Amelia Neath

EASTLONDONLINES

EastLondonLines •

‘Everyone deserves a green space’: the battle for communal gardens – Eastlondonlines

A slice of the countryside tucked away in London’s most populated borough, the Canal Club Community Garden is a space full of opposites. It is bursting with vegetation and greenery, but stowed away between the high-rise brutalist flats of Globe Town, Tower Hamlets.

However, not so long ago, this thriving garden was under threat of demolition by Tower Hamlets Council to make room for an extension to the Wellington Estate.

Protecting this community green space was not easy.
EastLondonLines •

Squashing the litter bugs – Eastlondonlines

Parks can be the heartbeat of any community; for London in particular, they are a vital source of the natural environment and wildlife away from the urban landscape. However, the health of our parks in the Eastlondonlines boroughs is under threat due to the ever-increasing rise of littering and fly-tipping.

The unprecedented use of our green spaces during the pandemic resulted in an increase in the volume of litter in parks. A 2022 report by Parks for London explained how lockdowns came to be
EastLondonLines •

‘I want to share his memory with the world’ – Eastlondonlines

Every public park in London will most likely have a memorial bench and each one will tell a story. But what is it about a memorial bench in a green space that gives families that meaningful spot to remember their loved ones?

Bethany Harries, a psychologist, and PhD student in Environmental Wellbeing at the University of Surrey explains why being among nature while remembering a loved one is beneficial. “Losing a loved one can be a very stressful and upsetting experience but spending time in
EastLondonLines •

Artist Noah Rush: ‘I wanted to be seen as good at painting, not good at painting for my age’ – Eastlondonlines

Goldsmiths student Noah Rush impressed the judges of Portrait Artist of the Year and made it to the semi-finals, but he is determined to elevate his art further. Amelia Neath hears about his experience on the show and what the future holds for him as an artist.

When you are the youngest in a painting competition, let alone on a national televised show with celebrity sitters, it is daunting.
EastLondonLines •

Councillors attempt to resolve dispute over access to community hub – Eastlondonlines

Broad Green councillors in Croydon have been trying to resolve a dispute between two local organisations over access to a community hub premises in the town centre.

Big Local Broad Green, a lottery-funded group which promotes the Broad Green area has claimed that the Asian Resource Centre of Croydon, the charity with which it was linked as a condition of its funding has ‘changed the locks’ on the doors of their once shared community hub once their financial agreement ended.
EastLondonLines •

Petition to save autistic-run garden centre from Croydon council cuts gains over 1000 signatures – Eastlondonlines

More than a thousand people have backed a petition to save a garden centre run by autistic people, which is threatened under bankrupt Croydon Council’s list of cutbacks,

The Cherry Hub and the Cherry Orchard Garden Centre is a day centre for people with autism and learning disabilities to socialise and learn . The site is also home a popular garden centre, currently also owned by the council. The hub so far will remain open but their main garden centre project will be closed by the council.

Th
EastLondonLines •

Serial rapist from Croydon sentenced to life imprisonment – Eastlondonlines

A convicted rapist who was found guilty of assaulting two more women was sentenced on Monday, December 5 to a minimum of 18 years.

Darrel Rose, 36, from New Addington in Croydon, is currently four years into a 17-year jail sentence for raping a different woman.

Rose was sentenced on Monday after a three-week-long trial in May where he was found guilty of 9 offences. The trial followed a five-year-long police investigation.
EastLondonLines •

Croydon plans drastic cuts to tackle £1.6bn debt: ‘Nobody knew how bad things had become’ – Eastlondonlines

Croydon Council has set out drastic cuts in services and a rise in council tax – including a major reduction in libraries and properties – to reduce its overall estimated debt of £1.6bn after declaring bankruptcy for the third time last week.

At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Mayor Jason Perry said that the debt they “inherited from the previous administration” was around “£48 million worth of mistakes”.
EastLondonLines •

Where are you really from? ‘This has been going on for too long and I believe it needs to stop’ – Eastlondonlines

It was the directness of the question that shocked Ngozi Fulani, the chief executive of Hackney-based charity Sistah Space, when she attended a Buckingham Palace reception this week: ‘Where are you from?’

Such a question and the interrogation that followed, where Lady Susan Hussey, a former lady-in-waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth, pressed Fulani ‘Where do your people come from’ and ‘where do you really come from?’
EastLondonLines •

Exclusive: Conditions at Croydon Home Office hotels housing asylum seekers leave residents ‘suicidal’ – Eastlondonlines

Croydon hotels housing asylum seekers have been tarnished by allegations of sexual harassment, suicidal residents, “inadequate and unqualified” staff and mould-infested rooms.

The Home Office owns three hotels in Croydon that are housing asylum seekers, with the largest one housing over 500 men and women.

Eastlondonlines spoke to Adam Yasir, the co-founder of the Croydon Refugee and New Communities Forum. He revealed the details of the living conditions in these Home Office hotels.

Yasir said
EastLondonLines •

High Court Judge rejects Croydon Council gag request against local website – Eastlondonlines

A High Court judge has refused Croydon Council’s attempt to impose an injunction on a local news website.

Croydon Council served the injunction last week on journalist Steven Downes, the founder of Inside Croydon, after he published legal reports that had already been released on the council’s own website.

The hearing took place at the Royal Courts of Justice on November 10 where Judge Matthew Nicklin described the council’s actions as “trying to put the genie back in the bottle”.