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New Storytellers: 40 Years On: Remembering the New Cross Fire

40 Years On: Remembering the New Cross Fire

BBC Radio 4 - New Storytellers, 40 Years On: Remembering the New Cross Fire

Commemorating the 1981 New Cross fire that killed 13 black teenagers at a birthday party.

Commemorating the 1981 New Cross fire that killed 13 black teenagers at a birthday party. Believed by some to be a racist arson attack, no one has ever been found responsible.

Commemorating the tragedy of a house fire in New Cross, South East London in 1981, where 13 young black teenagers died at the joint birthday party of Yvonne Ruddock ,16, who was one of those who lost their life, and Angela Jackson,18, who survived after leaving the party early.  

To this day, no-one has been found responsible for the fire which is believed by some to have been a racist arson attack. At the time, the families and community criticised the police investigation. The government’s lack of action and press disinterest led to a Black People’s Day of Action, which has continued every year,  campaigning for racial justice. The historic first protest saw 20,000 march from the Moonshot Youth Club in New Cross into Central London. 

Forty years on, Remembering the New Cross Fire weaves together protest and memories including that of Lewisham community leader Sybil Phoenix OBE who ran the Moonshot, the first black youth club in the area, with music created in response to the fire and a poem by Linton Kwesi Johnson. Magdalena Moursy (2021 Gold winner of the Charles Parker Prize) also recorded at this year’s Black People’s Day of Action in March where many gathered, despite pandemic restrictions, to continue to remember and demand justice for those who died and their families.

New Storytellers presents the work of new radio and audio producers, and this series features all five winners of this year’s prize for Best Student Radio Feature. 

The judges praised Magdalena Moursy, an MA student at Goldsmiths, University of London, for 'an extremely moving and well-crafted feature that is true to the spirit of Charles Parker while doing something fresh and entirely its own'.

Producer: Magdalena Moursy 
A Soundscape production for BBC Radio 4

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New work from winners of the Charles Parker Prize for the Best Student Radio Feature.

New work by radio and audio producers new to BBC Radio 4 from the five winners of this year's Charles Parker Prize for the Best Student Radio Feature.

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