It featured many ups and downs, tragedies and some good news for the borough. Reporter CHRIS STEEL looks back ...

JANUARY

Children and teachers were left stunned at the death of teacher Patrick Stack, MBE. The father of four, who taught at Sedghill Secondary School, in Bellingham, was found hanging from a beam of an outbuilding by a member of staff. His devastated wife Cathy said: "I have lost a wonderful husband and my children a devoted father."

A £50,000 reward was offered by the Metropolitan Police for information on the circumstances of the 1981 New Cross fire. The renewed investigation into the tragedy, which took the lives of 14 young people, was marked by a remembrance service in the crypt of St Paul's Church in Deptford.

FEBRUARY

A £40m redevelopment plan for Lewisham Hospital was announced in a scheme to develop a 21st-century health service. Health Secretary Alan Milburn set out the plans which will allow investigative equipment, including x-ray and endoscopy suites, to be built in the High Street site, with work due to start in 2003.

An investigation was launched after a 10-year-old boy hanged himself in his Forest Hill home. Jevan Richardson, a pupil of St Mary Magdalene School in Brockley, was found by his father. Both the council and school promised to investigate the tragedy, which happened two months after Jevan's exclusion from the school in Howson Road.

MARCH

A police officer died on Blackheath Hill on his way to an emergency in Lewisham. Accident investigators began to piece together how PC Tony Haines' patrol car ran off the road into a bus shelter, with tragic consequences for the 42-year-old. Borough commander Chief Superintendent Peter Zieminski paid tribute to married Mr Haines, who had received long service and good conduct awards in 2000. He said: "The Metropolitan Police have lost a truly outstanding and valued officer."

An inquiry was launched after a rush-hour collision of two commuter trains at Hither Green. Nine people were injured in the smash between the 8.08am train from Crayford to Cannon Street and the 7.58am from Sevenoaks to Canon Street. Connex managing director Olivier Brousse said: "It seems our driver passed a signal at danger but this is still to be confirmed." In November 1967, 49 people died and 78 were injured in a collision at Hither Green described as one of Britain's worst rail disasters.

ROGER WRIGHT

24.2.1948 25.3.2001

News Shopper readers and staff mourned the death of chief sports reporter Roger Wright. Roger, who came to the paper after working as racing editor with the Press Association, was known to be the fount of all knowledge by those who knew him. Former football commentator Brian Moore, who also sadly passed away this year, paid tribute to Roger, who lived in Bickley. He said: "All his work was first class. The News Shopper, and local sport in general, will be the poorer for his death. And he always had time, whatever his workload, to talk to others."

APRIL

Karate cop Roy Tomlin was named top part-time policeman for kicking crime out of Lewisham. The 45-year-old special constable, who spends 800 hours a year on the beat in the borough and is also a fifth dan blackbelt, was awarded a trophy for his efforts by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens and London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

The borough remembered the sublime talents of Lewisham-born David "Rocky" Rocastle, the Arsenal and England star who died from cancer at the age of 33. The father-of-three, who also left a wife, Janet, had been suffering with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Fellow Arsenal and England star Alan Smith said: "Rocky was a really kind, genuine guy."

MAY

A £45m cash boost was announced for New Cross Gate, as part of a Government pledge to regenerate the neighbourhood. The 10-year plan was launched at Millwall's ground in Zampa Road and will be part of the wider regeneration of North Lewisham and Thames Gateway. The money followed statistics which revealed high levels of child mortality, poverty, crime and low levels of literacy in comparison with the national average.

It was revealed Lewisham Race Equality Council (LREC) collapsed after failing to apply for its funding from Lewisham Council. A war of words broke out between the race body and the authority, after the £74,000 grant failed to be renewed. The body said officers decided not to renew the funding but the council insisted the application was not accepted in time. LREC admits the application was late but said the council had already decided to refuse it.

JUNE

The borough's first successful anti-social behaviour orders were brought against two Downham teenagers. Lewisham's Council application against the 15-year-olds was granted by Greenwich Magistrates after they heard how the pair had been a constant harassment to shopkeepers and residents in Downham Way through their petty crimes and abusive behaviour. The pair were told that if they act in any way to cause a continued disturbance in the area, they would face a jail term, or a fine, or both.

Ken Livingstone's chief advisor on race caused a storm in Deptford and across London when he called for racially segregated schools. The mayoral advisor stated at Deptford Town Hall that he believed black children were subjected to bullying by white teachers as a result of a culture of institutionalised racism in our schools.

JULY

Plans were unveiled by Lewisham Council for a creative blitzkrieg throughout the borough. Regeneration guru Charles Landry, who gave Barcelona a facelift, was hired to spearhead the raft of initiatives branded "Creative Lewisham". The council explained it will reorganise its £750m annual budget in the bid to attract and retain cultural industry in the borough.

Woolwich paras bombed Downing Street. The Woolwich Royal Artillery team dropped weighted wind-testing devices before a jump over Whitehall. But they failed to unroll it and it plummeted into Tony Blair's back garden. A Downing Street spokesman said: "An object did land in the garden but the Prime Minister was not aware of it or inconvenienced in any way."

AUGUST

St Christopher's Hospice was handed the world's largest humanitarian prize. The $1m windfall from the Conrad N Hilton charity was accepted at a ceremony in New York by hospice founder Dame Cicely Saunders (pictured). More than 50,000 healthcare professionals have trained at the centre for the terminally ill since it opened for £500 in 1967.

SEPTEMBER

Artist Spencer Tunick arrived to create a sea of flesh in Deptford. The American, who is famed in America and the rest of Europe, revealed plans to fill a tourist spot with naked locals in a quest to create an art spectacular for the Deptford Festival.

American firm Citibank stepped up security following the terrorist atrocities in New York and Washington on September 11. But the Lewisham centre confirmed it was "business as usual" as Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens reassured the public, saying: "We are taking all necessary precautions to make sure something similar does not happen in this country."

OCTOBER

The nuclear train debate escalated during the allied "war on terror", as the Greater London Authority considered the consequences of attacks. The threat of a terrorist attack or derailment of flasks provoked a call for a full risk assessment by the GLA's nuclear train committee chairman Darren Johnson.

Plans to extend the tube from New Cross into Lewisham were given the green light. The Government confirmed planning permission for the extension to the East London Line, which should run to Brockley and Forest Hill by 2006. But the Strategic Rail Authority said it needed to find a private sector company to inject £600m to bring the plan together.

NOVEMBER

News Shopper readers helped bring young Millwall thugs before the courts. After seeing police CCTV photos printed in the paper, Lewisham police were flooded with calls identifying the suspects. They then carried out a series of dawn raids on the youngsters' homes, before taking them to Deptford police station to be charged with violent disorder.

A major investigation was launched after four children died in a Deptford house fire. Eighteen-month-old Casey Amos, Tre Payne, eight, Verinya Payne nine, and 15-year-old April Olebar all died in the blaze at their home in Deptford Wharf. The tragedy is being investigated by the Serious Crime Group in Shooter's Hill.

DECEMBER

Lewisham Council announced a £40,000 cut in the funding it would allow for the collection of dumped cars. The decision followed public support from the authority for a Government's project to rid the country of the urban scourge. Dumped cars in the borough had increased tenfold in just three years, from 500 in 1998 to 5,000 in 2001.

A £20m project to rejuvenate Goldsmith's College was announced, to produce the next generation of Mary Quants and Damien Hirsts. The facility will occupy 11,000 sqm of land after the first phase of building alone, and allows space for an extra 230 students. An architect will be selected on January 23, with the first phase of building set to be completed in September 2002.

December 20, 2001 10:39