We apologise for two errors in the December issue, both down to errors by the team (to include the quizmaster)
In the quiz on page 31, reference is made in question 4 to “Edoracum”. This should have been picked up and is, correctly, “Eboracum”.
On page 34, the date of the Clean-Up is given as 14 December and this is the correct date. The date given on page 15 is wrong.
Relevant members of the team will be required to go barefoot and wear sack-cloth for a week.
Croydon Council has asked us to promulgate the following update …
The library service is changing to a model with fewer library buildings which will be open full time, and provision of activities and books in other local venues.
Residents in Shirley can use library services at any other Croydon Library and a free shuttle bus is available to Ashburton Library every Thursday at 10:30am. The bus departs from Wickham Road/Hartland Way, outside the library building and the return journey departs from Ashburton Library at 12pm.
The library service is also partnering with West Wickham and Shirley Baptist Church to host library groups and activities. A collection of books will be available in a designated area at the site in the new year for residents to borrow.
All residents are invited to join a drop in event hosted by the library service and West Wickham and Shirley Baptist Church on December 11th from 2:00-4:30pm.
Activities will include demonstrations of the library digital offer and crafts for adults and children alongside free refreshments. Residents can also join the library, return loaned items and reserve books for collection at a library.
Residents who aren’t able to visit a library can also use the Home Library Service which arranges home delivery of books. To find out more residents can contact homelibraryservice@croydon.gov.uk.
Residents with access to a digital device can also access the library online offer which includes e-books, e-audio books, magazines and newspapers and online learning. This is free with a library card.
Information on all library services can be found on the Council’s webpages here: https://www.croydon.gov.uk/libraries-leisure-and-culture/libraries
The library service can be contacted directly on libraries@croydon.gov.uk
Library staff are now preparing the Shirley Library building to become a community base, continuing to provide a local service. Community organisations or groups interested in delivering services from the library building are invited to apply to communityrelations@croydon.gov.uk.
Applications close on 13th December. Council staff will then review all of the submissions and work with successful bidders to bring the library building back into use for the community. More information can be found on the Council’s webpages here: https://www.croydon.gov.uk/community-and-safety/advice-and-funding-community-groups/are-you-interested-running-community-base-heart-our-local-communities-croydon
Donations of musical instruments for charitable use are sought. We have been asked to draw the following to members’ attentions …
Andrew Moore, recently-appointed Musical Director of Croydon Male Voice Choir, has issued this call for donations of musical instruments:
I am looking to collect any old, unused instruments that people may have. I am building up a collection for my music therapy work. In particular, any handheld percussion instruments. If you may have old instruments looking for a new home please do pass them to me if you are happy to donate!
*Andrew Moore is also an HCPC registered Music Therapist and Assistant Director of Music at St. Anselm’s Church, Kennington. If you have an instrument you would like to donate, please contact Philip Talmage at 33 Wickham Avenue, tel 8656 1886, philiptalmage@gmail.com.
Starting on 11 November and running every Thursday, a new service will be available as follows
Following the closure of Shirley Library, SPRA members may be interested to know that the Council has announced a bus service to run from Shirley to the Ashburton Library, to enable access to that facility. It only runs on one day per week. Details as published by the Council are shown below:
Free bus service from 11 November 2024
Thursdays
Shirley: Departing from Wickham Road/Hartland Way, outside the library
building, at 10.30am
Return journey departing from Ashburton Library at 12.00pm
Members are invited to visit the Council’s website where you are asked to make comments on priorities for the Council’s budgeting next year.
The link is
We are invited to attend either of two sessions in the playground at the Rec, as ibelow
I am pleased to inform you that due to the upcoming redevelopment of the playground, the council will be holding engagement sessions inside the playground on the below dates.
Monday 21st of October 14:00 – 16:00
Friday 25th of October 14:00– 16:00
The engagement sessions will be held in conjunction with HAGS who have designed the new playground, these sessions give everyone the chance to raise any questions they may have and provide feedback regarding the designs.
***Designs are NOT final and are subject to change***
All enquiries to parks@croydon.gov.uk
The following letter is being selectively circulated by the Council …
As you may be aware, the council’s ‘pay and display machines’ are reaching the end of their useful life with the ongoing shutdown of 3G connectivity across the country and increasing maintenance costs, meaning that any remaining machines will be removed.
The removal programme will mean that from Saturday 13 July in on-street chargeable locations the machines will be switched off and customers will need to use RingGo.
Following this the Council will rollout mobile parking in Council car parks and in free parking locations in district and local centres. The RingGo parking app is a convenient way for most residents and visitors to pay for their parking. The app is free to use on both Apple and Android devices. Where free parking tariffs apply these will still be available through the app.
Other than the name of the person parking and the vehicle registration, personal information such as card details do not need to be stored on the app.
Whilst the Council does not charge for using RingGo, some default settings may mean that you pay a small charge to RingGo for reminders. These notifications can be easily disabled in the app settings.
The use of RingGo will also reduce the ability to meter feed and may provide a
discount on parking charges, dependant on vehicle emissions. For those that do not have a smartphone, parking sessions can also be secured by phone, by calling 020 3046 0010.
We understand that change can be difficult but please be reassured that we are
making every effort to ensure that the transition to mobile payment parking is as smooth as possible.
We have listened to the issues raised through pilot schemes and are looking to
mitigate the impact of change wherever possible. As a result, a PayPoint option for those who prefer to make cash or card payments, may be available at any shop that offers PayPoint. When using PayPoint, there is no need to return to the vehicle as the session will be automatically logged.
We appreciate your ongoing support, patience, and cooperation.
Yours faithfully,
We have received the following from Croydon Voluntary Action, and have been asked to draw attention specifically to the 24 April date ofthe next meeting.
Thank you to Celestina and Lynda for Co-chairing the meeting and to Oasis Academy in Shirley for being such good hosts. It’s good to see a variety of community spaces that are open to hire for events and to familiarise ourselves with their activities. For more information on Oasis Academy here.
Last November’s LCP Partnership Showcase event was a well-attended, informative celebration of the organisations that were successful in their applications for funding from the new Localities Commissioning Fund. Their exciting plans were outlined and Commissioners voiced their commitment to these new ways of community-led commissioning.
For this locality, the local priorities identified are: Transport, Digital Inclusion, Mental Health and ‘Heating/Eating’. These key elements of the Central East Locality’s Community Plan will be linked in with public health data and will also inform Croydon’s new Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2024-29. With the general election coming-up this year, a Community Manifesto based on the six LCP’s Community Plans will give residents a stronger voice, identify the most important local issues and will help highlight the excellent partnership working that is taking place in Croydon.
It was good that we were able to secure some ‘Ageing well’ funding that has been used to sustain some of the good work that is already happening in this locality through Addiscombe Neighbourhood Care Association.
Community Hubs in the Central East Locality
· Ashburton Park Hub – Oasis Academy schools have a commitment that, wherever there is a cluster of schools, they need to set up a Community Hub. Andrew Gill is the Lead for the Shirley Park site. Andrew helpfully told LCP members that the school tragically lost two of their students to knife crime in a short space of time. Part of the work to change and positively impact the community around this is to redesign the nearby Ashburton Park through a Heritage grant and to work closely with the community in the process. The work will focus on developing the currently vacant Lodge in the park and also look to set up at a food growing project with Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) partners such as South Norwood Community Kitchen and Reaching Higher, together with racing driver, Lewis Hamilton’s mentoring project ‘Mission 44’ to provide an initiative with 360 wrap-around support. This area has also been selected as one of the sites that will benefit from a new Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA), as part of the play zone funding that has been made available through the council.
ACTION: To be connected to this exciting work and explore potential partnership opportunities please contact: andrew.gill@oasisuk.org / 07917 243 665
· Woodside Community Hub – part of Croydon East Wellness Support Network- ‘CrESNT’– The winning bid for this locality last year was CrESENT an alliance that is made up of five partners in the locality: Floating Counselling, ‘Welderlies’, Woodside Community Pop-In, Clear Community Web and ‘Mandem Medley’, who are supporting 120 men. The Hub has been running for a month in November last year and has started again in the last two weeks. It is being held at Woodside Baptist Church on Spring Lane from 1.30- 3.30
ACTION: LCP members to help publicize the Hub to maximize engagement. For more information, please see the flyer attached and the website link.
ACTION: Nasreen and Mariah, (Community Facilitator), Celestina and Lynda to keep LCP members informed of progress, sharing Change Stories whenever possible.
Strengthening Community Plans: Befriending (as part of the work on Mental Health) and Communication. With the extensive knowledge and expertise of those LCP members in attendance, it was also agreed that the area of Youth-related opportunities would be discussed.
Befriending– Lynda our Co-chair and Social Prescribing Link Worker has highlighted the need for face-to-face befriending schemes to tackle loneliness and isolation. We were reminded of the Street Champions network which discussed in previous meetings and that there was an outstanding need for training for potential Champions before they go door-to-door and do informal welfare checks with light signposting. This could be a way of befriending and supporting residents to make initial connections with new community-based activities.
It was also mentioned that activities should have a ‘Welcome’ person to assist new residents with engagement. CNCA have a befriending and home service. We heard a wonderful story about a gentleman who had been very nervous and isolated, but through meeting with his befriender he was now going with them to a lunch club for the first time. CNCA are taking referrals for this service and they even support with transport to get the resident engaging with community. For more information please email: Amanda@cnca.org.uk
The need for more Volunteers was raised. We have looked at promoting this opportunity through Ross at Emmaus SOC and the Croydon Cares initiative. We spoke about collecting and promoting stories of volunteers to show it as an opportunity. The concept of a Timebank was mentioned, if we could pledge an hour of our time each, we could collectively help cover the volunteering needs in the area. This would need to be effectively coordinated to work.
ACTION: A Befriending Action Group of Celestina, Amanda Esparon from Croydon Neighbourhood Care Association (CNCA), Norman Till from Addiscombe Neighbourhood Care Association (ANCA) and Andrew Slegg, with the support of the Volunteer via Lynda Graham, will meet to discuss and plan these issues more fully. They will feed back to LCP members at the next meeting.
ACTION: Andrew to contact Ben Taylor and Paul Voden about training for Community Champions
ACTION: LCP members to contact Amanda Esperon at CNCA about potential befriending support for local residents – Amanda@cnca.org.uk
Communication: £5000 is available from the King’s Fund’s ‘Healthy Communities Together’ budget to increase engagement by improving the promotion and publicity of LCP meetings and Community Hubs. Avenues for such communication mentioned were, residents’ associations, Link Workers, hubs, the excellent CNCA fortnightly bulletin, faith forums and church networks, as well as school networks. A localized Facebook page was mentioned and a website specific to this locality
ACTION: An Action Group for Communication was set up, with Celestina and Neil Chamaroo from See way Youth being the initial members. The group will explore these ideas in more detail and update LCP members at our next meeting.
Youth – The importance of engaging parents of young people to reach / support young people was raised. How do we effectively do this? What are the issues that young people are facing in this locality? We need to hear from them on this. Neil shared with us the success of providing value-driven activities as a possibility to be explored. Parental Army, an initiative that has been successful in the South-East LCP, where there is a booklet of listed services that support parents accessible to them. This has been a great help. Could this work in this locality? Connecting with Reaching Higher, Addiscombe Boys and Girls and Sir Phillip Gain club were suggested.
Floating Counselling have a holiday camp that supports young people during the school holidays. For more information on that holiday camp here.
ACTION: An Action Group for Youth was set up, with Celestina, Neil, Andrew Gill, Norman and Arlene being the initial members. The group will explore these ideas in more detail and update LCP members at our next meeting.
THE ACTION GROUPS WILL ALWAYS BENEFIT FROM HAVING A SOLID MEMBERSHIP, SO IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN THE BEFRIENDING, YOUTH OR COMMUNUICATION ACTION GROUPS THEN PLEASE CONTACT THE CO-CHAIRS, CELESTINA AND LYNDA, OR SARAH OR ANDREW. THANK YOU.
Croydon’s Health and Wellbeing strategy 2024-29 – Your views on the new Health and Wellbeing draft strategy were much appreciated.
Acting upon suggestions from LCP members about how to reach new participants, the next Central East LCP meeting will be take place on Wednesday 24th April, in the EVENING, between 6-8 pm. Please promote this far and wide so we can get as many new voices joining the conversation as possible. Please book your place here.
To see previous meeting notes OR the Community Plans for your locality here.
Thank you for your continued support and engagement in this great work
Warm wishes,
Lynda, Celestina., Sarah and Andrew
With thanks to Chloe Smith for the notes.
C/O Sarah Burns
Director of Communities
Mob: 07540 720106
Email: sarah.burns@cvalive.org.uk
CVA Resource Centre
82 London Road, CR0 2TB
Recent talks between our local politicians, local headteachers and the Borough’s police have yielded good results in reducing the amount of crime affecting young people travelling through central Croydon on their way to and from school. Theft of mobile phones has been a particular problem. Police have recently intensified their activity against this crime type, tracking down and targeting perpetrators. This resulted in 11 arrests being made and a substantial decline in offending afterwards. Police Officers analysed crime patterns which enabled them to target hot-spots where the perpetrators were likely to be. They concentrated on several known suspects and cleared the area of further robberies through persistent high-vis patrolling.
In addition, Schools officers attended school assemblies to provide crime prevention advice, while uniformed officers spoke to students on how to keep themselves and their possessions safe.
We have lifted this article about a new “tool” available to our Police, from an MP’s website. SPRA is a non-(party) political body and has no association with the MP in question
I am delighted to report that multiple arrests were made in Croydon town centre [in late January] following the experimental deployment of Live Facial Recognition (LFR). This is something I am pushing for nationally in my role as Policing Minister, and I am glad that the Met accepted my suggestion to further trial LFR in Croydon
LFR starts with a “watchlist” of images of people who are wanted for serious offences or who are wanted by the Court for failing to attend a criminal hearing. A camera is then set up by Police in a location with high footfall, and advanced facial recognition software is used to see if anyone walking past matches one of the images on the watchlist. Is there is a match, the officers running the system are alerted and they intervene to see if the person is indeed the one wanted. The matching software is now incredibly accurate and advanced.
This has been deployed in Croydon town centre several times recently, on London Road and North End, and on the junction with Church Street. Arrests for the following offences were made in a matter of just a few hours:
This deployment took 14 potentially dangerous people off the streets (SPRA note – as there are more than 14 offences listed, it is clear that at least one of the 14 persons had committed more than one of these offences). The identity of the people stopped was verified separately from the facial recognition system, and no false alerts were generated.
There are safeguards around privacy and accuracy. Any passer-by who is scanned and who is not on the watchlist is immediately and automatically deleted. The system is governed by detailed rules set out by the College of Policing, and there is case law setting out the legal requirements of the system. This includes accuracy and no bias. The system has been tested by the National Physical Laboratory and at the setting used meets the legal requirements (it delivers no bias and a 1/6000 accuracy rate). There are also signs displayed that LFR is being used.
I am delighted that these potentially dangerous people have been taken off the street. There are further LFR deployments planned in Croydon in the near future and I am pushing for this technology to be rolled out nationally, within the rules and guidelines to safeguard privacy. This technology has the potential to ensure that huge numbers of wanted criminals are caught.
