Over 15 More Years of Town Centre Disaster

The shock news that Westfield will not have its new redevelopment plans ready until 2025 and that the scheme may not be completed for 15 years means that the Town Centre will continue to be run down for years. Details can be seen in Evening Standard 23 October and Inside Croydon 18 and 20 October.

The Croydon Trade Union Council pointed out the risks involved in relying on property development as a motor for regeneration in its commentary What Kind of Economy Do We Need in Croydon? in August 2014. (https://seancreighton1947.wordpress.com/2014/10/06/croydons-growth-plan-ctuc-working-party-assessment/)

There has been a long history of this naïve reliance as discussed in the review Let’s Go to Croydon by Jonathan Mades in the London Review of Books in April of John Grindrod’s book iconicon: a journey around the landmark buildings of contemporary britain published in March.

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n08/jonathan-meades/let-s-go-to-croydon

The last a paragraph reads:

‘Croydon possesses one of London’s more abject properties: its centre is a near permanent building site. Building is a glutton for energy. The proposition that there is an option not to build is as incomprehensible to the Croydon mind as it is hostile to the developer mind. Doing nothing smacks of negligence, idleness and an absence of the showy dynamism de rigueur in a place so hip and apparently ‘edgy’ that the National Trust has, late in the day, organised tours called Edge City: bring your own knives. Its appeal is part of the recurrent cycle of the centripetal giving way to the lure of the burbs. Save that, in this instance, it’s not the lure that accounts for an invasion of beards and craft beer but the unaffordability of housing in East London. Let’s go to Croydon! For want of anywhere else. This is by no means the first wave of migration to cause Croydon to be treated as a laboratory. The splendid Will Alsop was, according to Grindrod, ‘the king of back-of-an-envelope architecture’, which is wrongheaded. Prone to exaggeration, Alsop called Croydon ‘the English version of Manhattan’. His brief in the 1990s was to turn it into a city to match Westminster and the Square Mile. For the council’s executive director that naturally meant cranes. It did not, apparently, matter what was built so long as the skyline was crosshatched with cranes – just like the cities that Alsop sought to emulate. A subsequent ‘placemaking team’ attempted the same. It was bound to fail given that such teams are committees composed of blinkered members of ‘the community’. They are not the way to devise successors to Bournville and Bata. There was also the problem of the snobbery excited by Croydon. Its own councillors despise it, welcome the likelihood of its demolition because the next version is sure to be better: Croydon is a ‘brand’ forever susceptible to rebrands and rebrands. It is perfectible until it is decided that it is not. Developers are happy to dismiss it: ‘We don’t use our best teams for Croydon … you get our C team or D team.’ That, from on high, is another authentic, unashamed voice of the market. A shrug that confirms the worthlessness of the little people who get what they deserve, if they’re lucky. The message of the buildings is simple: this is your cage – now know your place.’

The Croydon Comeback – 3 Years On

Back in April 2021 Bare PR published its report The Croydon Comeback based on talking to the Council, Boxpark, Hammerson,  several local cultural organisations, and a small number of individuals about the future post pandemic. The themes it highlighted were:

• Change must be driven by the people.
• Inclusion that encompasses ‘hidden’ audiences.
• Not a cookie cutter town centre.
• Connectivity between Croydon’s spaces.
• Creativity is the language of community.
• From grey to green.

One of the most interesting quotes was from Boxpark’s Head of Development Matthew Mcmillan. “The best recoveries will be secured through fine grained, piecemeal and collaborative effort rather than through big bang major developments. Individual multi-billion-pound development projects are not agile enough to respond to the fast-moving changes in society.”

Click to access Croydon-Comeback-STANDARD.pdf

BARE PR also carried out work for the Croydon Airport Trust.

Has the optimism that flows through the paper been realised or pushed off track by the financial crisis, and the continued uncertainty over the Westfield and St George’s developments?

Looking Back To the Whitgift CPO Inquiry 2015

It is worth noting that in her evidence justifying the making of the CPO to enlarge the Whitgift development area, Jo Negrini, the then Executive Director of Development and Environment, and later Chief Executive, argued:

‘It is clear from my discussions with a number of developers considering investing in Croydon that there are other schemes which would be likely to come forward as  result of the confirmation of the CPO.’

It would be interesting to know what developers’ schemes actually went ahead?

She stated that the Whitgift was projected to generate up to 5,000 additional part-time and full-time jobs in the Town Centre and 330 indirect jobs, excluding the building phase jobs.

How many have actually been created and how many lost?

She stated that the Council was ‘delivering a £50.8 million programme of regeneration schemes’ in the Croydon Opportunity area.

How many of these reached successful conclusion and what were they? Was all the money spent and if not how much is left unspent?

She stated ‘LBC estimates that the public sector support need to drive change, amounts to around £1.1bn. LBC has already raised nearly a third of this amount through its own sources and TfL investment. This leaves a funding gap of £805 million’

What was the LBC and TfL money allocated for, and was it spent?

What is the current estimated funding need projection and gap?

Future Economic Policy

A new approach is needed to future economic policy.

Although eleven years old my general thoughts on this can be read at:

https://historyandsocialaction.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-local-economic-strategy-for-croydon.html

and many of the Croydon TUC’s suggestions in 2014 are relevant.

Met Police Consults On Stop & Search Charter

The Met Police proposes a Stop and Search Charter and is running on-line consultation this week.

• 18 October 2023, 1pm to 4pm
• 18 October 2023, 7pm to 9pm
• 20 October 2023, 7pm to 8pm

If you would like to take part, please register your interest using the Met’s online form.

I am intrigued as to why a Charter is needed given that there is a legislative backed Stop and Search Code of Practice. This was introduced in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

The Stop & Search Code of Practice

At the time I was Secretary of the Community/Police Consultative Group for Lambeth. The Group had been carefully going through the Bill word by word, line by line, clause by clause, and sending commentary and recommendations for amendments to the Government Minister, Douglas Hurd, and to MPs and Lords.  It had already successfully ensured that detainees would  have been to be taken in front of the magistrate for the review of extension of detention. Hurd attended one of its publicly open debates, and before he left stated which recommendations he would be taking on board..

When it came to the third reading Alf Dubs, Labour’s spokesman on the Bill, contacted the Group asking for advice on how to build additional safeguards on Stop and Search, because it had run out of ideas given all its previous suggestions had been rejected. The Group advised him to propose a Code of Practice, an idea the Group had been advocating but had not been picked up by either Government or Opposition. Dubs raised it at Third Reading. Hurd accepted the idea promising to bring in a Government clause at the Lords stage, which was duly done. The Group was later able to comment on and influence the wording of the Code.

In hindsight the Code came about because a committed local umbrella group was able to influence both Government and the Opposition, because it had earnt their respect for combining experience of what was happening on the streets and in the police stations with an ability to think through policy implications.

Debate In 2010

Since then there have been many changes to the Code of Practice. In December 2010 the campaign group StopWatch

Expressed concern about the proposal of the then Police Minister to reducing time spent on the completing the stop and search form by cutting crucial information. Chuka Umunna, the then Labour MP for Streatham commented that “This will prevent a proper evaluation being conducted into the use of these police powers, in particular an assessment of whether they are being used in a proportionate and a non-discriminatory way.” Dr Michael Shiner, an expert on stop and search from the London School of Economics, said: “Real time savings can be made by ensuring fewer, more effective stop and searches, but this cannot be achieved without rigorous oversight and scrutiny, which cannot, in turn, be achieved without recording stops and stop and search. In fact, real time savings could be made by

stopping excess unfair and unproductive stops and stop and searches on black and Asian people.”

At that time black people were stopped and searched by the police at more than six times the rate of white people. Meanwhile, Asian people are stopped and searched at more than twice the rate of white people. Targeting stop and search tactics on ethnic minority communities was continuing to drive a wedge between the police and sections of the public they serve.

Kjartan Sveinsson, the then research and policy analyst with the Runnymede Trust said: “Nick Herbert has said that he wants local people to have a greater say in how their communities are policed. Those communities which bear the brunt of stop and search tactics must also have their share of influence here. But if monitoring and accountability is cut, how can any public service – and particularly law enforcement – continue to serve and answer to the public? “

Stop Watch’s goals at the time were:

· Cut ethnic disproportionality in stop and search by half over the next five years and give forces guidance and support on how to achieve this.

· Review the use and regulation of stop and search powers that do not

require reasonable suspicion such as section 60, schedule 7 and the

Road Traffic Act.

· Ensure that procedures are in place for effective monitoring and

external accountability of stop and search.

· Create a parliamentary champion/ independent reviewer for fair stop

and search use, and equality in policing.

· Promote research on stop and search and alternatives to the use of

the power.

For more information see the StopWatch website: http://www.stop-watch.org

Questions For Croydon Police 2015

In 2015 in my submission to the Croydon Opportunity & Fairness Commission I posed the questions:

How many stops and searches were made in the Borough by age, gender and ethnic group and legislative power, shown Borough wide and by each police station?

How many stops and searches led to:

(a)      arrests by alleged crime

(b)      charging by alleged crime

(d)      court appearances for alleged crime

(e)      acquittal at court

(f)       custodial sentences

(g)      community service sentences

What steps have been undertaken since 2012 in respect of tackling any alleged or actual racial discrimination by Croydon police officers as illustrated for example in stops and searches?

With slight amendment these could form the basis on regular reporting to the Safer Neighbourhood Panels and the Safer Neighbourhood Board.

The Met statement on the Chater consultation 

As police, we recognise the value of stop and search legislation, as both a deterrent for carrying illegal items and to prevent harm by removing them from London’s streets.

In 2022, stop and search resulted in the seizure of 4508 weapons across the capital, however, we are also conscious that this power can and does impact our relationships with our communities, and their trust and confidence in the police – especially when done badly.

There is a need to reset this relationship, and as part of the New Met for London strategy and the Casey Review, we have committed to co-producing a Stop and Search Charter with our communities. Led by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan, the Charter will be a formal agreement between the Met and Londoners as to how the Met uses stop and search, focusing on balancing the use of the legalisation alongside trust and confidence.

Throughout September 2023, the Met has been engaging with communities and community leaders, including local members of parliament, charities, faith groups, young people and many more, collating their views on what they feel should be in a Charter and what success looks like for them.

No part of the Charter has yet been written, as its content will be created from the themes arising from our communities. As we gather the feedback we have received so far, we want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to be heard, and so we also want to hear from you.

How to have your say

We are running three virtual events in October which we are offering to anyone who would like to take part. These events will give you a detailed insight into how community engagement is being designed and the methods for creating a Charter, it will also give time for you to provide your thoughts on what should be included.

The event dates are as follows:

• 18 October 2023, 1pm to 4pm
• 18 October 2023, 7pm to 9pm
• 20 October 2023, 7pm to 8pm

If you would like to take part, please register your interest using our online form. Please feel free to pass this article to anyone who lives in London and who you feel may want to get involved.

This is an excellent opportunity to reshape the way that stop and search is being done and how we interact with the community. The Met is fully committed to listen to what is being said and to act in a way that makes you feel confident in the service and with the powers we have been given.

Register your interest

General Update 15 October

With my immune system becoming increasingly at risk of catching infections I can no longer attend meetings or restaurants, cinemas, events or travel by public transport. I am therefore unable to run bookstalls for the time being and have stood down as Secretary of the Croydon Unite Retired Members Branch. I have had to decline leading a walk on slavery and abolition in Durham on 18 October, and pull out of delivering a paper on friendly societies at the One Name Guild conference in Wakefield on 20 October. My talk is to be recorded and played at it. As I was not in any case able to go to Canada for the Black History Conference at Dalhousie University being held at the same time I have submitted a background paper on Black British and Canadian history for use by the delegates.

Black History Month

For details, inc. BHM Magazine and Black Sisters see

Black History Month 2024

Black Victorians

Register on Eventbrite

York University

https://www.york.ac.uk/about/equality/news-events/2023/bhm/

North East

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/departmentofhistorydurhamuniversity/1029208

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-67010533

The Somerset Case

Wednesday 18 October 2023. 5.30-7.00 p.m. Professor Simon P. Newman on ‘With a View to Gain His Freedom’: Freedom Seekers and The End of Slavery in Britain’. On line:

Register on Eventbrite

If you wish to attend in person, please email wilberforce@hull.ac.uk

Simon P. Newman is the author of Freedom Seekers: Escaping from Slavery in Restoration London, University of London Press (2022), which is available on Open Access.

Croydon Events

Monday 16 October. 8pm. Croydon Amnesty open meeting with speaker on the curtailment of trade union rights in the UK.  All welcome.  Free. Ruskin House.

Monday 30 October. 12.30pm. Violence Against Women

Croydon Police event at Croydon Voluntary Action (CVA), 82 London Road, Croydon, CR0 2TB. A light lunch will be provided. Please register your attendance below. https://eventbrite.co.uk/e/vawg-action-plan-meeting-croydon-tickets-732795108897

https://www.croydonites.com/so/30OijPOcx

Tayo Aluko Events

20 October, Liverpool: Just An Ordinary Lawyer@ St. George’s Hall
25 October, Liverpool: Words Behind 4Wings @10. Performance by 4Wings members and staff of a drama written by Tayo Aluko, inspired by stories shared by the women. St. George’s Hall.
26 October: Participant, Book Launch, Liverpool. Pastor Daniels Ekarte and the African Churches Mission. Liverpool, 1931-1964. Writing on the Wall BHM23
27 October, Bolton: This Little Light (A Paul Robeson presentation). Bolton Socialist Club
29 October, Faversham: Art As A Weapon – Some Pan-Africanist Examples. Faversham Guild Hall.
31 October, London: Just An Ordinary Lawyer. The Courtyard Theatre, Shoreditch, London.
7 November, Cambridgeshire: Call Mr. Robeson. St. Ives Library.
8 November, Cambridgeshire: Call Mr. Robeson. St. Neots Library.
10 November, online: Art As a Weapon – Some Pan-Africanist Examples. Yorkshire Festival of Story

A recording of Tayo’s George Taylor of Freetown can be seen at

Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown

Croydon News

Climate Action

https://www.croydonclimateaction.com/so/5aOiZSTDZ

Building Up To The General Election

With the Party Conferences over and the election stalls set out preparations continue by Labour and Tory to select their candidates for the new constituencies. Steve Read has already been imposed on the new North Croydon and  Streatham by Labour, and Sarah Jones in Croydon West, the Tories have just selected Jason Cummings for Croydon East. (For background see Inside Croydon. 29 October). The Labour Conference is discussed by Croydon Labour member Andrew Fisher who concludes ‘While party conference started on a high, it has ended on a low – back in the moral depravity of the Blair years with a disregard for international law.’ (Inside Croydon. 12 October) At Conference is became clear that up to 60,000 people in Croydon could be denied their right to vote under new election ID rules. (Inside Croydon. 9 October)

The Croydon Knife Crime Crisis

There has been enormous media coverage on the Croydon knife crime crisis. South Norwood councillor Stella Nabukeera spoke about it at the Labour Party Conference. (Inside Croydon. 13 October). Hopefully the Safer Neighbourhood Board which meets on 26 October for the first time for many months will be discussing why all the efforts and money put into anti-knife crime work do not seem to be working. I have sent the senior officer organising the meeting the link to my comments back in 2018 – https://historyandsocialaction.blogspot.com/search?q=knife+crime

The Croydon Bus Shelter Scandal

Norbury Village Resident’s Association was to have a question answered on the bus shelter fiasco presented the Council meeting. The scandal is much bigger than NVRA thought as revealed by Inside Croydon (11 October) with a potential £0.5m loss to the Council. The Council explanation can be read at https://news.croydon.gov.uk/statement-on-bus-shelters-contract-with-valo-smart-city.

Incompetence at Croydon College and Whitgift Foundation

Its not just Croydon Council which is incompetent but also Croydon College which has been given an ‘inadequate assessment by OFSTED’ and 12 recommendations by a Government-appointed intervention team. (Inside Croydon. 10 October). Meanwhile it is clear that the Whitgift Foundation’s decision to close Old Palace Girls School is due to its loss of income from the Whitgift Centre development crisis. (Inside Croydon. 9 October) Meanwhile the Council has completed another meaningless tick box exercise – this time on equalities: https://news.croydon.gov.uk/croydon-commits-to-creating-a-fairer-borough/

History Miscellaneous

A Chain of Sympathy: Voluntary and Charitable Action in English Football,
1914-1918

Talk by Alexander Jackson, National Football Museum, for Voluntary Action History Society. This event will be both in-person and online. Register on the IHR website

Wandsworth Chronicles October

https://www.historyofwandsworthcommon.org/chronicles/10/10-2023-1.html

Croydon 500 Years Ago

David Morgan explains in Inside Croydon 8 October.

Labour Movement History

 Full details at https://sslh.org.uk/

Saturday 28 October. ‘The Rising Sun of Socialism: The emergence of the Labour Movement in the textile district of the the West Riding of Yorkshire. c.1884–1914’. Professor Keith Laybourn is to deliver the second annual John L Halstead Memorial Lecture at the Marx Memorial Library, 37a Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0DU. Although entry is free, you need to reserve a place as numbers are limited by the size of the venue.

Trade unions and friendly society benefits in the UK and US at the turn of the 20th century.

 The long view: three hundred years of British strikes: contours, legal frameworks, and tactics

 A touch of labour history for BBC David Olusoga Union history series

Alan Haworth (1948 – 2023). I knew Alan when he was a student activist at North East London Polytechnic when I worked there.

 

 

 

General Update 1 October

Due to deteriorating health I am reducing the time spent on update blogs merging Croydon, History and other matters into a General Update posting.

Croydon

Croydon Parking Consultation

https://news.croydon.gov.uk/have-your-say-on-croydons-new-parking-strategy/

Croydon Nursery Closures Consultation Slammed

https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/croydon-council-backlash-teachers-parents-27766986

Creative Croydon Events

Events

Croydonites Festival November

This is Croydonites

Croydon Music Trail Review

This is the Croydon Music Heritage Trail

Battersea Events

https://mailchi.mp/236050158e9b/battersea-insider-things-to-do-things-to-see-15881856?e=f121e59456

Musicians and Singers

William Shield Festival

13/14 October. William Shield Festival Newcastle

https://www.litandphil.org.uk/events/william-shield-festival-2023-winterreise/

21 October Concert in Reading

Florence Price’s Colonial Dance and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s The Bamboula: Rhapsodic Dance for Orchestra.

Who needs to sing Happy Birthday when you’ve got a Reading-based orchestra lining up to perform this programme?

Coleridge-Taylor’s Summer Is Gone

https://player.fm/series/yourclassical-daily-download-2955209/samuel-coleridge-taylor-summer-is-gone

Coleridge-Taylor’s Part Songs

Paul Robeson Podcast On DNB

Written by Hakim Adi.

https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-9000188

New Recording of Chevalier de Saint-Georges

Other History News

Dorking Oddfellows

Following my talk earlier this year on friendly societies in the Dorking area, there will be talks on the history of the Oddfellows and on the Dorking Oddfellows, at the Dorking Oddfellows Hall on 13 November at 11am.

Jamaican Tenants Strike

Liz Millman of Black Conversations writes about the 1938 Jamaican tenants strike.

Commemorating Robert Rumble and the tenants’ strike of 1938

Columbus Discovery Of America Letter

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/30/original-letter-from-columbus-announcing-discovery-of-america-goes-on-sale-for-first-time

Dusé Mohamed Ali and Literary Pan-Africanism Symposium 6 October

Dusé Mohamed Ali and Literary Pan-Africanism Symposium

Dusé Mohamed Ali (1866–1945) was an Egyptian political activist known for his African nationalism. He was also a playwright, historian, journalist, editor, and publisher. In 1912,he founded the African Times and Orient Review, and while living in Lagos, Nigeria, his novel Ere Roosevelt Came was serialized in 1934 in The Comet newspaper. He inspiredmany Black nationalists, including a young Marcus Garvey, who he mentored. Alicontributed to the political and literary project of Pan-Africanism and to global BlackMuslim diasporas. This symposium is to mark the publication of Ali’s novel, Ere Roosevelt Came and to probe the complexities of Ali’s biography.

Friday, October 6
8:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m. EDT via Zoom, Register Here: https://psu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUldOitrD4pH9cxLBBrFrvQKxUzPJfeTevT#/registration

Schedule:

Welcome and Introduction

8:30–9:00 a.m. EDT

Panel 1: Duse Mohamed Ali, the UK, and West Africa (tentative 9-10:30am EDT)

• Tomi Onabanjo (NYU)
• Stephanie Newell (Yale University)
• Michael West, moderator/comment, (Penn State University)

Panel 2: Duse Mohamed Ali as early 20^th Century Intermediary (tentative 10:45-12:15pm EDT)

• Leslie James (Queen Mary University of London)
• Musab Younus (Queen Mary University of London)
• Alex Lubin (Penn State University)

Panel 3: Understanding Duse Mohamed Ali’s Biographies (tentative 1:00-2:30 EDT)

• Rey Bowen (University of Chichester)
• Jacob Dorman (University of Nevada Reno)
• Hakim Adi, moderator/comment, (University of Chichester)

Panel 4: Duse Mohamed Ali and Literary Pan Africanism (tentative 2:45-4:15 EDT)

• Marina Bilbija (Wesleyan University)
• Tanya Agathocleus (CUNY)
• Brent Hayes Edwards, moderator/ comment, (Columbia University)

Closing Plenary: Ere Roosevelt Came (4:30-5:30 EDT)

• Marina Bilbija
• Alex Lubin

AUTUMN WALKS AROUND NOTTINGHAM

Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Labour History Society

SATURDAY  7^th OCTOBER  – NOTTINGHAM AND THE PENTRICH REVOLUTION OF 1817

Meeting outside the Exchange Buildings, Market Square ( by the Left Lion),

to start the walk at 10.30 am.

This is one of the series of walks following the events of  the  Rising organised by the Pentrich and South Wingfield Revolution Group( PSWRG).

The walk will take two hours. This is an urban walk on pavements.

SATURDAY 21^st OCTOBER –  ILKESTON AND THE PENTRICH REVOLUTION.

Meeting outside the Library on Ilkeston Market Place to start the walk at 10.30 am.

The walk,organised with PSWRG, will take two hours. This is an urban walk on pavements. It will finish at the Erewash Museum.

SATURDAY 11^th NOVEMBER –    WORKING CLASS WOMEN ORGANISE: EVENTS IN 19^th CENTURY NOTTINGHAM

Meeting outside  Nottinghham Contemporary  to start the walk at 10.30am.

The walk will take two hours and is an urban walk on pavements. 

Book places  for any of these walks by emailing Roger Tanner of NDLHS at rogerntanner@yahoo.co.uk

Black History Conversations 29 Sepember

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpde-sqjgsGtf5FMRQL6CWHJ23fke0mVpI

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Isabella Gilmore Talk 30 September

ST BARNABAS CHURCH
CLAPHAM COMMON NORTHSIDE
LONDON SW4 9SW

History Update 19 September

Hakim Adi Calls For Financial Support for Students Legal Action Against Axeing His Course and Post

Professor ⁦@hakimadi1⁩ discusses the importance of donating to the Save the ⁦@africahist_chi⁩ Defence Fund: https://t.co/Alnp5VSGYI

⁦@yhp_uk⁩ ⁦@amelimetre⁩ ⁦@MKentake⁩ ⁦@MarleneWorrell⁩ ⁦@reybowen_rey⁩ ⁦@alejataddesse⁩ ⁦ pic.twitter.com/zZmmbAzqwq

— Save the MRes Campaign (@SavetheMRes) August 27, 2023

https://www.historymatters.online/save-mres-campaign

You can download the History Matters Journal on this website.

Friday 29 September. 11 am – 12 noon. Evelyn Dove Commemorative Plaque unveiling

A Nubian Jak/Battersea Society commemorative plaque celebrating singer and cabaret performer Evelyn Dove 1902-1987 – the first black woman to sing on BBC radio in 1925. Speakers will include Stephen Bourne, her biographer; Rick Dove her great nephew and slam poetry winner; Dr Jak Beula, entrepreneur and cultural activist; and Marsha de Cordova MP.

To book Evelyn Dove Commemorative Plaque Unveiling — The Battersea Society

Tuesday 3 October. 7pm. Unemployed Resistance (1978 – now): Trade Unions and Community Organising 

Zoom talk by Dr Paul Griffin for North East Labour History Society.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83566189074?pwd=ZnRBVDViK3BQc0xkKzlmVnMwQUtTdz09

Meeting ID: 835 6618 9074

Passcode: 461612

Tuesday 24 October. 7.30pm. The Strutts, Cotton Textiles and Enslavement: Enslavers at a distance, Abolitionists at home.

Speakers: Susanne Seymour, Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study of Slavery, University of Nottingham and Julian Atkinson, Chair NDLHS

No 28 Market Place, Belper, DE56 1FZ. Organised by Amber Valley Unite Community and Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Labour History Society. For more information, please contact rogerntanner@yahoo.co.uk ; www.ndlhsoc.wordpress.com   

India Club Closes

Founded in 1951 by the Indian League the India Club in the Strand has closed.

https://davehillonlondon.substack.com/p/last-lunch-at-the-india-club

A Glorious History – Print Workers History

Authors Tony Burke and Ann Field are retired senior national officials of Unite and formerly of the Graphical Paper & Media Union.  

For a print copy of please email: Debra.Belle@unitetheunion.org

See also:

Print matters: conserving and promoting the printworkers’ story

Horace Ove Obituary

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/17/horace-ove-obituary

Sarah Woodbine: A Black Nurse in Victorian Britain

Sarah Woodbine worked in Croydon and Tooting.

Sarah Woodbine: A Black Nurse in Victorian Britain

Arthur Warton Plaque in Rotherham

The Guardian. 8 September.

Kalulu, Stanley’s ‘African Boy’, returned to Africa.

Phil Boys writes about Kalulu who was brought to Britian by H.D. Stanley, and was taught at Wandsworth’s Halbrake House school and his return to Africa in 1875 in the September edition of the Wandsworth Common Chronicles.

https://www.historyofwandsworthcommon.org/chronicles/09/09-2023-2.html

Other topics include the 1916 Zeppelin Raid, bombs on and around Wandsworth Common 1940—1945, and Navvies and Bricklayers’ Labourers’ Union meeting on the Common 1892.

Slavery Legacy Issues

A UN judge says that UK cannot ignore calls for slavery reparations. (The Guardian. 23 August)

The row over naming former Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach as a descendent of a slave-owning family has led Malik Al Nasir, the student researcher, involved to write”We have to accept the truth of what we find when doing historical or genealogical research and be prepared to deal with the realities of that.”

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/research-sandbachs-enslaved-ancestors-truth-2586621

See also The Guardian new story and Alex Renton Journal piece 1 September.

Teresa May Regrets ‘Hostile Environment’. (The Guardian. 1 September.

Portrait of David Harewood, a descendent of slaves owned by the Lascelles family has been unveiled at Harewood House In Leeds. (The Guardian. 6 September)

Tayo Auko Shows

21 September: Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown (a reading/sharing) Liverpool Lighthouse, Anfield, Liverpool (possible streaming details on my website in due course)

26 September: Dodging Bullets @ #BlackBoyJoyGone. Blackfest @ Unity Theatre, Liverpool

29 September: Call Mr. Robeson (private, for UNISON NW Black Workers’ Conference) Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.

14 October: Just An Ordinary Lawyer @ Tullynessle & Forbes Hall, Aberdeenshire

20 October: Just An Ordinary Lawyer @ St. George’s Hall, Liverpool

25 October: Words Behind 4Wings @10. Performance by 4Wings members and staff of a drama written by Tayo Aluko, inspired by stories shared by the women. St. George’s Hall, Liverpool

7 November: Call Mr. Robeson @ St. Ives Library, Cambs.

8 November: Call Mr. Robeson @ St. Neots Library, Cambs.

Reading

On-Line Radical Archives. Discussion with links to radical archives by Evan Smith in Australia. See also his link to his extensive list of downloadable publications, inc. on British Communist Party.

Don’t Mourn, Digitise! Building a list of radical online archives

Poll Tax ‘Riot’ in Brixton 1990

Today in London riotous history, 1990: local anti-poll tax demo erupts, Brixton

Remembering Coleridge-Taylor 21 September