Party-goers were trapped upstairs when fire broke out

The fire, in the early hours of 18 January 1981 in New Cross in south-east London, claimed the lives of 14 black youngsters who had been attending a birthday party.

One of the two people celebrating their birthday was among the dead.

An inquest later the same year returned an open verdict.

But families of the victims have pressed ever since for a new inquest, saying the first one should not have been held while the police investigation was still underway.

Their demands were finally answered in 2002 when the High Court ordered a new inquest which is due to start early next month.

'Light at the end of the tunnel'

A memorial service has been held every year for the 13 youngsters who died on the night of the fire - and one who died two years later as a result of his injuries.

George Francis and other parents pushed for a new inquest

But George Francis, whose son Gerry died in the fire and who founded the New Cross Fire Families Committee, told BBC News Online this year's service - at St Andrew's Church in Brockley - would be particularly poignant.

"It will be significant because now for the first time there is light at the end of the tunnel and we have the inquest coming.

"Everyone is happy inside and hoping we're going to get something to make us happier at the end of it."

The Metropolitan Police re-opened the inquiry into the case in 1997, in the hope that new forensic techniques and fresh interviews with witnesses would solve a case that still unsettles the black community.

However, in spite of its offer of a �50,000 reward, nobody has yet come forward with any new information.