Celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday with some free lessons

Posted on April 20, 2021 by insidecroydon

Shakespeare: we use his works more often than we realise

Parents and teachers looking for teaching resources and inspiration would do worse this week than look to the life and work of the Bard. LAURA STEELE, from education resource experts PlanBee, offers some tips

Many consider Shakespeare to be the greatest writer of the English language. His work is studied in schools and universities, and his plays are still performed in theatres across the world – many of them have been made into television programmes or films.

Date of birth a mystery
We know that Shakespeare was baptised on April 26, 1564, but his exact birth date is not known. Since the 18th century, his birth date has been attributed to April 23, which has become widely accepted, largely because as well as being St George’s Day, it was also the date on which Shakespeare would die, in 1616.

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon to John Shakespeare, a successful glove-maker, and Mary Arden, a wealthy heiress. William was the third of eight children. It is thought that he was fortunate to be educated at the King’s New School in Stratford, a free school chartered in 1553. Continue reading →

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Car pollution near schools big worry for children, survey finds

Posted on April 20, 2021 by insidecroydon

Almost two-thirds of London schoolchildren are worried about air pollution near their school – an increase of 11 per cent since a similar survey was conducted in 2018.

YouGov’s survey found ¾ of children are worried about climate change and pollution

A YouGov poll, commissioned by the walking and cycling charity, Sustrans, surveyed 1,305 pupils aged from 6 to 15 years old across the UK, of which 180 were in London. They were asked about their attitudes towards air pollution and the climate crisis. They were also asked about and the actions they think should be taken to help reduce the impact of poor air quality and climate change.

Of those surveyed in London, 63 per cent said adults are not doing enough to tackle climate change. This is in line with the national findings.

More than three-quarters – 76 per cent – of the children admitted to feeling worried about climate change, and 61 per cent thought that adults don’t listen to children’s concerns about the topic. Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Environment, Schools | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

‘It’s now or never’ for Croydon to start its Green New Deal

Posted on April 20, 2021 by insidecroydon

More than 10,000 green jobs could be created across infrastructure and care work in Croydon over the next decade, according to research published today.

Green shoots: jobs in renewable energy could help power an economic revival

The data, compiled by Green New Deal UK, shows that Croydon is likely to suffer more than 3,600 permanent job losses due to the covid-19 pandemic. But those lost jobs could be replaced entirely with jobs in new and existing industries.

“The research shows that you can tackle unemployment and create jobs whilst tackling climate change at the same time,” Connie Muir, a local organiser at Croydon Climate Action, said.

“Especially after the awful impacts of covid-19, it’s now or never. Continue reading →

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Croydon Eats – supporting Croydon’s independents

Posted on April 20, 2021 by insidecroydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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BxB’s collapse was predictable. Why did no one else notice?

Posted on April 19, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: It did not take a couple of £800-a-day consultants to spot that Brick by Brick was dragging the council into financial ruin.
Reader NICHOLAS PANES’s first piece for this website, the presciently headlined “Building towards the council’s financial ruin, Brick by Brick”, was published three years ago. Here, he pores over the failed company’s latest financial accounts and asks: What else are they hiding now?

My first Freedom of Information request about Brick by Brick’s finances went in early in March 2018, and the answers were not very satisfactory. I analysed the slippage in the construction over three years; the low point was probably finding out with another FoI that Croydon did not even have the information to tell them how many homes Brick by Brick had built.

Simon Hall: reported a £63m ‘slippage’ largely due to BxB, in 2018

Even in July 2018, a council meeting was told, by the then cabinet member for finance, Simon Hall, that the “slippage” (such a gentle word for such an alarming event) amounted to £63million that should have been in the council’s coffers, but wasn’t, largely because of the failures of Brick by Brick to build houses on time and to budget. Tony Newman, the then leader of the council who was chairing the meeting, blocked any further questions.

Inside Croydon reported at that time, “The harsh reality is that Brick by Brick’s failure to deliver even a single new home in the three years since the company was established could mean that Croydon’s Labour-run council will be forced to make more, and deeper, cuts in other council services over the next two years.”

Fast-forward a couple of years, to covid-hit 2020, and the failure of Brick by Brick to re-pay to the council a penny of the £200million-plus loans they had received, or interest on those loans, or any profits on their business over the course of five years, had finally broken the back of the council’s finances, and officials were forced to issue a Section 114 notice last November. Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Housing, Martyn Evans, Paul Scott, Planning, Simon Hall, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Tribunal ruling gives green light for council’s road fines policy

Posted on April 19, 2021 by insidecroydon

The decision of a traffic adjudicator last week, upholding fines against a motorist for driving into a Low Traffic Neighbourhood, could clear the way for cameras that might generate £3m per year for the cash-strapped council.
STEVEN DOWNES reports

The road signs on Parsons Mead are so clear, they can even be seen on Google Street View

A motorist who was fined hundreds of pounds for repeatedly driving past road signs into a Low Traffic Neighbourhood in West Croydon has had his appeal turned down by London’s traffic penalties tribunal.

But Shakeel Yousaf only has to pay £130, the cost of a single fine, well down on the £845 he managed to accrue after driving past no entry signs 13 times. That’s because Croydon Council decided to drop 12 of the charges against him, something that the adjudicator has ruled they did not need to do. Continue reading →

Posted in Broad Green, Chris Buss, Croydon Council, West Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Schooners and horizontal tanks offer lager on industrial scale

Posted on April 19, 2021 by insidecroydon

POST-LOCKDOWN (NOT QUITE) LOCK-INS: In his never-ending quest for the perfect outdoor pint, or even two-thirds of a pint, KEN TOWL hopped on the tram to prove it is possible to organise a piss-up at two breweries

The beers come in four sizes at the Anspach and Hobday brewery tap

Someone at Anspach and Hobday – it may have been Mr Anspach, it may have been Mr Hobday – let Inside Croydon know that they would be opening their Taproom , or at least the forecourt in front of it, to sophisticated and urbane drinkers from 1pm to 7pm every Saturday afternoon for the foreseeable future.

They made a point of mentioning their latest wheeze, fresh lager (“direct from our horizontal lagering tank. Tank fresh lager!“), and also let slip that their neighbours, the Signal Brewery, might be doing something similar.

I recruited three friends to help me fill up a table (you can book for between two and six people) and after getting off the tram at Therapia Lane, we entered Stirling Way from Beddington Farm Road. As soon as you turn into Stirling Way you see what looks like a mini-Oktoberfest going on in the suntrap that is the A&H forecourt at Unit 11 of the Valley Point light industrial estate. Continue reading →

Posted in Anspach and Hobday, Business, Ken Towl, Pubs | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

South Croydon Street Sale, free community event, Apr 25

Posted on April 19, 2021 by insidecroydon

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Reader offer: Signed* copy of Bolt book for annual subscribers

Posted on April 18, 2021 by insidecroydon

Here’s the latest special offer for our loyal supporters – a free, signed copy of a book written by the editor of Inside Croydon!

For a limited period, while (very limited) stocks last, any reader who takes makes an annual subscription payment to Inside Croydon can claim a free copy of Usain Bolt: The story of the world’s fastest man, written by Steven Downes. Continue reading →

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Seconds out: Round 3! Boxing club gets temporary reprieve

Posted on April 17, 2021 by insidecroydon

New Addington Amateur Boxing Club, which faced immediate closure at the end of March, has been given a temporary reprieve. Another one.

New Addington boxing club is not ready to throw in the towel just yet

As with most things involving Croydon Council, the outcome is less than satisfactory.

One source said today, “If this was a boxing bout, the club has just taken an 8 count…,” before adding with a sense of menace, “But now they are coming out swinging.”

At the start of March, the club was served with less than one month’s notice on its tenure at the council-owned local community centre, with nowhere else to go.

Council officials have now told the club it can continue to use the community centre until the end of this year. Continue reading →

Posted in Boxing, Community associations, Duke McKenzie, Felicity Flynn, Louisa Woodley, New Addington, New Addington ABC, New Addington North, Oliver Lewis, Simon Hall, Sport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

South Croydon teen wins census photo memory competition

Posted on April 17, 2021 by insidecroydon

Yoana Yakimova, a 14-year-old pupil at Quest Academy, South Croydon, has won £100 in Amazon vouchers for her winning photograph in a Census 2021 Time Capsule competition, devised to remind the public to complete this year’s census.

The organisers asked residents from across London to share images of items that summed up their year, for a digital time capsule. The photos will be collected and released in 10 years as a digital time capsule in advance of the next census in 2031. Continue reading →

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Kerswell set to depart after completing cull of Negrini execs

Posted on April 16, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Having overseen the removal of almost all of Jo Negrini’s ‘executive leadership team’, it seems that the interim chief exec wants to move on to better things. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Katherine Kerswell: ready to move on

Croydon Council is to begin the hunt for a new chief executive, with advertisements expected to appear in a fortnight’s time, according to sources at Fisher’s Folly.

Council insiders are interpreting this move as indicating that Katherine Kerswell has no desire to extend her stay in Croydon much beyond the first anniversary of her arrival as the borough’s £192,474 pa interim chief executive officer in September.

With the record £120million government bail-out secured for Croydon’s bankrupt council, there is now loadsamoney to pay for a permanent CEO, and to fund the fancy fees demanded by whatever firm of executive headhunters the authority’s execs decided to use.

As well as the financial rescue package, the other “achievement” of Kerswell’s time in Croydon may be seen as a thorough clear out of the pompously titled “executive leadership team”, which she inherited from her predecessor, Jo Negrini.

That came one step closer to being completed today with the resignation of Jacqueline Harris-Baker, the borough solicitor. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Elaine Jackson, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Heather Cheesbrough, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Robert Henderson, Sarah Hayward, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Sutton accused of ‘misleading’ over SDEN and the Heat Trust

Posted on April 16, 2021 by insidecroydon

SDEN, the misfiring heating network business run by Sutton Council, has been accused of passing themselves off falsely as a member of government-backed quango, the Heat Trust. The very damaging allegation of serious misrepresentation has been made by… the Heat Trust.

New Mill Quarter residents are being forced to pay more than double to going rate for heating, from an unreliable system

The Heat Trust logo (tag line “Heat supply you can trust”) was even used in the SDEN business plan for 2019, which required official sign-off by Sutton Council officials Amanda “Mandy” Cherrington and Mary Morrissey.

The actions of SDEN and Sutton Council have been described as “unbelievable”, with misled residents accusing them of fraud. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Jayne McCoy, Sutton Council, Waste incinerator | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Under-fire council recruiting for £88,000 pa head of repairs

Posted on April 16, 2021 by insidecroydon

Are you seeking a “new challenge”? Fancy a job that pays as much as £88,000 a year?

Fancy a £88,000 a year job in the hot seat at Fisher’s Folly? Apply here…

Want to work for somewhere that describes itself as “a place on the up, experiencing the largest growth of any London borough?”

A job where you would be taking charge of a department within a local authority whose staff have been accused of making council tenants “feel less than human”?

And fancy a job which is likely to see your work featured, or at least mentioned, on a weekly basis for the foreseeable future on ITV News?

Cash-strapped Croydon Council, its recruitment freeze set aside, is looking for a “Head of Repairs and Maintenance”.

And they are offering between £82,703 and £87,968 a year for the right person to take up the hot seat.

Sources in Fisher’s Folly maintain that the timing of this announcement has nothing, absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the national scandal caused by the appalling state of unrepaired and neglected council flats on Regina Road, South Norwood, as was exposed on ITV’s News At Ten last month. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Housing, South Norwood | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Croydon cancer patients receive £44,000 in charity ‘lifelines’

Posted on April 16, 2021 by insidecroydon

A charity made grants totalling more than £44,000 to Croydon residents with cancer in 2020, to help them through the darkest times of the coronavirus pandemic.

The payments to 144 Croydon residents with cancer were part of £1million in hardship grants made in London by Macmillan Cancer Support during the year. Macmillan paid out £9.2million in similar grants across the whole country, all made possible through donations from the public.

The money was often just to allow people with cancer to pay for essentials, such as heating their homes, travel to hospital appointments, bedding and clothing, as well as the financial impact of the pandemic and the unexpected costs cancer can bring.

Dellasie Avorkliyah, a mother from Croydon, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019, when she was 28. Continue reading →

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‘Cynical’ Tories face backlash over bogus links to food bank

Posted on April 15, 2021 by insidecroydon

Cynical opportunists: the Tory candidates for Woodside and South Norwood

Genuine community activists who have been tirelessly providing food to the vulnerable and needy in their neighbourhood for nearly five years have turned on a couple of Conservative Party election candidates for trying to piggy-back their hard work.

“It’s a mystery to us why Conservatives like getting a selfie advertising the food poverty they helped to create,” was the view of one volunteer with the South Norwood Community Kitchen after Michelle Kazi and Sonia Marinello published opportunistic selfies of themselves standing outside one of the kitchen’s food drop-off points. Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, South Norwood, South Norwood Community Kitchen, South Norwood Tourist Board, Woodside | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Loonys on the march in Chessington with 13 candidates

Posted on April 15, 2021 by insidecroydon

Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, reports on something (sadly?) lacking from the local elections in Croydon next month

Colonel Cramps: has no concerns about splitting the Loony vote

Croydon is not the only south London borough staging council by-elections next month.

But, after the candidate nominations were released last week, it quickly became apparent that in nearby “Royal” Kingston upon Thames, the Chessington South by-election would have something sorely missing from every other ballot paper on May 6: Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidates – 13 of them.

It is believed to be a record number of candidates from one party to stand in the same electoral area in one ballot. Continue reading →

Posted in 2021 London elections, Kingston | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Dangerous caterpillar pest closes in on Croydon’s oaks

Posted on April 15, 2021 by insidecroydon

There have been sightings in Banstead Woods of the oak processionary moth, the extremely destructive moth caterpillars which can strip a tree of its leaves, leaving it weakened, vulnerable, even killing once healthy oak trees.

Not to be touched: oak processionary moth’s caterpillars

The Forestry Commission has been conducting regular checks of trees in Croydon for several years, in case of its spread to the borough’s parks and woodlands – though even if it is discovered, there’s little that the authorities can do to eradicate the voracious pest beyond donning haz-chem clothing and destroying the infested trees.

Our warming climate is blamed for the advance of the oak processionary moth, which is believed to have been brought into England through imported samplings from the Netherlands.

The Royal Horticultural Society describes the oak processionary moth as “native to southern Europe that has become established in parts of London and its surrounds.

“Whilst it can defoliate oak trees the primary concern is the caterpillars’ hairs, these can cause irritation if in contact with human skin. The caterpillars should not be handled or approached.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon parks, Environment, Friends of Farthing Downs, Friends of Lloyd Park, Wildlife | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Council tenants rebel: ‘Your staff make us feel less than human’

Posted on April 15, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Angry at being ignored and ‘left in limbo’, new residents’  group hints at a class legal action against their landlords as they claim that the council was considering demolishing the South Norwood tower blocks 20 years ago. By STEVEN DOWNES

Residents in Regina Road are getting organised

Dozens of residents in council-owned blocks on Regina Road have demanded an urgent meeting with Hamida Ali, the leader of Croydon Council, telling her that they “have had enough”.

In a letter sent today, the newly-formed Regina Road Residents’ Support Group hints at taking a class legal action against the council and says, “We have suffered with these appalling conditions, some of us for 16 years.”

In their criticism of council staff and repair contractors, Axis, the residents say that they have been made to “… feel patronised and less than human in the way you talk to us.

“Many of us feel discriminated against. Many of us have been made to feel that we should be grateful for these intolerable conditions.” Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Housing, South Norwood, Woodside | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Generation Rent finds 700,000 renters faced covid eviction

Posted on April 15, 2021 by insidecroydon

Nearly 700,000 tenants living in private rented accommodation were given formal notice to move out of their homes without a reason in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic – despite a Tory government promise to end “no-fault” evictions.

Promises to end ‘no-fault evictions’ have been broken

The figures come from a new poll by Survation, published today, the second anniversary of the Renters’ Reform Bill being announced in the last Queen’s Speech.

Two years after the initial pledge, renters are still waiting.

The Survation survey found that since March 2020, 8 per cent of private renters in England – which would represent 694,000 tenants – have received a Section 21 notice, which allows landlords to evict tenants without needing a reason, while 32 per cent – nearly 3 million adults – are concerned they will be asked to move out this year. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Community associations, Housing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Looking for easy accounting software? MyT has the answer

Posted on April 15, 2021 by insidecroydon

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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NHS covid vaccination is safe in Ramadan, doctor says

Posted on April 14, 2021 by insidecroydon

A leading local GP has today issued a message to emphasise that Ramadan should not stop anyone from getting the NHS covid-19 vaccination.

The NHS covid vaccination service in south-west London is available for all

Dr Kashif Aziz confirmed that getting the jab does not break the fast observed by Muslims during daylight hours over Ramadan and that this is the confirmed opinion of the vast majority of scholars. Some NHS vaccination sites across England are extending their opening hours so that Muslims can receive the jab after they have eaten and make it easier for people to find a convenient slot. Continue reading →

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Hozah parks six-figure investment from Suss Ventures

Posted on April 14, 2021 by insidecroydon

A Croydon-based technology company has just landed a six-figure investment to boost the roll-out of its innovative parking charge payment system.

A Croydon-based company has landed a six-figure investment from Sussex Innovation

Hozah – hozah.com – is a parking platform that uses ANPR – number plate recognition – technology to enable car drivers to park and go with a one-time sign-up. The zero-touch payments system allows drivers to be charged automatically for their length of stay when they enter a Hozah-enabled car park, without the need to do anything else. It’s completely cashless, automated and secure.

Suss Ventures, the venture capital arm of Sussex Innovation, the business incubator based at No1 Croydon, has contributed the substantial investment to Hozah as part of the company’s multi-million investment drive.

David Fowle and Naomi Bishop founded Hozah in 2017 with the idea of transforming the country’s car park infrastructure.

The Hozah system is already being used or trialled with some local authorities around the country, including Coventry, Oxford and Croydon. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Sussex Innovation Centre | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Cash-strapped council to sell part of Grangewood Park

Posted on April 14, 2021 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Our environment reporter, CHRIS PECKHAM, on how the authority’s financial crisis is being used as an excuse to push through a twice-rejected plan

After being forced to back down twice in the face of public hostility in the space of three years, cash-strapped Croydon Council has now started flogging off part of a much-loved, “historic” public park.

The strip of land in Grangewood Park which the council is flogging off along with the parkkeeper’s lodge

Heath Lodge in Grangewood Park is to be sold – little more than 12 months since the Labour-controlled council’s secretive attempts to flog off the building and some parkland had been exposed and forced to be abandoned.

The Lodge is a Victorian-built, small former parkkeeper’s home at the gates to the park which lies between Thornton Heath and Upper Norwood.

The Lodge had been occupied until 2011, but a decade’s worth of neglect and disinvestment by the council has left the building in a near-derelict state. Estimates of the repair costs start at £150,000 – money that the council said it did not have, even before it declared itself effectively bankrupt. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Croydon parks, Environment, Friends of Grangewood Park | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Ombudsman starts investigation into damp and mouldy flats

Posted on April 13, 2021 by insidecroydon

Croydon’s Labour-run council is likely to come under renewed pressure to publish the findings of its “urgent” investigation into the appalling conditions in residential towers in South Norwood, after the Housing Ombudsman announced today a full-scale national investigation of his own into damp and mould in rented accommodation.

“It will enable the Ombudsman to make recommendations and share best practice to help landlords develop their services and improve the experience of residents,” the Ombudsman’s office said in announcing its probe.

The Housing Ombudsman is Richard Blakeway, who between 2012 and 2016 served as deputy mayor of London for housing, in an appointment made by the then Tory Mayor, Boris Johnson. Thus the timing of this announcement, when a crisis-hit Labour-run council in Croydon is bungling its response to a housing scandal, may not be entirely coincidental.

Continue reading →

Posted in Boris Johnson, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Housing, London-wide issues, South Norwood | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments