The Picnic on the green was a lot of fun

On Sunday September 22nd, we enjoyed our family fun day, the picnic on the green.

After several days of brilliant September weather, rain was forecast for our big day, but in the event it held off, and although mainly cloudy, the temperature was warm and pleasant. This year we invited Love Norbury and the other residents’ associations to participate with us, and the result of this was a well attended afternoon with lots going on. PHRA thanks the other associations for their co-operation, and all those who helped with the organisation, or who brought food..

A new feature this year was the cake competition, and after sitting on display for a hour or so, the five cakes were cut up and enjoyed by all. There was also a large table of free food and drink contributed by our members, the dog show organised by Pets as Therapy, an active Session with Salsa Unlimited, a Tai Chi demonstration, a face painter, various stalls, and an excellent band for live entertainment, The Snows. The event was compered in his usual cheerful style by Conrad our chair.

We hope to do something similar next year and hope to see you there.

Kniting Norbury Together - dates and places

Hi All

KNITTING NORBURY TOGETHER – September – November 2019

This is a lively group which meets to knit, crochet and natter.  We mostly knit to add fun an interest to local events.  In the last year, we have made poppies and decorated the war memorial almost opposite the fire station; decorated the Love Norbury Christmas fair as well as having a stall; and taken part in a knitathon to provide twiddlemuffs for people with dementia.  It doesn’t cost anything; most of the wool, needles and patterns are provided. We share skills and are pleased to teach knitting and crochet. Members come when ever they can and contribute what they can.  Why not come along and join us for a cuppa, a natter and maybe a bit of knitting.  Sessions usually last about an hour. 

 HARLOW HALL (Fridays at 10.30am)

6 September

20 September

4 October

18 October

1 November

15 November

29 November

POP IN CAFE (Saturdays at Noon)

14 September

28 September

12 October

26 October

9 November

23 November

Dec to be decided

AGM draft minutes

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.

Our AGM was well attended

The draft minutes of the AGM appear on the news page of this site.Approximately 45 members attended the AGM on April 4th.

A number of local issues were raised, and we enjoyed contributions from Ken Hume (James Alexander Estate Agents) and Emanuel and Linda, members of the council’s Safer Neighbourhood team.

The committee was re-elected, but we have a vacancy for the important role of treasurer, and would like to hear from anyone who would be willing to undertake this.

Sudden death of our local Councillor

It is with great sadness that we report the death, after a short illness, of Councillor Maggie Mansell, who has represented our ward for many years, and worked closely with PHRA.

A tribute to Maggie will appear on here and in our forthcoming newsletter, but in the meantime we know that all our members will join us in sending our
sympathies to Maggie's friends and family.

To commemorate Maggie's passing a Book of Condolence has been opened in her memory.  It will be open for contributions from Monday to Friday 10.00am - 4.30pm until around January 24th at Steve Reed's Office 908 London Road Thornton Heath CR7 7PE (109 bus stops outside).  It will also be open this Saturday 12 January, at Norbury Library between 10.00am & 4.30pm. 
PHRA - Pollards Hill Residents' Association

THE POLLARDS HILL TREASURE TRAIL

The PHRA 30th birthday Treasure Trail

The winning group - James and his granddad Colin Dalrymple of Pollards Hill South won a £50 IKEA token. They were one of three teams who scored twenty and a half points out of a possible 21, and the winners were decided by drawing names from a hat. The other teams in the hat were the Winkworths of PHE, and the Mills’s from PHN.

The treasure trail instructions are remaining below, so if you didn’t do it during the prize period but would like to do it for fun, just print it off. It is still fun to do, and makes an enjoyable and informative walk round our neighbourhood. Answer sheets available from John at bartholomew.john@btinternet.com

The trail starts and finishes on the triangular green where Pollards Hill West and South meet.  It will take approximately one hour to complete.  You have 21 questions to answer.  The route will include the hilltop, Pollards Hill North and South, Briar Road, Beech Road, Beatrice Avenue, and London Road.

Print off the question sheet below now

The PHRA 30th Birthday Treasure Trail

Summer 2018

OBJECTIVES OF THE TREASURE TRAIL

•              Follow the treasure trail and solve the clues

•              Hand in your trail log by the end of August

•              Even if you don’t win - enjoy walking around our neighbourhood and admiring the architecture and views

Any queries to bartholomew.john@btinternet.com

START ON THE GREEN – JUNCTION OF POLLARDS HILL SOUTH AND WEST

Two things are prohibited on the green – what are they?

1………………………………………………………………….   2………………………………………………………………..

FROM THE SOUTH CORNER OF THE GREEN, HEAD UP POLLARDS HILL SOUTH

(INFO:  The houses on your right (numbers 28 – 46 and round the corner behind you) are designated as a local area of special character (LASC).  They form a unique example of Arts and Crafts terraces formed into larger buildings with distinctive features such as wide overhanging eaves.  They are an example of an innovative approach to defining street frontages by a sequence of courtyards)

3.  Name the side road that sounds like sunrise on a mountain top    …………………………………………………………………

NOW TAKE A FOOTPATH TO A ROAD THAT SOUNDS LIKE A ROSE BUSH

4.   How many white tipped posts surround the triangle green?    ……………….

5.   There is a pair of trees level with numbers 58 and 15.  What sort of tree are they  …………………………

6.   At the top of the road there are some steps.  How many steps?    ………………..

AT THE TOP OF THE STEPS TURN RIGHT

7.   What is the name of the house with two lions on the gateposts?   ………………………………………………..

ENTER THE PARK AT THE GATES ON THE CORNER AND APPROACH THE DRINKING FOUNTAIN

(INFO  The drinking fountain was erected in July 1913 by local citizens to celebrate the donation of the park for public use.  It was refurbished in 1994 but is no longer in use) 

8.   Who presented the Pollards Hill Open Space to the Borough of Croydon in 1913?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

HEAD FOR THE HILLTOP AND GO THROUGH THE GATE AT THE TOP. 

(INFO  – many of the trees on this hillside were planted by PHRA in 2014) 

Stand at the northwest end of the yellow barrier.     To the right of the lamppost ahead of you there is a large white building on the horizon.  What is it?  

9.   ……………………………………………………………………………………………

RETURN TO THE VIEWING PLAQUE ON THE HILLTOP (ERECTED BY PHRA)

10.   How far away  are the IKEA chimneys?   …………………………………….

11.   What seaside landmark is directly south?   ………………………………………………………….

12.   What London Landmark is directly north?  …………………………………………………………………….

WALK DOWN THE ROAD (POLLARDS HILL NORTH)

13.   What two numbers are on the lamppost where Pollards Hill North meets Pollards Hill West?   ………………

OPPOSITE THE HOUSE WITH THE ROUND WINDOW, THERE IS A ROAD WHICH SOUNDS LIKE A SANDY PLACE BUT IS MOST LIKELY A TREE.  TURN LEFT.

When were the church gates erected, and what do they commemorate?  

14. …………………………(date)   15.   …………………………………………………………………………………………………(event)

CROSS THE ROAD AND ENTER BEATRICE AVENUE

(INFO:  Beatrice Avenue has also been designated a LASC.  It has a range of well-preserved late Victorian early Edwardian suburban houses, with many original and individually designed Arts and Crafts inspired features. Built in a single phase by 1910, the grouping demonstrates consistent local character, with a cohesive quality and historical architectural significance)

16.   Beatrice Avenue has a row of houses with very distinctive balconies (look on your left).  How many of these balconies are there?     …………………………………….

17.   When was Norbury Library built?   …………………………………………………………

TURN RIGHT INTO LONDON ROAD

See if you can find a distinctive white plaque shaped like a shield on the gable end of a house you are passing

18.   How many windows on this wall of the house?   …………………….

AS YOU WALK DOWN LONDON ROAD

19.   Where can music lovers get their teeth done?   …………………………………………………………………………

20.   What do these words have in common:  Skye, Eagles, Max, London  ………………………………………………………………..

TURN RIGHT INTO POLLARDS HILL SOUTH

21.   What was the name of the monarch when the letter box was installed at the bottom of PHS?    .................................

RETURN TO THE GREEN WHERE YOU STARTED.  You have completed the treasure trail.

Make sure you have answered all the questions and fill in your details below

Name of group…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Contact address/email

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

PHRA membership card number  (Non members should pay a £5 entrance fee)  …………………………

Hand in your form and fee at 5 Tall Trees no later than August 31st 2018.  (Tall Trees is a small road between 75 and 81 PHS, opposite your starting point).

If no reply, put it through the letter box.

All correct answers will go into a draw at the 30th birthday picnic on September 16th.  The winners will receive an IKEA token to the value of £50.

New Data Protection Regulations

PHRA  has updated its privacy policy, in line with the new regulations =regarding data protection..

The only data we hold on members is as follows:

• ·         Address
• ·         Name(s) of householder(s)
• ·         Telephone number
• ·         Email address
• ·         Membership card number (varies annually)

We do not hold any sensitive personal information or any financial details about members

Our email list is valuable to us as the main method of communication between newsletters.  However, you can unsubscribe from it at any time if you do not wish to receive our emails.

You can read the complete policy (currently still in draft awaiting ratification) on the membership page of this website

20 MPH speed limit now operational in our area.

The new speed limit

The new 20mph zone has come into force on the hill, and all the roads between London Road and Northborough Road are now subject to this restriction.  Readers may not know the convention that where there are lampposts, the speed limit is always 30, unless there are reminder signs – like this one - of a different speed repeated on some lampposts

PHRA welcomes the change, and we imagine that most residents feel the same – that twenty is indeed plenty.

By and large,  driving standards on the hill are very good.  It can be quite difficult passing on some of the narrow sections, but there is a high level of courtesy and give and take.  Of course, there is the occasional thoughtless driver, and one or two who are positively reckless, and it will be good if they are deterred.

As we know, limited police resources means that there is unlikely to be a high level of enforcement of the new speed limit, and it is encumbant on all of us to self-enforce, making sure that we, at least, are keeping to the limit.  I hope that one day soon there will be a spot check, some prosecutions, and that as a result, the word gets around.

LOVE NORBURY WINS CIVIC AWARD

Love Norbury is the umbrella organisation for the Norbury residents' associations.

Love Norbury has won Croydon's civic award as 'Voluntary Group of the Year'

• The citation is as follows

  Love Norbury was created by local residents’ associations to promote and regenerate Norbury. Community spirit goes from strength to strength in this part of Croydon because this group puts local people at the heart of everything they do. They deliver a range of events and initiatives, including the ‘Shop Local’discount scheme, which encourages residents to shop locally. It’s also raised over £20,000 for local projects.