THE parents of a 25-year-old father-of-one who died in a car crash hundreds of miles from home have paid tribute to a "wonderful happy-go-lucky dad".

Connell Cooke, from West Croydon, had celebrated his birthday only four days before his death. It was the last time he saw his family.

The former Ashburton Community School student grew up in West Croydon and Thornton Heath and was a well-known face at Yates' in Croydon High Street, where he worked as a barman.

Mr Cooke died when the van he was a passenger in crashed into trees in Moulsoe, Milton Keynes on February 5.

A 42-year-old man was later arrested on suspicion of death by dangerous driving. He has been bailed until April 30.

Connell's father, Derek Cooke, who lives with his second wife in Mitcham, recalled: "I got the call and I couldn't really believe what they were telling me. It was absolutely devastating, just total shock, it was absolutely awful.

"His mother Susan and I have not been together for a long time and I have been married to my second wife for 20 years but we're still good friends.

"I was at her house in 15 minutes with my youngest son and my wife. The police were there and all of Connell's brothers and sisters. We just spent the night hugging and crying."

Connell's funeral took place on February 28. Derek, a funeral director with Co-operative in Tooting, could not face doing the job himself. He said: "My colleagues ended up sorting out the funeral and they did a beautiful job.

"I couldn't believe how many people were at the funeral, hundreds, they were just spilling out onto the street. I always knew Connell was popular but I still couldn't believe how many people were there to say goodbye to him, it made me very proud."

The family left a white cardboard coffin at the funeral so that guests could leave a message for Connell. Derek said: "It's a good job we booked a double slot at the crematorium because it took half an hour alone just for everyone to sign it. It was a bit weird and wacky but we know Connell would have loved it."

"The last time I saw him he came to my house with his son for his birthday. His two sisters and his brother were there, we had a great day. We just didn't know that would be the last time we saw him. His mum also saw him the morning of the accident. He left the house and never came home."

A trust fund has now been set up for Connell's son, who the family have asked the Advertiser not to name.

Connell's mother Susan Cooke told the Advertiser: "I am truly devastated and can't put into words my feelings. As Derek explained we were amazed at how many lives Connell has touched and how many people attended his funeral.

"He was a devoted lover of Facebook and everyone was saying how funny he was and how they would log on to his page to see what weird and funny things he said. He was funny, easy going, happy-go-lucky and I could not have wished for a better son, I am so proud of him.

"He was a wonderful dad and doted on his little boy."

The nominees for this year's Croydon Business Awards have today been announced.
Hundreds of entries were received for the nine categories, with a panel of independent judges whittling the entries down to 41 finalists. 
The awards, which were free to enter, also include a tenth category - overall Business of the Year - and the winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony on May 1 at Fairfield Halls.

The full list of finalists for each category is as follows:

Best Small Business - Sponsored by Owadally & King Chartered Accountant

AOB UK Ltd
Arnold & Baldwin Chartered Surveyors
Foxwood Residential Ltd
Phase 1 Enterprise Ltd
Rightpath Insurance Solutions Ltd
T & K Accounting Group
The Little Bay
The Valet Male Grooming

Best Medium Sized Business

Artemis Insurance Brokers Ltd
CCHA
Martek Contracts Ltd
Sheriffs High Court Enforcement Ltd T/A The Sheriffs Office
SLE Ltd
Stiles Harold Williams
William Murray
Wings Transport Ltd

Commitment to the Community - Sponsored by the Fairfield Halls    
 
Allianz Global Assistance
Cleankill Environmental Services
Croydon Business Improvement District
Croydon Merton & Sutton Credit Union
Phase 1 Enterprise Ltd
PJ's Community Service

Best Business for Training and Development

Allianz Global Assistance
AOB UK Ltd
Blackfords LLP
Flemmings
Jurys Inn Croydon
Stiles Harold Williams

The FSB Real Life Entrepreneur - Sponsored by the Federation of Small Business    
 
Be Styled UK
BLC Property Services Ltd
Garden King
JAM Hair Sanderstead
Rightpath Insurance Solutions Ltd
The Valet Male Grooming

Best Business for Customer Service    

Blackfords LLP
Catherine Johnstone Recruitment
Croydon Park Hotel
Flemmings
Handelsbanken
RME Redesign Ltd TA Dream Doors
Signs Express Croydon
Synergy Nutrition

Best New Business Sponsored by Croydon Park Hotel  

Top Move Estate Agents
Be Styled UK
Foxwood Residential Ltd
Garden King
Gooey UK Ltd
Tenants History Ltd

Best Green Business - Sponsored by Veolia Environmental Services  

Cleankill Environmental Services
Croydon Park Hotel
Garden King
Jurys Inn Croydon
Martek Contracts Ltd
Stiles Harold Williams

Best Business for Work Related Learning or Employment for Young People - Sponsored by Croydon Council

BLC Property Services Ltd
My Social Media PA
Parchmore Pre-school
PJ's Community Service
Saint Cyprians Greek Orthodox Primary School
Star Child Montessori Day Nursery

Goals Eltham scores FA Small Sided Accreditation

Goals Eltham celebrates achievement of attaining the FA Small Sided Football Accreditation for second year.

The Goals Soccer Centre in Eltham, off Eltham Palace Road, has retained its FA accreditation status for another year following a re-assessment process.

The FA Small Sided Accreditation was only recently introduced in 2011 and requires providers to demonstrate that they maintain high standards with a quality management system in place to ensure consistency and improvement; leading to high levels of performance and customer satisfaction. Certified providers are committed to continuous improvement and are assessed annually to ensure progress is being maintained.

Goals Eltham demonstrated in its external assessment that they meet all five areas of the standard in providing a high level of service by ensuring reliability and consistency which gives its customers a high level of confidence when playing or hiring its football facilities.

Goals Eltham Centre Manager Omar Elimlahi said: "It is a fantastic achievement to receive FA accreditation in their centenary year for a second successive term and to be once again recognised for our standards of excellence within the industry.

He added: "It shows our commitment to on-going improvement and our continuous delivery of a high-quality football experience to all of our customers. 

Goals Soccer Centres are the largest provider of small sided football with 43 purpose built centres in the UK.

EUROPEAN cafe culture could be on the menu in Croydon under plans to pedestrianise the Restaurant Quarter.

A grant of £2.8 million is being given to the South End High Street Improvements Project by the London mayor's office, and ideas to make the area more attractive to have been put forward by the community.

One suggestion is to pedestrianise Selsdon Road, so that people can sit outside without having to worry about passing traffic.

Anthony Waldbaum is on the South Croydon Community Association team, which will help advise where the money is spent.

He told the Advertiser: "Pedestrianising the area, or rather, narrowing the roads has been suggested.

"We have done a walkabout the area with planners and designers and I am not yet sure if it would even be possible, but it would be a good way to improve the area and slow down traffic, which right now is a problem.

"It would give the area a village feel, and make it very European.

"It is a possibility but we will have to see what the design team can do."

Mr Waldbaum added the association were "frustrated" that there will not be enough money left over to improve the "tatty" area around and entrance to South Croydon Station.

John Clingan, who is chairing the team, said: "Anything that calms the traffic around here will have a fantastic effect on the area. "We had meetings with the planners in January but since then we have come together on our own and brainstormed. Obviously, it is up to what the other stakeholders in the area want to do as well.

"We hope this money will greatly improve South Croydon and attract even more people to the area and to using our brilliant businesses."

However, one business owner is unsure about the pedestrianisation plan.

Giorgio Raffaelli, owner of the La Spezia, in Selsdon Road, told the Advertiser he wants to make sure the project does not become all about helping the restaurants.

He said: "I'm not sure if it would work because of the traffic, where would it go? We don't want to push it elsewhere to annoy someone else.

"Everyone seems to be concentrating on the restaurants.

"Of course I'd love to have some tables outside my cafe as they do at home but I don't want the other businesses to feel cut off or left out.

"There are other businesses to think about. It could be a nice idea, but it has to be unanimous decision by everyone here.

"We have to consider other people and whether this is going to create chaos."

The South End area was rebranded the Restaurant Quarter last year, as part of efforts to promote Croydon's strengths in the aftermath of the riots.

Mr Oxlade is leading the college under a new partnership with Reigate College, where he is principal, in order to improve Coulsdon after it received a second consecutive 'inadequate' rating from Ofsted last month.

The two colleges have formed a federation and are working towards merging once Coulsdon catches up with Reigate in becoming recognised as 'outstanding' by Ofsted.

Coulsdon College principal David Goodlet retired on Friday as part of the agreement and will not immediately be replaced.

Mr Oxlade, who will remain principal at Reigate, said he has a "19-point improvement plan" for Coulsdon which will see it aligning its practices and standards with Reigate's.

Discussing plans to improve the college's relatively low attendance rate of around 84 per cent, he said: "One-hundred per cent attendance is the expectation. Anyone who goes under 90 per cent will not be allowed back.

"Look, that is unacceptable. As far as we are concerned it is just like Sainsbury's: if you don't attend you get sacked, as simple as that. The policy at Reigate is you are either in hospital or in college. There is no in-between."

He added there would also be zero tolerance of late work, with parents asked to come in if their child's work was late and students suspended if parents did not appear.

He said he aimed to make clear college was a place where "students have an entitlement to learn", adding: "That means someone who does not see that as important won't belong here and will have to go somewhere else.

"It will be a shock, but one that will give parents confidence that they know that this is a place where their son or daughter will be taught well and expectations will be high."

The curriculum is to include a "much wider choice" of Btec nationals, and students will be able to mix and match A levels and Btecs, Mr Oxlade added.

"I think some of the issues of the college in the past have been that they have, with the very best motives, taken students on to courses that actually they are not really equipped to take," Mr Oxlade said.

"The core of teaching here is outstanding but it is very difficult to get a student to pass or get a good grades at A level if they have only got three or four GCSEs, so we have got to be honest with students and we have to recruit with integrity.

"To take a student on a course that they stand no chance of passing is not something that we will even consider."

Mr Oxlade added he would be looking at the performance of all teachers, and that nothing but "outstanding in everything" would be acceptable.

He said: "There is some teaching that needs improving. Not nearly as much as you would imagine by reading that report.

"Any teachers who don't provide outstanding teaching will need to seriously consider whether this is the place for them to work, because the demands here will be incredible." The new federation between Coulsdon Sixth Form College and Reigate College sees Reigate taking 'strategic control' of Coulsdon. Reigate stepped up after being phoned by the Sixth Form Colleges' Association, less than two months ago. Reigate College's ex-principal, Dr Paul Rispoli, who retired in December 2011, will be leading the 'implementation strategy'. Bernard Borland, ex-principal of St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College, will be working with the college between September and December. A successor to Mr Goodlet will be appointed at that time, although his exact role is not yet decided. Coulsdon will also be joining the Surrey S7 Consortium of sixth form colleges, which includes Godalming, Reigate and Woking. When it becomes recognised as 'outstanding' by Ofsted, the two colleges will merge. Mr Oxlade said: "The idea is to move this college from where we are now extremely rapidly to a much, much better place. "Ultimately, I would like to think this is a corridor of excellence from Croydon to Horley."

The college is holding an open evening on May 1. Visit www.coulsdon.ac.uk for details.

CROYDON University Hospital has suffered "significant reputational damage" as a result of infighting among directors, a newly published report has said.

An independent review into governance at the trust found relationships between directors are "poor and distrustful" and morale among staff is low. It said that even with "exemplary" leadership it would take time for the situation to improve.

It called for a high-profile "relaunch" to avoid a "spiral of decline".

The report was commissioned by Mike Bell, interim chairman of Croydon Health Services, after the resignation of his predecessor Michael Parker in December last year.

Mr Parker stepped down after less than a year in the job amid reports he was opposed to interim chief executive John Goulston being given the job on a permanent basis.

But anyone who hoped the review would shed light on precisely what happened will be disappointed.

Relationships had suffered because of the events of the past 12 months, the report said, and then been "severely damaged" by what occurred in December 2012.

When asked whether the 16-page document was deliberately light on detail in terms of what happened and why, Mr Bell said: "It's a fair assessment.

"It will be no surprise to your readers that relationships at the top table have not been good for some time.

"My priority was to look forward rather than what has gone wrong over the last 12 months."

Mr Bell's report blamed the structure of the board and urged the trust to reduce the number of committees.

"Part of the problem was the system," Mr Bell told the Advertiser. "There wasn't a clear line of reporting and expectations were unclear.

"When I arrived I was shocked to discover there were nine separate sub-committees of the board. Directors were required to attend so many meetings and do so much paperwork, no one had any time to get on with their jobs."

When asked what had led the board to fall out, Mr Bell would only say: "I'm not of the view that everyone needs to love each other, but there needs to be respect. Some of the board weren't behaving as you would expect professionals to behave.

"So we're creating a new structure where people can perform to their full and behave with respect to each other."

Though the report highlights infighting damaged the trust's image, causing low morale among staff, Mr Bell insists the issues did not impact on patient care.

"The trust continued to function in spite of the differences at the top table," he explained.

"I don't think it had an adverse affect on clinical performance, though had it been allowed to continue then it clearly would have done."

The report said the biggest impact had been on the trust's reputation.

"As the majority of staff live locally, adverse publicity has impacted negatively on staff morale and may cause the trust difficulty in recruiting and retaining excellent staff," it said.

"In the worst case, there is a possibility of a spiral of decline in which reputational damage both makes it more difficult to address the problems and persists even after the underlying problems have been resolved."

The review recommended a "high-profile communications programme designed to restore confidence and reputation".

Mr Bell, who has drawn up an action plan to address the report's recommendations, said: "This won't be a fluffy PR exercise. It's about changing the reputation of the trust by promoting the things we are doing to improve quality of care."

TRINITY School pupils representing Surrey had a successful day at the UK Inter-Counties in Birmingham last weekend.

Sophie Foreman (pictured) ran in the U17 women's event. After leading for much of the first lap, she finished in fifth place, but she was Surrey's highest scorer and won a team gold.

She now has team golds for all age categories - U13s, U15s and U17s and runs with Tonbridge Athletics Club.

Commenting on the race Foreman said: "On a personal basis I would have liked a medal, but at the same time I am really pleased that I was able to help secure gold for the team, who have now won for the sixth year in a row."

Both Foreman and Peter Chambers will be racing in Derbyshire tomorrow in the English Schools National Cross-Country Championships.

Meanwhile, in swimming, Trinity had a number of medallists in the Surrey Schools finals.

Louis Philips won silver in the senior 100m freestyle (54.56), Henry Knight won gold in the senior 100m backstroke (60.24), while Benedict Kelleher won gold in the senior 100m individual medley (61.34).

Rhys Singleton did well to win gold in the junior boys' 100m freestyle (56.72), Jacob Newcombe also won gold in the lower junior 100m backstroke (1:16.16), while Michael Eagling took bronze in the lower junior 100m freestyle (107.07).

THE country looks back to the summer of 1966 fondly.

Television was better, kids could play in the street and people could leave their front doors open.

Oh, and England won the World Cup.

But what might have happened without the intervention of a dog from South Norwood named Pickles?

Pickles, a black and white Collie, stumbled upon the Jules Rimet trophy in a bush on Beulah Hill while out for a walk with his owner, David Corbett.

The country had been in uproar after the trophy was stolen from a cabinet at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster on March 20, 1966, ahead of the summer's tournament.

The Football Association, embarrassed by the situation, initially tried to cover up the cup's theft and was sent a ransom note by a man calling himself "Jackson".

By now, the press and general public knew everything.

A meeting was arranged with Jackson, but the operation was bungled and the man was arrested, refusing to reveal the whereabouts of the trophy.

To the relief of a nation, they only had to wait two more days before Mr Corbett popped across the road to make a telephone call with Pickles.

The dog's attention was caught by a suspicious tightly-wrapped white package on the ground, which turned out to contain the precious gold trophy.

Mr Corbett took it home and announced to his wife that Pickles had found the World Cup before taking it to Gipsy Hill police station.

Of course, Mr Corbett's innocent discovery immediately made him the prime suspect.

He was interrogated for hours at the police station, leaving him to wonder whether his discovery was even worth it.

Once released, Mr Corbett walked right into a media storm, with the discovery making front page news around the world.

In Britain, Pickles was a hero, knocking Harold Wilson and the impending general election off the front pages.

The cunning canine achieved celebrity status, being booked to appear on numerous TV shows including Magpie and Blue Peter.

He even won the coveted Dog Of The Year title and appeared in a film, The Spy With The Cold Nose, with Eric Sykes.

The night the World Cup was won, Mr Corbett and Pickles went to the party, where the dog was passed around by the England players.

Pickles' celebrity status was to be short-lived, however, as, in a tragic twist, he was found hanging from a tree in 1967.

The death was said to be a horrible accident after chasing a cat up a tree, but debate rages as to the validity of that explanation.

Nonetheless, Pickles' legend has grown and next week he is being honoured with a festival in his name by the South Norwood Tourist Board.

Picklesfest will feature a live re-enactment of the discovery, with a fully motorised papier-mache version of Pickles finding the Jules Rimet trophy.

The organisers have announced a campaign to get the trophy back to Beulah Hill for Picklesfest IV in 2016, the 50th anniversary of the momentous occasion.

"It says I have 30 days to pay off my loans and overdrafts. If I don't they are going to force me into bankruptcy, meaning the last 25 years of my life will have been for nothing."

Kanagaratnam Kanendran, sitting on the opposite side of the room, nods. "All my life savings are gone," he says. "I have been borrowing money from wherever I can – the bank, from friends and from family.

"I am hoping to survive but if nothing changes in the next six months then I will have to declare bankruptcy as well."

Mr Kanendran owns the Londis convenience store in London Road, which burned down during the riots. His friend Mr Paramanathan lost £450,000 when his jewellery store, JK Gold & Fashion House, was ransacked.

That was 18 months ago, at the height of the disorder in August 2011, and they are still trying to claim compensation.

The Advertiser revealed earlier this month that politicians are aware of as many as 40 outstanding cases in Croydon, even though government minister Damian Green insists that 98 per cent of uninsured claims have been paid.

This week some of the people who make up that two per cent attended our meeting at Praise House in London Road, organised with the help of Bushra Ahmed, whose family's launderette and dry-cleaners, Crystal Clean, was destroyed when Royal Mansions was torched.

Each person's story follows a similar path, beginning with the struggle to rebuild their lives after the loss of their home or business. Most of their insurance claims have been settled. Where they were not covered they claimed under the Riot (Damages) Act (RDA).

They describe meetings with police and loss adjusters, being asked to produce long-lost receipts for destroyed furniture or clothing, and then being offered a sum far below the original estimate. Some, like Mr Kanendran, stood firm and now face ruin.

Others felt pressured into accepting, such as single mum Charlene Munro who lost everything she owned but received just £2,450. She is in now in the process of declaring bankruptcy.

All of their accounts are punctuated by periodic promises from politicians that their cases would be dealt with. There is one pledge each one remembers clearly.

"I give the people affected this promise," said Prime Minister David Cameron in the aftermath of the disorder. "We will help you repair the damage, get your businesses back up and running; and support your communities."

Mr Paramanathan, who met with Mr Cameron when he visited Croydon the day after the riots, wrote to him last December to hold him to his word.

He wrote: "A number of promises were made by you with regards to getting the community back to the position it was prior to the riots.

"We have received some of the payment from my insurer but have yet to hear anything more than a cursory acknowledgement of our claim submitted (to) the Metropolitan Police. We were able to get short-term loans to reopen but these are now in need of repayment. The money (from the RDA) is vital to our survival.

"As one of many businesses that must be in a similar situation, we are simply looking for some help to get back on our feet, rather than to be turned away when we need help the most."

Mr Paramanathan has yet to receive a response from the Prime Minister, whose office said this week it had not received the letter, even though a similar message to Prince Charles met with immediate reply.

When the Advertiser e-mailed a copy to Number 10, we received a reply from the Home Office including a statement from Police Minister Damian Green. He said: "Due to the complexity of some cases, it has taken longer than we hoped to resolve these claims but we are working closely with all interested parties in Croydon and aim to make progress on their claims shortly.

"We are reviewing the RDA to ensure it protects the most vulnerable."

"They are just words" said Mumtaz Hassan, the leaseholder for Crystal Clean, who has yet to receive any of the £265,000 he has claimed under the RDA.

"After the riots the politicians told us they were going to help us reinstate our businesses, but nothing happened. We've been given hope before. I don't believe them anymore."

Since he was elected last November, new Croydon North MP Steve Reed has taken up the residents' case.

He used his maiden speech in Parliament to highlight how victims of the riots were "abandoned" by the Government, saying: "These are hard-working people. I want to make a plea on their behalf, and on behalf of so many others like them, that the promises made to Croydon North after the riots must be met in full.

"The people who live and work there deserve nothing less."

• Mother who lost everything in Croydon riots claiming for bankruptcy
• London Road Londis owner £100,000 overdrawn as he waits for compensation claim
• The Rozarios: Locked out of the claim process
• London Road laundrette owner speaks of struggle to make ends meet after the riots
• Carla Rees: 'Things are really tough, but I have been lucky'
• London Road trader: 'I might as well accept lower riots compensation payment, or it could take years'

MORE pop-up shops, a register of landlords and business rates relief for small firms are among "emergency measures" needed to rescue high streets from a rising tide of bookmakers and money lenders, experts have said.

The London Assembly's Economy Committee made its recommendations this week on how to break the "vicious cycle" on the high streets, in which empty retail units discourage shoppers and fuel more vacancies.

This follows news last week that Paddy Power had won permission to open the borough's 66th betting shop, despite huge opposition from locals.

Compiled with input from Croydon and other councils, the report recommends London-wide support to renegotiate rents and more planning powers for councils to restrict pawnbrokers and betting shops.

Pawnbrokers had nearly doubled from 135 to 263 across London between January 2010 and 2012, often not needing planning permission because they filled empty shops that had been used under the same planning category.

Assembly member Andrew Dismore, chair of the Economy Committee, said: "The mayor, the Government and local boroughs need urgently to follow our recommendations to bring empty shops back into use, stop the rot and help our local high streets thrive again."

The report comes as Croydon Council is offering small and medium-sized businesses moving into Croydon town centre rates discounts of up to 65 per cent in the first year.

The £1.14 million scheme, funded by the Mayor of London, can be applied for until March 2015.

Councillor Vidhi Mohan, cabinet member for economic regeneration, told the Advertiser: "Rate relief has to be properly targeted and that is why currently it is targeted in the town centre because we want to ensure empty office space is used up."

Cllr Mohan added he also supported other recommendations in the report, in particular a register of landlords so owners of empty properties could be tracked down and their properties put to other uses.

He said: "I think that would be really helpful because at the moment it is really difficult for the council to find exactly who owns some of these properties – a lot of them are identified to someone offshore so the whole ownership is very complex."

More planning powers over pawnbrokers and betting shops would be very welcome, he added, but the best weapon against such shops would be wider economic regeneration.

Ganapathy Kasinathan, chair of London Road Business Association, supported the possibility of increasing the council's planning powers after the licencing committee said last week it was unable to turn down an application for a heavily opposed betting shop in London Road.

He said: "It has really upset every one. We are trying to regenerate the area."

The report called for councils to be able to buy empty shops' leases with a form of compulsory purchase order. Cllr Mohan said the council would need to be confident that there was a market for any leases it bought.

RUN-DOWN Archbishop Lanfranc is no closer to being rebuilt -a year after it was included on a list of schools to receive government funding for renovation or new buildings.

Head teacher David Clark, who remains in the dark about how much money the high school will get or what it will be spent on, has described the lack of progress as "very frustrating".

Mr Clark is no stranger to disappointment when it comes to the prospect of the school, in Mitcham Road, being rebuilt.

Lanfranc, which has 1,048 pupils on its books, had been included in the previous Labour Government's Building Schools for the Future programme, but the coalition abandoned the scheme.

"It seems like a carrot is being constantly dangled in front of us but we're never able to reach it," said Mr Clark.

Hope of desperately needed repairs to the building, which has had little refurbishment since being built to cater for 800 pupils in the 1950s, was rekindled last June when Lanfranc was included in the Government's Priority School Building Programme.

At the time Mr Clark welcomed the news, saying: "We have classrooms which are too small to fit classes in and corridors so crowded the children can't easily move around the school.

"There are times when the school is literally gridlocked because there is no space."

Since then the need for major improvement works – or a complete rebuild – has only increased. There is, however, no sign of that happening any time soon.

Mr Clark said: "All we know is there will be a conversation with someone from the Department for Education in the autumn.

"With a view to what, we don't know.

"If we're not going to be any further down the line than that then I will leave you to work out when building work – whatever that entails – will start. It certainly won't be in the near future."

Mr Clark could be forgiven for casting an envious eye at Quest Academy in Selsdon, which announced earlier this month that it will be subject to a £16 million rebuild.

Croydon Council has already appointed Wates Construction to undertake the work, which is expected to be completed by September 2014.

"The announcement that Quest is getting a new building fairly soon seemed encouraging at first," said Mr Clark.

"I know their need is quite great as well, and good luck to them that they got it, but why has it happened for somewhere else and not here?"

When asked whether he thought academies were being given priority, Mr Clark said: "It's pretty clear where all the money is going at the moment."

Last week, Croydon was allocated £63.2 million over the next two years for new school places – more than anywhere else in the country.

The council, which will still have to borrow £100 million over that period to create extra forms of entry, will not be using any of the money to refurbish outdated school buildings.

For Archbishop Lanfranc, the wait must continue.

"It's very frustrating but we have to put the building out of our minds," said Mr Clark. "The children are more important."

A GRIEVING family who lost their son to cancer just before Christmas are appealing for the safe return of their missing tropical bird.

Earl, a one-year-old cockatiel, escaped from the Beecher family's flat in Dagnall Park, Selhurst, on Saturday and has not returned since.

The cockatiel belongs to circus contortionist son Max, 26, whose identical twin John died aged 25 from bowel cancer on December 12.

Father Michael Beecher, 54, a civil servant, said: "We are incredibly upset about this.

"We have had a very hard time of late coming to terms with the loss of John."

John, a historian and writer, was studying a post-graduate degree at Oxford before suspending his studies when his cancer advanced.

Earl managed to escape from his cage on Saturday evening and was by the front door when it was opened.

Mr Beecher added: "He must have been startled by the sudden movement and just flew out the door.

"I can only imagine he was disoriented by the dark and all the loud noises outside."

Mr Beecher is offering a reward of £200 for the return of his son's treasured bird and hopes Earl will be back entertaining them soon.

The bird escaped near Selhurst Station but Mr Beecher thinks he could have flown much further away.

He has contacted the RSPCA and put up posters all over the surrounding area.

"He is an eye-catching bird and there cannot be too many like him flying around Croydon," Mr Beecher said.

"Every time I receive a call from an unknown number, I think it must be someone with information."

Cheeky Earl is known for perching on pairs of glasses and showing an interest in his master's Twitter account.

Mr Beecher said: "We love having Earl around and he is always a happy presence.

"He normally travels with Max and his circus. They were only a few weeks away from going back on the road."

Max travels with the Cirque Normandie around the South of England, including previous shows in Croydon.

Mr Beecher added: "As identical twins, they could not have been following more different paths, but they were very close.

"This has been particularly difficult for Max after losing his twin and we are desperate to get the bird back."

Anyone with information about Earl can contact Mr Beecher on 07979 938510, or on e-mail at michaelbeecher@btinternet.com