March 2020

Historian and author Diane Atkinson – whose latest book has become the definitive history of the suffragettes – will be discussing some ‘remarkable lives’ at Wanstead Library this March

I’m really looking forward to coming to Wanstead Library to talk about my latest book, Rise Up Women! The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes. It is a collective biography of 200 women – there were thousands more – who worked so hard and sacrificed so much for women’s suffrage.

Women from all social class backgrounds, all ages, all parts of the United Kingdom and all life experiences ‘came out’ as suffragettes, many of them leaving their previous lives behind forever.

For many years, the suffragettes were written out of the story of women getting the vote, or dismissed as self-interested, middle-class hobbyists, but nothing could be further from the truth.

In 1907, a woollen weaver from Huddersfield, Dora Thewlis, aged 16, was called ‘The Baby Suffragette’ by the newspapers when she was arrested in Westminster by the police while trying to enter Parliament with other Women’s Social and Political Union women. Her mother had put her on the train to London, telling her to do her bit for ‘the cause.’

Kitty Marion, a music hall artiste, was one of several dozen performers who were part of the struggle: in Kitty’s case, her road to militancy came after years of enduring sexual harassment while trying to earn a living.

Lady Constance Lytton, a close friend of Annie Kenney, a cotton worker from Oldham and senior figure in the movement, deliberately put her already frail health at risk by going on hunger strike and being force-fed in prison.

I first became aware of the suffragettes when I worked at the Museum of London, which has the largest archive in the world devoted to the militant struggle. In 1992 I curated an exhibition, Purple, White and Green: Suffragettes in London 1906–1914, which told the story of their brilliant marketing and merchandising skills in promoting their demand for votes for women, alongside their daring and dangerous struggle, imprisonment, hunger-striking and force-feeding.

Sylvia Pankhurst – who lived in Woodford Green from 1924 to 1956 – makes many appearances in the book, as do her east London comrades who gave her so much support.

The centenary of the first instalment of women’s suffrage in 2018, which was an important moment to celebrate the work of the suffragettes of the Women’s Social and Political Union, also made clear that there is still much work to be done to improve women’s lives.

In the 22nd of a series of articles, David Bird discusses the work of Redbridge Music Society and introduces violinist Henry Chandler and pianist John Paul Ekins, who will perform in Wanstead this month

edbridge Music Society continues its current programme of bringing high quality musical events to the borough with a recital given by prizewinning young musicians Henry Chandler and John Paul Ekins, who will perform music by Beethoven, Schubert and César Franck.

Although still in his twenties, Henry Chandler has already performed under famous conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Leif Segerstam and Sir Roger Norrington and has played with prestigious orchestras, including the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, English National Opera, Oxford Philomusica and European Union Chamber orchestras. He has also appeared in a masterclass with world-renowned violinist Maxim Vengerov.

Before going to university, Henry studied at the Royal College of Music (RCM) Junior Department, where he was awarded the Esther Coleman award for ‘outstanding musician’. He read music at Oxford University and followed this with the Artist Diploma Course at RCM, where he studied under violinist Professor Maciej Rakowski, who also taught Nicola Benedetti. Currently, Henry plays violin in the Alke String Quartet and leads the Zeitgeist Chamber Orchestra. In addition to playing the violin, Henry is also proficient as an organist and singer. He received his first choral training as Head Chorister, Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace at the age of 12, recording at Abbey Road Studios with the BBC symphony orchestra in a premiere of a work by Peter Maxwell Davies.

John Paul Ekins is in much demand as a concerto soloist and chamber musician and has performed at many prestigious venues in the UK and abroad, including the Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall and the Zurich Tonhalle. He graduated from RCM (first class honours) in 2009, and in 2011 obtained a Master’s of Performance Degree (Distinction) from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He made his Royal Albert Hall debut in 2013 performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Southbank Sinfonia. He has won some 19 awards, scholarships and prizes and has received generous support from organisations such as Making Music and the Keyboard Charitable Trust.

Besides teaching piano at St Paul’s School, John Paul also undertakes extensive educational and outreach work via workshops and masterclasses. He was particularly honoured to be presented to HM The Queen and HRH Prince Philip at a reception for young performers at Buckingham Palace.

This event will be a very special evening of music-making.

Colin Spence runs dog training classes in Snaresbrook and has been working with man’s best friend – and their owners – for 23 years. Here, he explains how much exercise a puppy needs

This is a much-talked-about topic and a conversation I have with new puppy owners on a daily basis, as many are not sure how much physical exercise their very young puppy should get.

Well, let’s take a look at this and what we trainers and behaviour practitioners believe in how much is too much and how much is just right and why.

Once we get our eight-week-old puppy home, for the first few hours or first few days, they will be getting used to their new environment, moving around the home, investigating everything. As the hours and days go by, puppies get more energetic, and roughly around the 16-week mark, will have had their last injection and be ready to exercise and explore the outside environment.

Many owners then take their puppy out for a walk; some even allow the puppy to start running and jumping obstacles. Allowing puppies to exercise outside is important, but it is also important that the common sense factor comes into play. Puppies are very vulnerable creatures, and if we allow them to be over-exercised from a very young age, we are very likely setting them up to fail. Why? Because they are still growing and their growth plates are at the very early stages of developing and coming together and strengthening. If we allow puppies to have too much exercise while they are young, they will put too much pressure on their joints and can have problems, such as arthritis, in the future.

As a rule of thumb, we should only give puppies five minutes of exercise for each month of their life; for example, a four-month-old puppy can have 20 minutes of gentle exercise, nothing strenuous, and please take into consideration the exercise your puppy already has in the home each day, moving around on those incomplete growth plates. So, I would take three minuets off the five-minute rule, and as they grow, you can then add more minutes accordingly and appropriately.

I am also asked if owners can take their puppy out jogging with them. The answer here is we should not allow puppies to jog with us until they are fully grown and have good, strong, healthy growth plates. We also need to take into consideration the breed. A border collie, for example, may fare well on an hour’s jogging, but the dachshund, with its very short legs, could find this very uncomfortable.

So please, let’s take our puppies wellbeing seriously and let them grow into healthy, strong dogs with good healthy ligaments.    

In the first of a series of articles by Refugee Welcome Wanstead – a community group planning to welcome a Syrian refugee family to Wanstead – Eleanor Taylor explains how local residents can help

I’m sure you will recall the dreadful scenes in the news in recent years of buildings flattened, people killed or injured and families torn apart as a result of the war in Syria. For eight years, the war has raged, creating the world’s largest refugee crisis, and forcing people into camps in Lebanon and Jordan.

Life in these refugee camps is precarious, and most families dream of being able to settle down somewhere to start afresh and rebuild their lives.

It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed when we see these stories, to feel there’s nothing we can do to help. The events are happening so far away, and we don’t make the decisions about how many families are rescued from these terrible conditions.

But there is something we can do. In addition to the standard number of refugee families taken in by the UK government and resettled in this country, the Home Office operates a programme called the Community Sponsorship Scheme. Communities can come together and offer the housing, support and friendship needed to welcome a refugee family into life in the UK. The scheme has already worked successfully across the country, and is currently in action in Dagenham, where a group similar to ours welcomed a family last year.

That’s where we come in. Refugee Welcome Wanstead, established by volunteers from five local parishes in and around Wanstead, is a group set up to apply to welcome a Syrian refugee family into our community through the Community Sponsorship Scheme. Together, we will provide accommodation, advice and support to a family, as well as welcoming them into our wonderful Wanstead community.

If we are to succeed, we need your help. To take part in the scheme, the Home Office requires us to raise money, which is why we have set up a crowdfunding campaign. In time, we will also need volunteers, as well as donations of items of furniture, so please keep an eye on our Twitter page to see how you can help.

With your help, we can make all the difference in the world to one family. We can’t solve all the conflicts of the world, but we believe that if we can help one family, we should.

It takes a community to welcome a family, and we know Wanstead can rise to the challenge. Please help us succeed together.

Marian Temple of the Wanstead Community Gardeners tells the stories behind two blooming stars of Wanstead and how these horticultural happenings came
to be

Garrya elliptica: now in catkin flower around Wanstead Station.
A few years ago, someone said to me: “It’s a pity about the Garrya elliptica at the station. We never see the catkins.” My ears pricked up. I had only just found out about Garrya elliptica a few weeks previously when I’d seen them at Anglesey Abbey’s winter garden and been transfixed by the curtains of hanging catkins. Did we really have such things skulking around Wanstead Station and not performing? Yes, we did! Lots of them but the contractors pruned them every autumn, cutting off the developing catkins. Of course, we never saw them.

We contacted the Redbridge Council department to get the time of pruning changed with mixed results, sometimes a show and sometimes nothing. This year, the Garrya elliptica were not pruned at all and we have the resulting curtains of hanging catkins.

In future, we’ll try and get them pruned in April as soon as the catkins finish so we should have them every year. They are just too good to miss and definitely worth conversations with the right people on the council to get it sorted.

Winter irises: four clumps against the buttresses of Wanstead United Reformed Church.
These originate from Algeria and Syria and grow wild on the hillsides in winter, not wanting to be roasted in summer. To succeed, they need exactly the right conditions: year-round full sun, poor dry stony soil and preferably against a wall, which reflects heat. The church has all this. Since the church was renovated and English Heritage was involved, only plants of the same era as the church building can be planted there.

Luckily, it turns out our irises were introduced into this country by ravaging Victorian plant hunters. Perfect! The clump in my garden, which has sourced so many of the Wanstead winter irises in our community patches, was planted by my mother over 60 years ago and it’s still going strong. Plants often outlive us.

The four church clumps were planted by lovely Don Stevens, a church member, and me in 2015. We’d dug out my mother’s compacted clump, hacked it apart and took four pieces to the church where we removed the shingle, cut a slit in the underlying plastic sheet and slid the rhizomes in. Winter irises famously do not like to be moved, so I was surprised when they flowered the first October. Yes, they obviously thought they were in the right place too! They have expanded and flowered from October to March every year since then. A real Wanstead delight. Sadly, Don died the following year, but the smiling winter irises are a fitting legacy to him.

The City of London Corporation is considering new proposals to host large-scale events at Wanstead Flats, Warlies Park and Chingford Plain.

A similar plan was ditched last year following a community campaign and fears over the Flats’ fragile habitat, which is home to ground-nesting skylarks. “These proposals will be discussed by members at the Epping Forest and Commons Committee in March and a decision made in due course,” said a spokesperson.

Income from any events would be used to help maintain Epping Forest.

Local wild flowers will be the subject of this month’s Aldersbrook Horticultural Society meeting.

My talk will explain how historical records give clues about the native flowers that grew in the Wanstead area and their uses… I will suggest reasons why many wild flowers are under threat and how careful management of wild flower areas should be able to enhance local biodiversity,” said Tricia Moxey, whose presentation will take place at Aldersbrook Bowls Club on 10 March from 7.30pm (visitors: £5).

Visit wnstd.com/ahs

As part of last month’s National Apprenticeship Week, Eton Manor RFC hosted an apprenticeship and training fair, one of the first social and business partnered events of its kind in the borough.

“With the help of local, national and global businesses, aspiring apprentices were introduced to a debt-free alternative to university and were able to discuss their career ambitions with future employers…” said event organiser Helen Gascoigne from training provider Aspire to Learn.

The fair is set to return next year.

In celebration of International Women’s Day on 8 March, Redbridge Libraries will be working with local homeless organisations to supply their service users with much-needed support.

From 2 to 7 March, Wanstead Library will join the rest of the borough in becoming a donation point for items for the homeless community. Residents are encouraged to ‘fill a bag with kindness’ and bring in toothpaste, shower gel, soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, tissues, plasters, sanitary towels or tampons.

Visit wnstd.com/kindnessbag