On Friday 4^th August, Labour Borough Councillor John Slinger (New Bilton Ward) invited New Cross Fire survivors and their families to a cross-party reception at the Mayor’s Parlour to discuss how to provide a suitable memorial to those affected by the tragedy, many of whom were from or connected to Rugby.

The New Cross Fire took place on January 18th 1981, during a private family birthday party celebrating Yvonne Ruddock’s 16th at 439 New Cross Road, London. 13 teenage young black Caribbean people died. Yvonne’s family had moved from Rugby to south London in the late 1960s. Friends and Yvonne’s cousins Susan and Lorna travelled to London after school together for the party. Two of whom lost their lives in the tragedy – 16-year-old Patrick Cummings and 18-year-old Humphrey Brown.

Those attending the reception in the Mayor’s Parlour on Friday included survivors and their families such as Lorna Tavares, and Susan Sharpe, Yvonne’s cousins who attended the party, and Robert Ruddock, who lost his sister Yvonne and brother Paul in the fire. Also attending was survivor Peter Mills who is still residing in Rugby. The survivors held an exhibition last year about the fire and its consequences at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum and subsequently took the exhibition to Goldsmiths University of London earlier this year. They represented the other Rugby survivors and two victims in the meeting. Fiona Williams, who taught some of the victims and survivors at Harris School in 1981 also attended.

The political parties were represented by Leader of the Labour Group Cllr Michael Moran, Deputy Leader of the Labour Group Cllr Ish Mistry, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Group Cllr Jerry Roodhouse, Conservative Councillor Carolyn Watson-Merret, Labour County Councillor Cllr Sarah Feeney, and Cllr Slinger (Labour).

Mayor of Rugby, Cllr Maggie O’Rourke said:

“It was a great honour to have the privilege of hosting an event where we brought all the political parties together to see how we can best support the New Cross survivors and their families.”

Lorna Tavares said:

“We were delighted to be invited to the Mayor’s parlour to discuss a living legacy to commemorate the loss of our dear friends Humphrey Brown and Patrick Cummings and also the survivors being acknowledged. We are looking forward to seeing new beginnings for the betterment in the community in times of need.”

Cllr Slinger said:

“It was an honour to invite the New Cross Fire survivors and their families to the Town Hall for this reception hosted by the Mayor. They are a strong and dignified group of people, committed to ensuring that those who died, and the survivors and others affected are not forgotten. At the meeting I pledged to work on a cross-party basis to create a meaningful, appropriate, permanent memorial to the victims and survivors, that recognises the connection so many have to our town and, above all else, reflects the views of the campaigners. I’m already discussing this with senior officers.”

Cllr Ish Mistry invited Rugby resident Trevor Hall CBE, Hon LL.D, former Race Equality Adviser to the Home Office and first Black Community Relations Officer, Rugby Community Relations Council (1971-1983), who said that he “welcomed the initiative to commemorate the personal involvement of the Rugby community in the London Deptford tragedy. The disaster impacted deeply on the behaviour of many of the pupils of the secondary schools.”

The campaign group will be meeting Councillors and officials again in the autumn to discuss next steps.