Barts wants to hear your story as part of its 900-year history

Posted on November 6, 2022 by insidecroydon

‘Modern Hogarthian’: one of Adam Dent’s illustrations for the special artwork to mark the 900th anniversary of Barts Hospital. A Barts Heritage Commission. Image courtesy of the Artist and TAG Fine Arts

St Bartholomew’s Hospital – Barts – England’s oldest working hospital, is about to celebrate its 900th anniversary. And it wants to hear from ordinary Londoners about their memories of the world-famous hospital.

Cartographer Adam Dant is giving the public a chance to be immortalised in his latest artwork, Barts: 900 Years In 900 Stories, by sharing their personal experiences of the hospital which was founded in 1123.

Are you a Barts baby? Maybe you married someone you met at the hospital at WEst Smithfield in the City of London? Or perhaps – like Dant – you ended up at Barts after helping a famous pop star carry a piano down four flights of stairs. Continue reading →

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Rivers Trust seeks help in mapping precious chalk streams

Posted on November 5, 2022 by insidecroydon

Environmentalists, conservationists and nature lovers across south-east England are being asked to help compile the first comprehensive list of the area’s chalk streams, many of which have never been categorised.

Chalking one up: the River Wandle, with its source in Croydon, is one of just 200 chalk streams in the world

The South East Rivers Trust is seeking the help of anglers, ramblers, river users, conservation groups or individuals who love their local river to help.

The ambitious citizen science exercise has been created to map out lost, hidden or as yet undefined chalk streams as part of the charity’s Chalk Stream Review.

It is estimated that 95per cent of all the world’s pure chalk stream water exists in southern England, and most are feared to be under threat from pollution and water extraction. Continue reading →

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Bless you! Veteran cars to get a very warm welcome in Purley

Posted on November 5, 2022 by insidecroydon

The veteran cars and other vehicles taking part in the London to Brighton run tomorrow morning will receive an especially warm welcome when they get to Purley.

Vintage performers: there’s opportunities to view the old cars at St Andrew’s and at Christ Church Purley

Christ Church Purley, on the Brighton Road, will be blessing the people on the Veteran Car run with a pit stop.

“A chance for them to rest their cars, top up with water and have a hot drink and sandwich,” according to Jean Loh, the church administrator.

The Purley pit stop represents a terrific opportunity for the public to view the old cars, many of them museum pieces. Continue reading →

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We will remember them: civic ceremonies for Nov 11 and 13

Posted on November 5, 2022 by insidecroydon

Croydon Council has announced the details of the borough’s civic events for Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday next week.

At 11am on Remembrance Day, Friday November 11, there will be a two-minute silence at the war memorial outside the Town Hall in Katharine Street.

Members of the public are welcome to attend.

Croydon’s annual Civic Service of Remembrance will take place on Sunday November 13, at Croydon Minster, beginning at 10.55am.

Members of the public are welcome to attend and are encouraged to reserve seats via this link. Continue reading →

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#TheLabourFiles screening and Q&A, Ruskin House, Nov 23

Posted on November 5, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Activities, Andrew Pelling, Crime, David White, Inside Croydon, Steve Reed MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Brady early favourite as Labour right stitches up selection

Posted on November 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

Our south of the borough reporter, PEARL LEE, on moves to find a candidate who might challenge Chris Philp for his parliamentary seat

Ready for a scrum: Coulsdon-based barrister Stuart Brady could be among Labour’s applicants

The Labour Party this week announced it was taking applications from members who want to be considered for selection to stand as their candidate in the Tory-held Croydon South parliamentary seat at the next election.

It was a quick-fire request, with applications closing yesterday at noon, giving the unwary barely any time to prepare their pitch, and prompting members in Croydon South to suspect that Labour HQ has already got someone lined up for this less-than-plum political opportunity.

Sources in Croydon Labour have told Inside Croydon that the application process was opened without consultation or notice given to Croydon’s Local Campaign Forum, the body that is supposed to oversee campaigning across the borough’s three constituencies, nor with Croydon South Constituency Labour Party itself.

With the Labour hierarchy, headed by General Secretary David Evans, exercising an ever-tighter grip on local party affairs, blocking left-leaning candidates from other long lists for something as minor as “liking” a Caroline Lucas tweet, the idea that the party’s 122nd target seat might be presented on a platter to some thrusting Blairite might seem fanciful.

Until, that is, one considers that such is the broken politics of Westminster since Labour yielded up so many seats in Scotland to the Nationalists, Croydon South has become a must-win seat if Keir Starmer is ever to make it into No10 Downing Street. Continue reading →

Posted in 2024 General Election, Chris Philp MP, Coulsdon, Croydon South, Olga Fitzroy, Richard Ottaway MP, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Perry accused of breaking election rules with Selsdon ‘bribe’

Posted on November 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

You decide: An official council photo or a Conservative Party press hand-out? Mayor Perry with Fatima Zaman at this morning’s election count

Jason Perry, Croydon’s £81,000 per year part-time Mayor, is subject to complaints that he broke the supposedly strict rules on pre-election purdah, which prohibit the use of council funds and resources to help influence the outcome of elections.

There was a ward by-election held in Selsdon Vale and Forestdale yesterday, which was won by the Conservative candidate, Fatima Zaman.

Tory Mayor Perry has been accused by political rivals of offering “a blatant election bribe”, with an announcement of funding for Selsdon released during the pre-election period. Continue reading →

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Non-local mum wins Selsdon by-election with Greens second

Posted on November 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, sifts through the runes from the Selsdon Vale and Forestdale ward by-election

New councillor: Addington Village resident Fatima Zaman

Fatima Zaman retained the Selsdon Vale and Forestdale council seat for the Conservatives in yesterday’s by-election, as the reputational damage done to Labour locally by Tony Newman and his numpties saw them beaten into third place.

“This is a disastrous result,” one experienced party activist said of Labour’s performance.

Labour candidate Tom Bowell polled just 372 votes in a ward which is split between Tory Croydon South and the Labour-held Croydon Central parliamentary constituency – a result which will sound alarm bells in MP Sarah Jones’s office and at Labour’s London Region.

With their party at more than 50per cent in national opinion polls, this was a stark demonstration of just how badly damaged the Labour “brand” has become in Croydon, following the council’s financial collapse two years ago.

The Greens’ Peter Underwood leapfrogged Labour to finish in second place with one-quarter of the votes cast.

Continue reading →

Posted in 2022 council elections, Andrew Pelling, Chris Philp MP, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Croydon South, Fatima Zaman, Peter Underwood, Sarah Jones MP, Selsdon Vale and Forestdale, Steve Reed MP, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Arts Council announces £4.8m grants to six Croydon groups

Posted on November 4, 2022 by insidecroydon

Six arts groups in Croydon are to receive a share of a £4.8million Arts Council grant over three years, part of £431.2million funding for arts projects across the capital through to 2026.

Shopping centre arts centre: Turf Projects in the Whitgift Centre

The Croydon groups that have been awarded funding for the first time are the Stanley Halls arts centre in South Norwood, Turf Projects, which runs creative workshops and puts on free exhibitions that showcase local and national artists from its base in the Whitgift Centre, and Zoo Co Creative, an award-winning theatre company and charity that creates inclusive, playful productions.

Other creative and cultural organisations in Croydon receiving funding are Boundless Theatre, Eye Music Trust and the Talawa Theatre Company, based at the Fairfield Halls. Continue reading →

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After nearly a year, Gove is sitting on two ‘improvement’ reports

Posted on November 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Millions of pounds of public money are at stake, a matter not to be sniffed at, but government minister is staying schtum over state of cash-strapped council’s finances.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Tight-lipped: Michael Gove has refused to explain why he has not released a Croydon report he has had since March

Michael Gove, re-installed as Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, has refused to answer any questions about when the government-installed improvement and assurance panel overseeing the running of cash-strapped Croydon Council will publish its latest reports.

Katharine Street sources suggest that the usually gobby Tory minister has suddenly gone schtum because of the increasingly parlous state of the council’s finances, despite the election in May of a Conservative Mayor.

Some suggest that despite taking over a balanced budget, that had been approved by the improvement panel, Jason Perry, Croydon’s £81,000 per year part-time Mayor, was already almost  £20million over budget within his first six months in office.

It is now almost 12 months since the last published report from the improvement panel that was imposed on Croydon after the Labour-controlled council crashed the borough’s finances in 2020.

Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Housing, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Man is saved from roof of house in West Croydon blaze

Posted on November 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

Four fire engines and around 25 firefighters tackled a house fire on Oakfield Road, West  Croydon, this morning.

Part of the ground floor of a semi-detached house was damaged by fire. Firefighters using a ladder rescued one man from the roof and another man was rescued from the first floor via an internal staircase.

A further three men left the building before the Brigade arrived. They were all treated on scene and two men were taken to hospital. Continue reading →

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Hannay romps back on to stage in a fun-filled 39 Steps

Posted on November 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

Arts correspondent BELLA BARTOCK was transported back to an earlier age, of intrigue and mystery, and night trains to Scotland, by an energetic staging of a John Buchan classic

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the poster from the Croydon Operatic and Dramatic Association advertising The 39 Steps at the Cryer Theatre. When I was a young girl, we lived in Canada for a while and Daddy knew the Governor, who would come for tea and tell us stories. I didn’t know it at the time, but John Buchan was also busy writing thrillers. One of them turned out to be The 39 Steps.

I rang my friend Claudia de Boozey to ask if she would like to come to see it. I had to hold the phone away from my ear as she went on and on and on about how she much she loved the 1959 film version with Kenneth More and Taina Elg. I had to tell her the play would be quite different, but I was sure it would be something we would really enjoy. Continue reading →

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The £30m in the balance for Croydon in Chancellor’s Budget

Posted on November 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

The poorest and most vulnerable in the borough are not the only ones who need their benefits uprated by Jeremy Hunt – businesses and the local economy are depending on it, too, writes ANDREW FISHER

The Conservative Party’s claims to be “compassionate” will be tested in the coming weeks, both at Westminster and at Katharine Street.

Crisis point: benefits have failed to keep pace with inflation for 12 years

Squeezed by rising bills and housing costs, more and more people are tightening their belts as winter approaches – and 100,000 households in Croydon will be waiting anxiously to see if their incomes will be cut later this month.

In two weeks’ time, at their delayed autumn statement on November 17, the Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to reveal whether the government will uprate social security benefits in line with inflation.

Benefits are generally uprated in April each year, based on the inflation rate in the preceding September. In September 2022, the inflation rate hit 10.1per cent – and so in April 2023, benefits should rise by that figure just to allow people’s living standards to stand still. Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Fisher, Business, Council Tax, Croydon CAB, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Pubs, Restaurants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Watch the 2022 Veteran Car Run at St Andrew’s, Nov 6

Posted on November 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Alternative Gift Wrapping Workshop, Thornton Heath, Nov 26

Posted on November 3, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Local government unions secure 10.5% wage deal for workers

Posted on November 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

Jason Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor, has another budget pressure to deal with, as the cost-of-living crisis created by the mismanagement of the economy by his chums in the Conservative government has seen the biggest pay rise in more than a decade agreed for local government workers. And there might yet be more to come…

Acting in Unison: local government workers have accepted their best wage offer for more than a decade

The Local Government Association has made an offer to the trades unions who represent hundreds of thousands of workers across the country – Unison alone has 350,000 members working for councils – to pay an extra £1,925 this year, equating to a 10.5per cent increase for the lowest-paid workers.

Unison, GMB and Unite make up the trade union side of the national joint council that negotiates pay for the majority of local government workers. After consulting their members over the last two months, the unions met yesterday and agreed to accept the LGA offer. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Scott and Butler lined up to receive council service award

Posted on November 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

Councillors who presided over Croydon’s financial ruin could soon be honoured by the very borough they helped bankrupt, thanks to the council’s flawed constitution. By Town Hall correspondent, KEN LEE

Going alder way: Alison Butler and Paul Scott, the husband and wife who helped bankrupt the borough, could now be in line for an honour from the council

Tony Newman, Alison Butler, Paul Scott, Simon Hall and other now ex-councillors who were in charge when council’s finances crashed in 2020 are among those in line to be made honorary aldermen or alderwomen of Croydon.

All they need is the nod from Stuart King, the current leader of the Labour group at the Town Hall.

The title “alderman” dates back to Anglo-Saxon England, where the elders exercised administrative or judicial functions in a shire or borough on behalf of the monarch.

The title was later used to designate the chief magistrate in a county before morphing into council membership in the 1800s – membership based on appointment by councillors rather than elected by voters.

The office was abolished in England by the Local Government Act 1972, apart from the City of London.

Today, it is mostly an honorific title typically granted by a council to its former councillors for long or distinguished service. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Bernadette Khan, Croydon Council, Donald Speakman, Hamida Ali, Helen Pollard, Mark Watson, Mayor Jason Perry, Pat Clouder, Paul Scott, Paul Smith, Simon Hall, Steve O'Connell, Stuart King, Tim Pollard, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Harmony Exhibition, Croydon Art Space, Nov 5, 12, 19 and 26

Posted on November 2, 2022 by insidecroydon

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MP ‘alarmed’ to discover Chinese ‘police station’ on High Street

Posted on November 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

The Chinese Communist Party is operating a secret police station on Croydon High Street, part of a global network intended to control and intimidate former nationals who have made their homes outside China.

Secret policeman’s balls-up: Xi Jinping has set up a ‘service station’ on Croydon High Street

Beijing claims that almost a quarter of a million “suspects” were “persuaded” to return to China in a 15-month period as a result of the work of these secret police stations.

Britain has three Chinese police stations – the others are in Hendon and Glasgow.

The serious incursion into British national territory by a foreign power prompted an urgent question in the House of Commons this afternoon where Sarah Jones, MP for Croydon Central, expressed her surprise and alarm that such an organisation should be found in the town centre.

In Ireland, the government has already ordered the closure of a Chinese police station in Dublin, which even featured a sign advertising its presence as the “Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station.”

In this country, under Home Secretary Suella Braverman and where Chris Philp is the policing minister, the government has described the presence of Chinese police stations as “very concerning”. Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Croydon Central, Fairfield, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments

Turmoil at Fairfield Halls as operating company suffers exodus

Posted on November 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

Our culture correspondent, BELLA BARTOCK, on changing times at the council-owned arts centre, and a diamond anniversary that has been forgotten by the council

All change: the operators in charge of the Fairfield Halls have lost three senior execs, including the CEO

There’s yet more turmoil behind the scenes at the Fairfield Halls, where the chief executive and two other senior figures working for the company which operates the arts venue have all left their jobs in a matter of weeks.

Bournemouth-based BHLive took over responsibility for running the council-owned arts centre in 2017, but their tenure has been blighted by delays in re-opening after the controversial and never-completed £69million “refurbishment”, followed by another year’s closure due to covid.

More than 100 performances were cancelled or postponed at the Fairfield Halls in a year due to covid lockdowns – what BHLive called “hibernation”. Even last year’s panto, Beauty and the Beast, had to cancel its run on Christmas Eve when there was a covid outbreak among the cast.

BHLive, whose main activity is running leisure centres and swimming pools on the south coast, were financially hard-hit by the pandemic, but according to their latest accounts, for the year to March 2022, filed at Companies House last week, the company returned a profit of more than £1million. This compares to a loss in the previous year of £2.44million.

But that hasn’t stopped an exodus of top executives. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ashcroft Theatre, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Business, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Jon Workman, Mayor Jason Perry, Music, The Wreck, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Funding outlook for all London’s boroughs is ‘beyond bleak’

Posted on November 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

Funding crisis: all London’s boroughs are struggling to balance their budgets with the reduced support they receive from the Tory government

Croydon is not the only cash-strapped council in the capital, as the body which represents all 32 boroughs and the City of London has predicted that there could be a £1.1billion black hole in Town Hall budgets over the next two years unless Chancellor Jeremy Hunt rattles the magic money tree in his emergency Budget on November 17.

London Councils has described the financial outlook for its members as “beyond bleak”.

London Councils represents authorities from all three main parties, including Conservative-controlled Croydon, and they agreed on this public appeal to the government about how desperate the situation is becoming, after piling soaring energy bills and the cost-of-living crisis on top of the impact of the pandemic, and all following a decade of Tory-imposed austerity. Continue reading →

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Croydon parks, CVA, Georgia Gould, Libraries, London Councils, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Refuse collection | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Trams union say FirstGroup ‘torpedoed’ ACAS pay deal

Posted on November 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

There could be more strikes on the tram network in the run-up to Christmas after union officials said that the operating company “torpedoed” a pay deal.

Going nowhere: tram drivers are expected to strike over Christmas

The tram network is operated on behalf of Transport for London by Tram Operations Ltd, a subsidiary of First Group.

The tram drivers have been staging strikes for better pay and conditions since June, but in September their union, ASLEF, suspended three days of planned industrial action after talks at ACAS, the arbitration service, had produced a better offer. Or at least they thought they had.

Today, the union’s district organiser, Finn Brennan, told Inside Croydon, “After a series of discussions on pay, brokered by ACAS, ASLEF believed we were close to a proposal we could recommend to our members on Tramlink for consideration.

“But we have now been told that FirstGroup are prepared to offer just a 2per cent pay rise from November 21, when the inflation rate was over 7per cent. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Commuting, East Croydon, TfL, Tramlink, Transport, West Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

House of Stand Up Coulsdon Comedy night, Nov 17

Posted on November 1, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Part-time Perry’s Halloween howler on Tory investment zones

Posted on October 31, 2022 by insidecroydon

Our political correspondent, WALTER CRONXITE, on an extraordinary turn in the local by-election campaign over Conservative proposals to make it even easier for their developer chums to concrete over the Green Belt

Video nasty: Jason Perry, the part-time Mayor of Croydon, either doesn’t know his own party policies, or he is lying

Tory sleaze is in full flow in the council by-election campaign, with the borough’s part-time Mayor, Jason Perry, accused of lying to the voters.

Residents in Selsdon Vale and Forestdale go to the polls this Thursday for a council by-election caused by the death of Conservative councillor Badsha Quadir. The outcome of the by-election won’t change the way the Town Hall is run – Perry will remain the Mayor and the Tories, if they hang on to the seat, will still not have a majority of councillors.

But the country is in Conservative-created chaos after months of dither and uncertainty which has seen three different Prime Ministers in eight weeks, a financial crisis that was created in Downing Street, and with Liz Truss and Suella Braverman mired in on-going scandals.

Now it appears that in Croydon, the Tories’ local leader either does understand his own party’s policies, or he is a blatant liar. Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Environment, Fatima Zaman, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Peter Underwood, Selsdon Vale and Forestdale | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Trust appeals against dumping of pumpkins in the woods

Posted on October 31, 2022 by insidecroydon

The Woodland Trust has issued a Halloween plea to witches, wizards and spooks everywhere not to endanger wildlife by dumping pumpkins in woodland.

A menace to wildlife: Halloween pumpkins are not wanted in the woods

The country’s largest woodland conservation charity has noticed Halloween pumpkins being taken to the nearest wood and left, in a well-meaning but misguided attempt to provide food for birds and wildlife.

“People think they’re doing a good thing by not binning them in landfill and instead leaving them for nature,” said Paul Bunton of the Woodland Trust.

“But pumpkin flesh can be dangerous for hedgehogs, attracts colonies of rats and also has a really detrimental effect on woodland soils, plants and fungi.

“We can’t leave dumped pumpkins to rot so we end up with an orange mushy mess to deal with at many of our sites.” Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon parks, Environment, Nature Notes, Wildlife | Tagged , , | Leave a comment