A History of the British Seaside - join local historian David Clark for another of his popular illustrated history talks
Book in advance 0203 700 1011 - admission free

Litter does not pick itself up.  Ideally it would not be dropped in the first place, but we do not live in a perfect world.

PHRA holds regular litter picks, mainly concentrating on the hilltop area but where possible extending down the hill. The next one, with the support of Croydon’s borough environmental team, will be on Sunday June 30th. We want to make it a big one and we will meet on the hilltop near the top gate from 9.30 am. Litter picking tools will be provided (if you have your own thick gloves that would be useful), refreshments will be on offer, and the company will be friendly. Please come and join us, even if you can only spare half and hour

All are welcome - stalls include books/cds/DVDs, cakes, tombola, grand raffle, toys, plants, jewellery Indian food to eat in or take away.
Entry 50 p (children under 12 free)

PHRA member Dr Fred Starr tells how his interest in technology was sparked by the Ruper Bear annuals of his youth.

Admission costs £2 inc refreshments

All Pollards Hill Residents should make an effort to get to Norbury Library between 11 and 3 on Saturday May 11th

The library will soon be undergoing a major refurbishment, and this will be an opportunity to

• review the proposed design,

• have a say about it,

• meet your local Pollards Hill Councillors, Shafi and Leila,  

• support the library which we are very lucky to have so close.

Norbury Library is on the corner of Beatrice Avenue and London Road
Free refreshments will be provided

Draft Minutes of the AGM of the Pollards Hill Residents Association

Held on the 4th April 2019

Present: (outgoing Chair & Committee): Conrad Thomas, Mike Netherwood, Brenda English, Richard Mills, John Bartholomew, Enid Molyneux& Mervat Attar

Apologies: Geoff Winkworth

The meeting took place within St Philips Church as our usual venue was in use. Our thanks to Rev. Younis for his help with this alternative location. Unfortunately the acoustics here were not ideal and some speakers were not fully audible. Our apologies for this.

Residents were invited to renew their membership on their arrival & issued with their new cards.

40+ residents were in attendance & were warmly welcomed by our outgoing Chair, Conrad Thomas. He in turn welcomed our guest speakers Ken Hume (James Alexander), 2 members of the Croydon Safer Neighbourhood Team (Emmanuelle & Linda) Sean Creighton (Love Norbury) and Rev. Younis of St Philips. Unfortunately James Martin of Pretty Little Things (our membership card sponsor) was unable to attend.

Minutes: the minutes of our 2018 AGM (Provided) were agreed & seconded with dissenters.

Conrad thanked his Committee for their work during the past year & noted that it had been a productive year with some wins & some disappointments.

He highlighted the 30th birthday event on the “Triangle” which was blessed with good weather & many attendees.

We had one successful litter clearance highlighted

 He thanked John Bartholomew for our regular Newsletter production which he composed, edited & printed. He thanked our sponsors who supported the printing by paying for advertising and Rev Younis of St Philips who provided printing facilities & ink.

 He also thanked Gerry Parnell for his diligent accounting over many years with PHRA- his assistance on many levels will be sorely missed by all.

Financial Report: A copy of our last year’s audited accounts was provided to each resident giving a comprehensive breakdown of our income & expenditure. Explanation of some points arising were answered by our retiring Treasurer Gerry Parnall. He thanked Richard Mills for his taking over as temporary Treasure since his retirement and for providing an audit of accounts in the absence of our usual auditor Mr.Moorsvi. The accounts were endorsed from the floor & seconded by Brenda English.

Election of officers: Mike Netherwood, the outgoing Secretary, invited the present Chair & Committee to stand down and an invitation was given to residents present to volunteer for any of the vacant positions. We had one volunteer to join our committee. In anticipation of this occurrence Chair & Committee had agreed to serve another term if there were no objections from residents. They were nominated & seconded by those present and remain as follows:

Chair: Conrad Thomas

Secretary: Mike Netherwood

Membership Secretary: John Bartholomew

Treasurer: Subject to further details being provide to her Donna Reynolds expressed an interest in this post

Committee: Richard Mills, Brenda English, John Bartholomew Geoff Winkworth, Enid Molyneux, Mervat Attar

The “Business” over there followed a short interval for refreshment & conversation before Conrad introduced Ken Hume of James Alexander Estate Agents, a long standing supporter & sponsor of PHRA. He provided a resume of our local property market including new developments regarding the status of tenants/landlords in properties of multiple occupations. He said he expected more property movement after Brexit was finalised. He fielded some questions from the floor before Chair thanked him for his input & continued support.

Chair then introduced two members of the Council’s Safer Neighbourhood team, Emanuel & Linda, who outlined their areas of responsibility. They were happy to take questions from residents & give advice on issues such as illegal parking, missing bollards, fly tipping, rubbish collection etc. They urged everyone to download the “Don’t mess with Croydon” app to their phones which would enable a speedy response from the Council.

Dr Starr said that PHRA should be spearheading such reports to the Council (a task we already regularly undertake but cannot cover every instance without residents input).

A resident of PHNorth reported that there seemed to be no road sweeper covering their area, in fact the whole of our area was insufficiently covered. It was suggested from the floor (Dr Starr) that the Council could use people doing Community Service who might be utilised to carry out such tasks-John Bartholomew said that we already had local people in place working towards their Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme doing regular litter clearance in their area.

The problem of vehicular obstruction was also raised. The Officers said they were able to serve notice but could not remove such vehicles as Croydon no longer had any tow trucks.

A resident of flats in London Road reported that their bins had been constantly missed –the officers promised to give this their urgent attention.

Sean Creighton of “Love Norbury” made residents aware of the problems that Norbury Co-Op were having with the planning application regarding their store development and urged us all to sign his petition or risk losing the Co-Op in Norbury altogether. He pointed out that most opposition to planning were overruled by the Planning Committee & always seemed to be in the interest of developers not local residents with any right of appeal. He added that “Love Norbury” would appreciate more input from PHRA on their planning Committee.

Richard Mills on behalf of PHRA thanked Sean for his involvement in local issues & then gave a brief resume of ongoing planning applications in our area:

2 PHNorth-side extension APPROVED

17 PHEast-Home office/Guest House refused then APPROVED

97 PHSouth-ongoing (Demolition of property, replaced by house with 4 flats + houses at the rear)

37 Beatrice Avenue-conversion of family house to flats APPROVED despite our letter of objection to Council leader& Steve Reed –no reply since February.

Dr Starr & Andrew Jacobs urged the PHRA to reinforce their letter & urgently press for a reply. They also suggested Brenda’s prepared letter highlighting all the bad points of the PHNorth /Beech Road care home application be submitted urgently.

Richard also paid tribute to the local works done by our late Councillor Maggie Mansell & hoped that our new Councillor would be as tireless on our behalf.

He pointed out that the Council would collect large items (White goods etc) for FREE 3 times a year.

He said that our suggestions regarding speeding on our roads had been “noted” but ignored...Our request for extensions to double yellow lines on the local dangerous corners were not feasible-there was a waiting list of 200 + such applications apparently.

Crime/suspected crime reported on our Squarespace site were uploaded to our website as soon as possible to make residents aware

Richard & Geoff recently attended a police forum on knife crime.

Chair thanked Richard for his succinct outline of these matters.

Our meeting was ended at 21.30 with thanks from Chair for all those participating.

JOIN US FOR OUR REGULAR LITTER PICK ON THE HILLTOP.

Come at about 9.30. Bring gardening gloves and solid footwear. Litter picking tools and bags will be provided, and there will be refreshments as well.

It is a good social occasion - a good job done, and lots of interaction with neighbours.

Many hands make light work.

Provisional date for our social event on the green triangle - Food to share, music, meet your neighbours

The tidy up was postponed due to snow.

It will now take place on Sunday May 20th.   Meet at the hilltop gate at 9.30 am.  All ages welcome, and litter picking apparatus is provided.

     PHRA Ramblers Walk 13th May 2018

                        We will meet at the entrance of the Nonsuch Park car park

                    Ewell Road, Cheam entrance at 2.00 p.m.

NOTE NEW TIME

Summary:- We will view the assumed site of Millais' painting of 'Orphelia', the spring renowned for Epsom Salts, which happens to be the source of the River Hogsmill, St Mary's Church New and old, The Banqueting House, the site of Nonsuch Palace and back to the Mansion House for Tea and Cake.

Car Park access is right at the sharp bend to the left on Ewell Road where the memorial is situated.

The walk commences with continuing along the entrance road, officially The Avenue, but known by local children, for obvious reasons, as Conker alley. Shortly after passing the wooded area on our right, we will veer right along  a track heading towards Dianas Dyke and the London Road South car park and exit. Turning left onto the A24 we continue along London Road to cross the A240, Ewell Bypass, down into Ewell. At Mill Road on our right we take this short road to cross the old Kingston Road to the Mill and view the River Hogsmill. We return back to the London Road to the Spring Hotel crossing over at the traffic lights to enter St Mary's churchyard. Following the path onto Church Street, turn left and follow Vicarage lane footpath, which is accessed at the bend of Church Street. At the end of Vicarage Lane cross the Ewell Bypass and access the footpath to the left of the raised area. Go up the steps sited on the right, to the site of the Banqueting House. At the right hand side of the back of the B.H. take the path straight ahead which will lead back to Avenue Road in Nonsuch Park. View the site of Nonsuch Palace and then head back to the Mansion House visible in the distance for well earned refreshments.

Sunday May 7th is dawn chorus day.  PHRA will meet at 5.30 am on the hilltop to enjoy this event  on International Dawn Chorus Day.

Provisional date for Annual General Meeting to take place in St Philip's Church Hall, Beech Road

An invitation to learn about the plans for this group

Meet and greet over coffee at the Cue Bar.  News of PHRA plans for the coming year.

Local Historian David Clark
will be giving an illustrated talk on
‘A History of
Bathing Machines and
Seaside Piers’

Saturday January 27th at 2.30 pm

At Norbury Library - Corner of London Road and Beatrice Avenue

Please book in advance with the library
on 020 3711 1011 as seating is limited.

St Philip's Church, Beech Road.  Doors open 6pm
Not suitable for young children

The Love Norbury Christmas Fair is on Sunday from 12 t0 4 at  Norbury Manor Primary School, Abingdon Road

We are holding our summer event indoors this year - we have been rained off twice!

What do you eat at home for lunch or tea?

Can you prepare a dish and bring it along to share?  We are looking forward to sampling the rich ranger of cuisines found in our neighbourhood.  Sweet and savoury items all welcome.

We are planning the details of the event right now and pooling ideas.  As well as food and drink, we are hoping to include entertainments of various kinds,  stalls where you can demonstrate and display your crafts, a book exchange.  Any suggestions?

Do you know an entertainer or musician who is starting to make their way?  We can provide them with a venue or audience - we are looking for the talent of Pollards Hill - old and young!

PLEASE = put the date in your diary and invite the grandchildren.  Satursday afternoon - July 15th

Drop-in Surgery

with your local Police

Have your property marked

and learn how to protect it.

Your chance to raise issues of concern

and get advice about crime prevention.

Friday, March 3rd 10am – 12noon

Norbury Library, Beatrice Avenue SW16 4UW

croydon.norburylibrary@carillionservices.co.uk            020 3700 1011