September 2021

In the ninth of a series of articles looking at the redevelopment of Whipps Cross Hospital, Charlotte Monro reflects on the recent announcements regarding the Margaret Centre and bed numbers

Our battle to save the Margaret Centre in Whipps Cross is having an impact, but has not yet secured into the future this valued and much-loved palliative and end-of-life care unit. This became evident to Action 4 Whipps members meeting with the Barts Health Trust’s Whipps Redevelopment Team in order to understand better their recent announcements on bed numbers in the new Whipps, and the Margaret Centre.

The assurance given in recent announcements and in a letter to local MPs that end-of-life care will now be looked at “in a way that could be delivered from the Margaret Centre” does not, it appears, necessarily mean there would be an in-patient specialist unit. They could not say if there would even be an identified building as part of the new hospital, or anywhere else. There will be what is termed a ‘hybrid model of care’. St Joseph’s Hospice is to be involved in developing this.

To us campaigners, it is self-evident the award-winning, proven model of care provided by the Margaret Centre should be the starting point for any future model. This is so close to our community’s heart, as we found at our two stalls on Wanstead High Street recently when the Margaret Centre action group had hundreds of people signing postcards to Barts’ chief executive. Julie Donovan was there: “For me, it was quite emotional. I spoke to three people who had a loved one die in the Margaret Centre and were delighted with the care and support provided. I also spoke to a lady whose husband died on a ward and didn’t get to the centre. All were shocked at the thoughts of the service being changed.”

The voice of our community and elected representatives speaking in unison is powerful, but we need to make it even more so. NE London Clinical Commissioning Group (which covers a vast area from Havering to Hackney) is being handed a lead in planning this care. Our community and patient groups must be heard wherever decisions are being taken, and we must build our campaign.

On hospital bed numbers, Barts Health have announced – in reaction to the huge concern over 51 beds fewer – that the new Whipps Cross will “have at least as many overnight beds as the current site, if that is required to meet local demand for healthcare at the time of opening.” The number of over-65s in the catchment area is projected to grow by 25% within three years of the new hospital opening. Action 4 Whipps campaign points out and believes this warrants planning now for an actual increase in bed numbers. The size of the rebuild is not flexible; it’s already outlined in the current planning application. The footprint for the new hospital is also fixed by the budget. So, without an increase in hospital space, last-minute expansion of bed numbers will come at the sacrifice of essential staff training and work facilities, creating unacceptable difficulties for the future.

To join the campaign or share views, email whipps.cross.campaign@gmail.com

Wanstead resident Jean Medcalf passed away peacefully on 20 September.

Born in Leytonstone in 1931, the 90-year-old poet had lived in Wanstead since 1960.

A funeral service will be held at Christ Church on 15 October (for details, call 020 8530 8743).

“No flowers please, but donations can be made in church and will be used for planting flowers in Wanstead in Jean’s memory… I am also going to publish the next volume of her poems as she would have wished. Her legacy will live on in her poetry,” said her daughter Sally.

A refugee donation drop-off centre opened at Redbridge Town Hall earlier this month.

The centre is open on Mondays and Thursdays from 10am to 4pm until mid-October, when it will be reviewed.

Donations are taken to a distribution centre in Havering, where they are sorted and distributed to families across north-east London.

Clothes are not required, but pushchairs and baby bottles are among the items needed.

Visit wnstd.com/rfg

Wanstead resident Paul Canal – who is a Conservative councillor for Bridge ward – has raised concerns over the process by which plans for a café kiosk on Christchurch Green were approved.

“Trust in our planning system is based on transparency… That system suffered a near-fatal blow when 200 residents objected to the café and it was simply waved through… I have written to the council asking that the application be resubmitted, a new consultation period opened and for it to be referred to the planning committee,” said Paul.

Messages of hope decorated a sycamore tree on Christchurch Green earlier this month as part of the Spreading Kindness Through E11 initiative.

“We were so pleased to be able to bring back the Kindness Tree to the Wanstead Festival. This time, we were joined by Wanstead Climate Action to encourage messages about hope for a brighter future, both within our community and for our planet. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed. It was definitely one of our most decorated trees to date!” said Elsa Arnold.

A dog show and family fun day will take place at Wanstead and Snaresbrook Cricket Club on 2 October.

The showing classes will include perfect puppy, golden oldie and best hairdo categories, with all funds raised donated to Dogs on the Streets, a charity dedicated to the welfare of dogs belonging to the UK’s homeless community.

The event – which runs from 11am to 4pm – will also include obedience challenges, canine food and product stalls, live music, entertainment and refreshments.

Tickets for entry are priced at £5, which allows access to all attractions.

Visit wnstd.com/dogshow

Between 6,000 and 10,000 people were estimated to have enjoyed the Wanstead Festival on Christchurch Green earlier this month, with residents also cycling and playing on a car-free High Street, which was closed to traffic to promote active and sustainable travel options and clean air initiatives.

“The festival and our High Street event was a great opportunity for the community to come back together after a difficult 18 months,” said Councillor Jo Blackman.

The annual festival is run by Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure.

Redbridge Council is seeking feedback from local business owners to help shape a new Redbridge Business Forum.

“This will provide an opportunity for business leaders to connect with each other and to engage with the council. It will also give businesses the chance to be more directly involved in borough priorities, plans and development,” said a spokesperson.

An online survey is open until 29 October.

Visit wnstd.com/rbf

Plastic tubs, pots and trays are now accepted in Redbridge Council’s kerbside recycling collections.

In addition, empty aerosol cans and clean aluminium foil and foil trays can also be included in the black recycling boxes, which were previously restricted to plastic bottles, tins, cans and glass.

“Always rinse out any food waste as this makes items unrecyclable. Rinse and scrunch up any foil. And please note, black plastic can’t be recycled, so please don’t put it in your box,” said a spokesperson.

Visit wnstd.com/recycle

The petition to save Redbridge Lane West allotments from being taken over by Cadent was debated at a Redbridge Council meeting yesterday.

“Although the response from councillors was generally supportive, indications from the leader and deputy leader of the council made it clear they believe a reduction in the impact of Cadent’s use of the site is sufficient. So the threat has not gone away. We are more determined than ever to make sure that our allotments are saved,” said plot holder Sally Parker.

Visit wnstd.com/sta

Art Group Wanstead member Elsie Drew developed a passion for art at a young age. But with a family to nurture and a career to develop, painting was put on hold. Now, in retirement, Elsie has rediscovered art all over again

As a child, I was always drawing on scraps of paper or sketching in books. I remember drawing Art Deco-style ladies with large Afghan hounds at their sides that I copied from magazines. One of my elder brothers was a very talented artist and he would often show me how to draw or to paint in oils. I now know my preference is watercolour.

It was my mother who took me on my first visit to an art gallery when I was 13. We went to the Whitechapel Art Gallery where they were showing some of Henry Moore’s sculptures. I wished I could have stayed all day.

I thoroughly enjoyed my art classes at school. When I was in my last year at junior school, my teacher read William Blake’s The Tyger to us, but it was years later before I realised Blake was a wonderful artist as well as a poet. The local council held an art exhibition for all the schools in the area and my painting of a tiger coming through the trees was picked to be shown. My art teacher at senior school was considered very Bohemian with lots of beads and bangles and very bright colours on long swirling skirts. I can still see her now and remember her as a wonderful teacher.

After school, my life became very busy, leading to a family and a career, and drawing and painting no longer played such a pivotal role.

After my husband passed away, I decided to join an art class organised by Age UK and realised I had been missing art in my life. I received great encouragement from everyone and have formed wonderful friendships in the process, as well as passing on my childhood wonder and rekindled passion for art to my grandchildren. Rediscovering art – in particular watercolour – has been wonderful in my retirement.

My art is constantly changing. When I first started, I felt I had to copy my subject in the finest detail. It was very precise and would frustrate me when I felt the perspective and colours weren’t right and the picture didn’t convey my feelings towards the subject. Then, through art classes both online and locally, I found that it didn’t have to be like that. I was shown how the water could flow over the page, taking the colour with it and mingling with other colours to produce new ones and wonderful unintended shapes. If you have the patience to let the water dry, it will show you the way forward, allowing you to use ‘mark making’ and other mediums to achieve what you want to express on paper.  I have learnt that there is no wrong or right way to approach art, just different ways, and the process of creating a piece is uniquely personal and of a moment.

It’s only recently that I have found the courage to show my paintings and did so at the last local art trail before lockdown. I also entered three paintings in a virtual exhibition organised by Essex Art Club.

I now happily go out and paint, and my friend and I can often be seen in Wanstead Park with our sketchbooks and paints enjoying chats with walkers and other artists and the Wanstead community.

For more information on Art Group Wanstead, visit wnstd.com/art

In the fourth of a series of articles by plot holders at the Redbridge Lane West allotments – which are under threat from the adjacent gas works – Iain Ambler explains the site’s importance for local biodiversity

The proposal by our neighbour Cadent, the global gas company, to use all or part of Redbridge Lane West allotments as a compound to support their works has put the future of the site at risk. This hidden natural jewel in the middle of Wanstead is a diverse and rich habitat with a strong tradition of wildlife conservation, and I believe the site should continue to be conserved for the benefit of wildlife and all Wanstead residents.

From historic maps, it would appear the allotments were originally glebeland (meadows belonging to the Rector of Wanstead), becoming allotment land by 1915. We have found exemplar flora in some of the undeveloped areas between plots that suggest these are relict patches of old natural grassland.

In recent years, there has been a history of active wildlife engagement by plot holders, working together and with the council. Previous conservation efforts have included tree planting, installing a large pond and bog pond, and creation and management of a wildlife area in the middle of the site. The wildlife has been beautifully recorded in images on the website East London Nature (eastlondonnature.co.uk), currently maintained by one of our plot holders.

The site, opposite Wanstead Leisure Centre, is triangular in shape and is squeezed in between Redbridge Lane West on one side and the A12 on the other. It boasts mature trees on each of its three sides, including hornbeam, Lombardy poplar, lime, London plane, silver birch, ash, Norway maple, sycamore, apple, and several weeping balsam poplar adjoining the Cadent gas site. Thick hawthorn hedging runs down the Redbridge Lane West side. This makes the site a fantastic habitat for nesting birds: we recently undertook an early morning breeding bird survey and recorded 15 to 20 nesting territories, including blackcap, jay, wren and great spotted woodpecker. The site sits at the end of a green corridor from Wanstead Park over the golf course: we have recorded common pipistrelle bats foraging on site, which we think roost in the park.

It’s simply amazing what diversity of wildlife exists under our feet, and what it does when you leave it alone! This summer, we recorded over 150 species of flora on the site. A number of these are grasses including false oat grass and Yorkshire fog. A fox and her cubs have been living in a den here this year and we have found wood mice and bank voles. Recently, an emperor moth caterpillar was spotted – a first for Wanstead.

The importance of urban microsites like our allotments and others locally, such as Tarzy Wood and George Green, for conserving and increasing biodiversity in the face of wider declines cannot be overemphasised.

To view the petition to save the Redbridge Lane West allotments, visit wnstd.com/rlw

Derek Inkpin from local solicitors Wiseman Lee outlines the methods of enforcement available to local planning authorities when it comes to ensuring building projects do not breach the rules

Most people have a reasonable idea about the requirement to obtain planning permission for larger building projects, and obtaining building regulations consent for the method of building. However, when something goes wrong and a house owner decides to build without planning consent, the weapons in the armoury of the local planning authority (LPA) are considerable.

A flagrant breach of planning law is relatively rare, but it can be a breach of the conditions in the planning permission which causes the LPA to take action with the service of an Enforcement Notice. This will be done if it is in the public interest to do so. Before this happens, the LPA will normally write to the offending owner in the hope of reaching an agreement on the measures required to rectify the breach of planning law. Time limits apply and no enforcement action can be taken after four years of building operations or a change of use to a single dwelling. All other cases carry a 10-year limit, after which a breach of planning is immune from prosecution.

The methods of enforcement are:

• A planning Enforcement Notice, which is the most common means of ensuring the planning breach is corrected.
• A planning Contravention Notice, where the LPA requires more information about the building activities carried out. If there is a failure to respond, or false information is given, a criminal offence is committed.
• A planning Enforcement Order is served once made by the Magistrates’ Court, where an authorised development has been deliberately concealed.
• A Stop Notice is an urgent measure if a planning Enforcement Order does not resolve the breach. If it is not observed, a criminal offence is committed with an unlimited fine.
• A Temporary Stop Notice lasts for no more than 28 days and is used if time is critical for unauthorised building work. Unlike a Stop Notice, it does not need to be preceded by an Enforcement Notice.
• The most serious form of planning enforcement is a Court Injunction, but this is rarely used.
• Another rarely used enforcement method is a Right of Entry, which can authorise officers from the LPA to enter land where there is an ongoing breach of planning control.
• A breach of Condition Notice arises where one or more of the conditions in a planning permission are not adhered to. A time limit for compliance is specified in the notice but there is a right of appeal to the High Court.

Wiseman Lee is located at 9–13 Cambridge Park, Wanstead, E11 2PU. For more information, call 020 8215 1000

Aspiring athletes from disadvantaged backgrounds often suffer to develop their talents due to a lack of resources and guidance. A couple from Wanstead are working to change that. Troy Da Costa reports

Wanstead couple Dan Sharp and Arela Williams – who run Sharp Training out of Target Fit on the High Street – are dedicating their free time and knowledge to bringing quality training and mindfulness to young, underprivileged athletes. Both highly qualified and experienced personal trainers, Arela and Dan have made it their goal to help young adults fulfil their potential.

Sharp Training currently offers one-to-one sessions and online mentorship, and are looking to expand their work in the community through a sponsorship programme. For a small, non-obligatory subscription, potential sponsors can help hopeful youths stay focused on their goals while receiving a first-class physical education otherwise beyond their means.

Arela is a former elite volleyball player and specialist in flexibility, and Dan has a background in semi-professional basketball and is a strength and conditioning coach. Together, the couple has 16 years of health and fitness expertise to share.

The sponsorship programme has been up and running since June this year and is already quite popular. “Athletes who wouldn’t ordinarily have the chance to train with us now have an opportunity to be part of the mentorship programme. They receive a sport performance direction and join in weekly leadership meetings on Zoom,” says Arela, herself just 25 years old. “Sponsors receive updates and letters from the athletes they sponsor.”

“I aspire to inspire, and I do that by teaching and equipping my trainees with tools to make them more powerful humans first and then athletes,” says Dan. “They inspire me when they excel.”

According to Arela, the best part of her job is inspiring young female athletes to be confident within their body and to not alter their personality because they find themselves in a male-dominant environment. “Their success definitely inspires me on days when I’m not feeling confident within myself.”

Seeing their young athletes put into practice the lessons taught on how to overcome mistakes and have a ‘next play mentality’ is one of their great successes. “Watching a player recover from a miss caused by overthinking the situation, only to score the winning shot minutes later is great,” adds Dan, talking about a youth basketball player.

The ultimate goals of Sharp mentorship are to build a support platform for youth athletes, connect them with pros from varying backgrounds to learn from, and to teach them how to prioritise their physical and mental well-being.

For more information on the program, visit wetrainsharp.co.uk or follow them on Instagram @sharptraining

A grass verge, a raised bed, a thin strip and a circular patch. Marian Temple offers a potted guide to four new local mini gardens, courtesy of the Wanstead Community Gardeners. Photography by Geoff Wilkinson

As if 2020 wasn’t active enough (it was one of our busiest years ever, gardening-wise), us community gardeners have continued creating new patchwork mini gardens across Wanstead in 2021.

1. First off the blocks is the Redbridge Lane West grass verge. This has been in a sorry state for years. Kathy Taylor of Wanstead Community Gardeners applied for a Community Infrastructure Levy grant for improvement here along with the application for the flower turf for the traffic island near The George. Vision RCL prepared the soil and planted the shrubs. They are small at the moment, so locals have planted flowers there till the shrubs grow. A great improvement.

2. The second new patch is the raised tree surround on the corner of Wellesley Road and Hermon Hill. The tree, a large horse chestnut, was more than dead. We asked Peter Marshall (Redbridge Council’s Principal Arboricultural and Horticultural Officer), the ‘go to’ person for street trees, if we could adopt this raised bed as we wanted a patch of flowers in this area of hard surfaces. A new street tree was planted outside the Methodist Church, and the raised tree surround, with the hollow dead tree stump, was handed over to us as requested. The stump gives more character for the patch and rotting wood is good for insects. A thick mat of couch grass and weeds removed and seeds sown in time for rain. The resulting patch of bright summer flowers has been a delight, especially for the lady who lives in the nearby block of flats who can look straight down onto them. The flowers will seed themselves so the patch will renew itself and a pot of lavender sits in the hollow tree stump. A delight for bees, and for us.

3. Number three new patch is almost up to the Green Man Roundabout. It is a strip of soil in a recess in the wall surrounding the Ennerdale Court flats. Weeds and rubbish removed; seeds sown and favourite cottage garden plants added. The generous rain was on our side. By August, the patch was flowering and morning glories were climbing the trellis. Next year, hollyhocks and Verbascum, our tall favourites, will be flowering. Lovely for anyone passing by and especially good for the bus drivers of the W14 as it terminates there. They really enjoy our patches, so now they can have one for themselves.

4. The jewel in the crown of this year’s new garden patches is definitely the traffic roundabout further along from our flower meadow in between The George and Wanstead Station. We adopted this five years ago and called it The Island Bed. This year, Ingrid, one of our super energetic gardeners, took on the mini roundabout as a project and, with amazing speed, has turned it into a garden. A massive amount of rubbish removed, ditto ivy, to allow sun and rain to the earth. This is a full sun area and is being filled with donated plants. Lots of shouted conversations between drivers waiting at the traffic lights and passers-by on the pavement. There is so much interest and delight at seeing the island transformed at such a pace. It has something of the style of Derek Jarman’s Dungeness Garden, with interesting pieces of wood planted vertically in the earth giving it a sculpture garden look. One such piece is sprouting beautiful dark red leaves. It has no roots, but no matter. Miracles happen on Ingrid’s Isle!

For more information on the work of the Wanstead Community Gardeners and to get involved, visit wnstd.com/wcg

The annual Wanstead Festival will return this Sunday (12 September) with an environmental twist.

“This year, our Smarter Travel Team has also ‘reclaimed’ the adjoining Wanstead High Street from traffic for the day, to showcase the fantastic environmental and sustainable options available to residents,” said a Redbridge Council spokesperson.

The High Street will be closed from 7.30am to 10.30pm between Grove Park and Wanstead Place and bus diversions will take place on the day.

Bus Routes 66, W12, W13 and W14 will be diverted via New Wanstead, Green Man Roundabout and Cambridge Park in both directions.

“Our green High Street event aims to promote active and sustainable travel opportunities; raise awareness of a healthy street approach, play streets, recycling, and the expansion of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone, which comes into effect on 25 October 2021. Residents will be able to take part in cycling events including bike rides led by experienced instructors and the chance to try out fun cycles and tricycles. Our Neighbourhood Team will also be on hand to lead some play activities for our young residents as well as giving out information on recycling and guidance to help make your lifestyle become ‘greener’.”

All cycling events are free to participate in, but booking is required for the bike riding events at www.cycleconfident.com/sponsors/london-borough-of-redbridge/

The annual Wanstead Festival is organised and managed by Vision RCL. The main festival activities will be held on Christchurch Green on 12 September from 11am until 6pm. Visit visionrcl.org.uk/event/wanstead-festival/

In the second of a series of articles providing an update on the Cleaner Greener Wanstead initiative, Councillor Paul Donovan (Wanstead Village, Labour) says it’s time to tackle the waste epidemic

The pandemic led to more rubbish around Wanstead. Especially galling has been the discarding of masks. The aim of the mask is to stop the spread of Covid – how does chucking it on the ground do this? One of the aims of Cleaner Greener Wanstead is to take greater individual responsibility.

What is it that makes people believe they are so entitled that simply putting rubbish in the bin or taking it home is below them? No, dump it on the ground for someone else to pick up. At one point, Redbridge Council were taking more litter off Christchurch Green than Valentines Park. Note, the full-time worker deployed simply to clear up after those who cannot deal with their own rubbish. There is also the monthly litter pick (third Saturday of the month, meeting at 10am on Woodbine Place), as well as ad hoc individual efforts.

Plastic is another particular problem. The planet is simply getting clogged up with plastic, being used and discarded on land and in the sea. There are efforts to cut single-use plastic, as well as find alternatives, but progress is slow. What is really needed to address the problems of litter and plastic (often one and the same) is to stop creating the stuff in the first place. Recycling is good and should be encouraged, but a step further is to not create the rubbish to start with.

Cleaner Greener Wanstead sought to address the joint problems of plastic waste and litter. An early initiative was to try to get our High Street shops to not use single plastic. One Saturday, as part of a nationwide project, activists took the plastic back to a number of supermarkets, including the Co-op, Tesco and M&S. The stores listened attentively and promised to take the argument on board – some progress is being made at a national level, but what about here?

There is still a lot of single-use plastic on Wanstead High Street – the thousands of plastic lids on takeaway coffee cups spring to mind. Wanstead Climate Action recently conducted a survey of nine coffee shops, with responses varying from “couldn’t care” to “you won’t find plastic here”. La Bakerie, Bare Brew and City Place Coffee came out on top, offering discounts for those who bring their own cups. Consumer power can bring change. Supporting those shops doing the right thing for the environment will help.

These have been difficult times with the pandemic darkening all our lives over the past 18 months. Some of the initiatives begun pre-pandemic have stalled due to the crisis, but now is the time to redouble our efforts. We need to take real action to cut the amount of waste being created, and when that is not possible, deal responsibly with the residue.

There is only one planet and we all have a responsibility to look after it.

For more information on the initiative, visit cleanergreenerwanstead.org

Flash flooding this summer brought a taste of the world climate crisis to Wanstead and South Woodford. Local weather enthusiast Scott Whitehead offers his insights

Downpours at the end of July caused chaos around Wanstead and South Woodford and the wider Redbridge area, with homes and public infrastructure flooded.

Although the rain wasn’t unprecedented here, it was still notable in that the fall on Sunday 25 July was the greatest July fall ever recorded here and the fourth greatest of any month since 1960, measuring 48.5mm that day. The greatest rainfall ever experienced here was on 22 June 2016 (60.8mm), followed by 55.4mm on 20 September 1973.

The maximum rate I recorded at my weather station in Aldersbrook that day was 92.7mm per hour, the highest since I started recording in 2011.

The rainfall was the result of a convergence line over the area. Wherever these features set up, they always end with a deluge.

There was a big clear-up that evening and into the next morning as flooded cellars had to be pumped out. One person I spoke to in Leytonstone said the depth in her cellar was almost up to the top of a pair of standard wellies. She said the road outside was like a river and that another 30 minutes of that type of rain would have seen it overtop the front door. She said it hasn’t been that bad since August 2004. Her account mirrors many in Wanstead and South Woodford, particularly places like Hermon Hill, a large part of which sits in a dip, drains for which are often overwhelmed during sustained heavy rainfall, blocked or not.

The wet theme continued on until the first couple of weeks of August – accumulated rainfall so far this summer is currently just under 244mm, making it the third wettest summer on record. The wettest was in 1987 (269.8mm), with 1985 the second (249.6mm).

While this summer’s weather is not unprecedented locally, these extreme events seem to be occurring far more often than previously. Authorities must bear this in mind when it comes to maintaining and planning infrastructure.

Despite all the rain, the average mean temperature for this summer, up to mid-August, is still nearly a degree above average. Though I have recorded only three instances of 30ºC, the lowest since 2015, our modern climate is still as warm as ever.

Is summer over? Although August did, at times, feel autumnal, there is still plenty of time for warm, sunny weather. September can often be an extension of summer with high pressure being dominant; any wet breakdowns from the Atlantic are often brief.

For more of Scott’s ‘meteorology-based musings about east London’, visit wansteadmeteo.com

The Wren Wildlife Group, London Wildlife Trust and Wild Wanstead have compiled a list of 10 species at risk of local extinction. In the seventh of a series of articles looking at each species in turn, Susie Knox says farewell to this summer’s swifts

Over the last few months, it’s been a joy to hear the distinctive screaming of the swifts as they zoom in small groups high over Wanstead in their endless aerial search for insects. Swifts spend most of their lives flying, even sleeping, eating and drinking on the wing and only ever landing to nest. Their scientific name, Apus, actually means ‘without feet’ because their tiny feet and legs mean they can hardly walk and can’t perch on trees or telephone lines (if you see a similar-looking bird do this, it’s probably a swallow or house martin).

Swifts come to the UK in the summer to breed and spend their winters in Africa – travelling thousands of miles during their migration. They like to nest high up in buildings in small holes in roof spaces. They pair for life, meeting up in the spring at the same nest site and sharing parenting duties. They normally lay two or three eggs and incubate them for about three weeks.

Sadly, swifts are on the Amber List of Birds of Conservation Concern. More than half of British swifts have been lost since 1995, probably because of a number of factors. We know from scientific evidence and the absence of bugs on our car windscreens that there have been very significant declines in flying insects, their food source.

As migratory birds, weather events associated with climate change will also impact them. But one very obvious issue in the UK is the loss of nesting sites in recent decades due to the modernisation of buildings, because swifts require suitable hollows and crevices in the eaves. In Wanstead, locals certainly report heavy falls in the number of swifts we see and hear in our skies over the summer.

Fortunately, there are lots of things we can do to support swift populations when they’re spending time with us.

How to help:

• If you’re lucky enough to have swifts nesting in your building, protect them by ensuring any building work near their nests is carefully managed.
• Put a special swift nest box under the eaves of your roof – or if you are having new building or renovation work done, incorporate ‘swift bricks’, which create nest holes integrated into the masonry (find out more at wnstd.com/swiftinfo).
• Email your local councillors asking them to demand that any new developments in Redbridge incorporate swift bricks.
• Make your garden an oasis for flying insects. Fill it with dense foliage and pollinator-friendly plants.
• Install a wildlife pond and create a long grass area – these are habitats that help insects thrive.
• Never use pesticides and lobby the council to stop using them.

For more information about the 10 species under threat of extinction in Wanstead, visit wnstd.com/the10

English longhorns returned to Wanstead Park last month for another stint of grazing in the area south of the Temple, until the beginning of September. Karen Humpage is one of the volunteer cow wardens

I saw the cows in Wanstead Park last year but missed the chance to help out with the cow-sitting. When I heard about the call for volunteer wardens this year, I knew I had to sign up.

Our job as wardens is to be near the cows and to inform walkers of their presence. Despite posters being displayed in the park, many people are surprised they are there at all, and we don’t want them running into them unexpectedly! Even though our longhorns are quite docile, we ask dog walkers to keep their pets on a lead and away from the cows while in the grazing area. During our two-hour watch, many people stop to chat about the cows, mostly asking questions about why they have been brought here. And some regale us with stories about the cows that used to roam freely about Epping Forest up to the mid-1990s, when they would invade people’s gardens or stop traffic; something that is quite dear to my heart, having published an art book on the subject two years ago.

Sometimes, the cows are quite active and move around the park, though during one of my sessions, they had secreted themselves in a thicket away from the main paths. They have a designated area they are allowed to roam, so there is no chance of them escaping into the nearby roads. The area is marked out on the ground by GPS, and the collars around their necks are linked to this. When they get near to the ‘invisible fence’ a warning beep sounds; the cows have been trained to turn away from the beep. If they don’t and continue forward, they get a negative stimulus from the collar, but most times they are intelligent enough to come to a halt at the beep.

Our three cows this year are Nina, Nutty and Goose. Nina is eight years old and was in the park last year. Nutty is seven and in calf – she is expecting in the autumn. Goose is the grey, grand old lady of the group at 18 years of age. They are part of a 200-strong herd owned by the City of London and they graze in other parts of Epping Forest for the rest of the year.

As a heritage breed, English longhorn are less fussy about what they eat than modern commercial breeds. These manual mowing machines perform a better job at grazing the area selectively, which is quite uneven due to the presence of anthills. They are able to eat around the ants’ nests, thereby exposing them to sunlight and the attention of insectivorous birds such as woodpeckers. They also eat tougher plant life, such as saplings and shrubs, which prevents the area from becoming too overgrown with thickets and allow a more diverse flora and fauna to establish. Their dung is home to a wide variety of beetle and fly larvae, who recycle it back into the earth. The larvae also provide food for more birds and other small creatures, so the presence of cows in the landscape is of great benefit to a thriving ecosystem.

Karen’s book Common or Garden Cows, and cow art prints, are available from karenhumpage.co.uk

A petition to save the Redbridge Lane West allotment site from being used by Cadent will be debated at a Full Council meeting this month.

“We will be able to present the petition and then council members will be able to ask questions and debate it before making a decision. By the time of the meeting on 23 September, it will be six months since the gas company first told us they wanted to take over the site, and we are still no clearer about what exactly it is they want or need to do,” said plot holder Sally Parker.

Visit wnstd.com/rlw

A petition calling for speeding controls and safer pavements on Hermon Hill has been sent to John Cryer MP.

“Our council have not acted on individual complaints, so I am hoping with this we can show the collective will of residents and those who use the road to demand action from Redbridge Council,” said Lloyd Sampson, whose petition has received over 275 signatures.

Speed measuring devices are due to be reinstalled in September after the last monitoring period clashed with roadworks.

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Wanstead resident Jean Medcalf published her first poetry book last year. To Everything There is a Season is a collection of lyrical, spiritual poems about nature. In the 11th of a series of articles, Jean – who celebrated her 90th birthday earlier this year – recalls some local coincidental link-ups. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson

Last month, I talked about how Wanstead feels like a village where everybody seems to know everybody.  There are so many times when the people I know seem to link up with each other in unexpected ways.

I first noticed this when my husband and I moved onto our street 60 years ago. We found that Mrs Rawlings across the road had been in my husband’s class at Wanstead High School. Harold, who lived opposite, was the son of my husband’s boss at Waltham Forest College, and just around the corner lived Ted Smith, the landscape gardener who used to be the gardener when I went to Leyton County High. Some years later, a young man moved into the end house with his family – he greeted me in the street with: “You must be Sally’s mum!” It turned out he had been in my daughter’s class at art college!

I was also once accosted by a lady in Cranbourne Avenue who announced: “I know who you are!” Her name was Kath Setchell and she was my other daughter’s boyfriend’s auntie!

When I first met my dear friend Beryl, we got chatting about the people we knew, and she mentioned that she used to look after an elderly man locally who turned out to be the father of one of my daughter’s Nightingale School classmates. When I retired, I took a creative writing class at Wanstead House, where our tutor was one Brandon Robshaw, who you may have seen on TV. And guess what – he too was in my daughter’s class at Nightingale!

Similarly, my elder daughter and myself used to go to a French film club at Wanstead House. Our tutor was a lovely lady called Yvonne. When we got chatting, she knew my husband’s cousin as they played bridge together.

The coincidences go on. Just recently, an old friend of mine named Sandra was out walking her dog and got chatting to a couple who had recently moved in. On asking where they lived, they said Colvin Gardens. She said: “I used to live in Colvin Gardens. What number is your house?” It turned out they’d moved into the very same house that she once lived in!

A year or so ago, I spent some time convalescing in Forest Dene Care Home following a broken arm. And pretty soon I heard a familiar voice; it was a lady named Beatrice, and as you can no doubt guess, her son was a great friend of my daughter at Nightingale! (I feel that if your children went to Nightingale you will not be short of friends in later life.) Not only did I meet Beatrice but another lady called Christine I had not seen for 25 years, who used to work with me at Langthorne Hospital. And to cap it all, we were in the visitors’ lounge and I saw someone whose face I seemed to recognise. We got chatting and I asked her who she was. She was the daughter of my school caretaker, who I had not seen for 75 years!

But the oddest coincidence of all took place when I engaged a new home help, Stella, who was Greek. She went shopping up the High Street, got lost and asked directions from a helpful lady, explaining that she had just arrived from Athens. By some strange chance, the lady she spoke to spoke fluent Greek! She and Stella went for a coffee together, and the helpful lady asked Stella who she was working for. “Jean Medcalf,” explained Stella, and the helpful lady replied: “Oh, I know Jean!” Can you guess who that lady was? Our very own Marian Temple!

Late Beauty
by Jean Medcalf

From my bedroom window

I can see into the heart of my tall old pear tree

My father-in-law called it Doyenne du Comice

Now in October the Virginia creeper twines carmine

Blood red among the green pendant pears

The creeper comes into its crimson beauty in autumn

At the height of its power its leaves will drop

Suddenly to burnish the brown earth beneath

It is at the height of its beauty just before death

I wonder – is this how it will be with grandparents

Best just before death?

Jean’s book To Everything There is a Season is available in paperback (£5.75). Visit wnstd.com/jean

Wanstead Fringe 2021 will include a number of stand-up comedy shows aimed at kids. It’s a genre that has become increasingly popular, says Wanstead Comedy Night organiser Jon Fentiman

In recent years, the popularity of stand-up comedy amongst younger children has seriously taken off. There are now a growing number of clubs and comedians tailoring their shows specifically to a younger, school-aged audience. However, despite stand-up giving off an edgy, alternative vibe, much of the credit for its growing popularity among primary aged kids must go to mainstream terrestrial TV, and one show in particular.

Often sneered at by the comedy industry, the producers of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent have, in fact, done more than perhaps anyone to raise the profile of stand-up comedy among kids. Broadcast before the watershed, and with the semi-finals and final often aired during spring half-term, Britain’s Got Talent has allowed youngsters to enjoy family friendly stand-up, often for the first time. And it is little surprise that in the last few years, comedians have done exceptionally well on the show.

Robert White (who has performed his club set a number of times for Wanstead Comedy Night) was runner up in 2017, and in 2018 and 2020 respectively, Lost Voice Guy Lee Ridley and musical comedian Jon Courtenay were both Britain’s Got Talent series winners. There can be little doubt that success in the competition is reliant on the thousands of votes cast by young schoolkids, armed with a mobile device and keen to exercise their democratic preference (with, of course, the bill-payer’s permission!).

In 2019, Graeme Mathews, a regular MC at our club, reached the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent with his mixture of Tommy Cooper-style comedy and magic. A talented circuit comedian, Graeme has also been a successful children’s entertainer for 20 years, and in the guise of his alter ego Bam Bam, Graeme knows exactly how to balance humour, magic and audience participation to produce a show that can be truly enjoyed by everyone, from five to 95!

Selling out when he last performed during Wanstead Fringe 2019, Bam Bam will be returning with a whole host of new tricks and family friendly comedy for Wanstead Fringe 2021 at St Gabriel’s Church Hall on 11 September from 3pm. In addition, Wanstead Comedy Night has organised a special comedy improv show for kids aged eight and over and their parents. Shoot From The Hip, one of the UK’s most talented, critically acclaimed improv troupes, will be performing their show tailored for children at The Wanstead Tap on 8 September from 5pm.

The format of Britain’s Got Talent, with its over-scripted backstories, may not be to everyone’s liking, but its contribution in bringing the enjoyment of stand-up comedy to a much younger audience certainly gets a “yes” from me.

For more information on Wanstead Fringe 2021 events and to book tickets, visit wnstd.com/fringe21