The Summer of Festivals has begun as part of a packed programme for Croydon’s London Borough of Culture. This weekend Croydon will come alive with festivities, with Croydon PrideFest on Saturday 15 July in Wandle Park, with special headline acts including singer Heather Small – the voice of M People.
Meanwhile, Croydon Mela is on Sunday 16 July, also in Wandle Park. Croydon’s residents are invited to celebrate the culture of the borough’s diverse Asian communities with music and dance performances, workshops and food stalls. Find out more about these events and more at http://www.culturecroydon.com
It was great to attend CR Talent, a new festival in Wandle Park on Thursday and see 1,000 young performers celebrating Croydon’s culture, diversity, and talent.
I’ve made transforming Croydon’s housing service a key priority for our borough and our new draft Housing Strategy 2023- 2028 sets out how we plan to do this. We’ve outlined five priorities and would like to hear your feedback on them – please tell us what you think in our short survey. Residents and partner organisations are also invited to an online workshop on Tuesday 25 July from 6.30pm-8pm. Take the survey and find out more.
Congratulations to StartUp Croydon, the enterprise agency empowering entrepreneurs in Croydon, which has had an incredibly positive impact on the local economy for 40 years. I was delighted to be able to join them for their birthday celebrations and for the presentation of the first ever Geoffrey Dove Enterprise Award.
I look forward to future partnerships with StartUp, including developing the successful bid for a new creative digital lab for businesses opening here in Croydon in the Autumn.
I was also pleased this week to open the Old Lodge Lane Baptist Church Community Hub and see the Kenley Big Splash exhibition, highlighting the progress that has been made on changes in the area to deliver improvements in air quality, regeneration, local transport, and healthy streets.
I look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition for the benefit of the community.
Jason Perry
Executive Mayor of Croydon
