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Back To The 80s Night, Regina Coeli School, Dec 15
Posted in Regina Coeli, Schools, South Croydon
Tagged Regina Coeli School, South Croydon, Waddon
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South East Cancer Help Centre Christmas Fair, Purley, Nov 10
Posted in Charity, Purley, South East Cancer Help Centre
Tagged Purley, South East Cancer Help Centre
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NHS set to announce A&E and Maternity closures at St Helier
NHS chiefs in Merton will later this week propose the closure of the Accident and Emergency department and the Maternity unit at St Helier Hospital, according to an MP for the area. The MP, Siobhain McDonagh, warns that any such closures are likely to have a far-reaching impact on health service provision across south London, including at Croydon’s Mayday Hospital.
Doomed: St Helier Hospital in Sutton
McDonagh, the Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden, had a meeting with NHS officials last Friday to discuss the proposals, which are expected to be discussed publicly at a Merton Clinical Commissioning Group meeting this week.
The fate of St Helier has been in the balance for nearly 20 years, with various proposals, under different governments, coming and going for its upgrading or down-ranking. The threat to the hospital’s future has been particularly strong in the last eight years, under Conservative-led governments.
The notion of somehow merging acute services with other hospitals in the region – Epsom and St George’s at Tooting – has been the not-so-hidden agenda for a couple of years, and is being presented by NHS chiefs, including the hospital trust’s chief executive, Daniel Elkeles, as something that the public somehow supports, following a couple of somewhat leading “public engagements”. Continue reading
PICTURE SPECIAL: Veteran Car Run returns to Croydon
The Croydon Grand Prix… yesterday morning, soon after 8am, the leading vehicles in the 2018 London to Brighton rally chugged and puffed their way along Roman Way. Photo: Graham Cluer
After a two-year diversion (roadworks on the A23 at Brixton Hill, as it happens), the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run chugged and puffed its way through Croydon once again yesterday morning, with hundreds of vintage vehicles having their annual outing on the way to the coast. Continue reading
Pupils excluded from schools at risk from crime gangs – survey
Growing numbers of children excluded from school in Croydon and across London are being left at risk of involvement in knife crime and violence, according to research from children’s charity Barnardo’s and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Knife Crime.
In Croydon, more than 1,500 pupils have been excluded from their schools in each of the two most recent years for which figures have been made available. According to Barnardo’s, “Children excluded from mainstream schools are at serious risk of being groomed and exploited by criminal gangs.”
Barnardo’s surveyed all local authorities in England and discovered one-quarter in London have no vacant places in Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), potentially leaving children vulnerable to violence and criminal exploitation. Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Crime, Croydon Central, Knife crime, Sarah Jones MP, Schools
Tagged Croydon, Croydon Central, knife crime, Labour, London, Sarah Jones MP
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Calls for council to halt use of weedkiller linked to cancer
Weedkillers including glyphosate, which has been linked to causing cancer in humans, continue to be used by Croydon Council, whose contractors even spray the substance around public parks and children’s playgrounds.
Croydon Council continues to use a weedkiller that is linked to causing cancer
Now Friends of the Earth is calling on the council to stop using the controversial weedkiller, which the World Health Organisation has stated is “probably carcinogenic to humans”.
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in many weedkillers, such as Roundup. Recently, an American court ruled that agricultural giant Monsanto (who manufacture Roundup) was responsible for causing the cancer of groundkeeper Dewayne Johnson, and awarded him millions of dollars in damages. Continue reading
Three Croydon high streets among ‘unhealthiest’ in London
Another day, another survey that demonstrates that Croydon is slowly deteriorating into decay, poverty and neglect.
Thornton Heath high street is rated among the unhealthiest in all London, with bookies, fried chicken and tannning shops
The Royal Society of Public Health published a list of “Unhealthiest Streets” this week, and Croydon was the only borough that had three entries in London’s worst 10.
The high streets in Thornton Heath (judged to be London’s third most unhealthy), South Norwood (fifth) and New Addington (sixth) were highlighted as being among the worst for having more fast food shops, bookmakers, tanning shops and off-licences.
A senior Labour politician has described this as “incredibly concerning”. Continue reading
Posted in Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Environment, Fiona Twycross, Health, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, New Addington, New Addington North, Oliver Lewis, Paul Scott, Sadiq Khan, Simon Hall, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Tony Newman
Tagged Addiscombe West, Alison Butler, Croydon Council, Labour, London, London Assembly, London Borough of Croydon, New Addington, Norbury, Oliver Lewis, Paul Scott, Simon Hall, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Tony Newman
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Macmillan Cancer’s advice bus is coming to North End
Macmillan Cancer mobile information team will be parking up in Croydon town centre on Wednesday to encourage residents to be aware of the signs and symptoms of the disease during Lung Cancer Awareness Month this November.
Melissa Foley, a Macmillan lung cancer clinical nurse specialist working in London said: “Thankfully lung cancer survival rates are improving, but we know that the most effective way of combating it is through stopping smoking and earlier diagnosis. The Macmillan Mobile Information Service provides invaluable advice and support at a local level, while raising awareness of lung cancer and many other cancer-related issues. Continue reading
Come to Croydon’s cabaret: 5 Spectacular tickets for price of 4
Inside Croydon readers who want to help to celebrate CODA’s big birthday party next week can now do so with a really Spectacular money-saving offer.
CODA – the Croydon Operatic and Dramatic Association – is marking its 75th anniversary year by staging Spectacular, Spectacular, an exhilarating revue of entertainment, song and dance, at the Braithwaite Hall on Katharine Street from next Wednesday, November 7, until Saturday, November 10.
And Inside Croydon readers can have a big night out together in the night club-style setting when they book five tickets for the price of four using a special booking code. Continue reading
Posted in Braithwaite Hall, CODA, Comedy, Dance, Music, Theatre
Tagged Braithwaite Hall, CODA, Croydon Clocktower, Croydon Operatic and Dramatic Association
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Wanderers seek help for a settled home in Upper Norwood
Wanderers FC, the first winners of the FA Cup in 1872, have agreed a three-year partnership with Virgo Fidelis Convent School in Upper Norwood to allow the club’s two men’s teams and women’s XI to host home matches there.
Wanderers have found a settled home at Virgo Fidelis school
However, the scheme can only go ahead if funds are raised to pay for pitch repairs and for equipment. To enable that to happen, the club has launched a crowdfunding campaign and is looking for backing from locals.
Wanderers have claims to being London’s oldest football club. They were originally formed as Forest Football Club in 1859, before changing to Wanderers in 1864. Its players in those pioneering days tended to be former pupils of the public schools where the game’s rules were shaped, and the club was a founder member of the Football Association, winning the first FA Cup final at The Oval in March 1872, beating Royal Engineers 1-0. Continue reading
Yasmin Le Bon revs up a supermodel for the Veteran Car Run
Yasmin Le Bon in the bright yellow, 117-year-old supermodel Wolseley she will be driving in Sunday’s Veteran Car Run
From Norbury through Thornton Heath, under the Flyover and down through South Croydon into Purley and on to Coulsdon, the Veteran Car Run returns to Croydon’s roads this Sunday after a two-year absence, with celebs and vintage vehicles dazzling in equal measure.
Supermodel Yasmin Le Bon is one of the celebrities who will be taking a prime seat in one of the old cars as they make their way from Hyde Park Corner down to the seafront at Brighton in the Bonhams London to Brighton Veteran Car Run supported by Hiscox.
Le Bon, one of the most famous faces in the fashion industry over the past 30 years, will drive a real supermodel, a 1901 Wolseley, on the world’s longest running motoring event.
She will be joined by more than 400 other pre-1905 pioneering vehicles. Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Charity, Coulsdon, History, Norbury, Purley
Tagged Coulsdon, London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally, Norbury, Purley, South Croydon, Thornton Heath
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Christmas Concert, St John’s Old Coulsdon, Dec 15
Posted in Art, Coulsdon, Music, Old Coulsdon
Tagged Coulsdon, East Surrey Choral Society, Old Coulsdon
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Thornton Heath Christmas Fair, St Stephen’s, Nov 24
THORNTON HEATH
CHRISTMAS FAIR
St Stephen’s Church, Warwick Road, CR 7 7NH
Saturday 24th November – 11am to 3pm
Stalls, raffles, tombola, quality gifts and seasonal entertainments and refreshments Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Church and religions, Norbury, Thornton Heath
Tagged Norbury, St Stephen's Church, Thornton Heath
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Colonnades purchase is massive gamble with public money
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Spending millions to buy a private business risks feather bedding property speculators, says DEREK THROWER
Might the council be propping up the private sector?
Under a Conservative government, local authorities, including Croydon Council, are being given public cash to nationalise private assets and land. That’s quite extraordinary considering these Tories are supposed to be a free market economic liberals who subscribe to the Thatcherite hypothesis of how state ownership eradicates entrepreneurial activity.
Not a whimper has been heard from the local council’s Conservative leadership over the latest purchase, the £53million deal for the Colonnades retail and leisure centre, and so we can only assume they have been fully consulted over these actions. Continue reading
Pendry named by Town Hall as new children’s social care chief
Nick Pendry has been named as the council’s new director for early help and children’s social care, due to take up his post in the troubled children’s services department in January.
New job: Nick Pendry
Pendry will report to Robert Henderson, who last month was appointed as the council’s executive director for children, families and education and is due to start at his new job later this month.
As a director-level council appointment, Pendry is likely to be on a salary package worth at least £90,000 per year.
Pendry’s appointent is just the latest step in putting together the pieces after the fall-out of the Ofsted inspection of Croydon’s children’s services department carried out in the summer of 2017.
Henderson is replacing Eleni Ioannides, the social services trouble-shooter who was an interim appointment in June this year, following the somewhat hurried departure of previous exec director, £170,000 per year Barbara Peacock. Continue reading
Council pays £53m to buy ‘unloved’ Colonnades centre
The business “brains” at Fisher’s Folly have gone out and splurged £53million of public money to buy the freehold of the “unloved” and rarely visited Colonnades retail and leisure park – just as industry experts are warning that 200 such centres around the country are in danger of going bust.
Now council-owned: the £53m Colonnades, off the Purley Way
The purchase of the Colonnades, off the Purley Way, follows another council commercial investment, the buying of the freehold of the Croydon Park Hotel, near East Croydon Station.
The rationale behind the Colonnades purchase is much the same as for the hotel: the council is able to borrow millions of pounds from the government-run Public Works Loan Board at very low interest rates, and think that by owning the freehold and charging commercial rents, they can generate income towards the cost of providing services.
It is just that the Colonnades looks like a very bad buy. Continue reading
Posted in "Hammersfield", Boxpark, Business, Centrale, Croydon Council, Croydon Park Hotel, Property, Purley Way, Simon Hall, Waddon, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Boxpark, Colonnades, Croydon Council, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Purley Way, Waddon, Westfield, Whitgift Centre
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Croydon is worst in all London for asthma attack cases
PAUL LUSHION, our environment correspondent, on some very worrying scientific findings about air quality in Croydon – before the Beddington incinerator even begins full operation
One of the borough’s air pollution monitors. But is the council prepared to take real action to reduce pollution?
According to the Evening Standard, “Croydon has been named the worst borough in London for asthma, as it was revealed that poorer areas have far higher hospital admission rates for asthma than richer ones.”
Citing research conducted by the charity Asthma UK, the Standard report said residents of Croydon were more likely than those anywhere else in the capital to require emergency admission to hospital during an attack.
According to the NHS statistics, in Croydon, “there were 720 A&E admissions due to asthma in 2016-2017, which equates to 188 for every 100,000 residents.” Continue reading
Warlingham bounce back to keep alive promotion talk
Purley-John Fisher, after a couple of tough seasons, have made an encouraging start in Surrey 2 this year
RUGBY ROUND-UP: For rugby alickados, the old farts in blazers, there’s long been a sense that the club season hasn’t properly started until the clocks go back, and kick-off for Saturday matches is brought forward from 3pm.
And there’s also the strong sense that when anyone within club circles starts to talk, all-too-boldly, of promotion challenges and season-long success, a kick up the arse can’t be too far away.
So it proved for London 3SW club Warlingham, when bolstered by an impressive 31-22 away win at Portsmouth at the start of October, their director of rugby, Nick Warren, actually said, “I believe we can seriously aim for a promotion season.”
Of course, next game up, a fortnight later, as Sod’s Law dictates and Warlingham suffered their first home defeat of the 2018-2019 season, 31-17 to United Services Portsmouth, the division’s second-placed side. Continue reading
Posted in Croydon RFC, Old Mid-Whitgiftians/Trinity RFC, Old Walcountians, Old Whitgiftians, Purley-John Fisher, Rugby Union, Sport, Streatham-Croydon RFC, Warlingham RFC
Tagged Croydon RFC, Old Mid-Whitgiftians, Old Walcountians, Old Whitgiftians, Purley-John Fisher, Streatham and Croydon RFC, Warlingham RFC
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Heathfield House Grand Christmas Bazaar, Dec 2
Posted in Environment, Gardening, Heathfield House, Wildlife
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Victoria Station faces 12-day shutdown over Christmas period
Christmas is a’coming, just not by train (again).
There’s to be a 12-day shutdown of Southern train services into Victoria over Christmas and the New Year
If you’re planning on going anywhere in central London over the end-of-year period, you might as well as forget trying to do so by train, as Southern has announced a host of station closures and service cancellations.
These include the closure of Victoria from December 22 until January 2, when a replacement bus service running to and from Clapham Junction (which is sure to be fun), for major works to replace worn track.
The Gatwick Express will not be running, meaning that passengers to and from the airport will be displaced on to the already often overcrowded regular services through East Croydon to London Bridge and Blackfriars.
Posted in East Croydon, Transport
Tagged East Croydon station, Gatwick Express, Southern Rail, Victoria Station
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MP Philp: ‘I stand by my Swiss border tweet completely’
Our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, discovers that the borough’s Conservative MP is entirely unaware of the old saying, ‘When in a hole, stop digging…’
How the France-Swiss border looks, on a good day
Croydon South MP Chris Philp says, “I stand by the tweet completely,” after he attempted to solve one of the intractable problems over Britain’s exit from the European Union by posting on social media a photograph of a dead-end road in Switzerland.
Philp – who voted to Remain in the EU – posted his highly misleading tweet on October 20, the same day that 700,000 marched through London calling for a “People’s Vote”.
The Tory MP was widely ridiculed on social media, being called “totally clueless” and “embarrassing” after his attempt to make the case that the Northern Ireland hard border issue can be easily resolved using technology. Continue reading
Posted in Chris Philp MP, Croydon South
Tagged Brexit, Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Croydon South, Tory
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