Three decades after 14 young people tragically lost their lives after attending a house party in New Cross, the Nubian Jak Community Trust, in partnership with Lewisham Council (and consultation with Black History Walks), is to install a blue plaque at the address where the tragedy took place.
The ceremony will take place at 439 New Cross Road, Lewisham, London, SE14 6TA, on Tuesday 18th January, 2011 at 2:00pm.
The plaque will be the climax of a series of events happening over 4 days beginning with a Remembrance Evening of entertainment at the Albany Theatre, Deptford, on 14th January hosted by the playwright Kwame Kwei Armah. This will be followed on Sunday 16th January, by a 3pm Memorial Service at St Andrews Church, Brockley SE4. Then two days later, on Tuesday 18th, exactly 30 years to the day the catastrophic fire took place, a blue commemorative plaque will be unveiled by family members of those that perished in the fire. Also attending will be the mayor of Lewisham, dignitaries, TV personalities, the media and members of the public.
The New Cross Fire was a devastating house fire which killed 13 young black people during a birthday party in New Cross, South East London, on Sunday January 18, 1981. It would later claim a 14th victim. The black community were shocked by the indifference of the wider population, and accused the London Metropolitan Police of a cover up, which they suspected was an arson attack motivated by racism. The protests arising out of the fire led to a mobilisation of black political activity and the largest ever street march by a BME community in Britain. To date no-one has ever been charged, but the case represents a land mark in British African Caribbean history and race relations.