Author: Editor SPRA

We have received the folowing from PlayPlace and are delighted to share it with members … a senior member of the PlayPlace team will be at our AGM so do come along and find out more.

A Bright Future for Shirley Library as Community Group Secures New Lease

Shirley Library is set to begin an exciting new chapter, following an announcement by the Executive Mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, on Wednesday 14th May. Community organisation Play Place Innov8 CIC has been confirmed, in principle, as the successful group to take on the long-term lease and management of the library. This positive step forward means Shirley Library can continue to thrive and remain a much-loved place for learning, connection, and community life.

Play Place, a not-for-profit organisation based in Croydon, brings nearly 20 years of experience in delivering inclusive youth and community services. Their aim is to protect the library’s traditional role while also creating new opportunities for local people of all ages to enjoy and benefit from.

Chris Hennis, Business Director at Play Place, said:

“We’re excited about the opportunity to retain and improve the ‘Shirley Library and Learning Centre’, support local volunteers to help run it, and develop new family-friendly educational activities as soon as possible. We plan to retain the library’s traditional function whilst offering new opportunities for residents of all ages.”

Play Place hopes to work closely with residents, volunteers, and community groups such as the Friends of Shirley Library and Residents Associations to shape the library’s future. This approach will help ensure that the library remains a welcoming and useful space for everyone. In more good news, we recently received a generous donation of books from Shirley Methodist Church, following their recent book sale. A huge thank you to everyone involved for their support”!

The plan is to keep the library’s core services including free loan of books, study areas, and computer access, while also introducing activities that reflect the interests of local people. This could include after-school clubs, reading groups, creative sessions, and family events. Activities like bingo, knitting, and poetry groups may also return, with support offered to the existing users who already make the library a lively community space.

Play Place also wants to encourage local volunteering and will offer free training in areas like First Aid and community engagement for those who help run the library. This will give people the chance to learn new skills and play an active role in supporting the space.

Looking ahead, there are also ideas to create a small café-style area and to modernise parts of the building, making it more comfortable and accessible for all visitors. The library’s art deco charm will be preserved while improvements are made to create a fresh, inviting environment.

Children and families will be at the heart of the new vision, with plans for holiday activities, storytelling sessions, and themed events throughout the year. Play Place also aims to partner with local schools to support young learners with additional opportunities for learning and development.

This new chapter for Shirley Library marks an important moment for the local community. With Play Place at the helm and the support of local people, the library is set to grow as a space for learning, sharing, and coming together.

Your feedback is important to us – please use the link or QR code below to complete our simple and quick survey, we want to hear your ideas!

https://forms.office.com/e/0uz9jvh03e

For more information, contact:

[info@playplace.org](mailto:info@playplace.org) | [www.playplace.org](http://www.playplace.org)

Donations of musical instruments for charitable use are sought. We have been asked to draw the following to members’ attentions …

Andrew Moore, recently-appointed Musical Director of Croydon Male Voice Choir, has issued this call for donations of musical instruments:

I am looking to collect any old, unused instruments that people may have. I am building up a collection for my music therapy work. In particular, any handheld percussion instruments. If you may have old instruments looking for a new home please do pass them to me if you are happy to donate!

*Andrew Moore is also an HCPC registered Music Therapist and Assistant Director of Music at St. Anselm’s Church, Kennington. If you have an instrument you would like to donate, please contact Philip Talmage at 33 Wickham Avenue, tel 8656 1886, philiptalmage@gmail.com.

Starting on 11 November and running every Thursday, a new service will be available as follows

Following the closure of Shirley Library, SPRA members may be interested to know that the Council has announced a bus service to run from Shirley to the Ashburton Library, to enable access to that facility. It only runs on one day per week. Details as published by the Council are shown below:

Free bus service from 11 November 2024
Thursdays
Shirley: Departing from Wickham Road/Hartland Way, outside the library
building, at 10.30am
Return journey departing from Ashburton Library at 12.00pm

Recent talks between our local politicians, local headteachers and the Borough’s police have yielded good results in reducing the amount of crime affecting young people travelling through central Croydon on their way to and from school.  Theft of mobile phones has been a particular problem.  Police have recently intensified their activity against this crime type, tracking down and targeting perpetrators. This resulted in 11 arrests being made and a substantial decline in offending afterwards. Police Officers analysed crime patterns which enabled them to target hot-spots where the perpetrators were likely to be.  They concentrated on several known suspects and cleared the area of further robberies through persistent high-vis patrolling.

In addition, Schools officers attended school assemblies to provide crime prevention advice, while uniformed officers spoke to students on how to keep themselves and their possessions safe.

We have lifted this article about a new “tool” available to our Police, from an MP’s website. SPRA is a non-(party) political body and has no association with the MP in question

I am delighted to report that multiple arrests were made in Croydon town centre [in late January] following the experimental deployment of Live Facial Recognition (LFR).  This is something I am pushing for nationally in my role as Policing Minister, and I am glad that the Met accepted my suggestion to further trial LFR in Croydon

LFR starts with a “watchlist” of images of people who are wanted for serious offences or who are wanted by the Court for failing to attend a criminal hearing.  A camera is then set up by Police in a location with high footfall, and advanced facial recognition software is used to see if anyone walking past matches one of the images on the watchlist.  Is there is a match, the officers running the system are alerted and they intervene to see if the person is indeed the one wanted.  The matching software is now incredibly accurate and advanced.

This has been deployed in Croydon town centre several times recently, on London Road and North End, and on the junction with Church Street. Arrests for the following offences were made in a matter of just a few hours:

• Possession of firearm
• GBH
• Failure to appear in court for theft
• Failure to appear in court for GBH
• Failure to appear in court for assault on an emergency worker
• Possession of a weapon with point or blade, drugs and burglary
• Breach of non-molestation order
• Failure to appear in court for ABH on police and drugs offences
• Failure to appear in court for ABH
• Fraud by misrepresentation
• Failure to appear in court for theft
• Failure to appear in court for GBH
• Failure to appear in court for assault on an emergency worker
• Possession of a weapon with point or blade, drugs and burglary
• Breach of non-molestation order
• Failure to appear in court for ABH on police and drugs offences
• Failure to appear in court for ABH
• Fraud by misrepresentation
• Failure to appear in court for theft
• Failure to appear in court for assault on an emergency worker
• Failure to appear in court for drunk and disorderly behaviour
• Breach of tag conditions by a convicted drug supplier

This deployment took 14 potentially dangerous people off the streets (SPRA note – as there are more than 14 offences listed, it is clear that at least one of the 14 persons had committed more than one of these offences).  The identity of the people stopped was verified separately from the facial recognition system, and no false alerts were generated.
 
There are safeguards around privacy and accuracy.  Any passer-by who is scanned and who is not on the watchlist is immediately and automatically deleted. The system is governed by detailed rules set out by the College of Policing, and there is case law setting out the legal requirements of the system.  This includes accuracy and no bias. The system has been tested by the National Physical Laboratory and at the setting used meets the legal requirements (it delivers no bias and a 1/6000 accuracy rate). There are also signs displayed that LFR is being used.
 
I am delighted that these potentially dangerous people have been taken off the street.  There are further LFR deployments planned in Croydon in the near future and I am pushing for this technology to be rolled out nationally, within the rules and guidelines to safeguard privacy. This technology has the potential to ensure that huge numbers of wanted criminals are caught.

We are grateful to “Inside Croydon” for bringing to our attention the opportunity being offered at Croydon Libraries.

See their article at https://insidecroydon.com/2023/08/09/libraries-to-offer-computer-training-to-tackle-digital-exclusion/