Recent Comments
Category Archives: Church and religions
How Houdini made Croydon churn with his staged escape act
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Croydon’s Music Halls attracted some of the world’s most famous acts in the early 20th Century, including the man reckoned to be the greatest escapologist of all time, as DAVID MORGAN explains Memory is a wonderful gift. The … Continue reading
Posted in David Morgan, History, Theatre
Tagged Croydon Palace of Varieties, Croydon Palace Theatre, David Morgan, Harry Houdini, Houdini, Music Hall
1 Comment
Friday lunchtime recitals at Croydon Minster, from Sep to Dec
C O M M U N I T Y A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Nightwatch’s volunteers remember Jamie Keating every night
CROYDON CHRONICLES: This week, Minster archivist DAVID MORGAN has gone back just 50 years, for a heart-rending story of volunteers and sacrifice that began with a local newspaper reporter and the Parish Church’s curate going out on to the streets … Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Church and religions, Croydon Minster, Croydon Nightwatch, David Morgan, History, Jad Adams
Tagged austerity, Canon Colin Boswell, Cllr Mohammed Islam, Conservative, Covid-19, Croydon Council, Croydon Minster, Croydon Nightwatch, Croydon Parish Church, David Morgan, David Randall, Jad Adams, Margaret Thatcher, Nightwatch, Nightwatch 50th anniversary, Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, Queens Gardens, Rev Martin Wharton, Right-to-buy, Thatcher government, Tory
1 Comment
Voluntary groups to open homeless day centre next month
New partnership of faith, charity and volunteer groups is working together to provide assistance for the homeless from the CVA Resource Centre and West Croydon Baptist Church, following the Prime Minister’s pledge to eliminate rough sleeping The first instruction that … Continue reading
Posted in CAYSH, Charity, Church and religions, CVA, West Croydon
Tagged Andy Burnham MP, CAYSH, Croydon CVA, Croydon Voluntary Action, CVA, Homelessness, Housing, MHCLG, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Spires, West Croydon Baptist Church
Leave a comment
No news from Tibet, as Diwali is cancelled in grieving Coulsdon
Amid ‘uncertainty and anguish’ councillor announces cancellation of celebrations out of respect for families of the pilgrims missing in the catastrophic Himalayan flooding There will be no Diwali celebration in Coulsdon this year, due to the “devastating impact” on local … Continue reading
Coulsdon’s prayers on Krishna’s birthday for missing pilgrims
Another three days have passed, and there has still been no news of the 16 members of a tour group from the Coulsdon Mandir who were lost in last week’s catastrophic flooding while on pilgrimage in the Himalayas. It is … Continue reading
Coulsdon temple’s 16 pilgrims all missing after floods in Tibet
All 16 members of a Coulsdon Hindu temple pilgrimage are feared to be among the thousands who are missing, one week after floods in the mountains of the Tibet and Nepal border region devastated whole communities and buried entire villages … Continue reading
Posted in Church and religions, Coulsdon, Coulsdon Mandir
Tagged Coulsdon Mandir, Croydon Hindu Council, Glacier collapse, Hindu, Hindu Temple, Nepal, Sachin Bagla, Tibet, Tibet floods
2 Comments
‘Chinese’ magician who died on stage, shot by his own gun
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Theatres in the town attracted some of the world’s biggest Vaudeville stars in the early 20th Century, including the mysterious Chung Ling Soo. DAVID MORGAN discovered more from the archives Many great entertainers have trodden the boards in … Continue reading
Posted in Art, David Morgan, History, Theatre
Tagged Chung Ling Soo, Croydon Chronicles, Croydon Empire, David Morgan, Music Hall, William Robinson
Leave a comment
Family counts cost of burglary during Croydon’s Walnut Fair
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Archive newspaper reports of a burglary on Church Street in 1861 provide a useful insight into the possessions of a Victorian household, as DAVID MORGAN explains Burglaries are not new crimes. A trawl through the local newspaper archives … Continue reading
The high street business that made sure Croydon was on song
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A talented musician established a business that over the course of 60 years taught and encouraged at least 30,000 youngsters to sing, play an instrument or perform on stage. DAVID MORGAN looks at the life and career of … Continue reading
Open House 2026: from Croydon Town Hall to Downing Street
There are almost 30 venues in Croydon next month, many offering tours of normally off-limit buildings, as part of the annual London Open House Festival. And it is all free! It is one of the better years for getting a … Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Art, Croydon Minster, Fairfield Halls, History, Museum of Croydon, Old Palace, Surrey Street, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Town Hall, Fairfield Halls, Greenwich, History, Leadenhall Market, Lloyd's Building, London, London Open House, London Open House Festival, Museum of Croydon, No10 Downing Street, Royal Naval College, Surrey Street, Surrey Street Market, Whitgift Almshouses, Whitgift Foundation
2 Comments
Charity leader arrested after reports of providing aid to Hamas
Organisation with a school on Cherry Orchard Road has raised more than £130m in two years for international aid, slammed by US authorities as a ‘sham’ A charity based in Croydon has had its finances placed under strict controls after … Continue reading
Posted in Addiscombe West, Al-Khair Foundation, Charity, Church and religions, Crime, Imam Qasim Rashid Ahmad
Tagged Al-Khair Foundation, Charity Commission, Cherry Orchard Road, Gaza, Hamas, Imam Qasim, Imam Qasim Rashid Ahmad, International aid, Mohammad Yousef Hasna, US Justice Department
4 Comments
Teacher whose poetry saw ‘The Merry Gang’ visiting Croydon
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A Restoration period writer who taught at the Free School made friends with ‘literary lords’ and the Poet Laureate. DAVID MORGAN looks back nearly 400 years to the life and work of John Oldham Poetry performances – spoken … Continue reading
Posted in Art, David Morgan, Poetry, Schools, Whitgift School
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Free School, David Morgan, Earl of Kingston, Jhn Oldham, John Dryden, King Charles II, Lord Rochester, Oliver Cromwell, Poetry, Samuel Pepys, The Civilised Savage, Whitgift School, Will's Coffee House
Leave a comment
The Whybrew family trade that really put a feather in your cap
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Trades and professions come and go with the passing years, as fashions ebb and flow. Using the Minster’s archive records, DAVID MORGAN discovers another skill, common in Victorian times and used by a local family firm, but which … Continue reading
Pioneer of sociology whose book called for an evolution
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A quiet residential street in South Croydon was where one of the leading works of 19th-Century philosophy was drafted and written. DAVID MORGAN looks at the life and works of Benjamin Kidd After Benjamin Kidd died of heart … Continue reading
After eight years, Bishop prepares for his final Minster service
CROYDON CHRONICLES: History is happening every day, all around us. And today marks the latest important date in the 700-year history of the Vicar of Croydon. By DAVID MORGAN Father Andrew Bishop was in a reflective mood when I caught … Continue reading
The weather warnings from history: thunderbolts and lightning
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A timely trawl through the Minster archive has discovered reports of extreme weather episodes going back more than 400 years. By DAVID MORGAN “Rycharde Esteinge, a young man, being killed suddenlye with a stroke of thunder and lightning … Continue reading
150 years after the last round-up for the Croydon Wool Fair
CROYDON CHRONICLES: For much of the Victorian era, Croydon was a trading centre for Surrey farmers trading one of the products on which the nation’s economy had depended for centuries. But by 1876, all that was about to change. DAVID … Continue reading
Carriage driver yelled ‘Murder!’ in a Victorian road rage episode
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Almost 200 years ago, travelling even modest distances, between the capital and coast, could be a perilous business – especially if you had a short-tempered baronet driving your stagecoach at high speed. DAVID MORGAN explains Impatience on the … Continue reading
Roll up! Roll up! Enjoy Croydon’s summer fayre, 1920s style
CROYDON CHRONICLES: With summer fairs being planned and organised across the borough, this week DAVID MORGAN looks back more than 100 years at the stalls and events staged for the church fête of 1921 The bunting’s up. The marquee is … Continue reading
Help at the Minster on Sunday with sleep packs for refugees
In this Volunteers’ Week, Croydon Minster is asking for people to come along this Saturday to help assemble sleep packs for young refugees. The Minster is partnering again with The Separated Child Foundation, and is seeking help this Sunday, June … Continue reading
Biggles and the curious case of the curate from Croydon
CROYDON CHRONICLES: One of the most-read fictional action heroes of the 20th Century was based at Croydon Airport. DAVID MORGAN pulls on his sheepskin helmet and goggles and goes in search of adventure Biggles, the character James Bigglesworth, appeared in … Continue reading
