When You’re Young: film makers get the bands back together

Posted on January 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

RICHARD PACITTI got a phone call recently that struck a chord…

Star nights: Richard Pacitti (right) on stage with The Fanatics in 1979

“Are you free to meet up with a bunch of old punks?”

It was an old pal on the phone.

“I have been talking with someone called Griff who is involved in making a film about the punk/new wave/indie bands from Croydon in the late 1970s early 80s,” he said. “It would be good if you could go along to the meeting to represent The Fanatics.”

In this case, The Fanatics doesn’t refer to diehard Palace fans, but the new wave-Mod band who were part of the Croydon music scene 40 years ago, and “Griff” is Griff Griffiths, who used to be in the Bad Actors.

With nothing else in my diary for that particular afternoon in October, intrigued, I made my way to the Dog and Bull in Surrey Street where all, as they say, would be revealed. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cinema, Music, Pubs | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Little Women help CODA make covid comeback at the Cryer

Posted on January 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

CODA comeback: the cast of the production of Little Women, being staged in Carshalton next month

CODA, the Croydon Operatic and Dramatic Association, is back after the pandemic with a run of performances of Little Women at the Cryer Arts Centre in Carshalton next month.

The production had been due to be staged last November, but was postponed due to a positive covid case within the production.

Louisa May Alcott’s moving family story follows four sisters in 19th Century New England, as they slowly leave childhood behind them and start to blossom into adulthood.

When they find their family separated by war, their small gestures of kindness to others can leave them stricken with sickness and self-doubt. As the sisters grow into young members of society, they show glimpses of what their futures may hold… Continue reading →

Posted in Art, CODA, Theatre | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Fathers’ Forum: Paul Canoville, No Strings Attached, Jan 27

Posted on January 25, 2022 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

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Boxpark’s £3m+ in council loans and grants under Newman

Posted on January 24, 2022 by insidecroydon

Multi-million-pound subsidy: Boozepark’s success has been heftily underwritten by Council Tax-payers

CROYDON IN CRISIS: While benefits to the borough’s most vulnerable are being cut, pools are being shut down and public services axed, the council has continued to hand out a juicy annual grant to a multi-million-pound business. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Croydon has provided private business Boxpark with a public subsidy of as much as nearly £1million since the food and booze venue opened in 2016, according to documents being put before the council’s cabinet meeting tonight.

Hamida Ali, the council leader, and her closest colleagues in the Labour-run council will spend the evening rubber-stamping their decision to close Purley Pool and they will agree to remove Council Tax Support from 20,000 households around the borough, on top of dozens of other cost-cutting measures being imposed on Croydon residents as a result of the financial collapse of the local authority in 2020. Continue reading →

Posted in Boxpark, Business, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jo Negrini, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Council wants to turn Battle of Britain Memorial into lorry park

Posted on January 24, 2022 by insidecroydon

Sutton Council wants to turn part of the Purley Way into a lorry park for at least two years.

Lorry park: Sutton’s logistics plan will see HGVs parked alongside the Battle of Britain Memorial for the next two years

The council’s construction logistics plan for a special school on Sheen Way Playing Fields will see dozens of HGVs parking up on the A23 alongside the RAF Croydon’s Battle of Britain Memorial, before they get called on to the building site.

They will then drive through narrow roads along a route which even the Sutton Council chief executive has previously deemed to be “a danger”.

Apparently, Croydon Council’s highways department has no problem with Sutton’s proposals.

Jillian Green, one of the independent councillors for Sutton’s Beddington North ward, has written to her counterparts in Waddon seeking their help.

Sutton’s construction traffic plan will see HGVs approach along the Purley Way red route from the south, then parking in the lay-by beside the war memorial until the site manager is ready for them. Once the truck drivers get a call they will access Stafford Road via roadss on an industrial estate, Queensway and Kingsway. Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Pelling, Elliot Colburn, Helen Bailey, Joy Prince, Parking, Paul Scott, Purley Way, Robert Canning, Sutton Council, TfL, Transport, Waddon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Party chaos as candidate starts Mayor run as independent

Posted on January 24, 2022 by insidecroydon

Croydon Conservatives’ campaign plans have been thrown into some minor disarray, after one of their candidates selected to stand in May’s Town Hall elections as a potential ward councillor has now announced himself as an independent candidate for Croydon Mayor.

Croydon Tories announced their 70 councillor candidates for the May 2022 local elections nice and promptly back in September, before the borough-wide referendum that voted overwhelmingly in favour of having a directly-elected Mayor.

Gavin FL Palmer (the FL stands for Francis and Luffa) had been named as one of the Tories’ three hopefuls in Woodside, a Labour stronghold ward which was previously represented by the discredited former council leader Tony Newman, and where his successor, Hamida Ali, is standing for re-election in 101 days’ time. Continue reading →

Posted in 2022 council elections, 2022 Croydon Mayor election, Woodside | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Businesses encouraged to pitch for part of £2m Omicron fund

Posted on January 24, 2022 by insidecroydon

The council is distributing more than £2million in government grants as financial support to local businesses which face uncertainty due to covid-19.

Running on empty: Croydon’s town centre was in poor shape even before covid came along

Unlike the borough’s hard-pressed food banks and voluntary groups, the council is at least giving owners of hospitality and leisure businesses more than a month to submit their bids for these grants.

Omicron grants of up to £6,000 are available for eligible businesses with the amount determined by the business property’s rateable value.

To apply, businesses must complete the online application form before February 28. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Council | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The strange case of the church organist and his ‘ferocious’ dog

Posted on January 23, 2022 by insidecroydon

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Controversy surrounded Croydon Parish Church’s professional musician 160 years ago when he got the wrong side of the law, writes DAVID MORGAN

Usually, the organists of the Croydon Parish Church appeared in the local press in regard to the music they created in church or at a concert. Often, they would take out advertisements for teaching music, singing or for playing the pianoforte.

John Rhodes, Croydon Parish Church’s organist from 1857 to 1868, was often in the local paper advertising that he was available on Saturdays for piano lessons as well as for singing and harmony sessions.

However, this tale begins with a piece in the paper that was for an entirely different matter. It was because of his dog.

On March 9,  1861, Rhodes had to answer a summons that he allowed a ferocious dog to roam unmuzzled. Described in the court documents as “organist of Croydon Parish Church and professor of music”, Rhodes pleaded not guilty to the charge. Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Kerswell gets her fourth council finance chief in 12 months

Posted on January 23, 2022 by insidecroydon

Council correspondent KEN LEE reports on the latest bit of empire-building going on at Fisher’s Folly

Social worker: Annette McPartland has worked at the council for 27 years

Croydon’s cash-strapped council, which over the past 18 months has been handing out P45s willy-nilly to hundreds of the low-paid front-line workers who grafted through the toughest times in the pandemic, has this week announced the appointments of two “corporate directors” who will both be paid salaries of around £150,000 per year.

And just to make sure no one rocks the boat over either appointment while she builds her little empire in Fisher’s Folly, chief exec Katherine Kerswell has made sure that she’s got the Town Hall’s Conservative opposition to endorse her choices. There are elections coming up in three months’ time… Continue reading →

Posted in Annette McPartland, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jane West, Katherine Kerswell, Richard Ennis | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Food banks given just six days to apply for £5,000 grants

Posted on January 22, 2022 by insidecroydon

Voluntary groups and non-profit organisations, including food banks, face a race against time to apply to the council for grants of up to £5,000.

Food banks: Croydon Council is trying to help voluntary groups, just not trying very hard

The human dynamos in the propaganda bunker at Croydon Council got round to releasing the details of its funding scheme last night, including a note that the deadline for applications is January 31.

That gives the already hard-working volunteers and charity organisers just six working days to get their paperwork and application sorted.

The council has a bit of a reputation for being reluctant to distribute “free money” when it is given grants for local causes and businesses, as it showed during the first covid lockdown in early 2020.

But the low-key manner in which this particular giveaway was announced – in a press release emailed after 5pm on a Friday evening, and therefore unlikely to get much pick-up and missing the dead-tree local papers’ deadlines for next week – seems particularly cheap and petty, even by Croydon Council standards.

Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Community associations, Croydon Council, Croydon Nightwatch, Manju Shahul Hameed, Purley Food Hub, South Norwood Community Kitchen | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

City Hall and Croydon Town Hall remember the Holocaust

Posted on January 22, 2022 by insidecroydon

Next Thursday, January 27, is Holocaust Memorial Day, when the world commemorates the lives of those killed in the Holocaust and in other genocides throughout the world.

On Monday, January 24 from 11am to noon, the Mayor of London and London Assembly will be holding a memorial service which can be followed online here.

City Hall is working closely with the Holocaust Educational Trust and The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust to create a ceremony that will commemorate victims of the Holocaust and provide time for reflection for those affected by more recent genocides.

On Thursday, the Mayor of Croydon will be hosting an online event, which will be available to watch on the council’s YouTube channel from noon. Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Pirates of Penzance, St Matthew’s Church, Mar 5

Posted on January 22, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Church and religions, Theatre | Tagged | Leave a comment

#Macarnage: Planner Slominski returns with a promotion

Posted on January 21, 2022 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: Distrust of the council’s planning department, and director Heather Cheesbrough, has reached new highs after it was discovered that they have re-employed a developer-friendly official with blatant conflicts of interest. By STEVEN DOWNES

Patronising: council director Heather Cheesbrough

Representatives of residents’ associations at a meeting this week expressed outrage and disgust with the council’s head of planning over her decision to re-employ an official who has been responsible for recommending approval for some of the most egregious examples of over-development seen in the borough.

The RAs told Heather Cheesbrough that they had serious concerns about clear conflicts of interest that they perceive planner Jan Slominski to have, following his return to a council job after 18 months working for a flashy firm of architects who are behind the designs for some massive, and money-spinning, blocks of flats in the borough. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Chris Philp MP, Community associations, Coulsdon, Coulsdon East, Croydon Council, East Coulsdon Residents' Association, Heather Cheesbrough, Kenley, Old Coulsdon, Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Mayor Khan settles in for the long-haul and a third term

Posted on January 21, 2022 by insidecroydon

Campaign trail: Sadiq Khan says he wants to go through it all once again in 2024

Sadiq Khan wants to be London’s first three-term Mayor.

Khan was first elected as London’s Mayor in 2016,  succeeding Boris Johnson. Johnson, like Ken Livingstone before him, the capital’s first Mayor, had served two four-year terms.

Now Khan, who was re-elected to the office in May last year after a 12-month delay in the elections caused by the covid pandemic, has admitted that he wants to stand again in 2024. Continue reading →

Posted in 2024 London elections, Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Neil Garratt, Sadiq Khan, Zac Goldsmith MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sutton ‘steamy’ councillor wakes up to borough’s burning issue

Posted on January 21, 2022 by insidecroydon

Try not to choke as you gasp for air, but as PAUL LUSHION, our environment correspondent reports, big business is about to make even more millions at the expense of your health thanks to weak regulators and craven councils

Going for the burn: Viridor plan to make millions from burning waste from across south-east England

Having created an insatiable, fire-breathing monster, incinerator apologists in four south London boroughs – including Croydon – are now horrified to discover that they cannot rein it back.

Incinerator operators Viridor have submitted an application to increase the amount of rubbish they are allowed to burn at their plant on Beddington Lane, close to the Sutton-Croydon borough boundary.

This 10per cent increase is on top of the 15per cent increase they were allowed in 2021, and will see them burning 385,000 tonnes of waste every year, with all the toxic pollution that goes with it.

Such an increase could see more than 50 additional dust carts visiting the incinerator every day of the year, many of which will drive along the Purley Way and adjoining roads through Croydon, as Viridor offers its lucrative incineration services to local authorities across London and south-east England. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Environment, Refuse collection, Shasha Khan, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Labour’s disciplinary procedures are all about factionalism

Posted on January 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

ANDREW FISHER (pictured right), Director of Policy at the Labour Party when Jeremy Corbyn was leader, questions the dubious procedures, the lack of due process and even bullying in the treatment of some Croydon colleagues

As reported by Inside Croydon yesterday, David White, a popular stalwart of Croydon Labour, has been expelled from the party. The process used would slander the term kangaroo court.

Denied a hearing: David White

David has been a Labour member for 51 years, twice as long as I have. He’s been an elected Labour member of the Greater London Council (abolished by Thatcher in 1986), stood as a parliamentary candidate, and for many years was the secretary of Croydon Central Constituency Labour Party.

Last year, he was selected by local members as one of Croydon Central’s delegates to represent the local party at the Labour Party’s annual conference. David topped the poll. The day before conference, he was sent a letter suspending his membership because of some tweets that were apparently so offensive that no one had raised them as an issue in more than seven years.

Despite this, he has been expelled without a hearing, and it’s not clear if he can appeal in person against the decision. Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Fisher, Andrew Pelling, Croydon Central, David White, Jamie Audsley, Robert Canning, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Poll misery for Perry as #Partygate could cost him council seat

Posted on January 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The latest opinion polls suggest that despite bankrupting the borough, Labour could increase its number of councillors in May’s Town Hall elections. STEVEN DOWNES reports

‘Churchillian’: how the Mirror front page looked this morning

Inside Croydon’s mole in the lawns of Croydon Tories’ suburban Purley headquarters reports complete despair among Jason Perry’s crack campaign team last night, after absorbing the full implications of YouGov’s latest and astonishing opinion poll results.

In the middle of the Partygate implosion of lying Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government, with MPs defecting and Brexiteer backbenchers invoking evocative phrases from the darkest days of the Second World War, YouGov’s latest figures give Labour an extraordinary 32 per cent lead in their latest poll.

That kind of voting, if carried through to polling day in the Town Hall elections on May 5, would see Val Shawcross elected as the borough’s first executive Mayor by a 3-to-1 majority which would see her powering to victory without needing second-preference votes.

And that kind of voting would see Jason Perry, the Conservatives’ deeply dull candidate for Croydon Mayor, also lose his councillor seat in true-blue South Croydon ward, while 10 other Tory-held council seats would be lost in potentially the biggest Labour landslide ever seen at Croydon Town Hall. It would be as if Tony Newman, Jo Negreedy and 2020 had never happened. Continue reading →

Posted in 2022 council elections, 2022 Croydon Mayor election, Chris Philp MP, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Jason Perry, Maria Gatland, Michael Neal, Robert Ward, Selsdon and Addington Village, South Croydon, Val Shawcross | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

‘Do the right thing’ as Mayor asks Londoners to keep masked

Posted on January 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has set himself on a collision course with anti-vaxxers and right-wing self-proclaimed “libertarians” by insisting that bus, Tube and tram passengers will still be expected to wear masks, even after the government relaxes its so-called “Plan B” precautions against covid-19 next week.

Hold tight: Mayor Sadiq Khan could face a backlash over his insistence on mask-wearing on public transport

Prime Minister (for now) Boris Johnson made the announcement of the easing of the protection measures, which included a legal requirement for mask-wearing on public transport, in shops and schools.

Johnson told the Commons yesterday that the restrictions introduced in December – which included encouraging working from home and “vaccination passports” for some events – would end on January 26. Continue reading →

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

Government looks to ‘professionalise’ social housing staff

Posted on January 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

Sign post: the government suggests that some working in social housing are not professional enough

The squalid and inhuman conditions that Croydon Council tenants, many with young children, were forced to endure on Regina Road, South Norwood, has forced the government to announce a wholesale review of training and qualifications for those working in social housing.

The government announced the move this week, saying it is an effort to improve standards and to ensure landlords are equipped to deal with tenant complaints. It is less than reassuring about the standards of some of those working in social housing that the government has named its project a “professionalisation review”.

Following reports by ITV News on the damp and mouldy flats in blocks on Regina Road, a report by independent consultants found that the council and its repair contractors, Axis, had failed “to deliver even basic ‘core’ housing services effectively… potentially symptomatic of poor performance across the council’s housing service”.

Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Housing, Regina Road Residents' Support Group, South Norwood | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Appeal for volunteers to help run charity café in New Addington

Posted on January 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

The Royal Voluntary Service has made an urgent call for more volunteers in Croydon to support in a fundamental role.

Help on a plate: could you play a part in RVS cafés at Crystal Palace or New Addington?

Volunteers are needed to take on the operation of newly opened cafés at the New Addington Leisure Centre and Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

Royal Voluntary Service cafés are a place for visitors to get high-quality food and barista-style coffee, knowing that any profits support the invaluable work Royal Voluntary Service does in the NHS and the local community.

The charity’s work includes running dementia support groups and helping vulnerable people recover after hospital stays.

Royal Voluntary Service is one of the largest retailers in the NHS, with its network of cafés and shops providing havens in hospitals to patients, NHS staff and visitors. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Charity, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, New Addington | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Orchard Wassail, Addiscombe Railway Park, Jan 29

Posted on January 20, 2022 by insidecroydon

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Posted in Activities, Friends of Addiscombe Railway Park | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Broad Green candidate was ruled by judge not fit to be trustee

Posted on January 19, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON LABOUR IN CRISIS: The botched and bungled selection process appears to have chosen as an election candidate someone whose conduct was found to be ‘wholly incompatible with his duties…’ with a charity and ‘a blatant breach of trust’.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Passing judgement: Ramaraj Rajagopal (right) as pictured with Stooge Collins and Manju Shahul-Hameed after their selection for Broad Green ward last October

The omnishambles that has been the local Labour Party’s selection process for May’s local elections looks to be heading for another controversy, after research conducted by this website discovered that one of their candidates is the subject of a High Court judgement that declared that his conduct on behalf of a Thornton Heath-based charity was “wholly incompatible with his duties as a Trustee, being a blatant breach of trust”.

Labour Party officials and the candidate concerned, Ramaraj Rajagopal, have refused to answer questions from Inside Croydon about whether the details of the court ruling were ever disclosed during the selection process, as might normally be expected, or whether any work was done in a thorough due diligence procedure.

Continue reading →

Posted in 2022 council elections, Broad Green, Charity, Croydon North, Manju Shahul Hameed, Ramaraj Rajagopal, Steve Reed MP, Stuart Collins | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tried calling Croydon Council? Please hold the line… forever

Posted on January 19, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Have you had difficulties getting through to the council, perhaps to report the latest missed bin collection, or when trying to make a Council Tax payment? According to sources at Fisher’s Folly, you’re just wasting your time. By our Town Hall reporter KEN LEE

Wrong number? Or just an extremely badly managed council?

There are staff at Croydon’s cash-strapped council who have been working from home during the pandemic for almost two years without having access to their employers’ phone or internet systems.

And according to sources among the workforce. senior management has refused repeated requests to provide the workers with the equipment needed to do their jobs, leaving some staff unable to do as much as 85 per cent of their council duties while being fully salaried.

According to the well-placed source, covid lockdowns have exacerbated existing issues over working practices at Fisher’s Folly, leading to a breakdown in services provided to Croydon residents.

Inside Croydon’s reports of six-month delays in registering a child’s birth, grieving relatives left waiting for the death certificate for a lost loved one and law-abiding residents being served with court orders for unpaid Council Tax because no one at Fisher’s Folly ever answers the phone are, the sources suggest, in part the result of several years of a deliberate shift to “digital-only” dealings with the public. Continue reading →

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Section 114 notice, Steve Iles | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

South Croydon one of 56 postcodes hit by covid mail delays

Posted on January 19, 2022 by insidecroydon

Households in the CR2, South Croydon, postcode, West Norwood (SE27) and West Wickham (BR4) are among 56 postal areas warned that their mail deliveries could face delays because of covid-related staff shortages.

Covid-hit: South Croydon delivery office is one of the areas worst-hit by mail delays

Royal Mail issued the urgent warning yesterday.

Delivery offices have been among the worst-hit by covid since the first lockdowns through 2020. Postal workers in close vicinity to collect and sort the items for their walks have been vulnerable to catching the virus.

There were serious mail delivery delays experienced for more than a fortnight in the CR0 area over Christmas and New Year 2022, too. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, South Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Labour centrists expel veteran Croydon campaigner White

Posted on January 19, 2022 by insidecroydon

CROYDON LABOUR IN CRISIS: A former Labour member of the GLC and long-time activist in Croydon Central who did much to get Sarah Jones elected to parliament has been kicked out of the party because of pro-Palestinian tweets from eight years ago.
STEVEN DOWNES reports

The concerted efforts of self-harm being conducted by the Blairites and Progress members running the local Labour Party continued today when veteran activist David White confirmed that he had been expelled from the party of which he has been a member for 51 years.

White has been expelled without any hearing, and has been told that he has no right of appeal. “It grieves me that the party I joined so many years ago has moved so far away from basic notions of natural justice, fairness and freedom of speech,” White said today.

Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Central, David Evans, David White, Sarah Jones MP | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments