1980s Archives - Page 2 of 3

Featured local business - Clubtek

Forest

SE23

Hill

I was already a regular visitor to Clubtek’s DJ shop when it was in Penge, but now they're even handier in Stanstead Road, just a few doors down from Shannon’s Garden Centre - another old favourite. It’s by no means just for DJs and bands...

Debating Disarmament at Riverdale Hall, Lewisham (1984)

Nov

2015

There are plans to turn Riverdale Hall next to Lewisham shopping centre into a temporary 'street food emporium' (as reported at Brockley Central) As a public space it has been underused in recent years but it has had its moments in the past - hosting Saxon Sound System and an Elvis Presley exhibition among many other events. At ...

South London Rosettes

Nov

2014

Some great photos of women in early 1980s style sub-cultures by Anita Corbin here, including this one captioned 'Laura and Janet, South London Rosettes, April 1981'. Anyone know more about these mod revival scooterists?

Peckham Black Womens Group 1985

Jul

2014

From Bishopsgate Institute on facebook, a 1985 flyer for a Peckham Black Womens Group 'Black Womens Open Day' at the St Giles Centre in Benhill Road, Camberwell. Line up included 'Asian Women's Dance plus dub poetry and song by Lioness Chant'.Peckham Black Women's Group later opened Peckham Black Women's Centre at 69 Bellenden Road, SE15. ...

South East London Women Oppose the Nuclear Threat (1984)

May

2014

1984 was a busy year for the movement against nuclear weapons. American cruise missiles had been deployed in Britain, and there were protest camps at the US bases at Greenham Common and Molesworth. Cold War tensions were rising, and many people worried that a nuclear war was a real possibility.Thirty years ago, Thursday 24 May ...

Music Monday: Akwaba and Lewisham Bridge Primary School Choir 1983

Apr

2014

Last week I was DJing at the Agit Disco benefit for Housmans bookshop at the Surya Bar in Islington, also on the bill was John Eden (Uncarved) who kindly gave me this record he had found in his crate digging for reggae classics and obscurities.'El Condor Pasa' by Akwaba is a cover in a lovers ...

Music Monday: Test Dept and the Miners Strike

Apr

2014

Continuing the series of posts on the 1984/85 miners strike and South London, we turn to Test Dept. As discussed several times here before, the influential industrial band started out in New Cross, specifically at 8 Nettleton Road where some of the band were living.Many bands played benefit gigs for the miners, but Test Dept went ...

Lewisham Miners Support 1984/5

Mar

2014

During the miners strike of 1984/5, which started 30 years ago this month, there were support groups set up across the country. Previously here we have mentioned support at Goldsmiths in New Cross. Another local group was Lewisham Women Against Pit Closures. This flyer from January 1985 tells us that:1. The group held planning meetings ...

Chris Schwarz: Every Picture Tells a Story

Mar

2014

Chris Schwarz (1948-2007) was a remarkable photographer who documented everyday life in SE London and historical events (such as the 1977 'Battle of Lewisham'). Later in life his photos of the remains of Jewish presence in Poland- ruined synagogues etc - prompted him to sell his flat to finance setting up the Galicia Jewish Museum ...

Supporting the Miners Strike at Goldsmiths in 1984/5

Mar

2014

It's thirty years ago this week since the start of the miners strike, a long and bitter dispute that defined the mid-1980s in Britain. Ultimately the miners lost, and their claim that there was a secret Government plan to close down coal mines en masse was soon to proved correct. Miners support groups were set ...

Old Kent Road 1983: A Smash Hits Advert

Dec

2013

Like Punk Never Happened- Brian McCloskey's Smash Hits Archive is a great site featuring fortnightly scans of issues of the pop magazine from 30 years ago. This Premium Bonds advert from June 23 1983 features a young woman standing by an Old Kent Road street sign and dreaming of an advance to Mayfair (i.e. from the ...