Stories that gripped Croydon in 1969

NEARLY 40 people were injured in a New Year's Eve rail crash at Norwood Junction train station.

Station manager Bernard Pearce believed a huge disaster was only avoided because the trains were on their way to pick up commuters.

He said: "My first impression of the crash was that if the trains had been coming down from London full of rush-hour passengers it might have been a different story."

The accident happened when the 4.57pm train from Coulsdon North to London Bridge ran into the back of the 4.45pm London Bridge Loop train. 19 people were treated for cuts, bruises and shock in Croydon General and Mayday Hospitals, but all were able to leave after treatment. Another 20 people were slightly hurt but declined treatment.

PROPOSALS were unveiled to replace Croydon's century-old Queen's Hospital with a new purpose-built facility.

These included a plan for an air conditioned tower block, after a number of organisations in the borough called for the modernisation of the hospital in West Croydon which treated sick elderly people.

The five-storey block would replace wing five of the hospital and provide 600 beds.

The stumbling block for the plans had always been a lack of finance but the Department for Health revealed it was considering allocating funding for the new project under the regional ten-year hospital plan.

AN ARGUMENT erupted between Croydon Council and the builders of council flats in Addiscombe over the extent of the damp problem in four ten-storey blocks.

The housing committee chairman, Stanley Littlechild, said 66 flats, more than one third of the 175 homes in the blocks, had been affected by rain penetration.

Numerous tenants had complained to the council and it demanded that Wates, the builder of the homes, take responsibility for putting everything right.

But Wates said the council was being "dangerous and bold" and only eight of the homes had penetration problems. The company blamed the dampness on condensation caused by housewives cooking and using heating without proper ventilation.

TWIN baby sisters from war-torn South Vietnam arrived in England to begin life with a Croydon family.

The eleven-month-old twins, Nguyen Kim Phuong and Nguyen Kim Hoang, were adopted by Councillor Keith Wells, of Waldronhyrst, South Croydon, and his wife Christina.

The babies, who had been left in a basket in the middle of the road with their names and ages attached, were to be renamed Annabel and Cressida.

Mrs Wells flew in with the twins from Saigon, having arranged the adoption through Project Vietnam Orphans.

HUNDREDS of Millwall football fans went on the rampage after watching their team go down 4-2 to Crystal Palace in a vital promotion match.

Police called to Norwood Junction turned 200 rioting fans off the New Cross train after carriage windows were smashed, seats hurled out of the windows and the communication cord pulled repeatedly.

Many of the evicted fans surged out of the station and left a trail of smashed windows and damaged cars down South Norwood High Street as they set out for Anerley station.

There were no arrests as police said they were powerless to pick out the hooligans in the crowd.