Charity Nickel Support is providing people with real life skills

Posted on February 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

Movement class: Nickel Support provides a wide range of activities at its base in Carshalton

CROYDON CHRONICLES: This week, DAVID MORGAN pays a visit to an organisation operating very much in the present, providing a future for dozens of young people

Upcycling: making old furniture fit for use is one of the first training tasks for those attending Nickel Support

It is rare that any of us don’t require some help to learn a new skill. Sometimes just watching will be enough. Often, though, we need to be talked through the process by someone who is proficient before practising it ourselves.

“Practice makes perfect” goes the old saying. But what if you are that person, who despite a multitude of attempts, still can’t master it? How soon before you just give up?

Imagine you are the parent of a child who struggles to master many of the basic skills of life. What is the future for young people who have been diagnosed with a learning difficulty?

One award-winning organisation, Nickel Support, exists to provide opportunities to those individuals and their families for whom learning skills have been a lifelong challenge. Continue reading →

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Britain’s biggest children’s book festival is coming to Croydon

Posted on February 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

Croydon youngsters are to be offered a free day of “bookish fun” at the Ashcroft Theatre in the summer as part of the annual London Schools Literature Festival.

The Whitgift Foundation is sponsoring the day’s activities, which will be organised by the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival, the country’s largest dedicated children’s literature festival, with more than 100 author events, performances, workshops and activities for young book fans and their families.

The Ashcroft Theatre event, being staged on Wednesday, June 17, will be the first time that the festival has run events in Croydon. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Ashcroft Theatre, Charity, Education, London Schools Literature Festival, Roisha Hughes, Schools, Whitgift Foundation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Modern-Day Art’ Exhibition at Croydon Art Space, to Apr 30

Posted on February 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

C O M M U N I T Y
A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Remark’s Croydon Lunch Club, every Thu, Wellesley Road

Posted on February 15, 2026 by insidecroydon

C O M M U N I T Y
A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Pictures on our streets show we need more art in Croydon

Posted on February 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

Paintings on the railings: Croydon has the benefit of a large set of works in the National Gallery’s Art On Your Doorstep exhibition 

CROYDON COMMENTARY: Pablo Picasso said, ‘Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life’, and PETER UNDERWOOD believes that our borough, and its many outstanding arts organisations, could do with a bit more of the dust being washed away 

As I was walking through Croydon l, I saw people attaching works of art to the fencing along Queen’s Gardens. This turned out to be The National Gallery: Art On Your Doorstep project.

Unexpected delights: a Stubbs equestrian painting in Park Hill puts Croydon’s tower blocks in perspective

It was really great to see an open-air exhibition like this, and I spent some time looking at the artworks and their captions. I was familiar with some of the pictures, while some were new to me. But I still learnt something new from each description.

I believe that everyone should have some form of creativity or art in their life, whatever form that takes: painting; writing; playing an instrument; arranging some flowers; even cooking your favourite dish.

We are forced to spend too much of our time only doing things that others pay us to do or the things that we feel we have to do. Being creative allows us to do something we love, something we want to do. One of the other joys of creativity is the impact it can have on other people. Lots of us gain great joy from listening, viewing, reading or tasting the creations of other people. As Pablo Picasso said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

The same is true in our public realm. Too often the focus is only on how much things cost or how much money they make. Too little thought is given to whether this makes our world more beautiful and whether this will make people happier. Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Art, Borough of Culture 2023, Croydon Greens, Fairfield Halls, London Mozart Players, National Gallery Art On Your Doorstep, Peter Underwood, Poetry, Queens Gardens, Talawa Theatre Company, Turf Projects | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Croydon firefighters in Mozambique floods rescue mission

Posted on February 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

Devastation: Croydon firefighters Sarah Mimnagh and Darren Emery were part of a team of specialists sent to assist the thousands trying to escape the floods in Mozambique

Two Croydon firefighters, Sarah Mimnagh and Darren Emery, have returned home following a 10-day mission to Mozambique to help people affected by devastating floods.

Following weeks of heavy rainfall, flooding across the southern African nation has been widespread, causing damage to homes and infrastructure. The floods have caused major damage to health facilities, while more than 4,300 miles of roads have been damaged across nine provinces.

Mimnagh, Emery and four other London Fire Brigade colleagues worked as part of a 36-strong International Search and Rescue – ISAR – team comprised of specialist personnel from fire and rescue services around Britain. Continue reading →

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Raggio di Sole, handmade pizzas made to order, South Croydon

Posted on February 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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London Mozart Players: St John Passion, Fairfield Halls, Mar 8

Posted on February 14, 2026 by insidecroydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Judges rule Labour’s Palestine Action ban ‘disproportionate’

Posted on February 13, 2026 by insidecroydon

Croydon-based campaigners against the genocide in Gaza and Britain’s role in arming the Israeli Defence Force were vindicated today when High Court judges issued a ruling that said that the Home Secretary’s ban on Palestine Action was unlawful.

Peaceful protest: Croydon pensioner David White makes his point outside the High Court this morning.

The Palestine Action co-founder who brought the High Court challenge described today’s ruling as “a victory for freedom for all”.

Many might also describe it as a victory for common sense.

Croydon activist David White and at least five other Croydon residents have been among the 2,700 people arrested since last July simply for holding a bit of card with the slogan: “I oppose genocide – I support Palestine Action”.

Most protestors were arrested for offences under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison. More than 500 of those arrested, who include vicars, pensioners and military veterans, have been charged.

Today’s ruling delivered at the High Court in The Strand renders such protest a legitimate demonstration of free speech, and places the authoritarian Labour government in a hole of their own making. Continue reading →

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Breathless memories of Godard classic are far from vague

Posted on February 13, 2026 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: A recent American movie, a hommage to a French master, has PETER GILLMAN considering the importance of words, and reminiscing about a date in a long-lost South Croydon cinema

So who remembers the Croydon Classic?

This was the cinema in South Croydon, at the start of Brighton Road, which during its heyday in the 1950s and early 1960s offered a rich fare for film-lovers, from classic Hollywood movies to art-house gems that struggled to get a showing elsewhere.

It was there, on April 22, 1960, that Leni (my future wife) and I saw Jazz on a Summer’s Day for the first time. I can date the occasion precisely because it was Leni’s 17th birthday and also our first date. We’ve been married now for 63 years.

We were fans of jazz as well as movies, and another of our favourite hangouts was the Croydon Jazz Club at the Star pub in Broad Green, run by the indefatigable Frank Getgood. Jazz on a Summer’s Day, filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in America, featured jazz giants such as Louis Armstrong, Gerry Mulligan and Thelonious Monk.

It delighted us so much that, over the years, we saw it half a dozen times. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cinema, David Lean Cinema Campaign, History, Peter Gillman, South Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

TfL training schemes are for apprentices who are going places

Posted on February 13, 2026 by insidecroydon

Unlike The Apprentice, Alan Sugar’s self-reverential TV programme crammed with suited wannabes and never-wases, Transport for London offers training on the job schemes where the participants are relally going places.

Right on track: Lauren, from Croydon, did her apprenticeship as a tram engineer

There are 157 opportunities across the capital with TfL for apprentices to launch their careers, offering qualifications from equivalent of GCSEs to degree-level, including asset and track maintenance, London Underground escalators, trams engineering and London Underground construction site supervision.

In National Apprenticeship Week, TfL is looking for applicants for their trams engineering apprenticeship, “seeing a new generation of engineers learn how to keep the vital service running”, which last year saw 17 million journeys made across south London. Continue reading →

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Davis’s Valentine’s message: I’ll mend Croydon’s broken heart

Posted on February 12, 2026 by insidecroydon

‘A hole where its heart should be’: Labour candidate Rowenna Davis tells Andrew Fisher how she would work to repair Croydon’s broken heart

EXCLUSIVE: Labour candidate issues public apology for ‘some things that my party has done in the past’ in crashing Croydon Council’s finances

Rowenna Davis has revealed how she has been talking to a consortium of around 12 potential investors and is “prepared to use every legal power available” to try to fix what she calls “the hole where Croydon’s heart should be”.

Davis, the Labour and Co-operative Party candidate for Croydon Mayor in the local elections in May, was speaking to Inside Croydon columnist Andrew Fisher in the first of a series of podcast interviews with mayoral candidates between now and election day on May 7.

Almost six years on from the council’s finances being crashed under a Labour-run council, leaving debts of hundreds of millions of pounds and seeing hundreds of council staff laid off, interviewer Fisher addresses the core issue when he asks Davis, “Why should we trust Labour?” Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Andrew Fisher, Croydon Council, Rowenna Davis, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Dozens of jobs at risk as DfE is set to close its Croydon office

Posted on February 12, 2026 by insidecroydon

The Department for Education is to close its Croydon office, with the potential loss of “dozens” of jobs.

The DfE’s Croydon office is one of six facing closure, the others being in Exeter, Leeds, Newcastle, Peterborough and Watford.

But Croydon’s office, in Trafalgar House on Bedford Park, East Croydon, is to be among the first to close, by June this year.

Staff were advised of the closure plans earlier this week. Their trades union, the Public and Commercial Services Union, the PCS, is expected to hold a consultative ballot for industrial action as early as next week.

Over the past decade, Croydon has become a hub for government offices, with HM Revenue and Customs and the Home Office taking up entire blocks of new offices in Ruskin Square, next to East Croydon Station, as policy has been to move the staff and functions away from Whitehall and central London to less expensive locations. Continue reading →

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Croydon-based haulage firm wins award for customer service

Posted on February 12, 2026 by insidecroydon

Croydon-based hauliers ELB Partners has been recognised for its outstanding levels of customer service.

In for the long haul: ELB Partners’ main depot on Beddington Farm Road

The company was awarded the Service Quality Award at the annual Pallet-Track Shareholder Gala, held at The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield.

The award was voted for by shareholder members of the Pallet-Track network, an organisation which sees more than 90 independent logistics companies work together to collect and deliver palletised freight throughout the country.

Family firm ELB Partners was a founding member of the network 22 years ago. Continue reading →

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33% Council Tax increase: Mayor Perry’s legacy for Croydon

Posted on February 11, 2026 by insidecroydon

Typical households will be paying £600 more in Council Tax in the coming year than they did before the Conservative Mayor took office, while yet more services are cut. But part-time Perry and his councillor colleagues did vote themselves a pay rise. By WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor

A Town Hall meeting tonight will rubber-stamp Mayor Jason Perry’s decision to increase Council Tax in April by the maximum allowed annually of 4.99%.

It means that Tory Perry will be seeking re-election as Croydon Mayor with the dark legacy of having hiked residents’ Council Tax bills by one-third since 2023.

The latest local tax increase represents a massive political failure for piss-poor Perry and his cabinet member for finance, Jason Cummings. They gambled with the finances of every resident in Croydon by asking special permission from their Conservative colleague, Michael Gove, when he was Secretary of State for local government, to be allowed to increase Council Tax by 15% in April 2023.

Perry and Cummings’ cunning plan was to front-end the pain of Council Tax increases in 2023, in order to freeze Council Tax this year, to hand them a political advantage ahead of the local elections. Continue reading →

Posted in 'Future Croydon', 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Commissioners, Conrad Hall, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Katherine Kerswell, Peter Underwood, Section 114 notice, Stuart King, West Thornton | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Read in full MP’s email of complaint to Royal Mail boss

Posted on February 11, 2026 by insidecroydon

With some addresses in the borough getting only one postal delivery every fortnight, Croydon South Conservative MP has written to Alistair Cochrane, Royal Mail’s interim CEO: ‘This…cannot reasonably be characterised as a short-term disruption’.
Here’s MP Chris Philp’s letter – sent by email – in full:

Dear Mr Cochrane

I am writing to raise serious and long-standing concerns about unacceptable postal delivery failures affecting Croydon South, particularly those linked to the CR5, CR2, CR8 and CR0 postcodes.

Royal Fail: interim CEO Alistair Cochrane

In June 2025, the BBC reported that only 70% of first-class mail was delivered on time in Croydon, well below the statutory target of 93%.

This is not an isolated local issue but part of a wider national failure, reflected in the fact that Royal Mail has been fined four times by Ofcom in recent years for missing its delivery targets.

That said, the situation in parts of Croydon South has become especially acute. Residents report highly irregular deliveries, with some areas experiencing extended periods with no letter deliveries at all. This has now been ongoing for several months and cannot reasonably be characterised as a short-term disruption.

The consequences are serious and entirely foreseeable. Missed NHS appointments, unpaid bills and delayed official correspondence are no longer isolated incidents but routine occurrences for constituents and local businesses. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Chris Philp MP, Coulsdon, Croydon South, South Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Royal Fail: MP Philp calls on business secretary to intervene

Posted on February 11, 2026 by insidecroydon

Last year, only 7-in-10 first-class post items arrived the next day in Croydon. Now, iC readers from Coulsdon to South Norwood say that their postal service has got even worse

Royal Mail’s third-class service in delivering the post to Croydon residents and businesses has now drawn a letter of complaint from one of the borough’s MPs.

Chris Philp, the Tory shadow home secretary and Croydon South’s MP, has fired off a missive to the interim CEO of Royal Mail. Though judging by the delays in deliveries round here, it could be weeks before Alistair Cochrane receives the letter.

Philp has also written to Labour’s business secretary, Peter Kyle, “to demand immediate improvement”.

Inside Croydon’s readers have been contacting us (by email, obviously, since the post is completely unreliable) over the lack of a delivery service from Royal Mail’s Factory Lane depot, which sorts post for the CR0 post code, the largest in the country, as well as serious failures for post in SE25, where post is delivered from the Holmesdale Road depot.

Philp’s letter to Kyle flags poor deliveries across CR5, CR2 and CR8, as well as CR0. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Chris Philp MP, Community associations, Coulsdon, Coulsdon East, Croydon South, East Coulsdon Residents' Association, South Croydon, South Norwood, Woodside | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Trinity submits planning application for £40m co-ed conversion

Posted on February 11, 2026 by insidecroydon

All change: Trinity School will start taking girl pupils in Year 6 and 7 from September 2027

Less than a year after announcing the £30,000 a year fee-paying school would start offering places to girls, plans have gone in for works that will see its expansion to 1,400 pupils.
By STEVEN DOWNES

Plans for a £40million extension to Trinity School in Shirley have been submitted.

The first major re-build since the school moved to the site is intended to adapt and upgrade the fee-paying school to be fully co-educational by 2031.

Trinity, part of the Whitgift Foundation, announced its co-ed plans less than a year ago, with the first cohort of 10- and 11-year-old girls expected to be admitted from September 2027. Trinity has admitted girls to its Sixth Form since 2011. Currently, a year’s fees to attend the school come in at £30,000 per pupil.

Trinity is one of the two large independent schools run by the Whitgift Foundation. The move to make Trinity co-ed was a reaction by the charity, the biggest landowners in Croydon, to their earlier decision to close their only girls’ school, the 900-pupil Old Palace, based in Old Town and South Croydon, which finally ended more than 130 years of educating young women in Croydon last July. Continue reading →

Posted in Alasdair Kennedy, Business, Charity, Education, Old Palace, Planning, Schools, Trinity School, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation, Whitgift School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Competition! Win tickets for London Mozart Players’ concert

Posted on February 10, 2026 by insidecroydon

The London Mozart Players first concert at the Fairfield Halls of 2026 is taking place on March 8, and Inside Croydon is delighted to be able to offer three pairs of tickets as prizes in a terrific competition exclusively for our paying subscribers.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion is a powerful exploration of what it means to be human – an emotional retelling of Christ’s final hours that speaks as deeply today as it did when it was first composed 300 years ago.

“St John Passion connects with our sense of universal humanity through music which is full of heartbreak, beauty and reflection,” the London Mozart Players say.

“Listeners can turn to Bach to make sense of suffering and find solace in a world that can be cruel.”

This London Mozart Players’ performance in the Fairfield Hall’s magnificent Concert Hall at 4.30pm on Sunday, March 8, has a very strong Croydon contigent.

The London Mozart Players are the Fairfield Halls’ resident orchestra, and this concert is the first of several performances the LMP will be giving at Croydon’s cherished arts centre this year. Continue reading →

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New Addington residents’ worries over farm pit of ‘toxic sludge’

Posted on February 10, 2026 by insidecroydon

‘If an adult was to slip, trip or fall into it… they would not be able to escape. A child would have absolutely no chance of surviving’

Slurry pit: the steep-sided, deep pool on farmland near New Addington now contains a toxic sludge that residents are concerned would be impossible to escape

Serious concerns are being raised by residents about the dangers around a large slurry pit that has been dug just outside New Addington.

Slurry pits are reservoirs built on farmland to collect and store liquid manure, urine, bedding material and wash water from livestock buildings, where the by-products are stored before being utilised on the land as natural fertiliser.

The new pit is reckoned to be about half the size of a football pitch. It has been dug just across the borough boundary, in Bromley, off Layhams Road on the land of Wickham Court Farm, near a National Grid sub-station at Rowdown. Continue reading →

Posted in Bromley Council, Business, Croydon Council, New Addington, New Addington North, Planning | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

GMB to hold strike ballot over weighting pay in Merton schools

Posted on February 10, 2026 by insidecroydon

Support staff working at schools in Merton are to be balloted for strike action over a long-standing pay discrepancy.

Merton leader: the GMB is calling on council leader Ross Garrod to settle the pay dispute

Teaching Assistants and school support staff in Merton receive London Weighting at the Outer London rate. Yet their teacher colleagues in the same schools receive the higher Inner London rate – a difference on average of £1,400 per year per employee.

Merton is usually regarded as being an outer London borough.

GMB union members working in Merton’s schools submitted a petition of more than 500 signatures last year to protest at the discrepancy in pay treatment. But the union’s discussions with the Labour-controlled Merton council have broken down.

The GMB’s members’ ballot will open on February 27, with any action to take place in the run-up to the upcoming local elections in May. Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Merton, Schools | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Gimme shelter! TfL to trial updated bus stops in 12 boroughs

Posted on February 9, 2026 by insidecroydon

Transport correspondent JEREMY CLACKSON on a roll-out of enhanced bus shelters, with better lighting, improved seating and some in ‘high-crime areas’ to be fitted with CCTV

Improvements: TfL’s trial shelters include vandal-proofing, better lighting and some have CCTV

Croydon, where almost all the borough’s bus shelters were ripped out five years ago due to the crass incompetence of council officials, is about to get a new design of shelter as part of a 12-month trial being conducted by Transport for London.

Croydon’s failed experiment with “smart” bus shelters demonstrated that the basic shelter with seats really doesn’t need to be meddled with, but the new designs in the TfL trial are promising improvements which include better lighting, what they describe as “a more sustainable modular construction approach”, more robust anti-vandalism materials and, significantly, CCTV at selected shelters.

TfL says that the trial shelters will be installed at 27 locations across the capital, but they are unable to specify where, as the bus stop locations have yet to be decided.

Croydon is among 12 boroughs where the new designed shelters are to be trialled, along with Bexley, Kingston, Lambeth and Southwark. Continue reading →

Posted in Commuting, Croydon Council, TfL, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

RSPCA is seeking your views on the return of dog licensing

Posted on February 9, 2026 by insidecroydon

Animal charity the RSPCA is inviting people in Croydon to take part in a survey over the future care of dogs, and specifically the return of dog licences.

Dog welfare: the Dogs Trust and RSPCA are conducting a survey on dog licensing

Together with the Dogs Trust, another charity, and the York Health Economics Consortium, the survey is part of a research project that will explore how dog ownership could be made safer and better supported. Researchers are seeking input from dog owners, and non-owners, to explore whether dog licensing could play a role in improving welfare, safety and outcomes for all concerned, animals and people.

Dr Samantha Gaines, the RSPCA’s dog welfare expert, said: “We want to hear from as many people as possible to help improve responsible dog ownership, and ensure dog owners as well as those who come into contact with dogs are supported.

“Feedback from the public is essential for helping to ensure that any future policies reflect the needs of dog owners and the wider community.” Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, RSPCA | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Historic Commercial Vehicle Brighton run, A23, May 3

Posted on February 9, 2026 by insidecroydon

C O M M U N I T Y
A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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Palace winger Harrison’s Match of the Day at Croydon Minster

Posted on February 8, 2026 by insidecroydon

Marriage lines: a newspaper cutting from 1959 showing Bernie Harrison’s wedding to Doris Moyes, surrounded by many footballing friends and teammates

DAVID MORGAN uses the Minster archive to trace the life and career of former Hampshire batsman and Crystal Palace winger Bernie Harrison, who played at Selhurst Park in the era when footballers earned a maximum £20 per week

What was known then as Croydon Parish Church had its very own Match of the Day on Friday, July 10, 1959.

That was the wedding day for Bernard Harrison and local woman Doris Moyse.

Harrison was then a Crystal Palace footballer, with the Glaziers playing in the old Third Division South.

Bernie Harrison’s wedding drew many footballers from across London. Doris’s brother Alec was the centre forward at Millwall, who had signed him in 1958 after he had scored one goal in four appearances for Palace.

Finding a date for the wedding, even in July, must have proved tricky for Harrison, who was a dual professional, who played football in the winter and was a county cricketer for Hampshire in the summer. Continue reading →

Posted in Cricket, Croydon Minster, Crystal Palace FC, David Morgan, Football, History, Sport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment