Description: Rector of St Paul’s Church, Father Diamond, came to Deptford in 1969. He found a desolate area and a community torn apart by slum clearance schemes. So, with the church at the centre, he set about bringing the people together again with an annual festival and a series of rip-roaring parties.

Theatrical, anti-elitist and determinedly inclusive, Father Diamond involved everybody, from the pensioners who set off on their annual outing at the firing of a cannon, to Deptford's many vagrants and villains, both in and out of prison. The church crypt was used as a youth club and a Caribbean disco, and a women’s social group was formed, called the 999 Club. In 1991 Father Diamond set off to Parkhust Prison with seven members of the 999 Club to spend a week with his congregants serving sentences there.

Father Diamond died suddenly on 31 August 1993. On the morning of his funeral the shops on the High Street closed their doors. Thousands of people lined the street and nearly 100 priests processed behind his coffin to the church.

That September, the 999 Club women, now aged 60-plus and coordinated by Patricia Wyndham, decided to return to Parkhurst with a song, dance and spoof striptease show – their own unique tribute to their beloved ‘Farv’.

Duckers ‘n’ Divas contains people's intriguing memories of Father Diamond and follows preparations for the show. Interviewees include 999 Club stalwarts and stars of the ‘strip’, Iris French and Maudie Chapman; former St Paul’s curate, Harry Potter; 999 Club coordinator, Patricia Wyndham; Church Warden, Peter Thorne; Musical Director, Colin Sell (pianist on Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue); show director Ian Mullins and former getaway driver/Parkhurst prisoner, Andy Hornby.