CROYDON: CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF COUNCIL HOUSING
We headed into Croydon via public transport last Tuesady, to visit an exhibition celebratig 100 years of Council House building in Croydon. We had no idea that the Museum of Croydon existed, or of the presence of the wonderful Raymond Riesco Gallery! We had also never seen clock tower before, so after alighting the Croydon Tram, we had a day full of positive exploration, entertainment and education! Croydon Council, I have subsequently learned, is often Tory and non-progressive in its attitude (in 2013 it tried to sell-off the most expensive pieces of Chinese art held in the Raymond Riesco Collection to more or less universal protest), and I find this an odd juxtaposition to Croydon’s down to earth and multicultural population that one would have thought would reject Tory Austerity, and the Tory racism that both inspires it and drives it onward! Despite this disappointing Tory presence, Croydon has Ruskin House existing within its boundaries, which is the headquarters of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) – a 1988 off-shoot of the original Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) – and the local Trade Union Movement.
