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The Fiery Spirits: John Rees history talk, Ruskin House, Aug 6
Posted in Activities, Education, History, Ruskin House
Tagged English Civil War, John Rees, Ruskin House, The English Revolution, The Fiery Spirits
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‘Traumatic’ reaction to Spurgeon’s College’s abrupt closure
Spurgeon’s College, based in grand buildings on South Norwood Hill and one of the country’s oldest theological institutions, with a history that goes back almost 170 years, yesterday announced that it was closing with immediate effect because of insurmountable financial pressures.
Sudden closure: Spurgeon’s College, which has been based in their South Norwood home since 1923, gave no notice of this sudden decision
The college’s board of trustees said that Spurgeon’s had “no choice” but to declare the college insolvent following the abrupt termination of a key funding partnership.
The college, aligned with the baptist, Christian church, was founded in 1856 by Charles Spurgeon as “Pastors’ College”.
It adopted its current name in honour of its founder when moving to its current building in 1923.
Public records at Companies House hint at the gathering financial storm facing Sturgeon’s, with four directors, including Rev Prof Philip McCormack, the chair of the board and college principal, all having resigned since June this year. Continue reading
Costa Del Croydon offers beach experience unlike any other
Westfield’s latest sop for failing to deliver the long-promised regeneration of the town centre has been to have tons of sand dumped on the top of a shopping centre’s multi-storey car park. KEN TOWL donned his ‘Kiss Me Quick’ hat and went along to find out what all the fuss is about
Oh, the glamour: shopping centre managers Westfield have ensured that the signage to the car park is clear
It’s the old problem. What do you do when you go to the beach and it rains?
What might be a bit of a downer on the Costa del Sol or on Brighton beach is less of a problem at a costa closer to home.
Starting today, for the whole of the month of August, there is a beach in the centre of Croydon, on the roof of Centrale shopping centre, and, because the people running it know that the sun doesn’t always shine on Croydon, they have added a load of weather-proof activities.
Yesterday, for a press preview, in between the showers and the storms, they needed it. Continue reading
Croydon’s rubbish High Street: what they say versus the reality
Croydon Council’s propaganda department was busy this week.
On Monday, they pumped out this cheery piece of social media, to big-up the great work they claim is being done on Croydon High Street and North End.
Croydon-born children’s author Allan Ahlberg has died
Allan Ahlberg, the children’s author and poet whose writing touched the lives of countless families, died this week. He was 87.
Shed of dreams: Allan Ahlberg wrote many of his 150 books at the end of his garden
Ahlberg was born in Croydon in 1938.
Working with his illustrator wife Janet Ahlberg, together they produced a host of bestselling nursery classics including Burglar Bill, Peepo!, and Each Peach Pear Plum.
After Janet’s death, from breast cancer, aged 50, Allan Ahlberg worked with illustrators such as Raymond Briggs and Bruce Ingman, and eventually with daughter Jessica Ahlberg, their works including Half A Pig.
Ahlberg was an illegitimate child, and in the months before the outbreak of World War II, he was adopted and brought up in Oldbury, in Sandwell in the West Midlands. He described his upbringing as being in “a very poor working-class family” and identified himself as the baby in one of his most popular books Peepo!. Continue reading
Posted in Art, Poetry
Tagged Allan Ahlberg, Croydon, Each Peach Pear Plum, Janet Ahlberg, Jessica Ahlberg, Michael Rosen, Peepo!, Raymond Briggs, Sandwell, The Jolly Postman, Woof!
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Blues at The Oval with the Niall Kelly Duo, Sun Aug 3
Posted in Addiscombe West, Music, Pubs, The Oval Tavern
Tagged Blues at The Oval, folk, Niall Kelly Duo, The Oval Tavern
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Now Streatham MP Reed faces court action over water torture
Rivers charity begins a Judicial Review, accusing the environment secretary of having ‘no policy at all’ for solving the crisis around Thames Water
Out of his depth: Streatham and Croydon North MP Steve Reed now faces a Judicial Review over water policy
Environment secretary Steve Reed, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North, if he can ever be bothered) could be dragged into court by a rivers charity which has accused him of an unlawful failure to publish his policy on taking failing water companies into temporary nationalisation.
Lawyers for River Action argue that Thames Water has breached its duties and violated its licence conditions seriously and repeatedly, making it the clearest possible case for special administration.
Reed has come under fire even from senior figures in the Labour Party this month, as they have joined calls from celeb environomentalist Feargal Sharkey and others to re-nationalise basketcase utility company Thames Water, following the environment secretary’s soggy mess of a water reform review. Continue reading
Posted in Business, Environment, Leonie Cooper, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North, Thames Water
Tagged Croydon, Cunliffe Review, DEFRA, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Environment Agency, Feargal Sharkey, Labour, Leonie Cooper, London, London Assembly, Mayor of London, Mayor Sadiq Khan, Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, Ofwat, Sir Jon Cunliffe, Southern Water, Steve Reed OBE, Streatham and Croydon North, Thames Water
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There’s a revolution going on in a wooded glade in Coulsdon
‘Man is the only creature that consumes without producing’ wrote George Orwell 80 years ago, but as the Theatre Workshop Coulsdon has shown once more, they certainly know how to produce compelling drama.
KEN TOWL was at the opening night of Animal Farm in the grounds of the Coulsdon Manor Hotel. Photos: STEVE NORTH for TWC
Farmyard animals: Theatre Workshop Coulsdon has avoided animal masks and costumes, and avoided their version of Animal Farm turning into a pantomime
In a silvan glade in the grounds of the Coulsdon Manor Hotel, Theatre Workshop Coulsdon pulls no punches in a fast-paced and knowing performance of George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
The idyllic surrounding is, in itself, loaded with irony.
The wooded space that borders the manicured lawns of the hotel are far from either the terrors of Stalin’s Soviet Union or the muck and stench of the farmyard.
However, as we have seen from their productions of Machinal, A Christmas Carol and Accidental Death of an Anarchist, TWC are ready to get down and get dirty and focus on the meeting place between the personal and the political. Continue reading
Animal Farm in pictures: impressive staging of Orwell classic
STEVE NORTH’s images capture some of the drama, and the impressive set design, for Theatre Workshop Coulsdon’s production of Animal Farm
Coulsdon’s Animal Farm: ‘The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which’. George Orwell wrote his book in 1945
China-made electric buses introduced on Croydon SL5 route
Double-decker: the first of the new, electric buses made in China began operating through Croydon this week on the SL5 Superlool route. Pic: Graham Lambourne
The SL5, one of three Superloop buses that run through Croydon, now has shiny, new electric-powered double-deckers plying the route from the town centre to Bromley.
The new buses began operation this week, part of a phased replacement of the often overcrowded single-decker Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Darts. Continue reading
Posted in Commuting, East Croydon, TfL, Transport
Tagged Bromley, Bromley North, Build Your Dreams Auto, BYD BD11, China, Royal Bethlem Hospital, Shirley, SL5, Superloop, TfL, Transport for London
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Trams ‘inconvenience’ with planned works on Coombe Lane
Crossing work: TfL is carrying out engineering work between Coombe Lane and Lloyd Park stops
Transport for London has issued another service warning, as “essential upgrade works” began this week, expected to continue until “early September” at an emergency crossing opposite Coombe Wood School, between the Lloyd Park and Coombe Lane tram stops.
Tram services should continue to operate as normal while the works go on, with the exception of August 17 and August 24, when nighttime works will be conducted. Continue reading
Posted in Lloyd Park, TfL, Tramlink, Transport
Tagged Coombe Lane, Coombe Wood School, Lloyd Park
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Croydon choristers add their voices to Lions’ roar in Australia
PETER GILLMAN on the latest ‘world tour’ by a doughty band of singers from the Croydon Male Voice Choir
Sing when they’re winning: the Lions Choir, including Croydon dontingent, performing in Melbourne last week
Sporting history could be made on Saturday, when the British and Irish Lions rugby team take on Australia in Sydney seeking a Test whitewash for the first time in more than half-a-century.
And there to serenade the players, and the other 80,000 fans in the Olympic Stadium, will be a clutch of singers from the Croydon Male Voice Choir, part of the core of choristers who have been touring with the Lions for a quarter of a century.
On the pitch, the Lions have already secured the series win, with the late try against the Wallabies in Melbourne last weekend.
Eight members of the Croydon Male Voice Choir were in the crowds at the MCG that night, too, continuing a tradition that has seen them singing all around the world. Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Male Voice Choir, Elliot Daly, Music, Peter Gillman, Purley-John Fisher, Rugby Union
Tagged Australia, Brisbane, British and Irish Lions, Croydon, Croydon Male Voice Choir, Dave Bannister, Elliot Daly, Martin Perkins, Melbourne, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Peter Gillman, Purley Rugby Club, rugby union, Stadium Australia, Sydney, Sydney Olympic Stadium, Whitgift School
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Charity Nightwatch appeals for volunteers to help vital service
Nightly service: Nightwatch volunteers are out in Queen’s Gardens helping those in need
Croydon homelessness charity Nightwatch has issued an urgent appeal for volunteers to come forward to assist with its vital work.
Nightwatch, which has been operating for almost 50 years, offers food and other support to the homeless and working poor every night in Queen’s Gardens, close to Croydon Town Hall.
The charity’s chiefs blame the cost-of-living crisis for the increasing numbers of needy people coming for food at Nightwatch’s nightly distribution – sometimes as many as 100 per night.
Nightwatch prides itself on going out every single night of the year to help homeless and otherwise vulnerable people in the middle of Croydon. But with many volunteers away on holiday over the summer months, the charity is struggling to stay staffed up.
Posted in Charity, Croydon Nightwatch, Croydon parks, Queens Gardens, Uncategorized
Tagged charity, Croydon, Croydon Nightwatch, Fiona Satiro, Queens Gardens, Volunteers
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Polka has 9,000 tickets to give away for school theatre trips
All the world’s a stage: the Curtain Up! programme at the Polka Theatre offers free tickets and travel grants to school groups
The Polka children’s theatre in Wimbledon is celebrating 30 years of its Curtain-Up! programme – a pioneering subsidised ticket scheme that offers free tickets to school groups facing barriers to accessing live theatre.
For many under-12s attending these performances, it is their first-ever theatre experience. Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Art, Schools, Theatre
Tagged Curtain Up!, Polka Theatre, Sir Lenny Henry, Wimbledon
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Park Trust announces events for Crystal Palace Summer of Play
Plenty to do: the Crystal Palace Park Trust’s activities programme stretched well into August
There’s a Summer of Play being organised at Crystal Palace Park, with a host of free activities for children and young people.
The programme has been curated to support children and young people to gain new skills, be active, harness creativity and make friends in a sociable setting. Continue reading
Folk troubadour Alex Roberts at The Oval Tavern, Fri Aug 1
Posted in Addiscombe West, Music, Pubs, The Oval Tavern
Tagged Alex Roberts, Blues at The Oval, folk, The Oval Tavern
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How chief Nimby Philp built in Tories’ own Purley backyard
BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, on what is undoubtedly, even by Croydon’s low standards, the most egregious example of ‘do as we say, not as we do’ from our politicians
Chief Nimby: even estate agents have more scruples than Croydon South MP Chris Philp
Croydon residents living south of the Flyover, whether they are in his constituency or not, have become all-too-familiar with regular, ever-so-slightly shrill, emails from the borough’s only Conservative MP, Chris Philp.
For when the shadow home secretary isn’t counting small boats crossing the Channel or chasing delivery drivers down the street, he and his state-funded assistants – who include two Tory councillors: Lynne Hale and Simon Fox – appear to like nothing better than to demonstrate how many homes they have managed to block from being built in the borough.
It’s almost as if they don’t want any more donations from rich property developers.
And just as you might expect from Philp (the “nose in search of a bum” according to Grauniad journalist John Crace), the regular emails from Croydon Conservatives are about as reliable as a second-hand motor sold by Arfur Daley. Continue reading
Podcast: LibDem candidate says he’d clear-out council execs
EXCLUSIVE: Our Croydon Insider podcast, exclusive premium content for our paying subscribers, this month went behind the headlines to look at the scandal of agency payments at the cash-strapped council, where they are paying more than £700 per hour for one ‘consultant’, as well as discussing the latest Westfield ‘consultation’ for the town centre and debating the appointment of Commissioners to run the council
Our panel of Inside Croydon readers put questions to the Liberal Democrats’ 2026 Croydon mayoral candidate, Richard Howard, who reveals how he would defuse the council’s long-term debt problem, starting with a serious clear-out of the top-heavy management tier of “corporate directors” at the Town Hall. Continue reading
Posted in 2026 council elections, 2026 Croydon Mayor election, Coulsdon, Croydon Insider, Elaine Jackson, Inside Croydon, Katherine Kerswell, Marie Snelling, Mayor Jason Perry, Richard Howard, Under The Flyover
Tagged Animal Farm, Anya Destiney, Commissioners, Conservative, Coulsdon, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Insider, Johnny Dobbyn, Katherine Kerswell, LibDems, Liberal Democrats, London Borough of Croydon, Major Richard Howard, Mayor Jason Perry, Oumesh Sauba, Richard Howard, Under The Flyover
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McArdle’s reward for Croydon failure: £1,200 per day in Brum
Having delivered no appreciable improvement in Croydon after more than four years, the council’s ‘improvement’ panel left south London last week, to be replaced by Commissioners. But the panel members’ ride on the gravy train does not end there. By WALTER CONXITE, Political Editor
Tony McArdle, for more than four years the chair of the Conservative-appointed improvement and assurance panel in Croydon, which delivered no real improvement and even less assurance, has been rewarded with another top job, and a pay rise.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government last week announced that McArdle will be the new chair of the Commissioners for another struggling local authority, Birmingham City Council, where he will trouser £1,200 per day. All paid for by local residents. Continue reading
Posted in Commissioners, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Ged Curran, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Robert Ward, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle
Tagged Bexley, Commissioner, Conservative, Council Tax, Council transformation, Croydon, Croydon Council, Ged Curran, Greenwich, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Improvement Panel, Jackie Belton, James Blythe, Jim McMahon, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Merton, MHCLG, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, Section 114 Notice, Tony McArdle, Tory, Transformation plan
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Purley Way’s trampoline park offers big value summer passport
Time to sign up: Oxygen Croydon’s offer for the six-week school summer break is now open
Oxygen trampoline park, in the Colonnades off the Purley Way, has launched its summer Passport to Play, giving families the chance to check-in to the park all summer long for just £30.
And Oxygen has also teamed up with icelolly.com, one of the country’s leading comparison websites for package holidays, to give one lucky family the chance to jet off on a holiday worth £1,000.
With activities varying by park – Oxygen now has parks at the O2, Acton and Romford – families can have fun as they take to the skies on interconnected trampolines, brave the mega-airbags, have fun on inflatables and more. Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Business, Colonnades, Sport
Tagged Colonnades, Oxygen, Oxygen Croydon, Oxygen Trampolining Park
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Charity steps in with pain relief machines for children’s ward
Closer control: the PCA pumps allow patients at Mayday Hospital to manager their own pain relief
Croydon Health Charity has helped bring vital new equipment to Croydon’s largest hospital with the donation of upgraded patient-controlled analgesia, or PCA, pumps – giving young patients more effective and responsive pain relief, closer to home.
The PCA pumps allow children and young people, including those living with chronic conditions like sickle cell disease, to better manage their own pain through a simple hand-held button, which delivers a controlled dose of pain relief medication.
Unlike older models, these devices support a wider range of pain relief medications, offering a more personalised and effective approach to pain management.
The donation has already made a big difference to both patient experience and clinical care, according to Croydon University Hospital. Continue reading
YouTuber Swallow is taking us on a Croydon walk through time
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: On a stroll through the town centre, take a look up – or you won’t realise what you’re missing of the local heritage. That’s the message a local historian shared with DAVID MORGAN
Taking a walk through history: Phil Swallow guides his audience with the help of old maps and new videos
“Croydon is a goldmine of history,” Phil Swallow tells me.
“I try to help people see some of the nuggets and encourage them to look further and discover more for themselves.”
Swallow is a local historian for the digital age of the 21st Century, who has become a podcaster and YouTuber to add to his skills as a photographer. He is passionate about Croydon’s history and is determined to further his knowledge about the people and buildings in the borough. Continue reading
