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Category Archives: Riesco Collection
Chinese government has role in £500m Crystal Palace scheme
The major financial backer behind the ZhongRohn Group, which wants to build a £500million replica of the Victorian Crystal Palace as a hotel and entertainment complex on public open space at the top of Sydenham Hill, is the Chinese government. … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Boris Johnson, Bromley Council, Business, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Crystal Palace Community Association, Crystal Palace Park, Mayor of London, Property, Riesco Collection
Tagged Arup, Bromley, China, Croydon, Crystal Palace, London, London Crystal Palace, Metropolitan Open Land
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Council could face £3m tax bill for unlawful Riesco sale
The diminishing returns from Croydon Council’s auctioning of part of the borough’s Riesco Collection of ancient Chinese porcelain look to be diminishing by the day, with a hefty tax bill now in the offing. After tax, auctioneers’ commissions and other costs, … Continue reading
Council’s cultural vandalism leaves borough short-changed
102,440,000 That’s how much Croydon Council raised from the auction in Hong Kong this morning of 24 pieces of the borough’s priceless Riesco Collection of Chinese porcelain. Unfortunately for the likes of florid-faced Mike Fisher and his cronies Dudley Mead … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Community associations, Croydon Council, Dudley Mead, Fairfield Halls, Mike Fisher, Museum of Croydon, Riesco Collection, South Croydon Community Association, Tim Pollard
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield Hall, Hong Kong, London, Mike Fisher, Museums Association, Tony Newman
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Council’s botched attempt to airbrush Riesco from web history
Croydon Council breaks its own policy and goes against its own legal advice next week when part of the publicly owned Riesco Collection of precious Chinese porcelain, which was given to the borough by Raymond Riesco half a century ago, … Continue reading
Museums Association kicks out Croydon over Riesco sale
The president of the Museums Association, David Anderson, used his keynote speech at his organisation’s annual conference in Liverpool yesterday to announce that Croydon Council has been expelled from the MA and to warn that it will be barred from … Continue reading
Costs force campaign to abandon Riesco legal case
The battle to stop what is widely believed to be the unlawful sale of some of the most valuable pieces from the Riesco Collection by Croydon Council is over. In a statement issued by local campaigners, Charlotte Davies, chair of … Continue reading
Posted in 2014 council elections, Art, Croydon Council, Dudley Mead, Fairfield Halls, History, Museum of Croydon, Riesco Collection, South Croydon Community Association, Steve O'Connell, Tim Pollard
Tagged Arts Council, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Hong Kong, London, Riesco collection
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Pollard’s cinema scheme suffers from a light bulb moment
The suggestion that Tim Pollard’s “announcement” that the David Lean Cinema is to re-open was in fact just a clumsy PR ruse to deflect attention from Croydon Council being taken to court over its proposed Riesco Collection sale appears to … Continue reading
Please join us in the fight to save Croydon’s arts and heritage
CHARLOTTE DAVIES, pictured right, has started legal proceedings to stop Croydon Council selling the most valuable pieces of the publicly owned Riesco Collection of Chinese procelain. The case has the support of the Museums Association, the Croydon Natural History and … Continue reading
Going for a song? Tory candidate’s Riesco connections
This is obviously just a coincidence. It has emerged, more slowly than the other names reported by Inside Croydon this morning, that a 15th name on the long list for selection to become the Conservatives’ candidate in Croydon South at … Continue reading
Posted in 2014 council elections, Art, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Riesco Collection
Tagged Christie, Conservative, Croydon, Hong Kong
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Residents demand High Court review of Riesco china sale
Having already been told that they have behaved unethically, Croydon Council and senior councillors such as Steve O’Connell, Dudley Mead and Tim Pollard now look set to have a High Court judge rule on whether they have acted unlawfully over … Continue reading
Posted in 2014 council elections, Art, Community associations, Croydon Council, David Lean Cinema Campaign, Dudley Mead, Education, Fairfield Halls, History, Inside Croydon, Museum of Croydon, Riesco Collection, South Croydon Community Association, Steve O'Connell, Tim Pollard
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Judicial Review, London Borough of Croydon, Museum of Croydon, Museums Association, Riesco collection, Steve O'Connell
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Council risks legal action over decision to sell Riesco china
Croydon Tories deliberately ignored the council’s legal advisers to push through the pawn shop sale of the borough’s Riesco Collection. A confidential document, obtained by Inside Croydon, shows that Steve O’Connell, the cabinet member for finance, and Tim Pollard, the … Continue reading
Council’s deputy continues to lie about Riesco Collection
With Croydon Council’s “unethical” auction of 24 pieces of the Riesco Collection of precious porcelain now barely a month away, there has been no let-up in the deceit being spouted about the disposal by Tim Pollard, the deputy leader of … Continue reading
The Riesco resignation: Doesn’t Pollard read his mail?
Not for the first time, a senior member of Croydon Council’s ruling Tories has been caught out, saying one thing when there is clear evidence to demonstrate the opposite is the case. And as a consequence, Croydon has been accused … Continue reading
“Unethical” Croydon faces expulsion over Riesco sale
Dudley Mead and Tim Pollard, the pair of senior Tories behind the secretive scheme to flog off 24 of the most valuable pieces of the publicly owned Riesco collection of Chinese ceramics – first exposed by Inside Croydon – must … Continue reading
Seeing potential for SEGAS building and Riesco “windfall”
As Croydon Council scrambles to hand every spare building or piece of publicly owned land over to John Laing to fulfil the ravenous appetite of the developer’s CCURV scheme, however unsuitable the sites might be for high-profit, high-rise apartments, Inside … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Riesco Collection, URV
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, East Croydon station, Fairfield Hall, Hong Kong, Labour, London, London Borough of Croydon
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Local AmDram groups “in exile” over Fairfield’s charges
Fairfield Halls, once south London’s leading arts and entertainment venue, has been accused of driving Croydon’s amateur dramatic groups into exile from the borough by charging more than £13,000 for a week’s run. For the average AmDram group, made up … Continue reading
I am a rock! But new kids on building blocks have problems
The IYLO BUILDING has awoken from its slumbers… The construction crane is back and builders in hi-viz jackets, like worker ants, are climbing all over it. But the oft neglected, unfinished tower in the middle of a suburban roundabout has … Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Allders, Altitude 25, Broad Green, Business, Centrale, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Environment, IYLO, Planning, Property, Riesco Collection, Ruskin Square, Thornton Heath, URV, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Hammerson, IYLO BUILDING, London, Ruskin Square, Saffron Square, Shard, Westfield
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Does Town Hall’s missing link point to another public sell-off?
Might Croydon’s Grade II-Listed Town Hall be the next public asset which the borough’s Conservative administration wants to flog-off? Rumours have been circulating Katharine Street since the virtual closure of the Clocktower arts complex nearly three years ago. The talk … Continue reading
Posted in Bromley Council, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, David Lean Cinema Campaign, Environment, Fairfield, Fairfield Halls, Gardening, History, Housing, Planning, Property, Restaurants, Riesco Collection, Taberner House, URV
Tagged Cathedral Group, Croydon, Croydon Flyover, England, Fairfield Halls, London, Riesco
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Council’s secrets and lies over sale of old Ashburton Library
Residents have been outraged yet again at the latest pawn shop move to flog off public property by the wide boys who control Croydon Council, following an advertisement appearing in the local press offering the old Ashburton Library building for … Continue reading
Posted in 2014 council elections, Adam Kellett, Art, Ashburton, Avril Slipper, Croydon Council, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, David Lean Cinema Campaign, Eddy Arram, Education, Environment, History, Libraries, Planning, Riesco Collection, URV
Tagged Ashburton, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, David Lean Cinema, London Borough of Croydon, Oasis Academy Shirley Park, Tory
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Tired tribute acts represent poor value for £13m Riesco sale
The much-awaited programme from the Favoured Halls drops into the letter box at Inside Croydon Towers. What delights await us all in September and October? What exciting range of entertainment has been arranged for the people of Croydon after the … Continue reading
Arts Council chief says Croydon “short-sighted” on Riesco
Alan Davey, the chief executive of the Arts Council of England, has today accused Croydon Council of being “short-sighted” over its pawn-shop sale of 24 items from the publicly owned Riesco Collection. Davey also promised to argue further with Tory-run … Continue reading
Pollard ducks decisive meeting on £13m Riesco sale
Councillor Sara Bashford spoke up in the Town Hall council chamber last night and tried to justify Croydon’s sale of 24 items from the borough’s priceless Riesco ceramics collection by claiming that thousands of Croydon school children who visit the … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Coulsdon East, Croydon Council, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, Donald Speakman, Dudley Mead, Education, Fairfield Halls, Jan Buttinger, Jeet Bains, Julie Belvir, Kenley, Purley, Riesco Collection, Sara Bashford, Selsdon & Ballards, Simon Hall, Steve O'Connell, Stuart Collins, Terry Lenton, Tim Pollard, Toni Letts, Vidhi Mohan
Tagged Arts Council, British Museum, Croydon, London Borough of Croydon, Lottery Heritage Fund, Museum Association, Museum of Croydon, Steve O'Connell
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Riesco objections: Croydon Council’s squandering our heritage
Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society was formed in 1870. It is a serious organisation that does much to celebrate the borough and has been a constant help in showing that the borough has depth and character beyond its image … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Community associations, Croydon Council, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, Fairfield Halls, Riesco Collection, Tim Pollard
Tagged British Museum, Collection, County Borough of Croydon, Croydon, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, London, London Borough of Croydon
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