# Big fire on Walworth Road - Library/Cuming Museum/Council Offices



## salem (Mar 25, 2013)

Just come out to see the building with the library, cumin museum and council offices is on fire. Looks very serious, whole roof is ablaze  with bits falling down.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Just seen some pics on Twitter


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

Oh no. This is terrible


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

*London Fire Brigade* ‏@*LondonFire*  16m
Now there are 15 fire engines with 97 firefighters and officers at the scene of the *Walworth* fire.


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## TruXta (Mar 25, 2013)

Bloody hell. Hope no one is hurt.


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## Belushi (Mar 25, 2013)

Crikey


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

I hope everyone got out safely.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

*London Ambulance* ‏@*Ldn_Ambulance*  2m
Our hazardous area response team are working with @*LondonFire* at the *Walworth* Road fire - there are no patients


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## trashpony (Mar 25, 2013)

Oh shit  that's such a lovely building


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

trashpony said:


> Oh shit  that's such a lovely building


 
Sounds like it's a few buildings according to Salem and tweets


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## Badgers (Mar 25, 2013)

Oh shit  

Good job our Mayor is not closing down fire services eh?


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## trashpony (Mar 25, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Sounds like it's a few buildings according to Salem and tweets


Salem is talking about one building


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## belboid (Mar 25, 2013)

salem said:


> cumin museum


that is one very specialised museum!  It should at least smell nice...


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## Puddy_Tat (Mar 25, 2013)




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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

trashpony said:


> Salem is talking about one building


 
ah right, library and others are all in the same building yes?  Didn't realise that


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

belboid said:


> that is one very specialised museum! It should at least smell nice...


Typo. Cuming. No smutty jokes either please. This is breaking my heart.


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> ah right, library and others are all in the same building yes? Didn't realise that


It used to be the Register Office too. I got married in there in 1981


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## salem (Mar 25, 2013)

From my street the whole roof seems to be gone. There will certainly be significant water damage to the rest of the building  



Minnie_the_Minx said:


> *London Ambulance* ‏@*Ldn_Ambulance*  2m
> Our hazardous area response team are working with @*LondonFire* at the *Walworth* Road fire - there are no patients


 
Well that's some good news


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Am seeing the smoke now from Brixton.  Couldn't see it before due to clouds/haze.

There's a helicopter overhead

I'm wondering, if council offices are on fire, isn't that going to be massively disruptive, especially considering all the changes coming in next month.  I realise lots of stuff will be held on computer, but if fire's bad enough that offices need to be closed/relocated temporarily....


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## shakespearegirl (Mar 25, 2013)

you can see the smoke from the southbank


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## salem (Mar 25, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Typo. Cuming. No smutty jokes either please. This is breaking my heart.


 
I hope the cases provided protection but they've been hosing down that corner of the building extensively. The fire seems to be mainly on the roof although I can only see it from Wansey Street.

It's been an exciting week as they've been delivering the cabins to make the new arts centre across the road all week.


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## salem (Mar 25, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Just seen some pics on Twitter


I'm on that side street which is closed off and blocked on the other end so can't get in or out. It looks like the worst of the fire is towards the back of the building which would mean what I see is the worst of it (hopefully).


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> It used to be the Register Office too. I got married in there in 1981


 
b/f did as well


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## Badgers (Mar 25, 2013)

LFB photo from Twitter


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## ringo (Mar 25, 2013)

Quite a bit of Southwark social services, those not in Kennington and Peckham, use that Council building too  Hope everyone got out alright.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Wonder how many of these fire crews would be able to attend if and when this happens



> *Walworth London SE17* ‏@*se17*  19m
> Two other under threat fire stations - kingsland and new cross - have also sent appliances to Walworth fire


 


> *Walworth London SE17* ‏@*se17*  29m
> Fire engine from Clerkenwell at Walworth fire. Boris wants to shut Clerkenwell fire station. pic.twitter.com/0IFj1tow49
> 
> *  Hide photo  *


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## editor (Mar 25, 2013)

That's such a shame, It's a lovely building.


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

editor said:


> That's such a shame, It's a lovely building.


My eldest will be gutted. It was her favourite place to go after school. As a family we have so many connections to that building.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

salem said:


> I hope the cases provided protection but they've been hosing down that corner of the building extensively. The fire seems to be mainly on the roof although I can only see it from Wansey Street.
> 
> It's been an exciting week as they've been delivering the cabins to make the new arts centre across the road all week.


 

Ah, wondered what those coloured cabins were


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## Badgers (Mar 25, 2013)

Pic by Teresa Brooks @tbrooks264


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## Badgers (Mar 25, 2013)

One from The Shard







_"Fire in Walworth, aerial photography from The Shard" _Credit: @OllyNewport


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## tonypilot (Mar 25, 2013)

This is very sad as the building was beautiful and the contents irreplaceable. I certainly hope nobody perrished.


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## William of Walworth (Mar 25, 2013)

Dreadful news. As others posted, I hope all working there are safe.

Really hope the library's and museum's collections escape the worst too.

This was round the corner from my old gaff prior to 2008. Went there frequently, was a member of the library, had appointments at the health centre next door**,  etc.

** "The Health of the People is the Highest Law"


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Sky TV saying fire has spread to neighbouring properties. 

What properties are next door then?


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## Badgers (Mar 25, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Sky TV saying fire has spread to neighbouring properties.
> 
> What properties are next door then?


 


> "It does not appear at this time that surrounding buildings or any residential properties have been affected, but we will continue to monitor the situation very closely and continue to assist the emergency services where we can."


 
http://news.sky.com/story/1069491/london-fire-100-firefighters-in-walworth


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Badgers said:


> http://news.sky.com/story/1069491/london-fire-100-firefighters-in-walworth


 
FFS, that was only a minute ago Sky were saying that 

Well good news that it's incorrect info anyway


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## rugboy70 (Mar 25, 2013)

really, i feel very sorry for the museum and my friends who live in larcom st , but please guys get real, walworth is a dump thank god I moved away in Feb. I  also feel sorry for the guys stuck on buses , but once again the mooses won't get off and walk as their fried chicken would get cold lol .


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## Badgers (Mar 25, 2013)

rugboy70 said:


> really, i feel very sorry for the museum and my friends who live in larcom st , but please guys get real, walworth is a dump thank god I moved away in Feb. I also feel sorry for the guys stuck on buses , but once again the mooses won't get off and walk as their fried chicken would get cold lol .


 
Bye


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> FFS, that was only a minute ago Sky were saying that
> 
> Well good news that it it's incorrect info anyway


Par for the course. Sky are always in such a rush for getting there first that I don't trust them much for truth. The BBC might take longer but have a much better rep for accuracy.


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

rugboy70 said:


> rbut please guys get real, walworth is a dump thank god I moved away in Feb. I also feel sorry for the guys stuck on buses , but once again the mooses won't get off and walk as their fried chicken would get cold lol .


So glad you've gone then, bit of a shit, aren't you?


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Par for the course. Sky are always in such a rush for getting there first that I don't trust them much for truth. The BBC might take longer but have a much better rep for accuracy.


 
Yeah, I know, but I stuck it on 'cos there was nothing on BBC


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## DJWrongspeed (Mar 25, 2013)

Looks like it's got worse, I did a temp job there for a few months,


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## lizzieloo (Mar 25, 2013)

There's a famous folklore collection there


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

That's probably just an old wives tale


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## zenie (Mar 25, 2013)

Was there earlier, wondered who was having a bonfire in Kennington/West Walworth at about midday  Then went to Walworth road to be confronted by that, scary stuff and so sad for the museum  Health Centre is also there as well. 

AND my clothes stink of fire now!!


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## salem (Mar 25, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Sky TV saying fire has spread to neighbouring properties.
> 
> What properties are next door then?


 
There is a fairly new build behind it (orange building) which is very close, separated only by a narrow alleyway. They were hosing that down too but mainly lots of fire brigade up there. I think the danger for them is more a chimney stack which was looking quite precarious.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

> Richard Rees, a 62-year-old pensioner who works in the community, said:
> "When I got here the flames were going. The fire services arrived very quickly and did a fantastic job. All staff got out very quick and professional, they got out safe...It's a listed building, it was one of the very few treasured buildings in the community. It took a long time to get it listed and it is a very sad day for us.Parts of it are Grade I listed and parts Grade II. It is Victorian and was the old town hall before the big boroughs were set up. *It is one of three in the borough which the council has been trying to sell off"*​– Richard Rees, local resident


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## zenie (Mar 25, 2013)

Now, now Minnie!!


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

zenie said:


> Now, now Minnie!!


 
_*I *_didn't say a word


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## salem (Mar 25, 2013)

After the shady way the Heygate was sold off I wouldn't put much past Southwark council.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

salem said:


> After the shady way the Heygate was sold off I wouldn't put much past Southwark council.


 
Now, now salem!!


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Video here from Sky.  Looking pretty fierce 

http://news.sky.com/story/1069491/london-fire-100-firefighters-in-walworth


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## lizzieloo (Mar 25, 2013)

There's a more recent one, more steam than smoke. Extensive damage though


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## bi0boy (Mar 25, 2013)

The middle bit is clearly fucked.


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## eatmorecheese (Mar 25, 2013)

Collapsed. All gone. Rumours of a firefighter in trouble too


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

I see now why people were saying it had spread to neighbouring buildings.  Those look like different blocks


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Someone is still saying it's spreading and that was only a couple of minutes ago

*Mat Lambor* ‏@*MatLambor*  1m
The fire in *walworth* road is spreading and only one or two houses away from our building - terrible news


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

*London Fire Brigade* ‏@*LondonFire*  2m
The fire in *Walworth*'s still ongoing. Salvage operations are beginning & crews will attempt to save artefacts from inside the museum.


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## Crispy (Mar 25, 2013)

Devastating


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

eatmorecheese said:


> Collapsed. All gone. Rumours of a firefighter in trouble too


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## Biddlybee (Mar 25, 2013)




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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

I'm so upset by this I can't express it. I think I'm going to have a cry


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## salem (Mar 25, 2013)




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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> I'm so upset by this I can't express it. I think I'm going to have a cry


 
I've never been in the building so don't know its layout, but it'll be tragic if historical records/photos are destroyed.  Hopefully they'll all be archived electronically somewhere?


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## peterkro (Mar 25, 2013)

I did some work on the building many years ago,it is indeed (or was) a beautiful building even the parts you don't get to see normally.It was repairing some corbals in the roof space.


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

There's a load of stuff about Southwark's history plus the Cuming Family Collection that made up the museum. As far as other stuff, social services records and goodness knows what else....obviously the main thing is that no-one gets hurt but the things that are in that building that are irreplacable will be such a loss to the whole of London.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Part of roof collapsing


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> There's a load of stuff about Southwark's history plus the Cuming Family Collection that made up the museum. As far as other stuff, social services records and goodness knows what else....obviously the main thing is that no-one gets hurt but the things that are in that building that are irreplacable will be such a loss to the whole of London.


 
Bad news.  Social Service records could be a bad loss as well for kids in care maybe wanting to access stuff later on, although no idea exactly what records were there and whether they'd be available electronically


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## Roadkill (Mar 25, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> I've never been in the building so don't know its layout, but it'll be tragic if historical records/photos are destroyed. Hopefully they'll all be archived electronically somewhere?


 
A lot probably won't, sadly.


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

It's like watching an old friend die in pain.


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

I don't think my eldest knows about this. I'm dreading telling her.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Roadkill said:


> A lot probably won't, sadly.


 
I know years ago I was thinking how dire Southwark's photo archives were compared to Lambeth's, but I've just gone and had another look and there seem to be a lot more than when I first looked which is good, but bad if those that haven't been saved electronically have been lost.  Same for historical documents.  Well, same for anything that may have been lost


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## salem (Mar 25, 2013)

The museum was such a fascinatingly bizarre collection. The bloke basically bought stuff of interest from around the world. I don't think he ever left the UK but went to auctions. The stand out piece was a piece of wedding cake from one of the old royal weddings. There were stuffed animals, bit of pottery etc and some interesting bits on local history.

From Wansey Street (where the fire seems to have been worst) the building still looks fairly intact - the roof is gone and I suspect there is serious damage but I wouldn't say the building has collapsed and I hope it's still salvageable.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

salem said:


> The museum was such a fascinatingly bizarre collection. The bloke basically bought stuff of interest from around the world. I don't think he ever left the UK but went to auctions. The stand out piece was a piece of wedding cake from one of the old royal weddings. There were stuffed animals, bit of pottery etc and some interesting bits on local history.
> 
> From Wansey Street (where the fire seems to have been worst) the building still looks fairly intact - the roof is gone and I suspect there is serious damage but I wouldn't say the building has collapsed and I hope it's still salvageable.


 
I never even knew about the museum


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 25, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> I never even knew about the museum


I'm amazed, bearing in mind your interests in history, research etc. I think my daughter spent more time in there than she did at home!


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> I'm amazed, bearing in mind your interests in history, research etc. I think my daughter spent more time in there than she did at home!


 
Yeah, but that's only family history really and all my London family came from Brixton/Kennington area although I was recently trying to find out stuff about Camberwell Fire Station during the war as my grandfather was a fireman during the war

eta:  and to be honest, I've never really liked Walworth Road area that much so tend to avoid it.  Couldn't be arsed with the traffic


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Some good news

*London Fire Brigade* ‏@*LondonFire*  57s
The fire in #*Walworth* is now under control. Crews will remain at the scene through the night damping down and carrying out salvage work.


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## wtfftw (Mar 25, 2013)

Thanks to this thread tho, I gave my sister a heads up as she collects my niece from near there.


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## Pickman's model (Mar 25, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Yeah, but that's only family history really and all my London family came from Brixton/Kennington area although I was recently trying to find out stuff about Camberwell Fire Station during the war as my grandfather was a fireman during the war
> 
> eta:  and to be honest, I've never really liked Walworth Road area that much so tend to avoid it.  Couldn't be arsed with the traffic


I suppose you tried the london metropolitan archives about the fire station


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> I suppose you tried the london metropolitan archives about the fire station


 
Don't you start!

Unless I can look online (and preferably for free), I don't have the time or patience to be visiting archives


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Live on ITV London news now


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> It used to be the Register Office too. I got married in there in 1981


 
Now he's seen pictures of it, he can't remember whether he got married there or in Kennington 

Will have to ask his wife


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## Pickman's model (Mar 25, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Don't you start!
> 
> Unless I can look online (and preferably for free), I don't have the time or patience to be visiting archives


 http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/Research.asp


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## StoneRoad (Mar 25, 2013)

That is such a terrible loss - I feel very sad.
Hopefully there may be some things saved, but I suspect that it will not be much as the roof collapsed.
Those water jets from early on in the news coverage looked woefully small against such a fire. One wonders if/why the building didn't have sprinklers or similar.......


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

StoneRoad said:


> That is such a terrible loss - I feel very sad.
> Hopefully there may be some things saved, but I suspect that it will not be much as the roof collapsed.
> Those water jets from early on in the news coverage looked woefully small against such a fire. One wonders if/why the building didn't have sprinklers or similar.......


 
Council would probably state cost of installing them


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## Pickman's model (Mar 25, 2013)

StoneRoad said:


> That is such a terrible loss - I feel very sad.
> Hopefully there may be some things saved, but I suspect that it will not be much as the roof collapsed.
> Those water jets from early on in the news coverage looked woefully small against such a fire. One wonders if/why the building didn't have sprinklers or similar.......


You did see it was grade I & ii listed. That might go some way towards clearing the mists of your confusion.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/Research.asp


 
oooooooooooh!  Thank you, will have a look at that


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## boohoo (Mar 25, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> I'm so upset by this I can't express it. I think I'm going to have a cry


Feel the same - they currently have an exhibition of martin brothers pottery who are my faves. We can't lose the good stuff like our little museums.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 25, 2013)

Might email the record services people as the museum don't hold records after 1920

http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/FrequentlyAskedQuestions.asp


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## StoneRoad (Mar 25, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> You did see it was grade I & ii listed. That might go some way towards clearing the mists of your confusion.


 
You can install sprinklers in a listed building - you just have to follow stricter rules about not damaging the structure in the process, it depends on whether the place you are trying to protect is worth the damage involved, iyswim. {It was a while ago, but I have worked for consulting engineers who designed such schemes.}


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## Pickman's model (Mar 25, 2013)

StoneRoad in that case see #85


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## StoneRoad (Mar 25, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> StoneRoad in that case see #85


 
Unfortunately, lots of clients (not just councils) even decades ago were always after cost savings on projects, and one of the soft targets would be the fire fighting systems & alarms.


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## Roadkill (Mar 26, 2013)

Fire crews still there this morning, and someone on Twitter is saying there are still visible flames.


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## ringo (Mar 26, 2013)

Such a shame, and I never managed to visit Cumings Museum either, right on my doorstep for 12 years and never got round to it


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## RubyToogood (Mar 26, 2013)

During the course of my research for the Peckham memoir project I kept coming across poor copies of watercolours, the originals of which were at the Cuming Museum. I'd never heard about it before and didn't get round to going to look at it. Shame I never will now. I think they have/had quite a lot of similar pictures of the local area in the 19th century.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 26, 2013)

RubyToogood said:


> During the course of my research for the Peckham memoir project I kept coming across poor copies of watercolours, the originals of which were at the Cuming Museum. I'd never heard about it before and didn't get round to going to look at it. Shame I never will now. I think they have/had quite a lot of similar pictures of the local area in the 19th century.


 

Southwark has a website with lots of archived photos.  Was looking at it last night.


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## RubyToogood (Mar 26, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Southwark has a website with lots of archived photos. Was looking at it last night.


They do. These were pre-photography though.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 26, 2013)

RubyToogood said:


> They do. These were pre-photography though.


 
ah right.  Bad news if they've been lost.  Will be interesting to hear what Fire Brigade managed to salvage


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## Crispy (Mar 26, 2013)

archives may do better than museum exhibits. It's actually pretty hard to completely burn concentrated stacks of paper.


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## Balham (Mar 26, 2013)

It is always a shame to see any part of London (or any town or county) be so severely damaged, especially in such a way 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




.


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## Roadkill (Mar 26, 2013)

Crispy said:


> archives may do better than museum exhibits. It's actually pretty hard to completely burn concentrated stacks of paper.


 
The firemen's hoses might have reduced some of them to papier mache, though.


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## salem (Mar 26, 2013)

Just been out to have a look and from Walworth Road it looks like the left hand side of the building (corner of Wansey Street) took the brunt of the damage. It seems the chunk in the middle with the library and health centre isn't too badly damaged. The lights are on and it all looks intact. I'm not sure about smoke/water damage but it looks better then I expected.

The 'wing' that housed the Cuming museum and I think the one stop shop is destroyed on the Wansey St side towards the back. Certainly the back room of the museum looks to be lost - the front room may have faired better - the signs that cover the windows seem to be intact but you obviously can't see what's behind that.

Some pics of the front/side to give a better idea.


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## Hocus Eye. (Mar 26, 2013)

Looking at the pictures of all the fire crew doing their stuff just made me realise that for them a fire is just another day's work. For the rest of us it is a dramatic and horrific one off (hopefully) event. They are very special people.


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## Roadkill (Mar 26, 2013)

I've never been in the building so don't know where anything is, but looks as if anything in the right-hand wing (in this view) is likely to have survived better than on the other side...


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## boohoo (Mar 26, 2013)

http://www.itv.com/news/london/update/2013-03-26/walworth-fire-destroys-precious-artifacts/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2013/mar/26/cuming-museum-hopeful-survived-fire

Update on saved stuff!


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## boohoo (Mar 26, 2013)

Article showing pics of the missing wally birds (martin brother vases) (on loan from the British museum)

http://101londonmuseums.com/2013/03/26/16-the-cuming-museum/


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 26, 2013)

boohoo said:


> http://www.itv.com/news/london/update/2013-03-26/walworth-fire-destroys-precious-artifacts/
> 
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2013/mar/26/cuming-museum-hopeful-survived-fire
> 
> Update on saved stuff!


 
That's encouraging


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## ringo (Mar 27, 2013)

Mrs R tells me the social services office is not in that building so they and their records are not only safe, but Southwark Soash has finally gone paperless so all current records at least would not have been lost.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 27, 2013)

ringo said:


> Mrs R tells me the social services office is not in that building so they and their records are not only safe, but Southwark Soash has finally gone paperless so all current records at least would not have been lost.


 
That's a relief.  Could be awful for kids in care/adopted/foundlings etc. if their records were lost (and others of course)


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 27, 2013)

There was a programme on recently on a guy that was abandoned at 10 days old at Gatwick airport.  He's now in his 20s.  Went to Gatwick police station to try to get some more info on himself, but they'd either lost the records or they were destroyed years ago


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 28, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> I suppose you tried the london metropolitan archives about the fire station


 
Thank you Pickman's

Got my grandfather's AFS card.  Doesn't list much but states he was based at Peckham Road.  I thought it would be more Camberwell as he lived in Camberwell Grove. 

Putting up pictures of it on the _Identify this Car_ thread


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## Pickman's model (Mar 28, 2013)

ringo said:


> Mrs R tells me the social services office is not in that building so they and their records are not only safe, but Southwark Soash has finally gone paperless so all current records at least would not have been lost.


but they'll be fucked if the servers ever go up in smoke.


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## ringo (Mar 29, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> but they'll be fucked if the servers ever go up in smoke.



Depends if Southwark are useless enough to keep their servers & backups in one place, its unlikely.


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## Pickman's model (Mar 29, 2013)

ringo said:


> Depends if Southwark are useless enough to keep their servers & backups in one place, its unlikely.


have you ever worked for a local authority? it is entirely possible.


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 29, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> he was based at Peckham Road. I thought it would be more Camberwell as he lived in Camberwell Grove.


Doesn't follow that you'd do war work near where you lived. My Granny lived in Buckinghamshire and went into London at night to drive her ambulance for Blitz victims. You went where you were sent.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 29, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Doesn't follow that you'd do war work near where you lived. My Granny lived in Buckinghamshire and went into London at night to drive her ambulance for Blitz victims. You went where you were sent.


 
I realise that, but there's a story that his fire crew used to stay at "his place" (can't remember whether it was after work because they were too tired to go home, or whether it was during air raids).  Apparently garages and other buildings were taken over to be used as fire stations, so it's possible that "his place" could have been his garage rather than his home.  BUT, having looked at google maps, it turns out that Peckham Road (and therefore the fire station) *is *literally roung the corner to Camberwell Grove where he lived.  So I now need to find out where his taxicab business was that supposedly got bombed

I've seen a couple of pictures of a Fire Station in Peckham, but one is dated the 1920s, so don't know if it's the same one.

I need to do as Pickman's said, and look in a phone directory from back then, which I will.... one day!


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 29, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Doesn't follow that you'd do war work near where you lived. My Granny lived in Buckinghamshire and went into London at night to drive her ambulance for Blitz victims. You went where you were sent.


 
Do you know if there's any records available for ambulance drivers?

I contacted the LMA yesterday to find out as my nan was an ambulance driver as well


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 29, 2013)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Do you know if there's any records available for ambulance drivers?
> 
> I contacted the LMA yesterday to find out as my nan was an ambulance driver as well


No idea, sorry.


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 29, 2013)

...might have been WRVS. I don't know how stuff was organised in wartime.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 29, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> ...might have been WRVS. I don't know how stuff was organised in wartime.


 
I'll let you know if I hear anything and whether they came under the WRVS or Auxiliary Ambulance Service or what


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## William of Walworth (Mar 31, 2013)

If anyone hears any updates on the level of damage to the library's and museum's collections, please post links and info .... thanks.


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## salem (Mar 31, 2013)

There is quite a bit of info on the southwark website http://www.southwark.gov.uk/news/article/1187/fire_at_walworth_town_hall-updated_26_march a mixed bag I think but mainly positive on the library front.

Certainly the library looks not too bad.


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## Mrs Magpie (Apr 1, 2013)

Is there any news on what caused the fire in the first place?


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## William of Walworth (Apr 1, 2013)

salem said:


> There is quite a bit of info on the southwark website http://www.southwark.gov.uk/news/article/1187/fire_at_walworth_town_hall-updated_26_march a mixed bag I think but mainly positive on the library front.
> 
> Certainly the library looks not too bad.


 
Thanks for that. Could easily have been an awful lot worse I suppose.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Apr 5, 2013)

Heard from LFB.  Sorry this isn't directly related to Walworth Road fire, but interesting bit of history to know where sub-stations were



> Dear
> 
> Further to our recent correspondence I have provided below further information about Peckham fire station.
> 
> ...


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## RubyToogood (Apr 12, 2013)

Went past yesterday and felt a bit sorry for the tree in front, which looks distinctly crispy.


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## editor (Apr 14, 2013)

Oh for fuck's sake. 



> *Burglars steal artefacts from burnt-out Cuming Museum*
> Burglars entered the asbestos-ridden and structurally unsafe ruins of the former town hall in Walworth Road despite the presence of two security guards.
> 
> The interior of the old town hall building – which housed the Cuming Museum, a one stop shop for council services and other facilities – was destroyed in a huge fire less than three weeks ago.
> ...


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## StoneRoad (Apr 14, 2013)

There are some right *******er's about, hope the ... little ****ing toerags get something nasty !!

There is some "good" news on the recovery of the museum / library items and the onestopshop will no doubt re-appear at some point.


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## salem (Apr 15, 2013)

FFS. There has been a round the clock security presence since the fire however it has mainly consisted of a bloke sat in his car with a pet Alsatian for company. I noticed they've upped it a bit and there's been two cars with blokes in the past few days.

Bit concerned by the 'asbestos ridden' bit too.


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