position extended to a third term)

'No obedience, no patriarchy, no police violence'

Support for Peng Lifa, who was arrested after staging a one person banner protest in Beijing last week

'No more fear, we can do this'

These photos were taken on the streets of SE14, CNN has featured similar posters put up at Goldsmiths College

Update 8 December 2022 (all from Goldsmiths):

#thepostermovement

'we stand with Uyghurs; we stand with Iranian women'

'Stand with uyghurs, stand with tibet, stand with hong kong, stand with taiwan, stand with iranians, stand with ukraine, stand with all peoples resisting dictatorship oppression and violence'

'we want freedom, we want food on our tables, we want to breathe, we want art, we want democracy, we want to love, stand with chinese people'