South London’s commons people win international award

Posted on October 7, 2024 by insidecroydon

Award-winning: the work done by City Commons across all the green spaces they care for in and around London has won international acclaim

The City of London Corporation has won the World Urban Parks Legacy Award for 2024 in recognition of its outstanding contribution to the preservation, management and enhancement of London’s urban green spaces.

It is the first collective city Legacy Award, given to multiple organisations, including the Greater London Authority, Lee Valley Parks, Royal Parks, National Park City Foundation, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and London Legacy Development Corporation, and all 32 London boroughs. The presentation was made at the World Urban Parks Annual Congress in Utrecht last month. Continue reading →

Posted in City Commons, Community associations, Coulsdon, Croydon parks, Environment, Friends of Farthing Downs, Old Coulsdon, South London Downs NNR, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Put that light out! Fire Brigade joins the Stoptober campaign

Posted on October 7, 2024 by insidecroydon

Smoking kills.

Fire risk: LFB figures show cigarettes and related materials to be the cause of more than half of balcony blazes in the past year

Disease-related deaths caused by the use tobacco products are the reason behind the annual “Stoptober” public health campaigns by the NHS. But this autumn, the London Fire Brigade is adding its own efforts to Stoptober because of the risk of death and injury from smoking-related fires, as smoking materials are revealed as the biggest causes of balcony fires in the capital.

The Brigade’s latest figures show that for 130 dwelling fires on balconies over a one-year period, more than half – 76 – were caused by unextinguished cigarettes, cigarette lighters, matches or other smoking materials. “The figure far outweighs any other cause for balcony fires,” the Brigade says. Continue reading →

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Brewer’s business empire that flowed with the River Wandle

Posted on October 6, 2024 by insidecroydon

Pub trawl: there’s vestiges of the Overton brewing empire still to be found today, even if the once grand Swan and Sugarloaf at South Croydon ceased being a pub long ago. The building is close to the site of the source of the River Wandle

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: After having delved deep into Croydon Minster’s archive, DAVID MORGAN goes on a bit of a pub crawl in search of one of Victorian Croydon’s biggest business moguls

Victorian heritage: they intended to stick around for a long while

River pollution is much in the news, with sewage and industrial and agricultural effluent creating toxic conditions in our rivers and around our coasts. Much handwringing is made about improving our water infrastructure, but the swimmers, the canoeists and, most importantly, the creatures living in the water are yet to see much improvement.

It doesn’t make it right, but we’ve been damaging our environment in and around Croydon on an industrial scale for centuries. Take a newspaper report from 165 years ago, in March 1859. The company accused of pouring waste products into the River Wandle by the barrel-load was the brewery run by Henry Overton, of Surrey Street.

Overton was one of Croydon’s successful Victorian entrepreneurs, ending up as a real-life Monopoly board champion owning a public service as well as his brewery, various pubs and beer houses, houses and land. The Overton surname can be found in multiple entries in the births, deaths and marriage registers of Croydon Minster. Overton’s Yard, off Surrey Street, takes its name because of the brewery that was once on the site. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History, Pubs, Surrey Street | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Crystal Palace challenge to ‘Conker the Park’ this autumn

Posted on October 6, 2024 by insidecroydon

Conker the Park is a trail designed by artist Hazel East for families to explore the beauty of autumn in Crystal Palace Park through its vibrant colours, wildlife and falling leaves.

It is among a range of free events being staged by the Crystal Palace Park Trust for families this October half-term.

To Conker the Park, all you have to do is visit the Information Centre (near the Penge Gate entrance to the park) to get a trail sheet on Thursday October 24 and Thursday October 31. Continue reading →

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Quiz Night fund-raiser, St Peter’s Hall South Croydon, Oct 19

Posted on October 6, 2024 by insidecroydon

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Thornton Heath Community Action Team meeting, Oct 15

Posted on October 6, 2024 by insidecroydon

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Love Cronx EP plays out in the spirit of Beano’s and Cymande

Posted on October 5, 2024 by insidecroydon

KEN TOWL went along to where much-missed vinyl record store once was, and found more great beats at the heart of Croydon

Hot line: the Beats and Eats gang at the EP launch last week. Photos by fluid4sight

My invitation said, “Join the Beats and Eats team for our Love Cronx EP release party, featuring a live performance from our featured artist, Big Nate.”

I tried to picture Big Nate. I failed.

Better to go along and actually see Big Nate, I thought. Breathlessly, the invitation went on: “… and an exclusive screening of a 90min music documentary based on the greatest south London band that you may have never heard of”.

“May have?” I thought. I was pretty sure that I would never have heard of them. “Still,” I thought, “Sounds like an interesting night.” Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Ken Towl, Music, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

‘Light at end of tunnel’ for London NHS after June cyber attack

Posted on October 5, 2024 by insidecroydon

Four months after a malicious cyber attack on IT systems serving major hospitals in south London, the NHS says that it is in “the final stages of recovery” and “nearly all services are now up and running”.

“There is still work ahead of us… but thankfully we now see light at the end of this tunnel,” according to one senior official.

Pathology services provider Synnovis suffered the hack attack on June 3. The consequences have seen 10,152 acute outpatient appointments and 1,710 elective procedures postponed at King’s College Hospital in Camberwell, Guy’s at London Bridge and St Thomas’ at Waterloo. Patient treatment at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, Bromley Healthcare and primary care services were also affected. Continue reading →

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South Croydon Sings! Free event, St Peter’s Church, Oct 12

Posted on October 5, 2024 by insidecroydon

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Caterham Community Choir charity concert, St Mary’s, Oct 19

Posted on October 5, 2024 by insidecroydon

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Are you hungry? Don’t wait! Eat at Maeme’s grill, Frith Road

Posted on October 5, 2024 by insidecroydon

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

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Coulsdon school’s ‘superstar head’ loses unfair dismissal case

Posted on October 4, 2024 by insidecroydon

An unfair dismissal case brought against Woodcote High School by a “superstar head teacher”, which claimed he was victim of race discrimination, has been dismissed.

Case dismissed: ‘super star’ head Paul Mundy-Castle lost his case for unfair dismissal

The case was brought by Paul Mundy-Castle, a former Great Britain basketball international and London’s Teacher of the Year in 2005, who from 2019 to 2021 was the head at the 1,200-pupil academy in Coulsdon.

The tribunal’s report said that Mundy-Castle’s “claims of direct race discrimination, race-related harassment, victimisation, whistleblowing detriment, automatically unfair dismissal (Section 103A Employment Rights Act 1996), unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal are not well-founded and are dismissed.”

Mundy-Castle was sacked as head of Woodcote High in July 2021 for gross misconduct over financial mismanagement. The school had initially brought 23 charges against him leading to the dismissal. Most of the claims were upheld by an independent appeal panel. Continue reading →

Posted in Coulsdon, Education, Schools, Woodcote High | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Mother convicted of manslaughter of four sons killed in fire

Posted on October 4, 2024 by insidecroydon

Social workers at Sutton Council had raised concerns about Deveca Rose and the state of her home on Collingwood Road three years before four boys, aged under five, died in a blaze at their home

Deveca Rose, the mother of four small boys who died in a fire at their home in West Sutton in December 2021, has been convicted of the manslaughter of her sons.

Neglect: Deveca Rose – Sutton social services were aware of the conditions in her house

Bryson and Kyson Hoath, twins aged four, and Leyton and Logan Hoath, twins aged three, had been left alone at their home in Collingwood Road on the evening of Thursday, December 16, 2021, when the fire broke out that would end their lives.

Deveca Rose, now 29, this week appeared for trial at the Old Bailey charged with four counts of manslaughter and one count of child neglect. Convicted of manslaughter, she was released on bail to appear for sentencing on November 15. She was found not guilty of child neglect.

In a statement, the boys’ family said: “Bryson, Kyson, Leyton and Logan Hoath were cruelly taken from us in a senseless act of negligence. The impact this has had on us, their father Dalton, and our family cannot be overstated.

“The last three years have been a nightmare. Over this time we have had to listen to a number of false narratives and speculation around what happened that night, which have included lights on a Christmas tree and that the boys were left with a babysitter. Today these have been shown to be false.

Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, London Fire Brigade, Policing, Sutton Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

70% success rate as Construkt helps to build a better future

Posted on October 4, 2024 by insidecroydon

Building for the future: the Construkt programme, run by Serious About Youth, is keen to offer more courses as routes into the construction industry

The Construkt programme, now celebrating its 10th year, has a 70% success rate in launching participants into construction-related careers and further training.

The people behind it says that in its first decade, it has diverted more than 350 young people away from risk of becoming part of a “lost generation” and into the building industry.

But the founders of the project, which is run by Croydon-based social enterprise Serious About Youth, are appealing to construction companies to help them scale up the programme to incorporate greater numbers of participants. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Charity, Serious About Youth | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

More dates released for tours of Crystal Palace’s subway

Posted on October 4, 2024 by insidecroydon

Buoyed by the huge, popular success of the opening of the restored Victorian railway station subway for last month’s Open House events, the Crystal Palace Park Trust have announced further dates when the “hidden gem beneath your feet” will be open for visitors.

A wonder of south London: the Crystal Palace Subway, now restored after a 14-year campaign and £3.5m

“No booking is needed,” they say, before adding a note of caution, “but please be aware, there may be queues.”

A line two- or three-people deep formed around the block throughout the weekend to view the subway last month, after years of painstaking restoration work was placed on display for the first time.

The historic Grade II*-listed Crystal Palace Subway is being opened to the public gradually, ahead of its 160th anniversary in 2025.

The £3.5million restoration has given it a new roof over the east courtyard and extensive repairs to the walls, floor, steps and entrances.

The structure dates from 1865, shortly after the vast Crystal Palace was moved, pane-by-pane, from the site of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park to Sydenham. It is now the most substantial surviving part of the huge complex which was destroyed in fire in 1936. Continue reading →

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Conan Doyle ghost story to be brought to life in South Norwood

Posted on October 4, 2024 by insidecroydon

A South Norwood arts centre is to be transformed next month, as it stages an immersive adaptation of a darkly thrilling short story by probably the most famous author to have ever lived in South Norwood – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Selecting A Ghost at Stanley Halls from November 6 to 9 will see the Grade II-listed Georgian venue turned into Goresthore Grange, a medieval mansion where audiences will be invited to promenade from room to room on a ghost hunt with supernatural enthusiasts Silas and Matilda D’Odds.

Conan Doyle’s short story, the producers say, “is an eerily witty tale of a newly-wealthy couple who have bought all the trappings of nobility for their new mansion and are only missing one thing: a ghost”. Continue reading →

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Kerswell’s recruitment drive splits highways and parking jobs

Posted on October 3, 2024 by insidecroydon

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Our overspending council is still out there recruiting for non-jobs, like an ‘Urban Room Coordinator’ on 50 grand a year, or another assistant for Mayor Perry. By our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE

Recruitment drive: Katherine Kerswell, council CEO for four years, and possibly four S114s

Hundreds of staff were told last week that Croydon was already on “Section 114 levels of control” on all spending, after the cash-strapped council suddenly found itself with a £42million budget overspend.

Yet that does not appear to have slowed recruitment for some of the top jobs at Fisher’s Folly under chief executive Katherine Kerswell, as she approaches her fourth anniversary in the job with Croydon, seemingly heading for its fourth admission of effective bankruptcy since she’s been in charge. Continue reading →

Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Jayne Rusbatch, Katherine Kerswell, Mayor Jason Perry, Parking, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Windrush memories laid out on West Croydon Overground line

Posted on October 3, 2024 by insidecroydon

Up the junction: presenter Tim Dunn went to Clapham to meet Levi Roots (left)

Transport for London is marking Black History Month with the release of a Windrush episode of its Mind The Gap podcast series about the inspiration behind the new names for the London Overground lines.

The Windrush line is the name being given to TfL’s London Overground service from West Croydon to Crystal Palace and Clapham Junction, and on to Peckham Rye, Dalston and Highbury and Islington. Continue reading →

Posted in Black History Month, History, TfL, Transport, Uncategorized, West Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Dangerous predator’ caught filming assault on London Road

Posted on October 3, 2024 by insidecroydon

A “dangerous predator” who filmed his sexual assault outside his Croydon home has been jailed for 14 years and four months.

‘Dangerous predator’: Heilab Assefa, sentenced to 14 years

Heilab Assefa, 29, of London Road, was tackled by police who arrested him at the scene. He was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court on Tuesday.

At a hearing in June, faced with overwhelming evidence from the prosecution, he pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm, two counts of sexual assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault. Continue reading →

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NHS urges Londoners to get vaccinated against winter viruses

Posted on October 3, 2024 by insidecroydon

NHS doctors are urging those eligible to get their free covid-19 and flu vaccinations to help reduce the impact of winter viruses.

Winter protection: vaccinations for flu and covid are available from the NHS

From today, people at risk across London will start receiving their winter vaccinations, providing vital protection from developing serious illnesses and ending up in hospital during busy winter months.

People who are aged 65 and over, pregnant, or have underlying health conditions are eligible for flu and covid-19 vaccinations – as are those working in frontline health or social care.

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#Binmageddon! Count Binface wants to be Mayor of Croydon!

Posted on October 2, 2024 by insidecroydon

INTERGALACTIC EXCLUSIVE: Count Binface, fresh from challenging Rishi Sunak at the General Election and winning 24,000 votes in May’s London Mayor vote, has announced on our interview podcast Under The Flyover that he now wants to run for office as … Mayor of Croydon!

You can listen to the complete Count Binface interview on our Spotify channel, as he explains what he thinks of #Binmageddon and Croydon’s new rubbish contract with Veolia.

Hear Count Binface talk about his previous election rivals, including Theresa May and Boris Johnson, as he takes aim at Croydon Mayor Jason Perry with a campaign that he promises will be #ABitLessShit.

And listen to the intergalactic superhero’s excitement at performing on stage at the Fairfield Halls on Saturday October 19 (tickets available here), within sight of the universally famous Croydon Flyover. Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 council elections, Croydon Council, Inside Croydon, Under The Flyover | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Misconduct ruling for police officers who handcuffed black boy

Posted on October 2, 2024 by insidecroydon

Metropolitan Police Constables – one currently serving, the other a former PC – have received a misconduct ruling following a disciplinary hearing into their actions in the controversial handcuffing and restraint of a 14-year-old black boy at Blackhorse Lane in Addiscombe in June 2022. The serving officer has been given a final written warning as a consequence.

Excessive force: Deshaun Joseph, then aged 14, was bundled to the floor near a Croydon tram stop in 2022

The incident was video’d by bystanders and broadcast on local television news, causing widespread shock and anger at the boy’s treatment. The teenager, Deshaun Joseph, said at the time: “I thought I was going to die.”

Two years ago, the Met’s own initial review of the incident, conducted by its Directorate of Professional Standards, found “no misconduct is apparent”.

But last week, the IOPC – the Independent Office for Police Conduct – published a lengthy ruling into the conduct of Croydon officers PC McCorley Clewes and former PC Benjamin Morgan. Continue reading →

Posted in Addiscombe East, Crime, Croydon Central, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Policing, Sadiq Khan | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Croydon’s Superloop bus link to Heathrow facing the axe

Posted on October 2, 2024 by insidecroydon

Barely a year after the £6million introduction of the Superloop network, with rebranded express routes mostly around outer London, Mayor Sadiq Khan is considering axing Croydon’s long-standing bus link to Heathrow Airport.

Power outage: the SL7 is London’s longest bus route, and too long for electric vehicles

The SL7 Superloop bus was introduced in 2023, replacing the previous express route, the X26, from West Croydon to Heathrow, via Sutton and Kingston. The SL7 has twice the frequency of the old X26.

The SL7 is currently London’s longest bus route, with journeys supposed to take 1hr 42min, but even with bus priority lanes and a reduced number of stops, can often take longer.

Or, as Transport for London would have it, the SL7 is “susceptible to traffic conditions as it travels through key town centres and shopping hubs in outer London”.

Such a long route is impractical for new, electric-powered buses, as Transport for London is rolling out across all its services. TfL is looking at adjusting the SL7 so that it only goes as far as Sutton, with the SL5 Bromley to Croydon route to be extended to Sutton. Continue reading →

Posted in East Croydon, TfL, Transport, West Croydon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Police use stop and search powers after George Street stabbing

Posted on October 2, 2024 by insidecroydon

The Metropolitan Police had Croydon town centre on lockdown last night, issuing a Section 60 order following a stabbing on George Street earlier in the day.

Evidence search: a crime scene remained in place throughout the evening as detectives scoured the area

Shortly before 2pm, a 23-year-old man was stabbed in the neck outside the George Street Express off licence.

Emergency services were quickly on the scene, with the man taken to hospital, where he remains today, his condition described as not life-threatening.

“Pools of blood” were visible on the street outside the shop where the attack took place. Continue reading →

Posted in Broad Green, Crime, Fairfield, Knife crime, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Farthing Downs illustrated talk, Chaldon Village Hall, Sat Oct 5

Posted on October 2, 2024 by insidecroydon

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