Yamaha Music School hits the right notes at Fairfield Halls

Posted on November 9, 2022 by insidecroydon

The Yamaha Music School based at the Fairfield Halls is to expand next spring, moving into a second space at Croydon’s major arts centre to cope with growing demand.

All together now: Yamaha’s music lessons at the Fairfield Halls have proved very popular

Suitably, from April 2023 the Yamaha lessons will also be taking place in the Arthur Davidson Suite, which takes its name from the local musician and conductor who for decades ran the very popular Saturday morning children’s concerts in the Fairfield’s Concert Hall, instilling a love for music in generations of Croydon youngsters.

The Yamaha Music Foundation was established in Tokyo in 1954. They were introduced to the Fairfield by the venue’s then arts director, Neil Chandler, as part of the revised community offering following its three-year refurbishment and they have been providing music education courses for children in their current studio, the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Suite, since November 2019. Continue reading →

Posted in Activities, Art, Education, Fairfield Halls, Music | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Union calls on Mayor Khan to intervene in TfL pension dispute

Posted on November 9, 2022 by insidecroydon

Strikes will hit London’s transport network tomorrow as Unite members at Transport for London, London Underground and Croydon Trams take action to defend their pensions, pay and jobs.

Time to act: Unite wants London Mayor Sadiq Khan to intervene in their dispute with TfL

Due to shift patterns, services could also be hit on Friday, November 11, the Unite union said this morning.

More than 1,000 Unite members will walk out in protest at plans to slash the value of their pensions and close the existing final salary scheme – measures being imposed on TfL by the Tory government as part of the Department for Transport’s bail-out for London’s transport system following covid. Continue reading →

Posted in Commuting, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, TfL, Tramlink, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Arts and Crafts with Aga, Socco Cheta Hub every Thursday

Posted on November 9, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Activities, Art, Community associations, Socco Cheta Community Hub, South Norwood, South Norwood Community Kitchen | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Giles in ‘fairytale’ return for second spell as Croydon boss

Posted on November 8, 2022 by insidecroydon

Seven months after he stood down as manager at Croydon FC, it was announced tonight that Liam Giles is to return to the Arena as the club’s new boss.

Back home: Liam Giles at Croydon Arena tonight to start his second spell in charge

A vacancy had occurred after Tyler Chambers and his assistant manager, Joe Brown, resigned via Twitter on Saturday night, with the Southern Counties East Football League Division One just one place above the relegation zone after 11 games.

Giles left after his 99th game in charge of the Trams, which had included two covid-wrecked, gruelling and frustrating seasons.

Since leaving Croydon, Giles has been managing Epsom and Ewell, a Tier 10 club that plays in the first division of the Southern Combination Football League. Giles leaves them at the top of their table, four points clear of their rivals.

Tonight, Giles told Inside Croydon, “I’m delighted to be home. Can’t wait to get back to work and get this Tram back on track.” Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon FC, Football, Sport | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Commissioners set Reed and Jones a boundaries conundrum

Posted on November 8, 2022 by insidecroydon

Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, on the layer-cake solution to the future of Croydon, and Lambeth’s, parliamentary constituencies

Layer cake: Croydon’s political boundaries have been redrawn. But who will get the biggest slice at the General Election?

It has been a standing joke on this website for a decade or so that former Lambeth council leader Steve Reed OBE is in fact the MP for Lambeth South. Today, the Boundary Commission made that gag a real possibility, as they published the latest version of their parliamentary constituency maps.

Croydon is to get four MPs, up from the three that it has had since 1974 – Croydon Central, Croydon South and Croydion North. The proposals as published this morning look to be good news for the Labour Party, with two seemingly safe seats and one winnable marginal, while Chris Philp’s Tory stronghold in Croydon South is probably made safer than it already was.

Now we can just grab the popcorn and sit back to watch the internal party squabbling over selections that are certain to follow, as sitting MPs decide which seat to take in a parliamentary version of musical chairs. Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon Central, Croydon North, Croydon South, Lambeth Council, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Long-planned Coulsdon medical centre in ‘critical condition’

Posted on November 8, 2022 by insidecroydon

The long-planned development of the Coulsdon Medical Centre on the site of the CALAT building has been placed on hold.

Doomed: the crashed economy has prompted the developers to pull out of the Coulsdon Medical Centre project

The front page of the latest edition of the newsletter from the Coulsdon West Residents’ Association puts it bluntly: “Critical condition”.

The medical centre, on the site of what was once Smitham School, adjacent to Woodcote Grove Road, was one of the quid-pro-quo projects in a complicated arrangement that included the building of 78 flats on the Lion Green Lane car park by Brick by Brick, the council’s failed development company. Suffice to say, five years after being granted planning permission, the flats are not yet occupied, while the medical centre seems no closer to fruition.

Now, with the national economy plunged into recession, the prospects of starting work on the medical centre look doomed. Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Philp MP, Community associations, Coulsdon, Coulsdon Medical Centre, Coulsdon Town, Coulsdon West Residents' Association, Croydon Council, Croydon NHS Trust, Croydon South, Health, Matthew Kershaw | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Trinity pupil named as prize-winner in Young Poets awards

Posted on November 8, 2022 by insidecroydon

A Trinity School sixth former has been named by the judges among the top 15 in this year’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year competition.

Outstanding: Trinity pupil Sienna Mehta. Pic: Hayley Madden

Sienna Mehta, from Purley, is 16 years old and is studying English Literature along with Maths, French and Spanish for A level, having joined Trinity’s sixth form this term. She has been writing poetry since junior school.

Her submission Unrequited sees her receive a fantastic range of prizes from the competition organisers, The Poetry Society, to help develop her writing.

Mehta and the 14 other winners will be invited to attend a residential writing course at The Hurst, the Arvon centre in Shropshire, as well as receiving a year’s youth membership of The Poetry Society and a bag full of books donated by generous publishers. Continue reading →

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Christmas Fundraising Quiz night, South Norwood, Dec 6

Posted on November 8, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Charity, Community associations, South Norwood, South Norwood Community Kitchen, South Norwood Tourist Board | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Council threatens injunction over reports it published itself

Posted on November 7, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Having published two confidential reports on its own website last week, today Croydon Council’s top legal official threatened this website with a High Court injunction. By STEVEN DOWNES

The myth that Jason Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor, has any intention of ever publishing the long-delayed Penn Report in a format where it has not been gutted by vast swathes of redaction was laid bare today, when the council’s monitoring officer wrote to this website and threatened to shut us down if we re-published related documents that had already appeared on the council’s own website.

Katherine Kerswell, the council’s chief executive, continues to call all the shots over the Penn Report, which was commissioned to look into any possible wrong-doing in the years leading up to Croydon’s financial collapse in 2020.

Although Kerswell herself drafted the Penn Report’s terms of reference – including “11. The report will be presented to the council” – she has spent nearly two years keeping it under strict lock and key, and avoiding implementing any of its recommendations for action against those at the centre of the council’s financial collapse. Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense, The Penn Report | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

‘Better than evens’ chance of winning Negrini legal case

Posted on November 7, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: After doing their utmost for almost two years to suppress the findings and recommendations of the Penn Report investigation into the council’s financial collapse, Katherine Kerswell’s blundering local authority managed to publish two confidential legal reports on its own website last week. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Katherine Kerswell, the council chief exec, has been in possession of legal advice since April this year that recommended the publication, at least in part, of the Penn Report and also the implementation of Local Government Association official Richard Penn’s recommendations – none of which have been done.

Inside Croydon came into possession of two “highly confidential and exempt” documents after they were published by the council on its own website last week.

The reports were only removed on Sunday after a concerned local councillor alerted officials. “I can’t believe that this is just sitting there,” the exasperated councillor told Inside Croydon.

And while one senior barrister suggests that the council might win a legal case brought against the discredited former CEO Jo “Negreedy” Negrini, she also argued against “throwing good money after bad”, since only a fraction of the £437,000 golden handshake given to Negrini could ever be recovered. Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Report in the Public Interest, RIPI II: Fairfield Halls, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa, Stuart King, The Penn Report | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Mayor Khan calls for ‘better, safer, fairer housing’ in London

Posted on November 7, 2022 by insidecroydon

Croydon Council could face financial penalties if it fails to keep its social housing up to higher standards, Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has warned.

Croydon’s housing crisis: as well as poor maintenance at Regina Road, the council now has issues with Brick by Brick homes

City Hall holds the purse strings for billions of pounds of housing development funding, but Mayor Khan has told London’s affordable housing providers – including local authorities like Croydon – that they could lose access to that money if they fail to maintain their properties at the standards tenants deserve.

It is 18 months since the appalling state of many of the flats in council blocks on Regina Road caused a national scandal. Some progress has been made, with several tenants in those blocks in South Norwood being found new accommodation and hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on repairs. Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Community associations, Croydon Council, Housing, Katherine Kerswell, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Regina Road Residents' Support Group, Sadiq Khan, South Norwood, Tom Copley | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Money survey finds more than 1m Londoners have no savings

Posted on November 7, 2022 by insidecroydon

More than 1million Londoners have less than £100 in savings, according to research from MaPS, the Money and Pensions Service.

Pot-less: have you saved up for the rainy days that are coming?

This week, November 7 to 11, is Talk Money Week, “an opportunity for everyone to get involved with events and activities which help people have more open conversations about their money”, according to MaPS.

Their survey found that 11per cent have nothing put away and another 9per cent have £100 or less in savings.

“This leaves one-fifth of Londoners living without a financial safety net to cope with the rising cost of living or unexpected bills,” statutory body MaPS says, “meaning some may have to use credit.” Continue reading →

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Trams boss Chambers resigns on Twitter after row with board

Posted on November 7, 2022 by insidecroydon

In an exclusive interview with ANDREW SINCLAIR, Croydon FC’s latest manager explains why he and assistant Joe Brown felt their positions had become ‘untenable’

Resigned: Tyler Chambers

Croydon are looking for their third manager in seven months after Tyler Chambers resigned following Saturday’s 4-2 loss to Snodland Town at Croydon Arena.

The defeat left the Trams 15th in the Southern Counties East Football League Division One, just one place above the relegation zone after 11 games.

In a tweet posted on Saturday evening, Chambers said that his and assistant manager Joe Brown’s positions were “made untenable on Thursday evening” – the night of a Trams board meeting. The social media message prompted a sharp response from the club’s chairman, Gavin English. Continue reading →

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Civic service to mark 6th anniversary of Croydon tram crash

Posted on November 7, 2022 by insidecroydon

Croydon will remember those who lost their lives in the Sandilands tram crash at a civic ceremony in New Addington this Wednesday, November 9.

The memorial for the victims of the tram crash

The ceremony is set to begin at 11am at Central Parade, where a memorial was installed for those killed in the derailment.

Dane Chinnery, Donald Collett, Robert Huxley, Philip Logan, Dorota Rynkiewicz, Philip Seary and Mark Smith died and more than 60 others were injured when a tram left the tracks near Sandilands tram stop on November 9, 2016. Continue reading →

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Fauré’s Requiem, Croydon Bach Choir, St Matthew’s, Dec 10

Posted on November 7, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Croydon postman lost forever on the battlefields of France

Posted on November 6, 2022 by insidecroydon

Off to war: volunteers from the Royal West Surreys in Croydon being mobilised in 1914. Postman Percy Kent would join the regiment two years later

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM: Ahead of Remembrance Sunday next week,  DAVID MORGAN delves into the archives of Croydon Minster for the latest  story of a casualty of World War I

Percy Kent grew up in Croydon, went to a local school and was employed in the town, too. But he was to die in a corner of a foreign field.

Percy Kent was born just up the road, in Cheam, on September 26 1884. His parents moved to 25 Duppas Hill Lane while Percy was a child. He was educated at the Parish Church School –  what’s known today as the Minster School. Finishing his formal education in 1896, when just 12 years old, he joined the Post Office, working out of the sorting depot in East Croydon. Percy would work there for almost 20 years.

In 1908, Percy Kent married Lily Botting. Their son, Raymond, was born in 1910 and a year later the young family moved to a terraced house, at 42 Rymer Road, in Addiscombe. Percy was almost 30 when war broke out in August 1914. He continued his work as a postman and didn’t volunteer for the army until July 18, 1916, when he joined the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment. He was given the service number of G/18080. He was placed in the 7th Battalion. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

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 →

Posted in Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Selsdon Vale and Forestdale | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Art, Stanley Halls, Talawa Theatre Company | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment