Stop the TraffiK

It has become the fastest growing crime in the world generating millions of dollars a year. On March 25th, it is the 200th anniversary of the abolition of Slavery. Stop the Traffik is a charity organisation which has been set up by a number of large organisations to help raise awareness of the issues of people trafficking.

All about Croydon will be showing a short film in which Danial Bedingfield introduces Stop the Traffik and what it's all about. The film is on our home page and will be staying there for the next six weeks. Over the next few weeks we will be adding more to the site to raise awarness and useful information for those who would like to talk to organisations regarding trafficking.

Please do support this worth while cause by signing the support page at stop the traffik.org.

getting back to it

Last week was a great week for a number of reasons. Firstly, and most importantly etc was the birth of our daughter who weighed in at 7.8. We forgot how much the sleepless nights effect you but we are getting used to it now.

Secondly, each month we have target figures on how many visitors and how many pages are looked at and by the end of last week, we smashed our way through these so anything else is a huge bonus.

The web site has been left to it's own devises over the last week as we have had not had time to do anything with it. Over the next few weeks, we will be adding lots of information so stand by for some exciting developments.

News and Media

Walking into the local newsagents this morning, I could not believe that BB has made nearly all the front pages yet again. Can't stand the show myself and can't really see why nearly after a week of this issue, it still stays front page especially after yesterdays storms, thought that might of been a better issue to be raised.

Water companies seem to be overjoyed that the hosepipe ban has been lifted in many areas including Croydon. Personally I'm treating this with caution as it probably won't be too long before we get another one say about end of March or April.

Locally, it's great to see that Beano's in Croydon may not be going after all. We really do need to think about these smaller businesses in Croydon that provide a service. With the new Park Place development and the ongoing Gateway project, Croydon seems to be the place where the world record will be set for having the largest and most shopping centres in world within a Five mile radius. As competition between the Whitgift and Centrale is already leaving empty spaces in the first, with a third or even a forth centre, this must be a bad thing - not a good thing.

Lastly - Croydon's Image, is it all as bad as it is made out to be. We should be proud of this Town. It has so much more to offer than many other areas but yet, it seems to get bad publicity all the time - very occasionally, it may get a good report. For all those who love to moan about this and that about Croydon - I have one message for you - MOVE. Yes there are lots of things that have issues but we ALL need to work together to help to improve it.

Communication

Here's a little "Communication"

A Vicar in LA has been sent on a mission in Australia. He and his wife (Carol)say their goodbyes at the airport and she goes home.

A Vicars wife (Carol)in Canada has just returned from her husbands funeral. She is deeply upset as you can imagine.

Once in Australia, The Vicar decides to send his wife an E-mail just to let her know he has arrived.

"Carol, Thanks for your Goodbye message, Journey was good. Arrived safely and it is really hot down here."

Only trouble was he thought he could remember the e-mail address but got the wrong one.

You can imagine the shock when Carol in Canada open her e-mails!

That's Business for you

Well, it's been a busy week but we are finally there. The new look business section is now up and running with some major new items. The new look Croydon B2B directory is now being added to everyday with companies.

We have also a new look Business News section which includes Reuters News headlines TV which gives you the latest headlines.

Also look out for more products within our Business Mall section. We give a warm welcome to newcomers Ryman, PC World and Fasthosts.

There's another change on it's way, The Classified section of the site has not been very succesful. Instead of spending lots of time re-designing it, we have taken the decision to remove it from the site for the time being. Thats the bad news for those who have used it!

The good news is we are getting a new Entertainment section instead. This will go live very soon and will include information, reviews, news and lots more for Film, Music, Stage and arts.

To be honest, I'm looking forward to the time when we can sit back and rest a little but knowing that the Community section is over 600 pages and the new resources section is well over 200 pages of information to re-design, that's not going to happen for a while.

5 top comments we recived

After a conversation a few of us where having today, we thought we put the top five comments we have got from residents and businesses when discussing Croydon and the web site.

5th Place - Shopping
This was an actual message left on one of our phones : Hello, are the shops in Croydon open this Thursday? Please can you let me know

4th Place - Flights
An e-mail from an American! "Dear sir, can you tell me where I can find details of flights etc to Croydon Airport. I am Visiting London and Gatwick seems a bit far out of the way" (We gave him the link to Croydon Airport!)

3rd Place - Opening Hours
Another message on the phone : Hello, please can you let me know what your web site opening hours are. Our Access to the Internet is cheaper after 6pm and we are inquiring that if possible you could keep it open after this time
(We really had to listing again and again at this one to make sure we had heard it right!!!)

2nd Place - Business meeting
We attend many different types of Business meetings both locally and in London. In one of the London bashes, (Advertising etc) a member noticed my badge "All about Croydon" He looked up at me and then politely asked - So, whats your website all about. erm, let me think, well, it's, erm CROYDON - Here comes the best bit - He owned an online contact lense company and he wanted me to advertise them.

1st place - The "Why am I in Business" man
When we first started talking to local business about the directory, we never thought it would be as hard as it was talking to some businesses people about using the internet to promote their business. The best one we had back is short and sweet but we will never forget it.

US - "Will you consider using us to promote your business on the Internet"

Shopkeeper - "Sorry, I haven't got access to the internet so there is no point putting my business on it"

(We left without saying anything!)

Web site - An Update

It has been a hectic weekend getting things updated on the web site. We have had a number of technical issues which are now sorted out. But now we are putting the final touches to the new-look Community Directory which will now include integrated maps and coming soon - Multimedia Adverts!

The new look business section will also becoming live in the next 24 hours which now includes the B2B directory (this is currently off-line while we move it!)

Once these two bits are sorted out - its over to the Community Section. Its not to you have a big update like this you suddenly relise how many pages and bits of information the site has. At least this time, once it is done, we can get on with other things!

Updates and new items

As said in a previous post that we are currently updating the site. In our first few months of being live, we have received some good positive feedback but we needed to act on it. This is what we are currently doing.

Both the recruitment and the property sections have been completed. The new look Business section and the Community Directory are going to become live sometime over the weekend. This area is taking longer than we thought as we are preparing the listings to show even more information.

The next stage (the big one) is the update of the Community Section. The should be completed in the next week. In the media over Christmas it was highlighted the way the internet is changing to meet the needs of the Community. Time magazine voted it No.1 in the years vote. We hope by making these changes, we can be part of this change for the future.

The Waiting Game - 3 weeks to go

For all you mums out there, This one is really for you. In the next three to four weeks, my wife is going to give birth. After months of carrying it inside her, she is now at the point, she is ready to get it out!

This will be our second, but today it brought back memories of when we had our first one and didn't really know what to expect. This time round, any twitch or movement, is "ok, what you up to". It's definitely right that you relax somewhat after the first.

Feelings are really mixed at the movement. It's a whole mixture of Anticipation, Excitement, frustration all rolled into one. And thats just me!

If you suddenly notice things not being updated or no threads here, it is probably due to the fact that we have rushed down to the hospital.

Happy New Year

Happy New year to all. What a night! Would like to say that the fireworks in London were the best ever. The way the London eye was lit up and used was amazing plus having firworks going off on those small boats while they where moving was apsolutly crazy.

congrats to all involved and thanks for putting on a display to remember. While looking at the way some other countries celebrations, Think London was the best by miles.

Resolutions are always part of the new year. Stop smoking has got to be one of the biggest. As a smoker, I have tried this before and the longest Lasted was about six months. Now I have Kids, should really try again. But good luck to those of you who have taken up the challenge.

Predictions for the new year - It's going to busy, exciting and hard work! That's us anyway.