April 2021

The Churchill Room at Wanstead Library has been refurbished ahead of the venue’s planned reopening this month.

“The work has included repainting, floor refurbishment, upgraded refreshment facilities, improved stage lighting, new furniture and the installation of WiFi… The hall will be following the roadmap, opening for children’s activities from 12 April, socially distanced classes from 17 May and, hopefully, a full reopening on 21 June,” said a spokesperson for the Vision Venues team.

Email venues@visionrcl.org.uk

In the second of two articles, local dog trainers Colin Spence and Sarah McLeod-Cerezo discuss how you can reduce the chance of your dog being stolen, an increasing problem yet to become a specific offence

There has been a huge upsurge in the demand for puppies and dogs due to more people being at home and seeking companionship during the pandemic. And dogs are being stolen to meet this demand. Here are some things you can do to try and reduce the chances of having your dog stolen when out on a walk.

From a dog behavioural perspective, dogs don’t need to be walked daily so long as they have sufficient mental enrichment; and total rest days are to be encouraged. So, if you’re anxious, don’t feel pressured to take them out every day. And you don’t necessarily need to ask those with dogs to go for a walk with you; in accordance with current restrictions, groups of up to six – or any size from two households – can meet outdoors. Start and end your walk at your home with your companions having ensured you and your dog are back safely.

Ensure the person taking the dog out is responsible enough to cope with any eventuality that may occur, such as being approached by a stranger and having the confidence to say no to any unwanted attention. If you have a small dog, pick them up if you are not comfortable, or if the dog is larger, get close to them. If leaving a gated park, leave it on your own rather than with someone walking behind you. Take a step back and let the person pass. Continue to be visually observant on your way home.

We often think of the messaging about not leaving dogs in cars is due to hot weather, but it is equally appropriate advice relating to dog theft, not to mention never leaving a dog unattended outside a shop or public venue.

If you have been approached or have any suspicions, call the police immediately, reporting the date, time, location, outfit and description of the suspicious person. Also give this information to your local dog warden. It is not creating a fuss, it is informing the correct people, so suitable measures can be taken. If it is safe to do so and you will still have complete control of your dog, take a photograph of the car or person concerned. Never put yourself in harm’s way.

If your dog is taken, having called the police, follow the same advice as if your dog were lost. Contact the organisation Dog Lost (doglost.co.uk), put posters up locally, inform the local vets, contact the microchip company and post on social media.

If you do not feel confident your dog will return to you immediately when called, research safe, secure, privately hired local enclosed dog fields in which to let your dog off the lead, and seek out a training service to help you build your dog’s skills in these areas.

To sign the petition to make dog theft a specific crime, visit wnstd.com/dogtheft

For more information on Colin’s K9 Training Services, call 07931 460 451

Having organised a popular Wellness Week in Wanstead six months ago, Elsa Arnold is now launching Wellness Festival 2021, a month of online events to help us all through the final straight of lockdown

After the success of the well-being week I organised in October last year, I am so excited to share that we’ve got another fabulous series of online events lined up to support people’s health and well-being through the last stretch of lockdown restrictions.

From 5 April to 14 May, you can join one of our free online events as part of our Wellness Festival 2021. The aim of the festival is to highlight the importance of taking time out to care for ourselves, and promote positive health and well-being.

It can be very easy to get caught up in our very busy and fast-paced lives, so I hope that even joining us for one of our events will help you become more aware of the benefits of taking time out to look after yourself. The festival will include events which focus on both mental and physical health, as well as giving you the opportunity to gain new skills and learn new things. All of the events are being run by individuals with small businesses, many of whom are local, and we are really pleased to be supporting them.

There is a mixture of practical activities for all ages including HIIT classes, fun dance classes, yoga and mindfulness, singing workshops and lots more, as well as some insightful talks and training opportunities for you to get involved with. Among the talks and workshops we currently have lined up are presentations on managing sleep and mental health first aid training.

We are also really pleased to be welcoming Dr Audrey Tang to our series of events, who will be running a session on motivation in May. Audrey is a very experienced psychologist with a lot of very insightful and practical advice, which I am sure many of you will find useful.

You can view the full list of events and register for them online. Spaces for some events are limited, so please make sure you sign up to save your spot!

All of the events for the festival are free. However, if you do take part and are able to, we would also like to encourage you to make a voluntary donation towards the mental health charity MIND. This summer, I am taking on the National Three Peaks Challenge – when I will be attempting to climb the highest mountains of England, Scotland and Wales within 24 hours – in aid of MIND, who provide essential advice and support to anyone experiencing a mental health problem and campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding. Anything you can give will be gratefully received and appreciated, and your donation will go directly to MIND.

For Wellness Festival 2021 event listings and booking, visit wnstd.com/well21

To sponsor Elsa in her National Three Peaks Challenge, visit wnstd.com/elsa3peaks

A Wanstead nursing home is raising money for Little Lives UK – a charity providing support to disabled and disadvantaged children – by selling greetings cards featuring designs by local residents.

The one-off collection of cards will be sold throughout April; £5 for a pack of 10 cards of varying designs.

“The community has really got behind us with our Little Lives campaign. We’ve received pictures from local schoolchildren and residents alike,” said Tayvanie Nagendran, director at Cambridge Nursing Home.

Visit wnstd.com/camcards

Art Group Wanstead has launched a nature-themed challenge for local residents. Group founder Donna Mizzi introduces the project and explains how you can get involved

Most of us will continue to spend much time at home this year, but are you getting rather tired of seeing the same old street features while taking exercise around Wanstead? If so, this may capture your imagination…

Much as NHS rainbows added colour to our lives, the artwork and creativity of local residents – adults, teens and children – can add interest and vibrancy to our area. And art spotting can be an uplifting visual surprise for passers-by.

For that reason, Art Group Wanstead (AGW) – which has organised Art Trail Wanstead for a decade – this year urges residents to use their creativity and show their own work in front windows and gardens this spring and summer. ‘The year that nature took centre stage’ has been chosen as the theme by members of AGW. Local estate agent The Stow Brothers is supporting the project.

Most of us have appreciated the importance of nature over the past 12 months, and this is an amazingly wide theme. Your work can include anything connected with the natural world, on earth and beyond. You might be inspired to include a forest scene or your pet in the garden. Some of you have already focused paintings and photography on Bruce, the black swan which appeared on Eagle Pond (overheard comment: “See how black lives matter!”). Of course, rainbows will also never go out of fashion.

Work will only be limited by your imagination, and could include gardening projects or installations, and displays on your window-sills. You may want to place abseiling figures descending from climbing jasmine or hang your own hand-painted summery baubles from trees. If you’ve always wanted to make a topiary feature out of your hedge, then now is the time to do just that. If you want to create extravagant birdhouses, give it a go. Want to try your hand at mosaic with some of your broken china? Crack on.

Work can be paintings or drawings displayed from inside your front windows, or could be art in any form – including photography, pottery, glass or stonework and collages. One of our artists has suggested using outside fairy lights in a new creative way for summer evenings. Or paint and decorate jam jars to create lanterns. Battery nightlights are an inexpensive way to add safe candle effects, especially when children are involved. These Easter school holidays are a good time to start. On fairer days, children could even do chalk pavement art outside your home. Any materials, including recycled items from the home, can be used. Plastic bottles can often be cut into a myriad of forms and shapes for the garden: lightly sandpaper the plastic and add permanent felt-tip colours for rainproof features. Our website will gradually also feature some inspiring ideas and tutorials.

Naturally, some outside artwork will get weather-beaten in the months ahead. So gradually remove faded work and replace it with new art. As well as making you feel good, doing more work can even help develop skills that you might not have realised you possess. Release your inner Picasso, or simply enjoy adding splashes of colour.

There are no fees or registration requirements for this project. We are not calling for residents to join the group. We will just ask you to send us an email to tell us which road you are on and when you are starting to show your artwork. That way, we hope to list local streets (not house numbers) where artwork can be spotted, and maybe even build up a trail. Anyway, first step first. Start thinking about what you would love to create. Then set about doing it. Later, if you can send us a photo of your artwork or installation, we will start a photo feature on our website.

AGW has been established for encouragement and cooperation, not for critical assessments. This project is about enjoyable participation at all levels. As a voluntary, non-profit-making organisation, we have only one strict rule about our chosen set themes – and that is you don’t have to stick to them! They are there to inspire, but if you want to do something else entirely, go ahead.

If you have friends or relatives outside the area who wish they could take part, encourage them and tell them to email us some details. We’d love to know the furthest participant. Keep an eye on our website over the months ahead, but for now, fix your sights on your own homefront art space.

To notify the group of your participation, email mail@artgroupwanstead.com. For more information, visit wnstd.com/art

Wanstead Climate Action is keen to spread the ‘green jobs for all’ message, locally and across the country. Tina Nieman Da Costa explains why it’s time to make the government listen

The long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to cost £1.9m in permanent jobs. Firms, though optimistic about the recovery of the post-COVID/Brexit deal era, are realistic about the need to cut overheads to remain solvent after the country’s record-breaking economic slump.

Even a cursory job search in the carbon control and the sustainability industry shows an international need, and almost all starting positions in these areas pay more than other industries. A position as a senior consultant carbon specialist can start at £33,000 a year. The government should focus on creating more jobs and apprenticeships like these to match the growing requirements in construction, to retrofit and upgrade not only our homes but our railways and infrastructure, as well as in healthcare, teaching and agriculture.

A Green New Deal UK report estimates that by investing £68bn of public funds, 1.2 million green jobs can be created over the next two years. The government’s response to this has been tentative and non-committal at best, and a brand-new coal mine at worst.

The green economy has the secondary potential to bridge the ever-widening wealth gap and address the current spiderweb-like social rifts exposed by COVID-19. It is a truly international industry unsullied by institutionalised racism and cronyism and can bring wealth to areas and communities currently being left behind.

With China and India embracing renewable energy – China to the extent that it has saved the energy equivalent of 3.3 billion tonnes of oil in 2020 – how much of the eco-friendly pie will be left for an only backward compatible Britain?

The banking sector too has seen a recent rise in private investment and speculation on ethical products. Chief executive Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas of the Green Finance Institute, the first and only of its kind, argued in an editorial on their website: “The UK needs a second green investment bank to help investors decarbonise.” She says the UK economy needs mechanisms to address barriers and accelerate private investment. “Over time, financial markets will integrate climate science into everyday decision-making, but climate science tells us we can’t afford to wait.”

So why is the British government so reluctant? It’s time to make them listen. We will be collating data to show how these 1.2 million jobs could be distributed nationally and on a local level. Our aim is to bring the message of green jobs for all to every community across the country and build a mass of support behind the campaign, so politicians must act.

For more information on Wanstead Climate Action and to get involved, visit wnstd.com/wca

Wanstead’s Festival of Nightingales has been postponed.

“The fundraiser and organising for the festival have had to be put back as Redbridge Council are not granting permission for community road closures this year. In the meantime – as a prelude to a festival in 2022 – we are hoping to organise the painting of a mural on Nightingale Lane, some community-led improvements to Nightingale Green and some other safe activities that don’t involve road closures,” said Kathy Taylor.

Email ksmtaylor@me.com

A mesh fence was erected on Wanstead Flats last month to protect the only breeding skylark population in inner London. Gill James of the Wren Wildlife Group reports on efforts to save these endangered songbirds

Many of you will be aware of the skylarks on Wanstead Flats and will have heard them singing as they soar into the sky, lifting everyone’s spirits with them.

Skylarks are famous for their song flights, which are delivered by the males from very early spring and all through the nesting season. They can hover for 10 minutes or more, all the time delivering a beautiful song, a song that has inspired poets and composers for centuries. It’s sometimes hard to work out where the song is coming from because the singer is so high – often 300 feet or more.

Wanstead Flats has the only breeding skylark population in inner London. Unfortunately, they have been unable to breed successfully for a number of years due to several factors, including some unintentional disturbance from humans and dogs. Other factors may be predation by crows, foxes and rats.

Skylarks nest on the ground in areas of long grass. They (and the less conspicuous meadow pipits) are particularly vulnerable to disturbance during the nesting season, which runs from early March to the end of August. Disturbance can cause birds to abandon their nests, and any young birds may flee, get lost and end up starving to death.

So, we are in danger of losing the last few of this critically endangered species. They have already disappeared from Leyton Flats.

For this reason, temporary fencing has been installed around the main nesting site this year by the City of London to try and protect any that remain and hopefully allow them to breed. While the fencing is newly in place, members of the Wren Wildlife Group have been around as much as possible to answer any questions the public may have. The fencing will stay up until the end of August.

Wanstead Flats is well known amongst birders for the fantastic range of species to be found in its varied habitats, especially in the migration seasons in spring and autumn, when many birds are glad of a rest on their long journey home.

Why not take a pair of binoculars to the Flats and see what you can spot? Maybe you’ll see – and hear – a skylark, singing its heart out as it soars into the sky.

For more information on the Wren Wildlife Group, visit wrengroup.org.uk