The new pope has been revealed as Pope Francis I. Live Updates, Video, Reaction: New pope announced

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A Croydon priest has expressed his delight at the election of Pope Francis I.

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, was selected ahead of 115 other cardinals this evening (Wednesday).

His selection, a real surprise, was revealed to the world tonight after white smoke billowed from the famous chimney in St Peter's Square.

Canon Jim Pannett, of St John the Baptist Church, in Purley, said: "I am delighted. It is fantastic to have chosen a South American and he will bring a breath of fresh air to the Catholic church.

"If he is half as brilliant as St Francis then he will be an excellent pope."

THE East Surrey & Sussex News & Media Sports Awards are back, and with the launch just days away we want Croydon Advertiser readers to start pondering who deserves recognition for their local sporting achievements in 2013.

At the 2012 awards, Croydon Amphibians' U15 water polo team won the accolade for young team of the year, while swimmer Freddie Benians won young sports star of the year.

Mike Fleet won the unsung hero award for his fantastic and continued hard work in athletics with Croydon Harriers.

The sports star of the year award was won by discus thrower Lawrence Okoye, while Streatham-Croydon's first XV rugby team were team of the year after an historic double.

But who will win in 2013? This year, as well as taking nominations from our readers, the sports desk will be scouring our articles looking for the next batch of local heroes.

Lookout for details on how to nominate in the coming weeks, and following the closure of the nominations process, candidates will then be listed in the paper for the public to vote for who they think deserves to win.

The winners will be invited to the East Surrey & Sussex News & Media Sports Awards 2013 evening at the Copthorne Hotel Effingham, on January 31, 2014.

THE spirit of the Old Mids was excellent again as they fought to grind out a victory against a strong Wellingtonians side.

Wellington were in at the side of a ruck and fly-half Dan Crouch slotted the resultant penalty after ten minutes.

Wellington fly-half Dan Cervino missed an easy penalty chance, but Mids continued to infringe and he tied the scores at 3-3 after 23 minutes.

Straight from the kick-off, Mids captain Temi Okenla found some space in midfield, handed off the first tackle and, having gained some momentum, danced his way through the rest of the defence to the corner for a try and an 8-3 lead.

Mids kept up the pressure and Tim Jupp carried well and set up centre David Stanton for a break.

On 38 minutes Crouch struck a sweet kick from a difficult angle to regain the lead, which he extended to 14-10 just on half-time.

In the next quarter, Mids took charge but they lost a man to a yellow card.

Despite the disadvantage, Crouch widened the gap with another penalty after 56 minutes.

But Wellington still had time to win the game, especially when Mids were forced to play the last eight minutes with only 13 men. But the heroic Mids defence frustrated the Wellingtonians.

WITH neither side in the promotion or relegation zones, this match could have been lacklustre, but both sides played with ambition and commitment.

Heathfield infringed right from the kick-off and Warlingham full-back Mark Kozminski opened the scoring with a long-range penalty.

Fly-half Asa Wright piled on the pressure with a perfect kick to the visitors' five-metre touch, but a knock-on thwarted their endeavours.

Heathfield struck back with their first penalty after an offside offence, but Kozminski put Warlingham ahead again with a second penalty.

Warlingham had their tails up and Wright's well-timed pass to Tom Street secured the first try. Kozminski converted and then struck a third penalty to put Warlingham in the driving seat at the turnaround.

Heathfield raised their game in the second half and grabbed a second penalty, but any forward momentum was snuffed out by crunching tackles, particularly from No 8 Ollie Dodwell.

The Warlingham pack stamped their authority on the game, and when the ball was quickly recycled, Wright swept to the blind side and found Street in the tram lines. With much to do, Street just grounded the ball before he was bundled over the corner flag. Kozminski's conversion hit the upright.

Lock Neil Robson was harshly yellow-carded, and Heathfield completed their scoring with a third penalty, before Warlingham's captain Zack King slipped through for the third try, followed by prop Kieran Scutt crashing over for the bonus point fourth try.

STREATHAM-CROYDON'S poor recent form continued with a narrow 23-17 defeat at Bec Old Boys last Saturday.

The Frant Road outfit's inability to convert chances was again their demise and despite scoring three excellent tries, they should have had a further four or five scores.

Bec started the stronger and immediately put Streatham under pressure with excellent handling and driving play and were two tries up in ten minutes.

But Streatham hit back with several charges by Goldsmith and Hampton, giving the backs space so that the excellent Chris Geary could crash over.

From the restart, Streatham again drove upfield and powerful winger Vinny Auguiste beat several defenders to go over under the posts with the conversion putting them 12-10 ahead.

However, silly errors gifted two penalties to Bec from the restarts and the half-time score was 16-12 to Bec.

The hosts scored a third try to take the score to 23-12 in the second period, but the remainder of the match was all Streatham and they were camped in the Bec 22 without being able to cross the line.

But they did have the consolation of scoring an outstanding try from a quick lineout ball, when Cassemis went over in the corner to make it 23-17.

IAN HOLLOWAY was left distinctly unimpressed with referee Dean Whitestone after last Saturday's 2-2 draw against Leeds United at Selhurst Park.

Luke Varney was booked for diving, but before that the striker had been guilty of a late challenge on Palace youngster Jonny Williams, and the Eagles boss felt he should have seen red.

And shortly afterwards, Wilfried Zaha was brought down when it looked like he was through on goal. Holloway was subsequently charged by the FA for misconduct, while Zaha faces an FA rap for an alleged gesture to the visiting supporters.

"I felt some of the decisions had a huge bearing on the game," he said.

"I thought I saw Luke Varney foul Jonny Williams from behind, a blatant yellow card. Two minutes later, Varney dived and got given a yellow card, and he should have been off.

"Then Wilfried Zaha goes straight through and gets scythed down and Stephen Warnock gets a yellow. If that's not a goalscoring opportunity I don't know what the rules are.

"I'm pretty bemused wondering how we were behind in the game.

"I'm delighted we came back but I was a little bit aggrieved – we missed too many chances."

The Eagles enjoyed a lot of possession, but they nearly went away without even a point after Steve Morison had stunned the home faithful with two goals in quick succession following Glenn Murray's first half opener.

But the striker grabbed his 30th goal of the season to rescue a point with a low finish in front of the Holmesdale Stand.

"When we were 2-1 down, the team was fantastic and I was disgusted with the goals we conceded," Holloway said.

"But it happens at this time of year and you lose concentration."

Both teams had chances early doors on Saturday, but Palace took a deserved lead on 27 minutes later when Jonny Williams delivered a wonderful ball to the back post for Murray to head home unmarked.

Williams did not even have to look up to notice Murray's positioning for the opener and said he felt the Eagles edged the contest despite Morison's double.

"I was delighted that we got the goal to go 1-0 up, which is vital in a game like that," Williams said.

"It has been a while since I assisted Glenn – hopefully a goal for myself will be coming along soon. Leeds made it tough for us – they're a very physical team but I think we played pretty well.

"Either team could have got the three points but maybe we deserved it with all the shots and domination we had."

And it could have been two when brilliant play from Zaha saw the winger play the ball into Jonathan Parr down the left, who beat his man, burst into the box and forced Kenny into a good stop at his near post.

Palace came out brightly at the start of the second half, a period that saw Varney take an embarrassing dive in the hosts' box, something he was rightfully booked for. However, he had a big say in the next moment of the match when Leeds grabbed an equaliser against the run of play.

The former Charlton man skipped down the left and centred a low ball into Morison, who fired home from just inside the box.

Leeds completed their turnaround when they grabbed their second of the afternoon.

A long ball forward from Kenny ran straight through to Morison, who volleyed on the run past Speroni to stun the home faithful.

Palace had no option but to change formation so Holloway threw Kevin Phillips on in a bid to salvage at least a point.

Dobbie shot over from the edge of the box before Palace grabbed an equaliser through that man again, Glenn Murray.

A ball into the far post from Delaney was hit first time by the striker for his 30th goal of the season in all competitions.

I WENT out with my wife on Tuesday night to a nice Indian restaurant for my birthday, but the day before was awful as we had to abandon our car because of the heavy snow.

We were on the Kent and Surrey border and we went to go and book a hotel but we couldn't, so we then had to try and get the car up a hill.

That didn't work so we had to leave it and walk for two miles – it was absolutely hideous.

I couldn't get into work and neither could the likes of Glenn Murray, who lives down the M23, or Julian Speroni.

It was a bit surreal really and I wasn't expecting that on my birthday in March, ever.

Meanwhile, I'm bemused about the charge from the Football Association, not disappointed. I've read the referee's report and I just don't know what they're doing to be honest.

I've gone onto the pitch last Saturday to get my players off and I got aggressively attacked by one of Leeds' players – do they know me? Am I just going to put up with that? No.

I tried to get my players off like I did at Huddersfield Town, so as far as I'm concerned it's nonsense.

Wilfried's charge, well, he's actually stuck his finger up which is a terrible gesture, isn't it? What on earth did he think he was doing?

I wasn't sure what the Leeds fans were doing – were they booing or was it something worse?

He's going to have to learn with those sort of things, but I haven't been able to have a word with him because I haven't seen him.

He's had terrible toothache and I've heard he's got to have work done on his root canal, so he's been missing from training this week.

The FA will fine him, but they won't ban him, so I'm hoping he'll be OK for Sunday.

Cardiff and Leicester drawing on Tuesday night was the best result we could have hoped for, but there are lots of twists and turns still to come.

What you feel might be a disastrous result might not be – in other words, we beat Hull 4-2 then they go and nick second again after Monday night.

It's all about us keeping our nerve and picking up points. And I felt that point we picked up against a completely up-for-it Leeds last Saturday will be a good one.

I've been promoted when I was 32 points off top spot and also 26 points off from second spot in my career - we have just to be on a good run at the right time.

We've won five, drawn two and lost one in our last eight games. Other teams have done better than that, and teams like Nottingham Forest are galloping up the table.

PURLEY John Fisher thumped Old Blues with four tries to grab an important five-point win last Saturday.

The result keeps them in third position, but they have a game in hand, while the top two are yet to play each other.

PJF opened the scoring early on, as the pacy Chase Thompson caught the ball and returned it unchallenged for five points.

PJF's pack dominated the tight phases providing a solid base from which to take territorial advantage.

In doing this they set up several opportunities to score and reduced the visitors to attack from a long way out.

Steve Brown and Tom Leather secured good lineout possession and the tight five pressured at every opportunity in the scrums.

A solid series of well-controlled rolling mauls had the PJF pack trundling forward, when Liam Miles sprung and crossed the whitewash.

Miles Murphy slotted the conversion and PJF were 12-0 up at the break.

Thompson followed a chip through from Campbell and ran in again unchallenged for his second try after the restart.

After a good passage of play that had PJF attack the try line, the ball was taken on by man of the match and second row Ben Grundman.

With a bulldozing run, he powered over to score the all important fourth try.

PALACE midfielder Jonny Williams believes the Eagles can catch league leaders Cardiff City despite settling for a point against Leeds United.

The 19-year-old put in a fantastic performance and created Glenn Murray's first goal in the first half with a delivery in from the left side of the box.

"Cardiff are having a bit of a wobble so we can catch them," he said.

"Hopefully we can keep pushing to that second place and maybe even first.

"A few weeks ago we wouldn't have said that but now we are confident we can.

"And looking back on the results, the team spirit lifted when we saw other results."

Williams has capped off a fantastic few weeks after returning from injury by returning to the full Wales squad for their up-and-coming World Cup qualifying matches against Scotland and Croatia. Boss Ian Holloway has already dubbed the Kent-born star his "David Silva" and was very happy to hear that he and loan defender Jazz Richards were in Chris Coleman's thoughts.

"It's brilliant to see Jonny and Jazz called up into the senior Wales squad," he said.

"It's just a delight for Jonny, and I'd heard so much about him before I came to Palace."

Born: Bristol – March 1963

Clubs played for: Bristol Rovers, Wimbledon, Brentford, Torquay Utd (loan), QPR.

Clubs managed: Bristol Rovers, QPR, Plymouth Argyle, Leicester City, Blackpool, Palace.

Career appearances: 671

Career goals: 58

His best quotes over the years: "To put it in gentleman's terms, if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, you've done what you set out to do. We didn't look our best today but we've pulled. Some weeks the lady is good looking and some weeks they're not. Our performance today would have been not the best looking bird but at least we got her in the taxi. She may not have been the best looking lady we ended up taking home but it was still very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much and let's have coffee."

"Every dog has its day – and today is woof day! Today I just want to bark."

"I couldn't be more chuffed if I were a badger on the first day of the mating season."

"I watched Arsenal in the Champions League the other week playing some of the best football I've ever seen and yet they couldn't have scored in a brothel with two grand in their pockets!"

"I think the Bosman thing is a pile of donkey dung."

"He's (Cristiano Ronaldo) six-foot something, fit as a flea, good-looking – he's got to have something wrong with him. Hopefully he's hung like a hamster! That would make us all feel better!"

"One minute I was painting the lounge, the next I'm being asked to manage a Championship side. My wife will have to finish the glossing."

"If you're a burglar, it's no good poncing about outside somebody's house, looking good with your swag bag ready. Just get in there, burgle them and come out. I don't advocate that obviously, it's just an analogy."

"In the first half we were like the Dog and Duck, in the second half we were like Real Madrid. We can't go on like that. At full-time I was at them like an irritated Jack Russell."

"I am a football manager. I can't see into the future. Last year I thought I was going to Cornwall on my holidays but I ended up going to Lyme Regis."

"It was lucky that the linesman wasn't stood in front of me as I would have poked him with a stick to make sure he was awake."

PUPILS at a school in Thornton Heath dressed up as their favourite literary characters, from Noddy to the Hungry Caterpillar, to celebrate Adventure Week.

Children at David Livingstone Academy took part in a series of activities to coincide with World Book Week last Thursday.

They made bookworms, wrote poems and acted scenes from popular stories.

The school also received a visit from literary group West End in Schools, who gave pupils tips on how to become writers.

"Friday was the best day of all because they got to come dressed as a character from a book we had studied in class," said the school's English leader Rachael Bishop.

"Our celebration assembly showcased the costumes and prizes were awarded to the best dressed child in each class and for our photo challenge competition, where pupils were asked to get caught reading in the most exciting place.

"Our winner was a reception child who was found reading on top of a police motorbike."

On Friday afternoon Caboodle Arts Company put on a performance including well-known fairy tale characters.

Miss Bishop said: "It was an action packed week at David Livingstone and we had quite the adventure."

members of the Parachute Regimental Association (PRA) will gather at Sutton War Memorial next weekend to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the Rhine Crossing.

The crossing of March 24, 1945, remains the biggest and most successful airborne operation in military history.

Several members of the Croydon branch were involved, including Johnny Johnson, who attends the memorial in Sutton each year to remember his friends who did not make it back. His entire platoon of 30 men were killed.

"When his friends in the branch heard of this, they started to join him, and it has now grown into a short ceremony," said Colonel John Power, president of Croydon PRA.

The mayors of both boroughs will attend the service on March 23 at 10.30am.

Colonel Power and secretary Ginger Mead will read a description of the operation, followed by the Last Post, a period of silence and a Reveille bugle call. The ceremony is followed by an informal brunch and beer in a nearby pub.

The Rhine Crossing represented the Allies final push into Germany in the last year of the war. It involved airborne troops landing by parachute and glider to capture high ground in order to protect troops crossing the river.

A FAMILY concert series dating back almost half a century will hold its final performance on March 23.

The Saturday Morning Family Concert has been a regular fixture at Fairfield Halls since its creation by Arthur Davison in 1966.

Arthur's son, Darrell, took the reins after his death in 1990 but is now ending the performances because of financial constraints.

Darrell said: "My father was given lessons by the great violinist Albert Sammons but when he came to pay, he couldn't afford it.

"But Sammons just waved his hand and said 'pass it on'. My father wanted to continue that."

"We still get good crowds but it is probably not as busy because children have become busier and busier on Saturdays, so it is no longer feasible."

Darrell, from Purley, is also conductor of the Croydon Symphony Orchestra and has taken his family concerts to places as far flung as Kuala Lumpur.

More than a third of a million children and adults have watched the concerts, which used to take place at least seven times a year.

Now they have been scaled back to three or four a year, although they are still popular.

"A woman sent me a letter to say she was shocked how her very active young boys were able to sit still for a couple of hours," Darrell said.

"We hope to have entertained many children like that over the years."

The final concert has a sci-fi theme and is titled "From Infinity To Beyond", featuring music from Star Wars, Dr Who, E.T. and Star Trek.

The end of Saturday mornings may be in sight, but Darrell believes the show will go on.

"We are looking at reviving the format for some Sunday afternoon performances and see how those fare," he said. "I will call this 'The End. Question mark.'"

Tickets are available at £7.50 (concessions at £6.50 for groups of 4 or more) from the Fairfield Box Office on 020 8688 9291, or online at www.fairfield.co.uk

BOYBAND The Wanted visited Oasis Academy in Shirley Park to encourage students to fundraise for Red Nose Day.

International stars Max, Siva, Jay, Tom and Nathan treated the pupils to a lively Q&A and reminded them of the difference they can make by raising money for Comic Relief.

Max George from The Wanted said: "We're so excited about being here today to help the Shirley Park Academy kick-start their Red Nose Day fundraising.

"Schools are some of the best fundraisers for Red Nose Day and it was great to see so many of the students getting involved in such a brilliant cause. They are all raring to go and will no doubt do the school proud by raising lots of cash for vulnerable people in London as well as across the UK and Africa."

Mr Glenn Lillo, Associate Head of Primary Phase at Oasis Academy said: "We're delighted to be involved in this year's Red Nose Day and we're looking forward to getting as many of the students on board as possible. It's not only for a good cause, but a great way to engage the pupils and get them doing something funny for money."

A VAN used by a serial fly-tipper who dumped rubbish in a disused builders' yard – even though it was a few hundred metres from a recycling centre – has been seized and destroyed.

The vehicle was spotted by a council officer who recognised its registration number from complaints made by residents in Martin Crescent a year earlier.

They reported the number plate in 2011 after the builders' yard near a rubbish tip in Factory Lane became a festering mound of waste.

Amy and Leslie Bushell were so frustrated by the council's inaction that they contacted the Advertiser, providing the registration details of vehicles involved.

Croydon Council said this week that the van and its registered keeper had been untraceable and, due to the scale of the problem, it eventually had to clear the privately owned land itself.

In October the fly-tippers returned and the site began to fill up with junk again.

The issue was again reported to the council's environmental enforcement team, who remembered the details of the van, which the culprit was then careless enough to leave next to the new pile of waste which had been dumped.

The person believed to be the owner of the vehicle at the time is now facing prosecution and van has been seized and crushed.

Councillor Phil Thomas, cabinet member for highways and environmental services, said: "We have zero tolerance to fly-tipping, and anyone caught illegally dumping waste – be that a single bin bag by the side of a tree or a tipper-load dropped on the road – can expect to be caught and punished."

CATHOLICS across Croydon have joined the millions around the world in celebrating the election of the new pope.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, was elected on Wednesday evening. The 76-year-old is the first non-European pope since the middle ages.

He will take the name Francis, echoing that of St Francis of Assisi, the 12th century Italian friar who devoted himself to helping the poor.

Father Joe O' Connor, from the Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation, Addiscombe, said he seemed right for the job. He added: "He seems to be a very humble man living a simple lifestyle. People sometimes perhaps look on hierarchy as living totally separate from people and he does not appear to be that kind of person at all.

"I don't think that [his being from outside Europe] makes the slightest bit of difference; we have to get the man that people think is right for the job, and where he comes from is immaterial. The most important thing is that he listens to the people and he is faithful to the gospel."

Father Paddy Cannon, from St Dominic's Catholic Church in Waddon, said he was "absolutely delighted" with the choice of Pope Francis I. He added: "He is a wonderful man and very humble.

"He is from outside Europe, which is important as it shows the universality of the Catholic Church. He will bring us ever closer together and help us to serve the Lord."

A STRUGGLING Croydon pub has applied for planning permission to be completely rebuilt.

Ye Olde Clock Tower, in Whitehorse Road, would be knocked down and replaced by a bar with eight flats above it.

Owners Jim MacGuire and Mary McDonagh are seeking permission to help save their business, which they say has been hit hard by the recession.

Mr MacGuire said: "We had to do something. It's like this everywhere but we didn't want to give up.

"We see the area is getting a lot of development and we thought this would be a good time to change, to hopefully cater better for those demands.

"The current building is not really fit for purpose."

Mr MacGuire insists the new bar, which would have the same name, is not specifically aimed at a different demographic.

He said: "You open your doors and all you can hope for is for nice people to walk through them."

Mr MacGuire, who has been in charge of the pub for 15 years, is hoping to have it reopened within six months of any work starting.

He said: "We will try to open it as quickly as possible because we obviously don't want to be losing money forever. But once we do, we will be serving food and starting to get behind the real ale movement, which has taken off massively."