Strange Cummings and goings as protests begin over library

Posted on December 6, 2020 by insidecroydon

Budget-busting Brick by Brick has built a new library on Station Road, South Norwood, but the council doesn’t have the cash to open it

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The battle has begun to save the borough’s libraries, under threat because of the council’s financial collapse.
GENE BRODIE reports from yesterday’s well-attended protest in South Norwood

More than 100 residents, including many parents with youngsters in tow, turned out in South Norwood yesterday to protest against proposed cuts to the borough’s libraries, which include the absurd situation where the council doesn’t have the money to open a brand new library built by its budget-busting builders, Brick by Brick, on Station Road. Continue reading →

Posted in Clive Fraser, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Jane Avis, Libraries, Patsy Cummings, Paul Scott, Section 114 notice, South Norwood, Tony Newman, Woodside | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

‘Pivotal moment’ as hospital starts coronavirus vaccinations

Posted on December 6, 2020 by insidecroydon

Patients will be vaccinated against coronavirus at Mayday Hospital as early as this Tuesday, at the start of the biggest immunisation programme in history.

The Pfizer vaccine for coronavirus will begin to be used in Croydon from Tuesday

The hospital, part of the Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, is one of 50 around the country which will take part in the process of immunizing the population against the virus, which has claimed the lives of more than 61,000 people in Britain this year.

A spokesperson for the Croydon NHS Trust said, “We are working hard to make sure we can protect those at the highest risk from covid-19 in the shortest time possible.

“Croydon University Hospital has been selected as one of only 50 ‘hospital hubs’ that will provide the new covid-19 vaccine to the local community first, before the vaccine is rolled out across the country in the coming weeks and months.

“People aged 80 and over as well as care home workers will be first to receive the jab, along with NHS workers who are at higher risk of covid-19. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon NHS Trust, Health, Matthew Kershaw, Mayday Hospital | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Solicitors are offering businesses free contract advice

Posted on December 6, 2020 by insidecroydon

A Croydon-based firm of solicitors that specialises in employment law is providing a range of free services next month to assist businesses in updating their contracts and policies.

Martin Searle Solicitors employment law team’s Contracts and Handbook campaign will run throughout January to help employers introduce or update their contracts.

“The coronavirus pandemic has meant that most businesses have faced challenging times and may have had to change their workers’ terms or conditions to ensure their viability,” said a spokesperson for the firm.

“This is an opportunity for employers to ensure that all of their contracts and policies reflect their current working practices as well as protecting their business.” Continue reading →

Posted in Business | Tagged | Leave a comment

Labour agree to hold mayoral referendum in October 2021

Posted on December 5, 2020 by insidecroydon

EXCLUSIVE: Council leader votes for a ballot that could cost as much as £1m, as agreement is finally reached to listen to the wishes of 20,000 Croydon residents. By STEVEN DOWNES

The Labour group which controls Croydon Town Hall has agreed to stage a referendum over whether the borough should have a directly-elected mayor, to replace the current, and discredited,  “strong leader” and cabinet system.

It is a massive U-turn by Croydon Labour under their old-new leader Hamida Ali.

Ali’s deeply unpopular predecessor, Tony Newman, refused to acknowledge the importance of a 20,000-signature petition that was submitted at the Town Hall in September and should have triggered the referendum.

But the latest move could come at huge cost to the council which was driven into bankruptcy under Newman, Ali and their colleagues. The Labour group has agreed to stage the referendum in October next year, and not alongside the London Assembly and London Mayor elections which are scheduled for May. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Patsy Cummings, Paul Scott, Section 114 notice, Simon Hall, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fears over children’s services as another director quits council

Posted on December 5, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Staff worry that an exodus of colleagues will desert bankrupt council before the worst of the cuts bite.
EXCLUSIVE By STEVEN DOWNES

On his way out: Nick Pendry points to the exit at Fisher’s Folly. Apparently

Nick Pendry, Croydon’s director of early help and children’s social care, is to follow his former boss Rob Henderson in leaving the council.

Pendry becomes the third recent director-level departure from Croydon, in the month since the issuing of a Section 114 notice to admit that the council has gone bust.

Pendry had been in the job for barely two years, having arrived in January 2019. Together with Henderson, he was widely credited with leading the work which saw Croydon’s children’s services being given a “Good” rating in March, nearly three years – and £30million of extra spending – after a damning “Inadequate” Ofsted report in 2017.

Pendry announced his decision, to take another job in Wandsworth at the end of February, in an email sent to staff late on Thursday in which he wrote of his “great sadness”. Yet barely a fortnight before,  Pendry had been telling his colleagues that he was in Croydon “for the long haul”. Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Debbie Jones, Nick Pendry, Robert Henderson, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

12-year-old Ellis draws in the money to help Mind in Croydon

Posted on December 5, 2020 by insidecroydon

Twelve-year-old Ellis Jurado supports Mind in Croydon each year with fundraising events. This year he set himself an art challenge to produce 31 drawings in 31 days in October: he raised £1,250 online.

Some of the 31 artworks Ellis Jurado completed in October to raise funds for Mind

Ellis’s Mum, Lucie, said, “We knew that World Mental Health Awareness Day was October 10, so decided it was the perfect month for him to complete his ‘Inktober’ challenge.

“We set up an online fundraising page and hoped to raise £500 for Mind. Within the first eight days Ellis had already hit £500. So we increased the target to £1,000 and by October 31 and 31 fabulous drawings later, he managed to raise a whopping £1,250!”

This fantastic fundraising effort will go towards supporting the services that Mind in Croydon currently provides to people and families in Croydon, including social groups and activities, many of which have moved online during the covid-19 crisis.

Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Charity, Mind in Croydon | Tagged | Leave a comment

Now Scott tries to play the blame game over Brick by Brick

Posted on December 4, 2020 by insidecroydon

Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, on how the chief architect of the council’s disastrous housing policy is trying to salvage his reputation

Paul Scott, part of the clique which led Croydon Council to bankruptcy, broke cover at a virtual Town Hall meeting this week in a blatant attempt to pin some of the blame for the failings of loss-making house-builders Brick by Brick on a council director.

Paul Scott: he glowered down the camera lens

Tuesday’s extraordinary council meeting (the latest one) was required for the finance director, Lisa Taylor, to lay out the terms of the Section 114 notice she had issued last month, and to confirm that a second such notice was to be issued the following morning.

Scott and fellow members of the old leadership cabal have been keeping a low profile since the collapse of their six-year regime with the resignation at the end of October of Simon Hall as the cabinet member for finance, swiftly followed by council leader Tony Newman’s resignation. Indeed, Hall did not even bother to log-in to Tuesday’s significant financial meeting – the first called by a London borough to discuss a S114 notice in 20 years.

Scott, however, did, and he was given the opportunity to point the finger of blame for Brick by Brick’s catastrophic failure at Taylor. Continue reading →

Posted in Alison Butler, Brick by Brick, Colm Lacey, Croydon Council, Housing, Jo Negrini, Lisa Taylor, Martyn Evans, Paul Scott, Planning, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice, Simon Hall, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Survey shows huge increase in walkers and cyclists in LTN

Posted on December 4, 2020 by insidecroydon

A council consultation on the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in Crystal Palace  closes tonight, with some residents who live on the streets affected producing hard data to prove how by closing residential roads to rat-running vehicles more people have been using them for walking and cycling.

LTNs have seen more people using bikes, even on the hilly roads of Upper Norwood

The LTN schemes across London have been funded by central government, with keen cyclist Boris Johnson giving his support. Andrew Gilligan, Johnson’s close adviser when he was Mayor of London, has been appointed to the board of Transport for London, where he has been advocating the policy which is intended to change public habits and reduce the use of motor vehicles.

Now a report by resident campaign Shape Better Streets reveals a dramatic increase in walking and cycling in the Crystal Palace and South Norwood Low Traffic Neighbourhoods since Croydon Council closed some streets to through traffic in the summer.

Opponents of the scheme – who include members of the Road Haulage Association and the Bromley chapter of the Alliance of Bad Drivers – have tried to claim that the roads are too hilly for people to use bikes, but the figures collected by volunteers show that even on one of the steepest roads, Sylvan Hill, there has been around a three-fold increase in cycling and walking through the day, compared with the month before the experimental closures were introduced. Continue reading →

Posted in Community associations, Croydon Council, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Crystal Palace Park, Cycling, Environment, TfL, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Big Bother in Sutton, as no-confidence vote in Evans is blocked

Posted on December 4, 2020 by insidecroydon

The struggle between grassroots members and the leadership of the Labour Party nationally reached an Orwellian low in south London this week, when a local branch meeting was allowed to debate no-confidence in leader Sir Keir Starmer, but was blocked from discussing a similar motion over the party’s general secretary, David Evans. Or “Big Bother”, as Evans is becoming known.

David Evans: The Campaign Company founder, now Labour Party’s ‘Big Bother’

Evans is the former election adviser to Tony Bliar with close connections to the discredited Labour cabal of Tony Newman which led Croydon Council to bankruptcy.

For the past two decades Evans has run a consultancy in Croydon which received a series of juicy, six-figure contracts from his mates on the council.

Labour members in Sutton and Cheam were barred by the party’s London regional office from holding a no-confidence vote over the Blairite general secretary, though they were able to go ahead with a similar motion on Starmer.

Intriguingly, one of the senior figures in the Sutton and Cheam Constituency Labour Party is Charlie Mansell. For a day job, Mansell works for The Campaign Company, the very same Croydon-based business established by Evans. Continue reading →

Posted in Charlie Mansell, Sutton Council | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ask the Leader: Croydon BME Forum’s Zoom session

Posted on December 4, 2020 by insidecroydon

Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon BME Forum, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Section 114 notice, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

LGA probe has all the hallmarks of a Town Hall whitewash

Posted on December 3, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON COMMENTARY: The independent investigation into the council’s financial collapse needs to examine all aspects of mismanagement, including the £440,000 pay-off to the former chief exec, according to one disgruntled councillor

The borough’s elected councillors have not been invited to take part in a LGA-funded investigation

Apart from being able to read the terms of reference on Inside Croydon, by midday on Wednesday this week, I had been sent nothing by the council about how the Local Government Association-funded initial investigation into how the council’s finances collapsed would work.

Nor have I been invited to participate, or even provided with an email address through which I, other elected representatives and whistleblowers might offer evidence.

I now learn that the LGA’s Richard Penn started his investigation 10 days ago.

It has all the hallmarks of preparing for a whitewash when it comes to establishing who is responsible for bankrupting the borough.

Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Railway group launches appeal to sock it to homelessness

Posted on December 3, 2020 by insidecroydon

Govia Thameslink Railway, the country’s largest rail network which operates services through East Croydon, South Croydon, Selhurst and Norwood Junction stations on Southern and Thameslink routes, will join forces once with a variety of its regional charity partners again this Christmas to provide support for the homeless as the winter frost takes hold and the covid-19 pandemic continues to make the homelessness crisis worse.

The Great Sock Appeal campaign launched this week in a bid to support those that need it the most. In 2019, 4,172 pairs of socks were donated by passengers and colleagues to seven different partnerships across the GTR network.

This year, the campaign is particularly poignant for GTR. A GTR staff member, Allen Howe, has spoken out for the first time about his experience of being homeless, in the hope that he can end the stigma associated with homelessness and to encourage more people across the country to get behind the campaign, donate and support their local community. Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, East Croydon, Norwood Junction, Transport | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Teacher’s top tips to add learning to your Christmas movies

Posted on December 3, 2020 by insidecroydon

Some of the old familiar Christmas movie favourites can be educational, according to former primary school teacher LAURA STEELE, who shows how to turn passive screen time into an active learning experience

Father Christmas: Based on the book by Raymond Briggs, this short animated film takes a look at what Father Christmas does on the other 364 days of the year.

Ask your child to choose one of the destinations Father Christmas visits on his holidays and put themselves into his shoes (or boots!) and write a postcard home, explaining everything he saw and got up to there.

Father Christmas doesn’t enjoy all the visits he makes. Encourage your child to write him a letter, suggesting where he should go next year, and why he might like it better than his holiday this year.

Father Christmas spends time organising presents for us, but what present would like to receive? Ask your youngster to draw a picture of the gift they would get for him, and write a short explanation of their choice. Download free Father Christmas activity sheets here. Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Facebook offers fans tools to deal with ‘battleground of hate’

Posted on December 3, 2020 by insidecroydon

Facebook recently launched Take A Stand – an action-led initiative to empower fans to call out discrimination wherever they see it.

Together with Kick It Out, football’s leading anti-discrimination charity, they spoke to fans from clubs across the English leagues to explore experiences of discrimination and how it has impacted their relationship with the game and those around them.

From targeted abuse in Sunday League games, to racist fan chants, homophobic slurs and group messaging exchanges, the resulting documentary captures the impact discrimination has on those who love the game. Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Football, Sport | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Council’s Christmas present to Croydon: another S114 notice

Posted on December 2, 2020 by insidecroydon

Ho! Ho! Ho! The countdown to Christmas at the council’s Fisher Folly offices began in earnest this morning with the issuing of a Section 114 notice – another one – signalling that officials are still unable to deliver a balanced budget this financial year.

The council faces issuing a S114 notice every 21 days until a deal can be agreed with government

And there’s very likely going to be another S114 issued on December 23, just in time to be unwrapped for the seasonal festivities.

After the seismic shock of the first Section 114 notice on November 11, when council chiefs finally admitted that they had failed to manage the borough’s finances properly, today’s announcement and future such notices become matters of administrative nicety, as required under Section 114(3) of the Local Government Finance Act1988. Continue reading →

Posted in Croydon Council, Lisa Taylor, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

BxB-built library which has never opened is now to be closed

Posted on December 2, 2020 by insidecroydon

The story of South Norwood Library is just the latest example of how thoroughly screwed-up and costly the council’s relationship with its loss-making house-builders has become.
GENE BRODIE, our bookish gyms correspondent, reports

Another Brick by Brick project, another costly disaster for the people of Croydon

This could only happen in Croydon. The council has announced that it is to close a library which it has not yet opened.

South Norwood Library was supposed to transfer to swanky new premises on Station Road more than a year ago.

The building was part of a project undertaken by Brick by Brick, the council’s loss-making house-builders. So it comes as little surprise that it has made its own multi-million-pound contribution to the financial collapse of the council, which has now caused Town Hall bosses to propose the closure of five of the borough’s public libraries in its efforts to balance the books – including the as-yet-unopened new South Norwood Library.

Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Education, Jane Avis, Libraries, Lisa Taylor, Oliver Lewis, Patsy Cummings, Paul Scott, Section 114 notice, South Norwood, Tony Newman, Woodside | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Lockdown ends with positive covid cases still on the rise

Posted on December 2, 2020 by insidecroydon

Croydon woke up this morning no longer in covid lockdown, with some queues forming outside what are left of the shops on the high street, and with news that a vaccine for coronavirus has been licensed for use and will be rolled out within days.

With the first of three vaccines licensed for use in the UK, there is more hope of dealing with the virus

There’s even the strong probability that the local non-league football club will be allowed to play its first “home” match for nine months on Saturday, although it won’t be at their real home ground. But that’s another story…

The relaxation of restrictions by the government comes despite an increase in the number of hospital admissions in Croydon in the past week, prompting public health officials to call on residents to adhere to the new rules strictly and to continue to take great care to avoid spreading the deadly virus. “We cannot be complacent,” one warned.

Like the rest of London, Croydon has been classed as a covid-19 High Alert Level Area moved into Tier 2 when national restrictions ended at midnight.

Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Rachel Flowers | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Investigation gets under way but left waiting for Negrini

Posted on December 1, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The terms of reference for an independent investigation into the disastrous decisions and mismanagement which led to the council going broke have been leaked to Inside Croydon.
STEVEN DOWNES reports

Jo Negrini

£440,000 and no accountability: former chief exec Jo Negrini will be ‘invited’ to be interviewed for an independent investigation

It might be seen as appropriate, given Croydon Council’s efforts in the Theatre of the Absurd, that the latest step in the investigation into the mismanagement of the borough is to be a sub-Beckett offering: Waiting for Negrini.

As exclusively revealed by Inside Croydon last month, Jo Negrini, the chief executive who led the council to the brink of bankruptcy before exiting Fisher’s Folly with a £440,000 pay-off, will not be compelled to give evidence to an independent investigation being paid for by the Local Government Association.

“Negreedy” will get an invitation to be interviewed. But then the LGA’s investigator, Richard Penn, will have to wait to see whether the self-described “regeneration practitioner” will agree to take part in the process. Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Simpson, Robert Henderson, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Charges to be introduced for car parking at Farthing Downs

Posted on December 1, 2020 by insidecroydon

Farthing Downs: car parking charges are to be introduced by City Commons

Parking charges are to be introduced on Farthing Downs by the City of London Corporation.

Through City Commons, the Corporation manages seven commons and open spaces across Croydon and south London, including large tracts of the new South London Downs National Nature Reserve.

But City Commons has had its budget cut by £180,000 this year, and raising money through car parking charges is seen as a means of paying for aspects of the valuable service provided on the Downs in Coulsdon. Continue reading →

Posted in City Commons, Coulsdon, Environment, Parking, South London Downs NNR | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Elmhurst footballers picked to play in schools’ World Cup

Posted on December 1, 2020 by insidecroydon

Pacy Hammer: Javahn Woode

Two boys from a prep school in South Croydon have been picked to play for England in one of the world’s largest football tournaments.

Elmhurst School’s Javahn Woode (Year 6) and Daniel Kaminski (Year 5) were selected from 250 triallists to represent the Prep Schools’ Lions at the Gothia World Cup in Sweden in July 2021.

Each year, around 1,700 teams from 80 nations take part in the Gothia World Cup in Gothenburg, playing 4,500 matches on 110 pitches around the city.

Woode is a member of the under-11s academy at West Ham. Kaminski was selected, despite being a year younger than most of the boys in the squad. The boys were nominated by Phil Venier, the head of sport at Elmhurst School. Continue reading →

Posted in Elmhurst School for Boys, Football, Schools, South Croydon, Sport | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Greenpeace give supermarkets a monstering over their meat

Posted on November 30, 2020 by insidecroydon

Alongside the John Lewis Christmas ad and the seasonal TV commercials that play across our screens, Greenpeace wants us to tune in to the important message contained within their own new and powerful animation: Monster.

If kids’ pester power really works, then the bosses at chains Tesco, Lidl, Asda, McDonalds and Nando’s had better watch out, too, because Monster‘s message could change the eating habits of millions.

The cartoon poem is part of the ecology group’s latest campaign against the destruction of the South American rain forests, where thousands of acres of jungle are cleared every week to make way for industrial-scale agriculture to satisfy western appetites for meat. Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Environment, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Great North Wood goes virtual to plant the ecology message

Posted on November 30, 2020 by insidecroydon

Sydenham Hill Wood, a bluebell wood that is part of the ancient Great North Wood, features in this year’s Festival talks

A wildlife festival has gone online, and an online search engine is offering to plant a tree for you, as PAUL LUSHION, our environment correspondent, reports

This is National Tree Week. But like most things in 2020, this year’s events and activities are a little different.

The annual Festival of the Great North Wood, which celebrates what remains of an ancient native English woodland that runs through Norwood and across south London and into Kent, is being staged remotely this year, with a series of online talks and films, all of which are free to book.

Continue reading →

Posted in Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Environment, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Directors Murray and Cheesbrough start exodus from council

Posted on November 30, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The director of planning and the borough’s culture chief are to leave Fisher’s Folly – the first top-level departures since the council issued its Section 114 notice. By STEVEN DOWNES

Paula Murray: shit show

Heather Cheesbrough, Croydon’s director of planning, and Paula Murray, the director of culture, are both to leave the bankrupt council, the first director-level departures since the authority was forced to admit it is broke and issued a Section 114 notice earlier this month.

“Well, that’s an immediate saving of nearly £6,000 per week from the council’s wage bill,” was how a Katharine Street source put it this morning.

The departures, neither thought to be redundancies, could be the start of an exodus of senior staff from the bankrupt council.

According to a Town Hall source, the twin exit is a sign that Katherine Kerswell, the interim chief executive, is exerting influence in a bid to be handed her £192,000 per year job on a permanent basis. “There may be more to come,” the source added, portentously.

Both Cheesbrough and Murray were appointed by Kerswell’s unmissed and unlamented predecessor, Jo Negrini. Both were senior figures in the “Place” directorate run by four-days-a-week exec director Shifa Mustafa. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, BH Live, Borough of Culture 2023, Brick by Brick, Croydon Council, Fairfield Halls, Heather Cheesbrough, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Paula Murray, Planning, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Why selling the unsaleable is not the answer on Brick by Brick

Posted on November 29, 2020 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: It is nearly three years since this website began exposing the financial disaster that Brick by Brick was creating for Croydon Council. NICHOLAS PANES, the construction industry expert who advised on our reports, looks at the options for extricating the council from this mess of its own making 
Following the issue of a Section 114 notice by Croydon Council, the scramble begins to balance the yawning gap in the budget. The council is under a legal obligation to produce a balanced budget. Stripped of any meaningful amount of reserves to fall back on, this will require concessions from government.

One such concession is that Croydon may be allowed to sell capital assets and use the proceeds to meet revenue expenses to keep services running. Northampton Council, which issued a S114 notice in 2018, closed libraries, cut back on subsidies for bus services and a number of other services, but in addition, it had to raise more than £100million from various capital disposals, including the sale of the council office building.

At first sight, selling capital assets may appear an obvious thing for the council to do, an easy way to raise money quickly, but despite being overstuffed with non-core properties, Croydon has invested so badly that in the current climate, it may struggle to do so. A bankrupt hotel will find no takers until the covid-19 crisis is past and the Colonnades shopping centre is not only adversely affected by the virus but stands in the middle of a potentially seismic shift towards online shopping.

Inevitably, this focuses a spotlight on the loss-making house-builder Brick by Brick, which has used £250million of public money. Continue reading →

Posted in Brick by Brick, Business, Colm Lacey, Colonnades, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Planning, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Cleric who faced court at time of Pepys, plague and puritans

Posted on November 29, 2020 by insidecroydon

Public information in the 17th century – an early version of “Space, Face, Hands”

MARVELS OF THE MINSTER: From the records of the old Parish Church and other accounts, DAVID MORGAN uncovers the history of a Croydon vicar who was hauled up in court at the Old Bailey on charges of kidnapping, was confronted by a highwayman, was defrocked after a case lasting 10 years, and all at the time of the Great Plague of London

The registers of Croydon Parish Church are very clear when it comes to numbering the fatalities of local plague outbreaks in the 17th Century.

Between July 1603 and April 1604, 158 died. In 1625, 76 died. In 1626, 24 died. In 1631, 74 died. Between July 27, 1665, and March 22, 1666, the number of deaths was 141.

To put the earliest outbreak of 1603 into context, the death figures for London as a whole from August 11-18 that year were 3,054, rising to 3,385 between August 25 and September 1. In 1665 to 1666, the Great Plague of London killed an estimated 100,000 people— almost a quarter of the city’s population in 18 month. Continue reading →

Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment