Levellers squat gig at Camberwell Dickie Dirts, 1986

In the early 1980s the former Odeon cinema site in Camberwell, on the corner of Denmark Hill and Coldharbour Lane, became a branch of the discount jeans chain Dickie Dirts. By 1984 it had closed and been squatted, which I believe it was intermittently for the next couple of years. 

On 9 August 1986 there was a gig there featuring The Levellers and The Bambi Slam

Source of gig advert - The Wire, Southwark Squatters zine, 8 August 1986 (held at 56a Info Shop archive). The newsletter was produced by SNOW (Squatters Network of Walworth)

The old Dickie Dirts/Odeon building was demolished in 1993 and the Nandos currently stands on its site. Loughborough Junction has the full history of the site. 

[Update: its seems that the Levellers who played at this gig were probably not the Brighton-based band who had hits in the early 1990s. There was apparently another band of the same name in the South London squat scene at this time, living in the squatted Domville Grove off Albany Road SE17. Looks like the Brighton band didn't form until 1988, though understandable confusion as they played in a similar scene. I saw the Brighton Levellers play at a squatted warehouse in Effra Road, Brixton in the early 1990s and the band apparently held an end of tour party at the squatted Brockwell Park Lido in 1993, during a period when the pool was empty.]

Band of Holy Joy at Dash the Henge

Dash the Henge in Camberwell has so much interesting stuff going on in addition to selling records, not to mention having a pop up Henge in Brixton arcade. This Saturday 23 August sees a performance at 5 pm by the legendary Band of Holy Joy, launching a new CD of poetic psychogeographical experimentation 'Data breach on haunted beach', also available at bandcamp.

Check out their Bad Punk show on Resonance FM too. 

'to the broken bottled beach once more...'

Update after the gig:

Really enjoyed the performance at Dash the Henge, a stripped back BOHJ mainly performing from 'Data Breach...' with a spoken word tale of drugs, death and revenge on the North East coast. But they also played a few of their early favourites including Rosemary Smith and Fishwives, the latter's dysfunctional relationship now reconciled with a new ending where they go out together and join a Palestinian solidarity demonstration. Good to see some members of Test Dept there too, a band who like BOHJ started out in New Cross. Look out for some early unreleased recordings from them coming out soon, also look out for BOHJ doing a full band gig in Brighton on 26 October 2025.

William Wyld

Poet and artist William Wyld is hosting the next Yer Bard poetry night at Dash the Henge in Camberwell on June 18th 2025.

William works out of a studio at Thames-Side studios in Woolwich and I went along to their open studio this weekend. There were poetry readings from William and other poets including Erica Hesketh (also at Yer Bard this month), Jasmine Cooray,  Michaela Coplen and Mark Rodenhurst. William's diverse body of work was on display including portraits, natural landscapes from the Hebrides (including my ancestral homeland of Islay) and shamanic bird and crab masks. William's poetry has been published in 'Queer Life, Queer Love II' and elsewhere and they have been involved in the Southbank Centre New Poets Collective.

Richard Cabut at Dash the Henge

Another interesting night coming up the great Dash the Henge shop in Camberwell on Thursday 22 May 2025, Richard Cabut will be reading from his poetry collection 'Disorderly Magic and Other Disturbances', now being launched as an audio book. Accompanied by Magic Soundscapes from the Band of Holy Joy plus Patrick Lyons and film.

 

Hitler hanged and burned: VE Day in South London 1945

The end of war in Europe was celebrated with several days of relieved VE (Victory in Europe) celebrations across Britain in May 1945. In South London as in many other areas this includes bonfires, parties and singing in the streets. On the Old Kent Road there were 'groups of people singing round pianos on the pavements'; on Rye Lane, Peckham sailors rode on the top of double decker buses; hundreds gathered at One Tree Hill.

During the events 'scores of effigies of Hitler were burned' while it was reported that in Artichoke Place, Camberwell 'another Hitler dummy is swinging from a gas lamp with a noose around his neck' (South London Observer, 11 May 1945)

 

May Day 2025: Deptford and Camberwell

'A Salute to May Day' at St Giles Church in Camberwell on Tuesday April 30th was a lovely night promoted by Broadside Hacks and Dash the Henge. It started off with the Belles of London City morris dancing in front of the church, followed by Daisy Rickman, Goblin Band and Tealeaf playing inside. Loved Goblin Band in particular with their set of May themed songs including Birds in the Spring, the First of May, May Morning Dew and a rousing version of the Padstow May Song which had people dancing in the aisles and pews with the Belles and a horse!

Goblin Band in St Giles

On May Day itself there was a big turn out for the annual Fowlers Troop Deptford Jack in the Green procession. It started out at the Dog and Bell in Deptford, heading along to the Salt Quay on the Greenwich river front then around various local drinking places.

A personal highlight for me was seeing my first swifts of the year swooping over SE14. 'You never heard so sweet as the birds in the spring'.

Pleased to see too that Past Tense Publications has reprinted my pamphlet on the history of 'May Day in South London' which you can purchase here.

See previous posts on May Day in South London

Swedenborg Churches in South London (Deptford, Camberwell, Norwood)

 The visionary Christianity of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) had a big impact on the more mystically inclined believers in the 18th and 19th centuries, famously including William Blake (though never somebody to bow to another's doctrine he had his criticisms of the Swedish thinker). To this day the Swedenborg Society still maintain a centre in Covent Garden where they put on some interesting events.

In the late 19th century there were at least three 'New Jerusalem Church' congregations in South London:  in Flodden Road, Camberwell; in Warwick Street, Deptford; and off Anerley Hill in Upper Norwood.

According to Lewisham archives, The Deptford New Jerusalem Church on Warwick Street (now Warwickshire path) was built in 1871and closed in 1949 though it was later used by the Deptford Branch of British Legion.

The Camberwell church is pictured below in 1908 (it closed in 1970):

The Deptford and Camberwell buildings are long gone, but another New Church off Anerley Hill remained open until 1987 and has been converted to housing (New Church Court in Waldegrave Road, near to Crystal Palace station):

Camberwell Communists and the Nigerian Miners Massacre (1949)

 In Nigeria in November 2024, the National Commission for Mu­seum and Monuments 'marked the 75th anniversa­ry of the massacre of 21 coal miners at Iva Valley, Enugu, by the colonial masters. It could be recalled that 21 coal miners were shot dead in Enugu on Nov. 18, 1949, by the colonial mas­ters for agitating for better working conditions and improved welfare packages'.

A monument to the massacre in Nigeria

The massacre took place at a British owned mine under British colonial rule. It sparked protests throughout the country that strengthened the movement for independence. During these protests a young Nigerian who had lived in Camberwell was among those killed, having returned to Nigeria only a couple of weeks earlier.  Odilia Asaka was a young Nigerian law student who lived in De Crespigny Park. He had given demonstrations of African songs to Peckham Secondary Girls School and was a member of the Camberwell branch of the Communist Party, and his death was announced at a CP meeting at Peckham girls school by Tom Gibson (I believe the school was on the site of what is now Harris Academy Peckham).

The Secretary of the State for the Colonies at the time was Arthur Creech Jones, the former secretary of Dulwich Independent Labour Party. When he came to speak at a Labour Party meeting at Grafton Hall, Dulwich on 24 November 1949 he was shouted down by Nigerians in the audience with cries such as .‘Our people have been shot. You live on our sweat. When we ask for money you give us bullets'.

The Labour Party blamed the Communist Party for the disruption of the meeting. For their part the Camberwell CP were happy to stand by the Nigerian protestors and passed a resolution that denounced 'the acts of brutality being committed against Nigerian miners who are striking for a better standard of living. For the Labour Government to allow such atrocities to continue is a complete negation of the principles of the British Labour movement and the Colonial Secretary is urged to take action and arrest and charge with murder those who authorised the shooting, grant workers their wage demands, give pensions to dependents of murdered miners and convene immediately a democratically elected constituent assembly  and enable them to choose the form any government of Nigeria should take' (South London Observer, 9 December 1949). Nigeria became independent in 1960.

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The Tidal Year

 

Freya Bromley's 'The Tidal Year: a memoir on grief, swimming and sisterhood' sees the author travelling around Britain's tidal pools in the aftermath of her brother's untimely death. Along the way she visits some of my favourite swimming spots including Walpole Bay in Margate, Clevedon Marine Lake (on the Severn Estuary) and Dancing Ledge in Dorset.

But her home turf swimming spot is Brockwell Park Lido, even through the swimming there does not always come easy: 'Getting in the lido felt like a punishment, which something inside me needed. Getting out felt like a rebirth, which everything inside me needed. I took short, sharp breaths as the water burned my ankles, thighs, stomach, then chest. Crying happens on an inhale, and swimming gives me that same breathless sensation. I swam three laps, then at the deep end screamed underwater. When I emerged, I couldn't stop crying. Witnessing someone having a breakdown in a public pool must be a good way to see British manners'.

Along the way friendships and romance play out against a backdrop of familiar South London landmarks. East Dulwich Picturehouse, the Prince of Wales in Brixton, Myatts Fields, Herne Hill market, the Camberwell Arms and the Silk Road restaurant (also in Camberwell) all feature, not to mention a first date checking out the Lime Kiln in Burgess Park.

South London Gay Clubs 1984

Some South London gay clubs 1984: Dover Castle in Deptford Broadway; Market Tavern in Vauxhall, Union Tavern in Camberwell ) - from Capital Gay 24 August 1984

See previously:

Police raid Forest Hill Gay Club 1987

 

South London Tarot

 Brockley Pop Up on the corner by Brockley Cross roundabout has hosted some interesting retro clothes and other short term shops recently. Lates temporary occupant is Tia Xixa Tarot offering tarot readings until 29 January 2023

Like many tarot readers, Jessica uses the Rider Waite Smith tarot deck, to which there is a South London connection  (there always is). As mentioned here before A E Waite, who co-created the deck with artist Pamela Colman Smith, was initiated into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the grounds of what is now the Horniman Museum in 1891.

There are lots of new and interesting decks out there too, at a recent Old Kent Road Arts Club fair I came across Ayshe-Mira Yasmin's work. She has designed  an Earth Mother Magic Tarot Deck as 'an intersectional feminist tarot deck for queer women and femme non-binary people. The intention of the deck is to empower women and femme people in the face of an adversary world, to celebrate queer love, and to embrace raw feminine power through an intersectional representation of femininity'.  Yasmin has been studying illustration at Camberwell arts college. You can find her on insta as Illustrationwitch.

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]

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