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South Norwood Arts Festival hailed as a huge success
SOUTH Norwood Arts Festival (SNAF) finished with a bang at its Grand Finale Fair on Sunday.
The two week festival had featured a wide variety of events, from talks and quizzes to comedy and theatre.
People for Portland Road organised SNAF and held the closing fair at Woodside Green following a special service on Sunday.
Anna-Maria Smit, festival organiser, said: "It went really well. Thankfully the weather held off and everyone seemed to be having a great time.
"The festival has grown over the years and it's something we want to keep evolving. "
A variety of food stalls offered food from countries all over the world as well as pitches for community groups.
There was also plenty for children to get stuck into including bungee runs and a climbing wall, while Edge FM ran the main stage which had music from the sixties up to modern chart songs.
A taekwondo group gave demonstrations to the crowds and the London Urban Arts Academy also performed.
Earlier highlights of the festival included a comedy night headlined by Crystal Palace-supporting comedian Kevin Day, as well as a chance to visit Norwood Junction's secret garden created by volunteers and members of the British Transport Police.
South Norwood Tourist Board held a Great Big South Norwood Quiz and a historian gave a talk on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's links to the area.
SNAF has been running in different guises for seven years and will return next year.
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Campaign to spread a little love for Norbury is launched
HUNDREDS of hours of preparation work paid off on Saturday with the launch of a campaign to instil more pride in Norbury.
Love Norbury is a joint venture between Scots Estate, Norbury Green, Norbury Village and Pollards Hill residents' association who have been working together over the past new months to come up with ways of improving Norbury's image.
High on the campaign's list of targets will be cleaning up the shopping centre and surrounding areas and attracting more shoppers into the area.
The official launch took place at O Cappucino in London Road at which Mayor of Croydon Councillor Manju Shahul-Hameed cut a special celebration cake.
She then joined organisers of the campaign on a meet and greet session with around 10 London Road traders.
Residents were also given the chance to talk to the campaign committee about its aims and how they could get involved.
Ian Clarke, chair of the Love Norbury committee, said: "The launch went really, really well.
"We had a tremendous turnout and that showed we have some amazing people in Norbury and if we can continue to bring them all together there is a lot we can get done."
Mr Clarke said one of the greatest problems to hit the area over the past couple of years was an increase in litter and fly-tipping on the streets.
He wanted residents to get involved in reporting incidents so that rubbish could be cleared, and it is likely their efforts will be tied in with the council's Don't Mess with Croydon: Take Pride campaign, which has parallel clean up aims.
Mr Clarke said: "We have support from local councillor, Maggie Mansell, who is hoping to arrange a meeting between us and senior council officers to discuss what can be done."
The campaign would, he said, set out to rid Norbury of the "shabby" image which is too often associated with the area.
Mr Clarke said he believed if people starting reporting incidents of fly-tipping and as a result the area became tidier, this would have the knock-on effect of making people prouder of their surroundings.
Campaign members will be meeting this week to discuss the launch and as well as pursuing clean up initiatives, ideas about attracting more shoppers will be examined. These are expected to include introducing farmers' markets and food festivals.
Mr Clarke said: "Good traders have nothing to worry about from competition because these events will increase the number of people coming into Norbury.
"We are very confident the campaign will work; too many hours have gone into organising it for it to fail."
Croydon firm's strategy reaps global rewards
ONE of Croydon's most successful home-grown companies is going from strength to strength, latest figures show.
At the same time the dotDigital group has chosen the 15th anniversary of its foundation to relaunch and rebrand its dotMailer platform which provides managed services to digital marketing professionals.
Included in the relaunch is an improved trading platform, new branding and a new website.
Over the last eight years the company's turnover has grown from £800,000 to £13.8 million and dotMailer is now the UK's largest e-mail marketing provider, with more than 4,000 customers including BP, ODEON and Santander.
The figures released last week, ahead of full year results expected in October, show the dotDigital group is expected to exceed the £4.3 million profit analysts were predicting.
The figures also show revenues for the 12 month period between June 2013 and June this year have grown from £12.2 million to £16.1 million, a rise of 32 per cent.
The figures also show the company's burgeoning operations in the United States are continuing to flourish with revenues over the past year rising from $456,000 to $1.4 million, more than 200 per cent up.
Commenting on the results, Peter Simmonds, the group's chief executive officer, said: "This strong performance is again extremely encouraging and illustrates that our organic growth strategy is working."
Of the relaunch, Mr Simmonds said: "The last five years have been phenomenal, but we don't want to rest on our laurels and, with this relaunch, we're executing a strategy focusing primarily on e-commerce and enterprise customers to ensure our continued growth.
"We've invested in world-leading technology that is not only easy to use, but also creates brilliantly effective personalised campaigns."
dotDigital was founded by Tink Taylor and Simon Bird in 1999 from a small office above an estate agent in South Norwood.
The pair floated the company in 2009 but are both still closely involved with operation.
It now employs 150 people across its headquarters at No 1 Croydon in Addiscombe Road and offices in London Bridge, Manchester, Edinburgh and New York.
Victims of abuse speak out to support claims of systematic cruelty at Croydon children's home Shirley Oaks
VICTIMS of abuse at Shirley Oaks have come forward to support claims of systemic cruelty at the former children's home.
Those who have spoken out, some for the first time, described being subjected to physical, emotional and sexual mistreatment, in some cases on an almost daily basis.
Most felt compelled to speak after author Alex Wheatle, 51, said he was sexually assaulted while living in the Lambeth-run children's home between 1966 and 1978.
They were also angered by claims, made by a Shirley Oaks historian and former resident, that the abuse was not endemic.
The Advertiser has spoken to seven victims since last week's report into cruelty at the children's home, which closed in 1983.
Each described the harrowing experiences they faced while growing up in the care system, both in Shirley Oaks and, in some cases, elsewhere.
They feel strongly that Operation Middleton, the joint police and council investigation into abuse at children's homes in south London between 1974 and 1994, did not go far enough.
Three people were jailed as a result of the operation, which found 16 alleged abusers had died and 19 others "could not be identified".
All six children from the Gocan family were placed there after their father left the country and their mother had a breakdown in 1967. For more than a decade Pauline Gocan, 50, has been fighting for answers as to why she was sexually abused by visitors to the children's home. She was inspired to speak out this week by Mr Wheatle's account of being abused by a doctor.
Shirley Oaks is one of three Lambeth-run children's homes the Daily Mirror has linked to an alleged paedophile ring thought to involve an unnamed MP in Tony Blair's government.
Those allegations include claims the unnamed politician took boys out of South Vale children's home in West Norwood in the 1980s.
Some of the people who agreed to speak to the Advertiser this week detailed how they were sexually abused by mysterious figures who were regular visitors to the home.
Others described being subject to frequent beatings, verbal abuse and punishments seemingly designed to humiliate and grind down the human spirit. Most felt unable to speak out at the time and have faced an almost impossible task of holding the authorities to account decades later.
What is also clear is the long-lasting impact of even the mistreatment which might be thought of as less serious.
Some of those who went on the record, now in their late 40s to early 50s, have problems with alcohol or drugs. Few are in work and most find it very difficult to form relationships.
Many still have nightmares and others have sought therapy. At one stage or another several have been in trouble with the law. Leigh Gocan has twice been convicted of armed robbery.
Perhaps most troubling is the example of his sister Yvonne Burdon, who has had all three of her children taken away from her and put into care. "History is repeating itself," she said.
All of those who experienced ill-treatment at Shirley Oaks still bear the emotional and, in some cases, physical scars.
They reacted strongly when Gerry Coll, who went to the care home at the same time as Mr Wheatle and later co-authored a book on the history of the institution, said it was "in no way rampant with sexual abuse".
Despite coming under fire this week, Mr Coll has written an open letter to the Advertiser reiterating his opinions.
Kevin Donnelly, who was in care at the same time as Mr Coll, is among those convinced that abuse was widespread at Shirley Oaks.
"The systematic physical, mental and sexual abuse that many children, including myself, suffered at the hands of people in charge of our so called care was horrific," he said in a letter to the Advertiser.
Mr Donnelly, who now lives in Eastbourne, is one of the victims who was eventually able to see his abuser jailed as a result of Operation Middleton.
He said: "Because of the court case I had to eventually face my demons, tell my wife and family what had happened to me as a child after all those years, and I suffered a breakdown soon after.
"I have tried hard to settle down and move on with my life, but it will always be in the back of my mind as it will for all those who suffered the same fate."
Middleton officers investigated 78 allegations of sexual abuse and 46 reports of cruelty or assault, leading to 16 arrests, four charges, three convictions and a death during a trial.
As a result of media coverage of historical sexual abuse, police received two further allegations in November 2012. A 63-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of a sexual offence against a minor and a 78-year-old woman was detained on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and child cruelty.
Both have been bailed pending further investigation. It is not clear whether these allegations relate to Shirley Oaks. Anyone who wishes to report an allegation of historic sexual abuse is urged to contact the police on 020 7161 0500. If you can help with the Advertiser's investigation email gareth.davies@croydonadvertiser.co.uk