‘Ask for Henry’: Morrisons offer free meals during half-term

Posted on October 26, 2022 by insidecroydon

Morrisons, the supermarket chain, are encouraging customers who may be struggling with the cost of living crisis to “Ask for Henry” in its stores.

The initiative, being run in collaboration with Heinz, is hoped to be a discreet way to provide a nourishing hot meal for shoppers during half-term week.

Shoppers who Ask for Henry in Morrisons supermarkets will be given automatic free food. Customers will get a free jacket potato and a pot of Heinz beans from café tills.

It’s available at all stores nationwide while stocks last, limited to one per customer per day. The offer period begins today. Continue reading →

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NHS reduces waiting lists for treatment in London by 80%

Posted on October 26, 2022 by insidecroydon

The London NHS is claiming that it has reduced the number of people waiting more than 18 months for treatment by 80per cent over the past year.

Quick turnaround: waiting times across London hospitals are being reduced rapidly

“Just one person waiting 18 months for treatment is too many, and I know that waiting is frustrating, but these figures show the enormous effort across the whole of the NHS in London to tackle waiting lists which built up throughout the pandemic,” said Dr Chris Streather, medical director for the NHS in London.

Due to the impact of covid, by August 2021 the number of people in London waiting 18 months or more for planned treatments had grown to 11,500, but a concerted effort by health service staff to care for people as quickly and safely as possible has seen that number fall to just over 2,300.

Continue reading →

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#TheLabourFiles: Source of hacked data worked for Evans

Posted on October 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

Further links to the Labour Party’s General Secretary have been confirmed since Al Jazeera broadcast The Spying Game documentary.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Documentary evidence: Ruth Bannister, whose association with David Evans goes back at least 10 years, passed on the hacked documents

Further investigations since Al Jazeera broadcast their documentary “The Spying Game” have discovered that the person who handed stolen files to the Croydon Labour Party had in the past worked for David Evans, now the party’s General Secretary.

The Al Jazeera investigations unit’s final episode of their documentary series The Labour Files focused on the illegal and malicious hack attack against this website in February 2021, and how unlawfully obtained data was used by party officials to hound and harass Labour councillors and long-serving local officers.

Documents leaked to Al Jazeera included an email to Clive Fraser, the Town Hall Labour group’s chief whip, which had a 77.9MB attachment file of documents stolen from this website’s email account.

The author of that email was Ruth Bannister. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Clive Fraser, Crime, Croydon North, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, David Evans, Inside Croydon, Local media, Steve Reed MP, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Samaritans celebrate 60 years of ‘wonderful, life-saving work’

Posted on October 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

Samaritans of Croydon and Sutton has for 60 years been providing life-saving emotional support for people who are struggling to cope.

30 years a Samaritan: Bob Stent gives his speech at Saturday’s 60th anniversary event

To mark their anniversary, a celebration took place at the Braithwaite Hall on Saturday, attended by various dignitaries, the speeches recognising the great contribution that Samaritans of Croydon and Sutton have made, and continue to make, on people’s lives.

Volunteer Bob Stent, the branch’s longest-serving member having given 30 years’ service, delivered a talk on the history of Croydon and Sutton Samaritans.

This was followed by entertainment from the London-based band 7Suns. The event was attended by volunteers, both past and present, as well as family and friends.

Samaritans of Croydon and Sutton opened in 1962 and today has more than 80 volunteers who provide non-judgmental, confidential emotional support. Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Croydon Central, Samaritans, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fostering service appeal goes to the movies with Childhood

Posted on October 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

Childhood, a brief, brilliant and beautiful short film, has been released by Croydon Council in a ground-breaking national collaboration with 55 other authorities across the country in an effort to recruit much-needed foster carers.

There are more than 70,000 children living with almost 56,000 foster families in Britain today. Croydon has 525 children in care and needs to recruit at least 30 foster carers a year to meet the demand.

Childhood has been made by Midlands-based production company ReelTwentyFive, jointly funded by the 56 councils as part of a social media campaign which was launched with a premiere in Birmingham on October 13, and uses the hashtags #Childhood and #FosterForYourCouncil. Continue reading →

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Double delight for Harriers as Croydon 10K road race returns

Posted on October 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

Road winner: Penny Oliver, of host club Croydon Harriers, powers her way to the finish line of the Croydon 10K on Lloyd Park Avenue on Sunday

More than 200 runners turned out for the return of the Croydon 10K on Sunday, after a three-year absence, to encounter the worst conditions ever encountered in the history of the road race, as they set off from Lloyd Park Avenue through torrential rain

Organisers Croydon Harriers enjoyed double delight, as their runners James Hancock and Penny Oliver both led the way to the finish line of the men’s and women’s races. Continue reading →

Posted in Athletics, Croydon Harriers, Lloyd Park, South London Harriers, Sport, Striders of Croydon | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Disposing Of The Body, Sanderstead, Nov 10-12

Posted on October 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Mayor Perry threatens legal action over missing bus shelters

Posted on October 24, 2022 by insidecroydon

Jason Perry, the part-time Mayor of Croydon, has promised to take “legal recourse” over the lingering scandal of Croydon’s shelter-less bus stops.

No shelter: bus stops at East Croydon and across the borough have been without shelters for more than 18 months

The only problem with the dim Mayor’s vacuous undertaking is that there is very probably no one to take “legal recourse” against.

As Inside Croydon reported exclusively last week, Valo Smart City UK Ltd, the start-up company that is supposed to be providing more than 180 “smart” bus shelters around the borough, was served with a warning that it faced being struck off the Companies House register earlier this month.

Valo Smart City UK Ltd was only formed as a company in August 2020 – after Croydon had started its procurement process for a new bus shelter contract. Previously, Croydon had dealt with tried-and-trusted suppliers JC Decaux.

Decaux removed their shelters in the spring of last year. Valo’s replacements were originally meant to be in place by the autumn of 2021, as part of a 10-year deal under which they promised to pay the council £6.8million from advertising revenue. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Commuting, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, TfL, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Food banks issue dire warnings as demand outstrips supplies

Posted on October 24, 2022 by insidecroydon

Some of Croydon’s biggest and busiest food banks have issued a stark warning of how the cost of living crisis is already affecting some of the borough’s most vulnerable families.

Empty shelves: volunteers from food banks around Croydon are expressing concern that they are running low on supplies while requests for help increase

“We are facing really dire times,” Julia Lee, the leader of the Purley Food Hub’s client support team, told an audience at the organisation’s annual meeting last week.

“Needs are increasing while resources are reducing,” Lee said, according to a report on the Hub’s website.

Lee spoke of harrowing circumstances for some families, with parents regularly going without food so that their children could eat.

“This is the worst situation many of us have seen in our lifetime,” she said. “In the past year, our client support team has helped over 150 clients, offering advice and signposting them to specialist agencies.

“Over the next few months, it’s going to get even harder as food prices go up and up and energy bills soar.” Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Church and religions, Croydon Nightwatch, FoodCycle Thornton Heath, New Addington North, New Addington South, Purley, Purley Food Hub | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Fire Brigade offers safety advice for fireworks on Bonfire Night

Posted on October 24, 2022 by insidecroydon

Cost pressures have seen the cancellation of several public firework displays planned for Bonfire Night.

With Diwali being celebrated tonight, the fireworks season will get underway, and the London Fire Brigade has issued guidance for the public for those considering staging a display at home.

There are strict laws over when you can let off fireworks, where and what type. If you get it wrong, you could be fined or put yourself or others at risk. Continue reading →

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Christmas: A Festive History talk, Upper Norwood, Nov 14

Posted on October 24, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Officer’s distinguished service on Western and Home fronts

Posted on October 23, 2022 by insidecroydon

On the brink of war: Croydon-born Edmund Robinson (centre) at his wedding to Mary Read in New Zealand in 1915, not long before he was sent off to fight in WWI

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM: The physical and psychological sacrifices made by all those who served, including those who survived the horrors of trench warfare, are important to recall, writes DAVID MORGAN

As we outlined in last week’s column about how the lives of ordinary people of Croydon were affected, sometimes tragically, by war, it had been common at the start of the last century for people to emigrate from this market town on the borders of south London and Surrey to seek a better life in the Commonwealth.

Although Canada and Australia were the destinations of choice for many, several from Croydon settled in New Zealand. And when war broke out in August 1914, it was an almost reflex reaction for them to to sign up to fight “for King and country”, albeit with the forces from their adopted country.

Although we tend to focus on those who lost their lives in the conflict, there are those who survived the horrors of World War whose stories should be told, too. Continue reading →

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Croydon’s council close to the top of the table – for complaints

Posted on October 22, 2022 by insidecroydon

Outstanding… but not in a good way: Fisher’s Folly, next to the Town Hall, attracts plenty of upheld complaints from the borough’s ill-served residents

Croydon has proved itself to be outstanding once again – but in a manner in which no local authority should ever seek to shine.

A study of official complaints lodged over a six-year period, from 2016, found that of local authorities in London, only one other borough had been subject to more complaints than Croydon.

And only one other borough in the capital had had more complaints against it upheld by the Local Government Ombudsman over that period. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fairfield’s Peter Pan panto to Hook in the Christmas audiences

Posted on October 22, 2022 by insidecroydon

He’s back: Captain Hook returns to the Fairfield Halls this Christmas, with EastEnders‘ Ricky Champ as the villain.
Pics: Elliott Franks

Fairfield Halls has released full cast details for this year’s pantomime: Peter Pan – The Return of Captain Hook, which runs from December 10 to 31.

Promising plenty of swash and buckle, the cast is headed up by EastEnders bad boy Ricky Champ as Captain Hook, with Gemma Hunt as Tinker Bell.

“It promises to be a fabulous festive production with guaranteed fun, laughs and adventure,” say the producers. “With galleons of entertainment, fantastic flying effects, an acrobatic pirate crew, and possibly the hungriest crocodile you’ll ever see, join the adventure this festive season.”

Joining Champ and Hunt are CBBC and Crackerjack’s Mark Rhodes as Smee and Channel 5 Milkshake! presenter David Ribi as Peter Pan. The company also features Ohanna Greaves as Emily Darling and Emma Jay Thomas as Mrs Darling. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Fairfield Halls | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Halloween at Addiscombe Railway Park, Oct 30

Posted on October 22, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Addiscombe East, Addiscombe West, Community associations, Croydon parks, Friends of Addiscombe Railway Park | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Thornton Heath Festive Fair, High Street, Nov 12

Posted on October 22, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Palace granted permission (again) for £100m stand at Selhurst

Posted on October 21, 2022 by insidecroydon

The Eagles have landed: after a six-year delay, the planning process for the £100m Main Stand at Selhurst Park was given a green light last night

Back of the net! The result of last night’s planning committee meeting was never in doubt. But now Crystal Palace and their chairman Steve Parish have to seal a deal with Sainsbury’s. By our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE

It was the one home win this season that Crystal Palace could guarantee.

There was no need to check with VAR to ensure all the players were on-side. Part-time Perry, Croydon’s Mayor, is a Selhurst Park season ticket-holder. The Labour lead on planning at the Town Hall, “Thirsty” Chris Clark, is an Eagles cheerleader. The local MP had been wined and dined by expensively hired lobbyists and plied with hundreds of pounds of free tickets for matches.

And the council planners – just as they had done four years before – had recommended that the planning committee should grant approval for Crystal Palace FC’s £100million new stand. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Christopher Herman, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace FC, Football, Leila Ben-Hassel, Planning, Selhurst, South Norwood, Steve Parish | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

St Matthew’s Church Toy Service, Chichester Road, Nov 20

Posted on October 21, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Downfall of Truss leaves Tory Philp facing uncertain future

Posted on October 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

With the parliamentary Conservative Party in meltdown after a month of chaos under Liz Truss, ANDREW FISHER looks at what’s next for MP Chris Philp and his potentially ‘marginal’ seat of Croydon South

Architects of chaos: Croydon MP Chris Philp (left) didn’t spend long on the government front bench alongside Thick Lizzy Truss (second left) and the short-lived Chancellor, KamiKwasi Kwarteng (second right)

The Conservative Party is disintegrating before our eyes, with the Tory government increasingly resembling a group of toddlers playing musical chairs with the Benny Hill theme tune as the musical accompaniment.

As the Liz Truss economic experiment implodes after just 44 days of her in office as Prime Minister, it looks, too, as if 12 years of Conservative rule will soon be coming to an end.

This isn’t just hubris by a Labour member, but an analysis of the cold, hard data – with some polls putting Labour as much as 36 percentage points ahead of the shambolic Conservatives.

One eye-catching data release was an MRP poll by pollster Opinium that predicted the Conservatives would be reduced to just 137 MPs – losing 228 seats at the next General Election. Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Fisher, Chris Philp MP, Croydon South, Mario Creatura | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Barwell tells the Tory Party: It’s time to make up your mind

Posted on October 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

Britain stands on the brink of a national breakdown, after Liz Truss resigned as Prime Minister this lunchtime, following a turbulent 44 days in office during which her Mini-Budget crashed the markets, she sacked both her Chancellor and Home Secretary and she lost the confidence of most Tory MPs.
GAVIN BARWELL, right, the former Conservative MP for Croydon Central, this morning posted a Twitter thread with his advice for his erstwhile colleagues

Everyone I’ve spoken to from all wings of the party agrees the Truss government is finished, but there is no consensus on who should take over. The rows over Brexit and the removal of Boris have left deep scars.

If we are agreed that the Truss government has been a disaster, can we also agree that it should not be someone who supported Liz’s campaign and served in her Cabinet when it agreed the “Mini-Budget”?

There are some good people in the current Cabinet who should play important roles in what comes next – Penny Mordaunt and Ben Wallace being obvious examples – but they are implicated in what has just gone so wrong.

We need someone who was on the right side of the argument.

Continue reading →

Posted in Gavin Barwell | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Squaring the rubbish circle on Oval Road was never easy

Posted on October 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: In answer to a public question at last night’s Town Hall meeting about the terrible state of Oval Road since rubbish contractors Veolia started a bin bags trial in 2020, Cllr Scott Roche said ‘a review of the effectiveness of the trial has been completed, and the council is considering what option will be taken forwards. This will be done in conjunction with local residents.’
Here, JERRY FITZPATRICK, pictured right, a former Labour councillor for Addiscombe West ward, responds to the complaints made by a resident about the long-term lack of action on behalf of locals

For those who don’t know Oval Road, the context is that the road has a specific issue in that there are a significant number of properties which are divided into flats, these properties having insufficient curtilage to accommodate the number of bins which are required for a waste management system using four types of container, or indeed five for those properties which have a bin for garden waste.

State of that: a typical morning scene on Oval Road since Veolia’s bin bags trial

The waste management problems are not unique to Oval Road but are complicated by the fact that the majority of properties are multi-occupied, with steps leading to upper flats and basement flats, and many properties are rented with a quick turnover of tenants, not all of whom know and understand the waste protocols.

Councillors had several walkabouts with senior officers before the consultation which took place with residents in the summer of 2019. The streetscape was deplorable, and hazardous to pedestrians (particularly those pushing buggies) and wheelchair users. Bear in mind that Oval Road is a busy thoroughfare to and from East Croydon and Addiscombe.

Councillors met and received correspondence from residents who expressed their concerns in no uncertain terms. Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe West, Business, Community associations, Croydon Council, ECCO, Fly tipping, Jerry Fitzpatrick, Patricia Hay-Justice, Refuse collection, Tom Lawrence, Veolia | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

MP secures Commons debate on Galpins Road gas explosion

Posted on October 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

Siobhain McDonagh, the Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden, has secured a House of Commons debate tomorrow over the gas explosion on Galpins Road in August that caused the tragic death of four-year-old Sahara Salman and led to the evacuation of hundreds of residents.

Devastation: the scene on Galpins Road shortly after the explosion in August

The MP has organised for a coach to bring residents who were evacuated from Galpins Road to watch the debate from the public gallery.

The explosion occurred shortly after 7am on Monday August 8. An investigation is ongoing.

In the aftermath, hundreds of residents were housed in hotel accommodation by Merton Council. They had to leave with no notice, no belongings and no idea of when they would return. Many residents have not yet been able to return to their homes. Continue reading →

Posted in London-wide issues, Merton, Norbury, Siobhain McDonagh MP, Thornton Heath | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Viridor incinerator breaks its toxic VOC permit for 40th time

Posted on October 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

MARK GALE reports on how the Environment Agency’s ‘strict limits’ on polluting emissions are not so strict after all

Something stinks: Viridor has broken its pollution permit 40 times in 42 months

The latest emission data for the polluting incinerator on Beddington Lane has just been released and yet again, operators Viridor have breached their Environment Agency-set limits.

The reports that used to be published fortnightly have become less reliably regular since a change of personnel at the facility earlier this year, making it less straightforward to keep a check on which part of their permit Viridor has broken most recently.

But the data made available this week shows that on September 15, the levels of volatile organic compounds, or “VOCs”, exceeded the “strict limits” by more than 10per cent.

For Viridor, the limits don’t seem to be too “strict” as this is the 40th time the Beddington incinerator has gone over those limits since the data started being publicly shared 42 months ago. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council, Environment, Health, Kingston, Merton, Old Palace, Sutton Council, Wandle Park, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Saturday Coffee mornings at St Matthew’s, Chichester Road

Posted on October 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Ukraine’s national orchestra to play Croydon’s Fairfield Halls

Posted on October 19, 2022 by insidecroydon

Coming to Croydon: the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine on stage in Kyiv at the Lysenko Column Concert Hall

The Fairfield Halls will stage one of the gala concerts in next year’s UK tour by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, it has been announced.

Croydon’s arts centre will be one of 17 venues in the tour, the first visit to this country by NSOU in 20 years. The Fairfield Halls will host the second concert, on Wednesday October 18 2023. Ticket prices start from £45.50 and have gone on sale today.

The tour is the biggest in the history of the orchestra, which dates back to 1918, and is intended to reflect audiences’ new-found interest in Ukrainian culture since the Russian invasion in February this year. Other venues on the tour include Cadogan Hall, Symphony Hall in Birmingham, St David’s Hall in Cardiff, Usher Hall in Edinburgh and Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.

Continue reading →

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