April 2022

Last month’s public meeting on the future of Christ Church Green was overwhelmingly positive, says organiser Colin Cronin, with residents now invited to join a new Friends of Christ Church Green group

Christ Church Green has long been Wanstead’s ‘village green’. It is a place where many of us will have fond memories of family and community events, or just strolling under the canopy of its trees on the way to the High Street.

With this in mind, residents met with Councillor Paul Donovan and Deputy Leader of Redbridge Council, Councillor Kam Rai, at Christ Church last month to discuss many aspects of the Green and what we can do to work more effectively together in the future. Such meetings always produce a range of equal but opposite opinions and whilst this meeting was no different, there was an overwhelmingly positive tone during the two hours we spent together, and it clarified a number of points, including:

• The new café kiosk will not have its own alcohol licence, so will only be able to serve alcohol at separately licensed, limited events, such as the Wanstead Festival.
• The kiosk itself will be a sustainable venture with a green roof and in-operation foodstuffs will be locally sourced, with avoidance of single-use plastics.
• There will be a new team operating across Redbridge green spaces to address anti-social behaviour and it will include Christ Church Green in its scope.
• There will be an enhanced capacity for litter collection on Christ Church Green.
• There will also be refurbishment of the toilet block on the Green.

Most importantly of all was the excellent suggestion to form a Friends of Christ Church Green, a non-political residents group that would work collaboratively with Redbridge Council and Vision RCL to ensure all voices in the community are heard and that residents are getting the most out of our village green. Councillor Donovan, along with fellow residents, was very supportive of the idea, stating that: “We hope the new Friends group will provide a constructive forum for engagement. Moving forward, let’s hope this point marks the start of a new collaborative, empowering relationship involving all stakeholders in the community concerned with the future of our much-loved Christ Church Green.”

It is indeed a fantastic idea in a community that has never shied away from making its opinions known or its voices heard, and over the coming weeks, we will begin taking the first steps to forming this important group. Wanstead residents will always be united by wanting what is best for our community and I remain convinced it will be the same case in supporting our efforts to work together for the betterment of Christ Church Green.

For more information on the Friends of Christ Church Green and to get involved, email friendsofccgreen@gmail.com

The Thames21 project is making improvements to the River Roding adjacent to Wanstead Park. Catchment Partnership Development Officer Will Oliver provides an update in the third of a series of articles

The River Roding is London’s third-longest tributary of the Thames. It rises in Essex before flowing 50km south, through east London, meeting the Thames at Barking.

If you head down to the River Roding at Wanstead Park, you may notice some felled trees in the river channel. These trees are actually playing an important role in restoring habitats within the river, and have been added as part of a volunteer-led project run by Thames21, with support from City of London (Epping Forest) and Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure.

Historically, before humans began ‘tidying up’ landscapes, rivers would have been full of fallen trees and large woody material. As water flowed around these structures, it would have been forced to move at different depths and speeds (these rivers are known as having high flow diversity). Different species of animals and plants each have their own preference for different depths and speeds of water, and so rivers full of fallen trees are rivers full of wildlife.

Over the years, many of the fallen trees have been removed from the Roding (something replicated in rivers all across the country). This, coupled with historic artificial straightening of sections of the river channel to reduce flood risk, has resulted in much of the flow diversity of the lower Roding being lost.

With help from our team of enthusiastic volunteers and City of London staff, we’ve been working to address this and improve habitat within the River Roding adjacent to Wanstead Park. The first step to this project involved tree surgeons selectively felling trees and large branches into the channel. A volunteer team then manoeuvred these trees into position so they provide maximum benefit to the river channel. Some trees were used to protect areas of the bank from erosion, whilst others were used to speed up flows in areas where the river was otherwise unnaturally lazy and slow. Our teams then had to drive stakes into the river bed and secure these trees in place with wire cord to prevent them being washed away in high flows.

This work will instantly help improve flow diversity and encourage a greater range of wildlife to return. Over time, as these structures establish themselves, the river will begin to permanently shift away from its current straight, canal-like, course, with water instead following a more sinuous, natural and ‘wild’ path within the original river channel.

So, next time you see a fallen tree in a river, make sure you take a moment to appreciate all the great things it’s doing for the river and its wildlife!

For more information on the Thames21 project in Wanstead Park and other areas, email will.oliver@thames21.org.uk

Redbridge Council has commissioned Jan Kattein Architects to deliver an art audio trail that celebrates the high streets in Wanstead, Woodford and South Woodford. Felicity Barbur reports

We want to hear your Wanstead High Street stories! Our Walk Local Talk Local project – which will see the creation of three temporary public art audio trails – is being funded by the European Regional Development Welcome Back Fund and hopes to encourage people back into the town centres over the next six months.

A sense of belonging is intrinsically linked to the stories people associate with the place where they live. High streets are full of stories of growing up and meeting family and friends; stories of a first job, stories of social interactions and of experiencing the physical transformation of the places we live.

Walk Local Talk Local aims to reconnect people with the borough’s high streets after two years of unprecedented disruption through narratives that are set in the past, present and future. Three art trails (Woodford to Wanstead, Gants Hill to Hainault and Ilford Lane to Chadwell Heath) will combine physical, temporary on-site artwork interventions with a digital audio experience. Together, the combination of a rich audio archive with a sequence of physical ‘gateways’ will reveal stories about the area’s hidden history, explore the deeply personal memories embedded in these streets, and capture some of the energy and imagination that will drive their future.

The Woodford to Wanstead trail had a soft launch at the end of March, and will be added to over the coming months. Each art trail will stitch together multiple public spaces and the people who have lived within them across time, drawing from local contributors to give the specific narratives that define places pinpointed on the trails. At first, people tuning in will hear again from each other whilst slowly hearing the stories of what happened locally pre-COVID, the stories of what is happening locally now and what will happen locally in the future. This will be a first of its kind to showcase how people simplify and map a city’s urbanism through spatially engaging events, social phenomena and transient activity. None of which are directly visible on geospatial maps, but in the context of Redbridge’s public spaces is plentiful and is worth revealing.

We are devising the art trails through conversations with local people. We are either recording informal conversations or receiving voice notes of pre-recorded stories we can then translate into a series of anonymous anecdotal podcasts that will be accessed through physical artwork QR codes along the trail. If you are interested in contributing a story or two about your experiences and memories of Wanstead, we want to hear from you as soon as possible.

For more information and to take part in the project, visit walklocaltalklocal.com or call 07943 060 481

Having been selected as a Girls Golf Rocks venue, Wanstead Golf Club is joining others around the country in encouraging more girls to take up the sport. Club manager Danielle Anderson reports

Wanstead Golf Club (originally founded as Wanstead Park Golf Club) first opened on 25 November 1893. The intervening years have seen many changes here, and we now have some 650 members, comprising of full, midweek, lifestyle, lady, junior, senior and social members.

Of special interest is that Sir Winston Churchill was an honorary member and, to date, the club has provided three Ryder Cup professionals from its ranks: Percy Alliss, Alan Dailey and Lionel Platts. In 1946, club member Jean Hetherington won the Ladies Open Championship.

So, we are pleased to announce that we have been selected by England Golf to become a Girls Golf Rocks venue. It is a national programme with over 200 clubs taking part.

The aim of Girls Golf Rocks is to boost participation numbers and address, for the long term, the disparity in numbers between girls and boys playing the game. All participating clubs are aiming to create an environment where girls feel comfortable and confident to join in the initial sessions and then offer a clear pathway for them to continue their participation in the sport.

Girls Golf Rocks encourages beginner girls, aged five to 18, to learn and play golf in a fun and friendly way. While coaches will lead the sessions, Girls Golf Rocks will also encourage current girl golf club members aged between 12 and 25 to act as peer role models and assist in the delivery of the programme. The emphasis on the lessons is for girls to learn the fundamentals of the game and have fun with their friends in a comfortable and relaxed setting without too much emphasis on the coaching and competitive elements of the game. Taster sessions are free, usually lasting an hour, and are a great way of trying golf before signing up for the six-week coaching course (£35). The coaching course will involve six, hour-long sessions spread over six weeks, with the last lesson being out on the course.

The sessions – which launch in June – are designed to be fun, to involve team and group pursuits, to include a variety of golf-related activities and to allow for social time at the beginning and end.

The importance of the Girls Golf Rocks campaign can’t be overestimated. If we don’t do these sorts of things, the sport won’t carry on into the future. Golf clubs such as ours need these campaigns to bring new blood into the game. We are passionate about getting a wide range of girls to try this wonderful sport. And you never know, we might have the next Georgia Hall, Charley Hull or Jean Hetherington just waiting to be discovered.

For more information and to book a Girls Golf Rocks taster session at Wanstead Golf Club, visit wnstd.com/girlsgolf

Local historian Richard Arnopp has scheduled two new events for his Wanstead Park in Context series of online presentations.

On 28 April, Richard will review three centuries of archaeological exploration in the park, following the discovery of a Roman tessellated pavement in 1715. And on 26 May, he will explore the mediaeval period (circa 440–1500).

The talks will be held on Zoom, while previous presentations in the series are available to watch on the Friends of Wanstead Parklands YouTube channel.

Visit wnstd.com/wpic

Dr Emilia Smeds from the University of Westminster introduces the EX-TRA research project surveying opinions on Wanstead’s street space. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson

In June 2021, a colourful seating area appeared next to the Co-op on the High Street in Wanstead, where a couple of parking spaces had existed only weeks before. This Wanstead Mobility Hub was the second of its kind to be installed by Redbridge Council. The Wanstead Society, residents and local businesses had their say about it, with a diversity of perspectives. Now that the hub has been in place for nine months, we are revisiting the debate.

The Wanstead Mobility Hub provides a new seating area or ‘parklet’ for local people to enjoy the High Street. It is free for anybody to use, not exclusive to specific café customers. You might use it to take a break with your kids while out shopping or as a meeting point.

Redbridge Council’s vision for the space goes beyond this: it is called a hub because it offers many travel options in one place, allowing people to easily switch from one low-emission mode of travel to another. Next to the seating there is bicycle parking and a parking bay reserved for a car club vehicle. You could, for example, cycle to the hub, attend the farmers market, and then travel onwards in a car club car or by Tube. There is an electric vehicle charging point, serving both the car club and members of the public who can park their own electric vehicle in a reserved bay and charge it whilst shopping locally.

Our EX-TRA research project (Experimenting with City Streets to Transform Urban Mobility) is interested in the Mobility Hub because it was implemented as a trial to explore a new idea. An important issue is to what extent local communities are aware of such street space ‘experiments’ when many have been introduced quite rapidly since the pandemic.

Is the Mobility Hub a good use of street space? Should there be more of them in Wanstead? We are interested in all views, whether you like the hub or find issues with it. While the University of Westminster is collaborating with Redbridge Council and the charity Living Streets, our study is independent.

Understanding local opinions about the hub is only a starting point for a wider conversation about the future of local high streets. This is why our website includes a second survey about your views on streets in Wanstead and South Woodford more broadly, where you can place a pin on a map and comment on where you would like to see changes.

The pandemic has accelerated the redesign of London streets, providing more outdoor space for people (whether sitting, walking or cycling) rather than space for cars and parking. There is a finite amount of street space, so the question for the future is: what balance is fairest to make space for everyone?

In Wanstead High Street, that question has now arrived.

To take part in the street space survey, visit wnstd.com/extra. Residents can also speak to project interviewers, who will be at the Wanstead Mobility Hub on weekdays this spring.

For more information, email extraproject@westminster.ac.uk

Redbridge’s heroes were recognised at the Mayor’s Community Awards last month.

Local winners were (clockwise from top left): April Mehmet, who featured in last month’s issue of the Wanstead Village Directory with her Walk it Out initiative; Juliette Harvey, James Patterson, Suzanne Patterson and Suzi Harnett from the Tin in a Bin network; Vicky Taylor and Caroline Killick from Redbridge for Education; and Iris Vandenberghe for her commitment to keeping Wanstead’s streets clean and helping to set up the monthly litter pick.

Work to bring a new natural play area to Wanstead Park gets underway this month. It will benefit not only local kids’ health, but will improve the park environment as well, says Gill James

Good news for families visiting Wanstead Park! Work recommences this month on the new natural play area and the basic structures should be finished by late June.

The generous sum of £10,100 has recently been granted towards the cost of construction. This grant has come from the City of London Central Grants Programme and is specifically for the boundary safety fence, a self-closing entrance gate, an emergency access gate, litter bins, benches and signage. Together with donations from the Aldersbrook Families Association and Friends of Wanstead Parklands, Epping Forest now has sufficient funds to start serious construction work. Additionally, the City of London has agreed to take responsibility for future maintenance of the play area.

In April, work will begin on the woodland stepping stones trail. Safety is a priority; the stepping stone logs must be buried in the ground to a sufficient depth to make them completely safe for small feet. There will be a hands-on community day to get this done all in one go. In May, the messy play area and the fence and gate will probably go in. And by the end of June, the core play area should be in place.

Much of the equipment, such as bark chippings, the logs to make the stepping stones and other play items are sourced from fallen wood in Epping Forest and are produced by normal maintenance operations.

The play area is looking for another £15,000 to £20,000 to pay for items on the shopping list that need to be bought. The list includes ropes and ladders for the stepping stones trail, monkey bars, stepping poles, balancing rails, sand for a pit, more rocks, wooden chainsaw carvings, climbing and balancing equipment and, most importantly, the materials for a surfaced path to provide safe and secure access for buggies and wheelchairs.

The play area project will encourage more children, their families and carers to make greater use of Wanstead Park, to learn about and explore the wildlife, and help improve the environment by creating more habitats through the planned installation of bird boxes, bat boxes and minibeast hotels.

This area of Aldersbrook, in particular, has been identified as one of play deprivation, and local groups and residents have long campaigned for play facilities for children here. The rising levels of child obesity and concerns about child mental health highlight how important it is for children to have opportunities to play outdoors with others. Shockingly, some 35% of children leaving a local primary school are either overweight or medically obese. Creating a play area within walking distance will encourage children to lead more active lifestyles.

A link to donate to the project will be added here when available.

Temporary fencing has returned to Wanstead Flats to protect ground-nesting skylarks during the breeding season (April to August).

It follows a successful trial last year, which allowed at least two pairs to breed.

“This may not have happened without the fencing… The reduced disturbance for feeding birds as well as those on the nest would have been an important factor. This year, there are at least 10 birds on site (possibly 12), and we’ll be trying to build a clearer picture over the spring,” said Tim Harris of the Wren Wildlife Group.

The new café kiosk on Christ Church Green is set to open this month.

“The unit has now been delivered and installed. Work has begun connecting the electric and water mains, and we envisage the café to be fully open by Easter,” said a spokesperson for Vision RCL. The kiosk will not have an alcohol licence but will be able to serve alcohol at separately licensed events.

Redbridge Council has also announced a £2m investment in public toilets in parks, which will include the toilets on Christ Church Green adjacent to the new kiosk.

A community sewing group that made scrubs and incubator covers for hospitals during the pandemic is looking for more volunteers.

“We have members in Wanstead and across Redbridge and Waltham Forest, but as more of us return to work we need new seamstresses to join us in order to continue making essential supplies, which now includes medical gowns and kids’ pyjamas for Ukraine refugee centres,” said a spokesperson for Sew Solid Crew, which has donated over 14,000 items since March 2020.

For more information, email wfsewsolidcrew@gmail.com

Follow the group on Twitter and Instagram

Donations are also welcome on the group’s JustGiving page