Summer Greetings to you all. Not that summer looks like staying at the time of writing. It has all been wet interspersed with one fine day now and then. In an article in the Guardian on March 6, a columnist commented on a prophecy of increasingly violent and erratic weather patterns, which are supposedly a symptom of global warming. We should all build a boat as the waters rise. This is true – some buildings in Millbank have water rising above the usual water mark for high tide and are moving electrical equipment like computers higher up in their skyscrapers. There have been terrible floods in Mozambique and France but if developers continue to build on land which is subject to periodic flooding, then catastrophes are likely to happen. We get more and more buildings on high ground in Croydon and the spill off of rain clouds flood the roads and also flooding the unfortunate people below. Kenley was in the news in this way a short while ago.

Great Britain is one of the signatories to the international summit held in Kyoto in 1997, which leads to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by the year 2100 (Agenda 21). It appears the government is slipping out of its target by 20%. For ‘the Government’ should it not read ‘the populace’? Are we not all required to keep in front of our minds that we should not waste electricity, nor drive or fly unnecessarily. Perhaps a vision of a family clutching at the top of a tree as the waters swirl below with no rescuing boat nor land to settle on should be kept in all of our minds. Live economically to day for the sake of our children’s future?

I have been particularly concerned at the number of fixtures such as pylons and mobile phone masts continuing to be allowed to be built in Croydon, some near schools and some on the perimeter boundary. There is some controversy about the effect on the public health from the rays given off. One view is that they are safe and it all depends on this or that and then someone denies it all. They may be safe enough on today’s date but some more dishes can be added and some more fixtures can be put up adding to whatever is coming down on us with each one. What is the limit? The pylon at the top of South Norwood Hill wanted to be a small satellite station! The planning application was turned down but gradually the number of dishes has increased – it must be near the number for which permission was originally refused. Who controls all this? What is the limit – is there one? Does anyone know?

In our events at the back of Focus you will see we are again visiting the local Fairs etc in Croydon Parks where we will be selling our local history books, postcards and Graveney cards to raise further funds. We have discovered several ‘fairies’ of Cicely Mary Barker through these events. We hope they will be attending the day we have for her.

We are visiting Barn Elms World Wild Life site in September. This is a lovely site based on the Barnes Reservoir Site and a tribute to Sir Peter Scott. To get a group discount I need to have 10 people coming - so please contact me as soon as possible; prices are given in What’s On.

When Lord & Lady Bernard Weatherill came to our 25^th celebratory dinner they spoke about Emmetts House in which they live which has a garden open to the public on certain days. I thought we might like to visit this in October as there is a walk round with gardner then (see What’s On). The walk is in the afternoon and we should be able to tie it up with something else in the area in the morning. It is a National Trust Garden so please bring your cards if you are a member. Could you take a couple of people in your car if you have one? (See What’s On).

I attended the first meeting of the Croydon Cabinet Consultative Committee in the Council Chamber, cheerfully chaired by Councillor Maggie Mansell, we were in with the Councillors – not up in the balcony – and we could speak on the various subjects by invitation of the chair. The meeting was Care for Croydon but it had a ‘whole’ coverage. Covering pollution, the Croydon Agenda 21 team of Brian Irving and Stephen Potter gave a brilliant demonstration of measures to check pollution in Croydon which is worse in the center of Croydon and has on several occasions exceeded the recommended limit. Increasing Parking Charges was a much-discussed subject. How to attract the car owner without their car? The 2020 Vision with its explosion of car parking spaces, which is still allowed under to-days Unitary Development Plan. The UDP is about to undergo a review and it will be interesting to see how this thorny problem is solved.

When the consultation leaflet came round about the Cabinet formation I returned it saying ‘Yes the Croydon Society was interested’ and that is why we will be continuing to co-operate with officers and Members of the council. We may not always agree but we can put in some suggestions and we can hear from the Council why they cannot enforce them. It has started off well.

We welcome Councillor Mary Walker as our Mayor for 2000 and are pleased she has agreed to be our President for the Millennium year. Mary has for a great number of years been a hard working Councillor and was also a former Leader of Croydon Council and we welcomed her attendance at our Cicely Mary Barker commemorative day.

We also welcome two new members of our Executive Committee. Michael Hope has for some time been on the planning committee and Tony Moss is well known for his connection with Cinemas and Cinema organs.

I look forward to meeting you at some of our events – do not forget the walking weekend. Come and help us to remain the largest group of walkers for yet another year! Come to the South Norwood Country Park for Apple Day! See you then.

May Johnson

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Membership News

Brian Kell

Members who attended the Annual General Meeting were saddened to hear Treasurer Andy Bebington reporting the death in February of Brian Kell, the Society’s Independent Examiner (formerly Auditor). Mr Kell, a former Banker, had acted for the Society through the 1990s and had extended his brief beyond the strict requirement of confirming the accuracy of the annual financial statements. His guidance in respect of budgets and on proposed changes in subscription levels aided the Committee enormously.

Brian Kell took a lively interest in the world around him, being a school governor for over twenty years and being actively involved in the NorthWest Kent Family History Society in a variety of capacities. His perception of what is important to a Treasurer, indeed to an Executive Committee, was revealing; he saw through the detail to the broader picture and saw trends as even more important than the detail from day to day.

His help will be sadly missed.

A Legacy

Members of the Croydon Society were saddened to learn of the death of Ray Bott last year. Ray had been a stalwart of the Transport Group for many years, attending Council Committee meetings on our behalf and collecting, every year, numerous documents which were invaluable to the Society’s work. Other documents Ray presented to the Society had been purchased by him from (for example) H M Stationery Office, and he always declined to put in an expenses claim.

Ray - who was far from being a “spring chicken” when he began to be active in the Society’s work - was also one who regularly contributed to “question time” following our illustrated talks, and frequently asked searching questions at Annual General Meetings. His contributions - of all sorts - are sadly missed.

It was a pleasant surprise to hear from his son that Ray had left a legacy of £100 to the Society; this generosity is typical of him and was gratefully received. The Executive Committee is to consider what specific expenditure, if any, it would be appropriate to “dedicate” this sum towards; no conditions were attached to the legacy.

Treasurer Andy Bebington, who wrote a tribute when responding to Dr Bott’s letter, confirms that the Society is a registered charity and that, as such, legacies bequeathed under Wills do not attract Inheritance Tax.

Join In The Croydon Festival Of Walking!

The Croydon Society will be entering a team in the first day

of the Croydon Festival of Walking, Saturday 9th September.

This will be the third time the Society has taken part,

and on both previous occasions received a trophy.

The Society's team will be entered for a Challenge Walk of 15 km (9 miles!), starting at Lloyd Park at approximately 09.30. The route through much open countryside will be different from last year's. It is not a race, and the speed, under our own leader, will be kept well within the capabilities of the group. We shall be provided with a comprehensive route description and map, and the route will be marked with signs and ribbons to help us on our way.

No previous experience or special equipment is needed, only suitable shoes, so come and enjoy a walk in Croydon's countryside!

The entry fee is £3, to include refreshments, first aid service, a personal certificate, and a donation to local charities. The Society has also the chance to win a trophy again.

Please send your full name (as you would like it to appear on your certificate), address and telephone number, age (if you think you might be the youngest or the oldest participant) and a cheque for £3 payable to The Croydon Society to Geoffrey Myers, 56 Northampton Road, Croydon, CRO 7HT (020 8655 3158), who will be delighted to answer your queries.

Please respond before Friday 25th August, as the charge will be £4 after that date.

Good News: Changes In Tax Relief For Charitable Giving

We have received details of the new arrangements for charitable giving, which we hope will give significant benefits to the Croydon Society above and beyond the tax recovery we have made in recent years.

The first and most important change is that donations do not have to be covenanted (i.e. promised for a period of not less than four years) for tax recovery to be possible. All that is needed is for the giver to be a tax-payer and to sign a statement to that effect. The Croydon Society will, therefore, be introducing a new annual subscription request for next January, asking members to confirm that the payment is made under Gift Aid terms and that they will have paid tax equal to the tax deducted from their donations. This will change the Society’s tax recovery because of the abolition of the £250 minimum limit for Gift Aid giving; virtually all the Society’s receipts from members will now fall under the new rules.

The new Gift Aid Declaration is a statement identifying the giver (name and address), the charity, the sum involved and its status (donation, subscription etc); and confirming that tax has indeed been paid. This will be signed by the member and used by the Society to secure a repayment of tax already suffered by that member.

These rules do not apply to payments made by members from which a benefit is derived, such as payments for books, refreshments, coach outings, etc. They do apply to annual subscriptions where a benefit - in our case, three issues of Croydon Focus each year - does not exceed 25% on the sub; as Focus sells for 50p, a member’s benefit by way of the three issues would be “valued” at £1.50, which is 25% of the lower annual subscription.

Other changes unlikely to impact directly on the Society are the abolition of the £1200 per annum limit on payroll giving, the 10% supplement which the Government will add for three years, the tax relief on donations of shares to charities and changes in the rules relating to Trusts. Hon Treasurer Andy Bebington will be delighted to advise anyone interested in benefiting the Society through either or both of the latter.

Warehouse Theatre

Saturday 15 July – Sunday 30 July is the Edinburgh Preview Stand-Up Season. The Warehouse is able to attract top performers because of its strong reputation; past stars have included Jo Brand, Graham Norton and Greg Proops.

Friday 4 August – Saturday 5 August Croydon Young People’s Theatre Summer Production. CRYPT is a Theatre group for 11 – 19 year olds.

Theatre for Kidz continues as usual on most Saturday Mornings.

Telephone the Box office for Theatre membership details, tickets and show times: (020) 8680 4060. or visit www.Warehouse Theatre.co.uk

John Hanson

Welcome to John Hanson who kindly stepped in to audit our 1999 accounts at short notice. He has agreed to become our auditor for this year (2000) as well.

Welcome to new members

The Society is delighted to welcome Mr Biddle into membership of the Society.

Have I got news for you

If you have news that you think would be of interest to fellow members, please let the Editor know by dropping him a line, details in WHO’S WHO

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William Ford Stanley: A Biography

Having lived most of my life within the former domain of South Norwood’s great benefactor named above, I have understandably taken a great interest in this gifted and public spirited manufacturer and inventor and, in local terms at least, great Victorian. This has led me, over a long period, to collect information and memorabilia of all sorts about the Herefordshire born man which I had used from time to time in articles for Focus and other writings. Ultimately I had a box file packed with researches, cuttings and information of all sorts until sometimes I felt I knew more about the background of the great man than he did himself.

Latterly, Nicholas Reed, the lively editor of the Norwood Review, the Norwood Society’s journal, got to hear of this and pressed me to put it into some shape or form as a slide talk or booklet but by this time I was rather exhausted with the subject and nothing transpired. Then Nicholas came back to me and said there was a member of the Norwood Society who was looking for a project – would I be prepared to lend her my material so she could write a life of Stanley. It seemed sensible that my collection should now be put to this good use and having met Eloise Akpen and quickly realising that she would make a good job of the life I handed over my file and the project commenced.

Eloise Akpen used my material as a base from which to launch energetic researches of her own contacting national bodies such as the Science Museum, the Royal Meteorological Society, and the Dictionary of National Biography who were interested in Stanley. She made timely visits to the firm of WF Stanley and Company at Eltham, sadly in the process of going into liquidation after over a hundred years existence. She visited in Dorset the last remaining Stanley with personal memories of the great man, a 96 year old great niece and even discovered through the Internet an American interest. She of course engaged in close contact with the Stanley Schools and Halls, other local connections and the Heritage Section of the Council. Within a year the energetic Mrs Akpen had produced a comprehensive life of the man in a most thorough manner, which I could never even have contemplated.

The Norwood Society, which had initially blessed the project, felt unable to undertake the publication so the author has undertaken the publication herself. The 128 page, illustrated Life selling at £5.95, is to be launched this Autumn and copies will be available from May Johnson of our own Society, and other normal outlets and a Review Copy will be sent to the Secretary so that an appraisal may be made in the next Focus.

The Life is certain to become a valuable addition to the increasing number of local history books covering the varied aspects of the life of Croydon and Croydonians, and is likely to become the definitive biography of this notable man.

Hugh Byford

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Our First Ride On Tramlink

I was amongst a group that was invited by the London Transport unit for disabled passengers to travel on the Tram network before it opened to fare paying passengers. We met on Monday 17th April at 2 pm at the East Croydon tram stop. We caught the Amey yellow tram which took us down George Street along Church Street up to West Croydon and then back to East Croydon. We then traveled on ‘route 3’ to New Addington, stopping at all stops. An announcement on board is made so you always know where you are. The journey time from East Croydon to East Croydon via The Loop is 10 minutes and then a further 18 minutes to New Addington where there are 3 feeder bus routes; T31, T32 and T33 which connect at Addington with the 353 to Orpington and covers the New Addington and Selsdon areas.

The trams seat 70 people with plenty of room for wheelchairs, buggies etc, which have level access with the platforms. The fares are £1.30 on journeys to Wimbledon in Zone 3 and 90p single anywhere else and children 40p. Travelcards valid in Zone 4, 5 or 6 are valid except to Wimbledon where Zone 3 will be needed.

The Freedom Pass for pensioners and disabled people (provided by the local council) is valid for free travel after 9 am Monday -Friday, all day Saturday, Sunday and Bank holidays. The tram operators First Group were available to help and answer questions. The timetable is in 3 sections: before 7 am, 7 am - 7 pm, and after 7 pm on both Beckenham and Wimbledon. Elmers End route before 7 am and after 7 pm is every 30 minutes and 12 minutes daytime. New Addington is 15 minutes then every 7 minutes daytime.

All trams are accessible for wheelchair users and pushchairs of course.

Stephen Aselford

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Croydon Agenda 21 News

Green Fair 2000 15/16 July @ Lloyd Park

Theme: Our Food – Our Planet

For those of you who receive Focus before 15/16 July we hope to see you at the Fair which is being held alongside The International Music Day on the Saturday and the Mela on the Sunday. The Croydon Society will of course be having its bookstall on the Saturday - so another great reason to visit!

Farmers Market for Croydon

The Council has agreed to progress this project and will be appointing a co-ordinator to find the best site and times of operation etc – Great news for everybody who has been waiting for the opportunity to buy fruit, vegetables and a lot more fresh from local farmers. Watch this space for more news…

Annual Conference on Saturday 14 October 2000

This year it is being held at the Fairfield Hotel. More details from the Croydon Agenda 21 Office (details below).

Transport Strategy Update

Over 2300 questionnaires on the draft sustainable transport strategy for Croydon have been returned. There has been a good response from all parts of the community and broad support for the ideas. The critical next phase is an action plan that provides better alternatives to the car. A major conference on sustainable transport will be held at the Fairfield Halls on 20 September.

Fitting The Green CAP

The Council’s new environment policy, the Green Commitment, is being put into action through a Green Commitment Action Plan (CAP). It sets objectives and targets and is due for publication this summer.

Getting In Touch

You are welcome to contact the Croydon Agenda 21 Office c/o EH & TS, Taberner House, Park Lane, Croydon, CR9 3BT. Tel: 020 8760 5791 Fax: 020 8760 5719. E mail: local_agenda21@Croydon.Gov.UK

Streets For All

Streets For All - English Heritage's long-awaited streetscape manual is a guide to making the streets of London attractive, safe and enjoyable spaces for people. Its main aims are to reduce clutter, co-ordinate design and reinforce local character.

The manual is published in two parts. Part 1 is an attractive, well-illustrated 65-page book explaining the principles of good street design and is of interest to all who are concerned for their local environment. It has been made freely available to member societies of the London Forum, who helped to sponsor it. Part 2 is a set of detailed information sheets aimed at the engineers etc who should be putting these principles into practice.

In a recent English Heritage survey, 70% of street furniture was found to be unnecessary, duplicated or redundant. The greatest single improvement to London's streetscape would be the removal of this clutter by local councils through systematic street audits, perhaps carried out with the help of local amenity societies.

A particularly valuable feature of the manual is the large number of colour photographs illustrating everyday street scenes which can be seen either as examples or as warnings. English Heritage uses these to condemn a number of widespread practices, such as the use of small paving blocks in random colours and patterns to "enhance" certain areas, or the installation of long rows of bollards in "pedestrian" streets to control parking.

Traditional telephone kiosks and post boxes are shown to make a positive contribution to the street scene and should be retained wherever possible. Recycling facilities in streets are intended to promote sustainability, but they can often be unsightly as well as encouraging additional trips by car. Street cabinets and bins need to be carefully sited and regularly maintained, including removal of graffiti.

Traffic calming measures should be fitted sensitively into the street scene to look as though they were part of the original design of the area. Traffic management schemes present a particular challenge in the fight against sign clutter.

Environmental improvements should enhance local distinctiveness and reinforce those qualities which make an area special. The most modest schemes are usually the most successful.

George Parish

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Solar Matters

I attended a talk at the Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society (CNHSS) meeting recently when the speaker gave an account of his bicycle, which runs on battery power. The batteries are quite heavy so he had to have them in two packages and put one at the back and one at the front. He also wanted to put solar panels on his roof but found that his roof did not get any sun as another higher building overlooked it. So he put some solar panels on to his wifes green house and produced electricity to heat the greenhouse and also provide lighting. He was a great enthusiast for DIY and did all the work himself but there was some complicated mathematical problems to solve so he enlisted the help of a proficient person who knew all about photovoltaic panels. But it just shows what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.

Gravel Hill Garage – I mentioned this BP Garage, which has solar panels on its roof, which will supply light to the Safeways shop and also run the petrol pumps. It is now up and running with a display panel on site. Pop down and have a look at it!

May Johnson

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Early Flights

Where I live we are up quite high and the planes seem to be getting lower and the flight paths seem to have changed. They do change anyway for winter and summer, but whereas they all used to go round the two transmitters at Crystal Palace they are now separated and some go around there and some go between them. When the aircraft leave trails they form a star where the trails cross over. Towards the end of last summer it seemed that there were more and more flights. You can tell the time by them – I awake by one about 6.30 am. Have we reached saturation point in this area now?

May Johnson

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Jorrocks – The Story Of The Cover DrawingPlease note that this drawing is currently not provided on this electronic version of Focus. The Drawing was done by Bob Kirby of the horse and rider public sculpture in George Street Croydon.

Jorrocks – Jaunts and Jollities was originally written by R.S. Surtees.

Mr Jorrocks, a substantial city grocer of the 1830’s with rather more than his fair share of vanity, was rapturously fond of the sport of fox hunting, being a principal subscriber to the Surrey Hunt.

He was described as being of substantial girth and an astonishing sight when riding out. He wore a capacious, long, full tailed red frock coat with a dark green collar, brown shag breeches, boots looking as if they could tear up the land, tied at the knees with whitetapes. His huge chestnut hunter carried him in a brand new saddle, made on the principle of putting a round of beef on a pudding plate. He carried, clenched in his fist, an enormous iron headed hammer whip and wore a broad brimmed, low crowned hat.

Croydon was the general rendezvous point for hunts, in particular The Surrey Subscriber Fox Hounds. On a hunting Saturday from an early hour sportsmen poured in from the city, gathering for breakfast at The Derby Arms before riding to The Surreys, out over Addington Heath to Hayes Common and to usually finish at The Fox at Keston.

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A Croydon Society Victory

Or The Welcome Demise Of An Unfortunate Amphibian

Leaving the Country Park by Harrington Road the other Sunday, making my way home in reflective mood, I was suddenly confronted by a splendid vision – an elegant “new” pub, resplendent in the sunshine and emblazoned with the name “The Albert Tavern”, and with a handsome picture of the Prince Consort upstanding on the pavement outside. Was I suffering a hallucinatory flashback due to the feebleness of advancing age? No! For the second time in its 130 year history this historic local, once bombed flat by the Germans and rebuilt, has had its identity restored.

In my report for the Croydon Society on tasteless changes in pubs and their names, printed in Croydon Focus, Spring 1988, I led with the obliteration of this pub's identity and history by the foolish change of its name blatantly to “The Pickled Newt” together with an inane attempt to depict such a creature on its sign. The article was given good publicity by the Croydon Advertiser, and in it I had remarked that traditional pub names had often been restored after a period of inappropriate change and that ridicule was a good means to this end. The name of course never really changed among locals - still inevitably being referred to as the “Albert”, and the Croydon Society can claim some credit that dignity has now been restored to this very good and popular local. As I said when I went inside and congratulated the landlady and raised my glass – “Long live the Albert Tavern. Mind you, things may or may not be settling down a bit on this front, somewhere in the background the John Cleese like “Ministry of Silly Pub Names” is still furtively operating. In the past year the “Horse and Jockey” on the Spurgeon's Bridge roundabout, originally the Bridge Hotel, has had its name changed again to the “Goose and Carrot”, which must now be a candidate for the distinction of the silliest pub name in Croydon! Name changes of pubs are, of course, not always inappropriate and as meaningless as those mentioned above. In the centre of Broad Green there are, or were, three pubs within a 100 yards of each other – “The Rising Sun”, “The Half Moon” and “The Star”, to which I have always referred to as “the heavenly constellation” and have wondered whether the correspondence between their names was a coincidence.

The first two as far as I know have been doing well but “The Star” recently went through a shaky period when it changed hands and opened and closed. Now it is hopefully on its feet again, completely refurbished and boldly and invitingly named “The Broad Green Tavern” which is a fitting name for the most central of these three pubs in this busy, bustling, cosmopolitan area of Croydon.

And for the local history sentimentalist the original name “The Star Hotel” remains embedded in the brickwork, high up on its southern flank wall.

Hugh Byford

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Our Millennium Project

Cicely Mary Barker -

Walled Garden at Park Hill Park June 28 2000

On Cicely Mary Barker’s birth date the day dawned sombre, grey but warm as we arrived about 10.am and scurried towards the walled garden. Here we have obtained a plot in which to produce the garden. It had been partly planted out and the proposed commemorative panel was produced in temporary form until the logos of Warne (the publishers) the Council and the Society are entered onto the final design. It will then have a proper frame and be firmly fixed into the soil and replanting of bulbs and seeds of Victorian flowers, which were painted by Cicely, will bring the plot to life.

A quick consultation with the Croydon Writers Circle about where we were going to hold their readings followed. The shelter had been newly painted and as the sky still looked changeable it was decided to use it.

We went to the walled garden and checked that the temporary panel had been put in place – it was, and Kath Clayton acted as look out for the Mayor – Mary Walker to indicate where we were. On time members trickled into the Park and up the hill and them Mary arrived and we both spoke about Cicely Mary Barker and how we did not think she was given the publicity she deserved in Croydon. People attending recalled going abroad and seeing her books displayed everywhere but there is very little evidence of her presence here where she lived for most of her life. She has left us a legacy of religious and other paintings besides the flower fairies and did some wonderful biblical paintings of ordinary people in passages from the bible.

When the speeches were over the photographers from the Croydon Guardian and Croydon Advertiser drew one of the men who had been painted as a child of 5 and also one of the members of the Croydon Writers Circle and photographed them in the garden.

The group moved around to the shelter where we were entertained in a wonderful way with recitation of poems, which accompany the flower fairy paintings, and also some of their own ideas. One person portrayed Cicely Mary Barker very humbly. All too soon it was finished and they were regaled with a round of applause. Fifty-one people came to this little ceremony and paid homage to a great unassuming lady. It is hoped that we can form a little group to help plant bulbs in the autumn and also seeds and plants and keep the plot weed free. If you would like to help please let May Johnson know. After a cup of tea and a slice of apple pie we departed on our ways. The café is open from 11 am to 6 pm during the summer, every day and Mrs Black makes a nice cup and also sells ice cream, bread pudding and sandwiches.

We may not get enough money from the Croydon Heritage Fund to cover the whole cost of the interpretation board for Cicely Mary Barker and we have £100 in our plaques fund so we shall be offering that but we will be looking for offerings on the day, and donations through the post would be welcome.

May Johnson

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The World of Croydon

www.Croydon.org.uk/summerfestival is all about Croydon's summer festival which is great this year and includes the Green Fair & Mela at Lloyd Park and Xarxa on Purley Way Playing fields.

Pioneering Ethical Website Relaunched - Ethical Exchange, the first ethical information gateway on the internet in the UK, has significantly redesigned and revised its trail-blazing website.

Originally launched early last year, the reaction to the ethical informat on website concept has been extremely positive. Building on initial ideas with
the support of subscribers dedicated to ethical business, Ethical Exchange has been expanded and improved.

The site is all about ethical business. It features a directory of ethical organisations who subscribe to the site, with hyperlinks directly to their
own websites, a regularly updated news page of ethical issues, and an e-mail exchange service, EEnet, for the easy exchange of information and ideas
about ethical issues.

Ethical Exchange is managed as a co-operative according to ethical principles of equal rights, positive social impact, concern for the
environment, mutuality and democracy. The site is independent and funded by subscription only. Co-operative ISP, Poptel, the leading ISP for
socially-responsible organisations, has generously donated the hosting of the site.

"The new site builds upon the format we originally developed but the design has been significantly improved and we have added some exciting additional
features," says Tim Gausden, a member of the Ethical Exchange co-operative.

"We are committed to providing a one-stop information site for all those interested in ethical business - whether they are consumers, businesses or
journalists," adds Tim. "The site will continue to evolve to meet the needs of all of these groups."

What makes Ethical Exchange unique is that all the subscribers have an equal say in the future direction of the site. "This is an opportunity for ethical
businesses to mould a website which effectively meets their communications needs," says Tim. "By bringing ethical businesses together we aim to help
promote the rationale behind trading ethically and to promote this alternative, but fast-growing, way of doing business to as many people as
possible."

The Co-operative Bank and Leeds Co-operative Society are already subscribers to this exciting project and Tim Gausden calls on other Co-ops to consider
supporting Ethical Exchange too. For further information contact info@ethicalexchange.co.uk

The website can be accessed at www.ethicalexchange.co.uk

Just to double check - are you doing your bit? Check out the national doing your bit web site: www.doingyourbit.org.uk

http://www.era-ewv-ferp.org/Europe.htm Homepage to the European ramblers Association – a host of walks all over the place from walking the mountains of Crete to the hillsides of Britain, you will find a walk to interest you!

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Transport Group News

Tramlink

At last, it is open. But East Croydon Bus Station was not ready for the opening date and no progress has been made on improving interchange between national railways and trams at West Croydon by opening another entrance on the Station Road side of the station. The Railway Inspectorate is required to confirm that each Tramlink route is safe before it is opened, but there is no equivalent body checking that road layouts and construction are safe. With Tramlink, the serious safety questions are more to do with road safety than rail safety. Has psychology been applied to the safety issues?

We question the wisdom of the flat crossing of Gravel Hill. Should rumble strips have been provided to slow traffic down? How are people from New Addington going to get into Croydon should there be a serious accident on that level crossing that causes the road to be closed and the tram service to be suspended?

We question the layout of East Croydon Bus Station. Isn't the pedestrian going to be encouraged to run across the bus stands when he sees his bus loading in the southernmost stand? Is it good practice to route taxis across the front of the bus stands? Would it be better to dispense with the third tram track and have eastbound buses stopping on the bridge?

At the George Street roundabout, there are pedestrian signals to cross Wellesley Road but the pedestrian crossing Park Lane has to guess traffic light aspects. There is no pavement across the bus bridge yet the bus bridge is on the natural walking route between East Croydon station and bus stops for buses from the Purley direction which do not serve East Croydon.

It is eminently sensible to give priority to trams at traffic lights. However, by causing the traffic lights to always follow the same sequence from the tram green phase, it is possible that the road that would normally have a green phase before the tram can see other roads having a number of green phases while this road has a continuous red. In these circumstances, vehicles are liable to go through a red light because the traffic signals appear to have failed. Isn't this dangerous?

Tramlink is now fully open and it is clear that traffic congestion in the Borough has not been ameliorated. It will become clear that trams (or, should we say, supertrams) are not a solution to congestion. Ordinary people do get the impression that planners and developers live in a fantasy world - they are quite prepared to advocate building more shops, more offices and even an arena yet do not appear to expect that the travel needed to make those developments profitable will aggravate the endemic traffic congestion ordinary people experience.

The Mayor's Manifesto

All the candidates for Mayor of London mentioned transport in their manifestos. Now that the election is over, we only need to consider Ken Livingstone's five transport pages.

He has promised to draw up a strategy “to modernise and integrate all of the elements of London's transport network - tube, roads, railways, buses, taxis and waterways”. He acknowledges that we suffer from gridlock on the roads, overcrowding on the tube and rail networks and inefficient bus services. He also promises to freeze bus and tube fares in real terms, to investigate the feasibility of extending the 70p bus flat fare throughout London, to demand significant improvements in performance from National Railway train operating companies, to introduce new fast high quality bus routes on well-policed bus lanes between outer and inner London, to consult widely about introducing congestion charging in a small zone of Central London, to continue to allow taxis to use bus lanes, to support proposals to pedestrianise parts of Trafalgar and Parliament Squares, to improve the planning of road works and many other things.

He admits that one of the lessons he learnt from his days as leader of the Greater London Council was that it was much easier to increase the use of public transport than to reduce use of the private car. 'Fares fair' would have been much more difficult to challenge had it caused a substantial reduction in traffic congestion. In practice, while there was a small reduction in traffic congestion, there was a substantial increase in the use of the public transport system of which only a very small proportion was diverted from the private car. Reducing fares on public transport failed to cause a substantial reduction in traffic congestion then because the motorist frequently found when he was able to avoid parking charges that the difference in cost between using his car and leaving it in the garage (or, more likely, the street) was frequently less than he needed to spend in fares. This situation still applies. Moreover, public transport fare levels in the Home Counties are substantially higher than those in London so action on fare levels within London is hardly likely to persuade anybody traveling across the Greater London boundary to leave a car at home and travel by public transport.

He considers the root cause of London's transport chaos is central government's chronic under investment in the transport system. He considers that central government has starved London of transport investment. Central government is unlikely to accept this argument. There has, however, long been a failure to distinguish between new investment to increase the size of the transport system and money to maintain the existing transport system. Expenditure has been directed into new investment while maintenance expenditure has been severely restricted both for roads and public transport. Moreover, cost-benefit analysis has been used to decide how to make new investment. As the principal element of benefits in cost-benefit analyses is time savings by business travellers, new investment has not been required to make a commercial return on capital but has tended to go into transport schemes where travel is fast and motorised. Moreover it has tended to cause pedestrians and users of public transport to be treated as second class citizens. This has meant that new investment has been concentrated on new road construction and has stimulated travel. It has been self-defeating because of the low marginal cost of private car travel. At the same time, substantial maintenance expenditure has gone into the National Railway network to keep the cost of commuter travel down to politically acceptable levels, which has also stimulated travel. Unfortunately, the maintenance expenditure going into public transport has not been enough for operators to recruit adequate staff levels with the result that services are unreliable while the maintenance expenditure going into roads has caused repairs to be done as cheaply as possible with the result that road works cause more traffic chaos than is strictly necessary.

We have to conclude that even Mayor Livingstone's transport manifesto is totally inadequate to make our transport system work. We have to acknowledge that pouring more money into new roads, new railways and reducing fare levels will generate travel particularly when we acknowledge that current demand is heavily suppressed by overcrowding and endemic traffic congestion. Persuading people to walk to work, walk to the shops and walk to the golf club is getting more and more difficult as the distances from home to work, home to the shops and home to the golf club increase. Diverting travel from motorised transport to walking has to be environmentally sound and will reduce traffic congestion if we can make it happen. It is almost impossible to subsidise walking to encourage people to travel on foot. Doesn't that mean we need to introduce road pricing to persuade people to walk rather than travel by car in order to make our transport system work?

Chloride

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The Crystal Palace Campaign

The fact that I, as link between the above and our Society, have not reported for some time does not mean that this great Campaign to thwart the London Borough of Bromley's plan for a 12-acre commercial development at the top of the Park has been flagging. It has continued cleverly and effectively to build up opposition to the plan, and the fact that no start has yet been made on the development though the plans were finally approved some time ago is probably significant.

The recent London Mayoral and Greater London Authority elections created a great opportunity and the Campaign organised a highly successful pre-election mass meeting at which all the leading Mayoral candidates spoke and pledged support for the Campaign's objectives. This was capped after the election when Darren Johnson of the Green Party, the new Mayor's first inner cabinet appointment, as environment spokesman stated in a forthright manner on BBC TV that his first priority would be to attempt to stop the Bromley plan for the Crystal Palace Park. Though the Mayor has no direct powers to do this one feels that his great influence will probably be decisive in the matter. Certainly Lorna English, the Campaign's Information Officer, was in a very optimistic mood when I spoke to her.

In this connection a parallel development has been the formation of the Crystal Palace Consortium by John Payne, the former Press Officer of the Campaign. This consists of a group of experts in planning, architecture etc and is separate from the campaign. It is implacably against Bromley's plan and for the enhancement of the Park as an open space, but proposes some commercial development in the Sports Centre area, much of it underground, to be included in the rebuilding of a Modern National Sports Centre. This obviously looks toward the day when hopefully Bromley's original plan will be abandoned and proper public consultation will decide the future of the Park. I have been sent a copy of the Consortium's policy statement and will supply further information to anyone interested - or you can contact John Payne direct on (020) 8670 4395.

Hugh Byford

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Words from the Editor

Busy Busy Busy – time flies by as I am currently putting together the 25^th Anniversary edition of Focus with many interesting articles from a wide variety of contributors. The special edition will be published later on this summer so I hope that you will find it an interesting souvenir of the work of the Society in the last 25 years – here to the next 25 years!

Please remember that I welcome articles on Croydon and Croydon’s future. If you have a view, a concern, an issue you want to raise or a vision for what Croydon should be – put pen to paper and send it to me – let others share your view point!

Timothy Godfrey

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What’s On

Saturday 15^th July; - Bookstall – 10.30am – 6pm – Green Fair & International Music Day at Lloyd Park.

Sunday 16^th July; - Green Fair & Mela at Lloyd Park – all welcome.

Wednesday 19 July; - Walk – Around the changing centre of Croydon. Meet at 7pm at the Clock Tower, Katharine Street. Finish 8.30pm.

Weekend 9/10 September; - Croydon Festival of Walking – Join the Croydon Society’s team for a Challenge Walk of 15KM (9 miles). Details within or from Geoffrey Myers (020) 8655 3158

Tuesday 19 September; - talk by Councillor Andrew Pelling - London Assembly Member for Croydon & Sutton – ‘the new Assembly and Mayor’

Wednesday 20 September; - Outing – Visit to the New Barn Elms WWT site. Meet at Hammersmith Tube stations at 11am or at East Croydon Station at 9.30am. Bring a packed lunch. £4.25 Senior Citizen. £5.25 Adult. £3.25 Child. Names to May Johnson please. Bring R.S.P.B. membership cards.

Tuesday 17 October; 1.30pm - Outing - Emmetts Garden – walk round with Gardener. Would you come with your car and offer seats to others. Pub lunch. Names to May Johnson.

Tuesday 17 October; - talk by Paul Calvocoressi: “The work of English Heritage”

Saturday 21 October; - Apple Day at South Norwood Country Park. 12 – 4pm. Bring apple food for lunch table. Apple games – Willow weaving – crafts. Bus routes: 197, 312, train or tram.

Tuesday 21 November; - talk by Mr Frank Edwards CBE of Woldingham: “The Woodland Trust”

All Croydon Society meetings and talks are held in the Small Hall of the East Croydon United Reformed Church, Addiscombe Grove, commencing at 7.45.

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