In the 1950s, the International Language Club occupied over 30 houses in the area between Addiscombe Road and Fairfield Road, only to leave hastily in suspicious circumstances in 1966. Read more about it here.

Do you remember the International Language Club? Are you familiar with the names of any of those who signed the panels commemorating the ninth anniversary of the International Language Club, February 1947? Do you know any of the people painted in the Club by (Albert) George Huie, a Jamaican artist, in 1948. They included Mrs Angela Aspinwall (wife of Donald Aspinall sic, manager of the British Ratin Company in Cherry Orchard Road), Sheila Derrick (a teacher at Croham Hurst School) and Mary Todd (a civil servant. Please contact us on mail@eastcroydon.org.uk if you do. 

Much of the information on this page comes from papers published by the late Sean Creighton, who died in the spring of 2024. His obituary can be read on the website of the Society for the Study of Labour History. Sean published many fascinating articles about the history of Croydon under his own History & Social Action Publications imprint, as well as in other journals.  He was also a committed social activist.  A resident of Norbury, he was active in many campaigns and published a regular blog full of useful and pertinent local information until December 2023. He is greatly missed. 

Our webpage on the Croydon International Language Club draws on three of Sean’s articles. Many of the documents he referenced are deposited in Croydon Archives. Many thanks to the staff there, particularly Mandy Smith, for making them available to study and providing copies of images for this webpage.

More information about the history of East Croydon can be found here  https://eastcroydon.org.uk/the-history-of-east-croydon/