Rugby Art Gallery and Museum shortlisted for prestigious award

The Art Gallery and Museum has made the shortlist for the best community and neighbourhood initiative at the APSE Service Awards for The New Cross Fire 1981, an exhibition held at the venue's Floor One Gallery in January.

The exhibition was inspired by the tragic events of 18 January 1981, when a fire tore through a house party in New Cross Road where revellers were celebrating the 16th birthday of Yvonne Ruddock.

Yvonne was one of 13 teenagers and young black people who died from the blaze.

Just weeks before the fire, Yvonne had celebrated Christmas in Rugby. Her family moved to south London in the 1960s after living in Rugby for many years and returned to the town regularly for family holidays.

Friends and family from Rugby made the trip to London to celebrate Yvonne's birthday. Two never returned - 16-year-old Patrick Cummings and 18-year-old Humphrey Brown, while Yvonne's 22-year-old brother, Paul, also lost his life.

Black communities in the capital, regularly targeted by the National Front, assumed the fire had been started by a petrol bomb and the tragedy quickly brought to a head long-simmering tensions over the perceived racism of the Metropolitan Police, tabloid press and the establishment.

In the weeks which followed, the tragedy of the New Cross fire became the catalyst for protest, with the slogan "13 dead, nothing said" adopted by the New Cross Massacre Action Committee, which organised a Black People's Day of Action on 2 March 1981.

The march saw 20,000 people take to the streets of London for a peaceful protest, but a month later riots broke out in Brixton, sparking a summer of rioting in major cities across the country.

No one has been charged in connection with the New Cross fire. An inquest into the 13 deaths took place in 1981 and recorded an open verdict.

A second inquest took place in 2004 and also recorded an open verdict.

Four decades on, the New Cross fire remains a significant chapter in the fight for racial justice in Britain, with the BBC documentary Uprising winning a BAFTA in 2022 for best factual series.

But the New Cross Fire 1981 exhibition found family and friends reclaiming the story from the chapters of social history and revealing the emotions of living with the tragedy for 42 years.

While documenting the devastating events of 1981, the exhibition told the human stories behind the headlines and the impact of the tragedy in Rugby.

To mark the end of the exhibition, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum hosted an emotional event which brought together family and friends of the victims to remembers the lives lost in the fire.

Lorna Tavares, Yvonne's cousin and the driving force behind the exhibition, said: "The survivors, known as New Cross Fire Momentum 1981, are extremely grateful to Rugby Art Gallery and Museum and the council for the unwavering and continued support.

"The events of 1981 shook Rugby to the core and were never addressed until the exhibition, which was dedicated to the young lives lost, the families who fought for justice, the community's support throughout the UK, and the survivors who live with the trauma and wear the scars, many of whom were not given a voice and have never spoken."

Sally Godden, manager of Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, said making the shortlist for the APSE Service Award was a tribute to Lorna's passion for telling the human stories behind a national tragedy.

"The Art Gallery and Museum team was proud to support Lorna and help turn her idea for an exhibition into a reality," Sally said.

"The event which marked the end of the exhibition's run brought survivors, family, friends and the Rugby community together to reflect on the lives lost and keep the memories of loved ones alive, and it was a privilege for us to have played a part in making it happen."

The APSE Service Awards celebrate excellence in the public sector.

The award ceremony takes place in September at Belfast Titanic, the iconic visitor attraction which tells the story of RMS Titanic.