October 2022

A former National Archives family history specialist will be giving a presentation at Wanstead Library this month.

“David Annal has more than 40 years of experience as a family historian. He has written a number of books and contributes to Family Tree magazine,” said a spokesperson for The East of London Family History Society, which is hosting the event on 26 October (7.30pm; visitors: £3).

The talk will explore the problems of tracing ancestors in London in the period before civil registration and census returns.

Call 07762 514 238

Wanstead resident Michelle Linaker pays tribute to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, reflecting on her 12-hour queue to see the late monarch lying in state and marking the end of an era

The Queen has just always been there. I remember when I was younger, sitting at a huge, long table with everyone in the street eating jam sandwiches and gazing at Union Jack flags and bunting. The riot of colour was so exciting for a young child. The Queen’s Jubilee was a day that brought everybody together and, to me, that’s something the Queen, even in her death, has continued to do.

Nobody can say she didn’t serve her country above herself. She helped bring peace in Northern Ireland, her passion was the Commonwealth and was it really an accident that she passed away in Scotland, or was she just reminding the Scots of her love and the desire for our countries to stay together? 

Harry and William greeting the crowds together felt like a huge step forward, and I hope they heal the rifts between them. Charles professing his love for Harry and Meghan really moved me, despite the cynicism of people saying his comment about continuing their life together abroad meant he was banishing them. I took it as a sign of acceptance.

The Queen has given so much of herself, it felt only right to drag myself out of bed at 2.30am to go and pay my last respects as she lay in state. You can’t help feeling there’s a sense of completeness and her time had come. Whilst deeply sad, it was a life well lived and I’m grateful she had a quick and peaceful end. Typical of her to work until the final day. I think the thing that saddens me more is that in my and my children’s lifetime there will never be another queen. She has been part of my life since I was born. A strong, female role model; warm, kind, tough and a lover of animals.

So, I arrive at Tower Bridge at 4am and get my gold wristband. Some 16,000 steps and 12 hours of waiting lay ahead before paying my respects to our late Queen Elizabeth II. The atmosphere in the queue is jovial and there is a strong sense of community; stoic waiting, aching backs and tired legs. As we get nearer to Westminster Hall, the atmosphere changes and butterflies riot in my stomach. The laughter and camaraderie of the queue have fallen away and the sadness seeps in.

I’m finally going to say goodbye to the nation’s grandmother. It’s hard to explain how it feels as you enter the hall. I stood at the top of the steps surveying the scene below. It’s almost surreal. I feel like I’ve stepped into a painting. The grandeur of the hall, the beautiful, yet tiny crown. The guards look impressive on TV, but in real life, their stillness is eerie and they look like they are carved in stone. It was moving and emotional and well worth the wait. As I stood there, I thought of the WH Auden poem Stop All The Clocks. A part of history, the end of an era.

Goodbye, ma’am. We’ll meet again.

For more information on the life of Queen Elizabeth II, visit wnstd.com/queen

The Woodford and District National Trust Centre will be holding a special event at Copped Hall in Epping on 19 October.

“Archaeologist Nathalie Cohen will be giving a talk about Knole House. When Copped Hall was sold in 1701, many treasures were moved to Knole House in Kent, where they are on display to this day, creating a special bond between the two landmarks,” said a spokesperson. The presentation starts at 11am (booking required; tickets: £10) and will be followed by a guided tour.

Call 07774 164 407

Wanstead resident Dan Slipper pays tribute to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, reflecting on several moments from her long life which demonstrate what an exceptional monarch – and woman – she was

The death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II has brought great sadness to many people around the world. She played a unique role in our lives and the history of our country, and most of us have never known another head of state. She has been a constant reassurance in this ever-changing world, embodying the concepts of dedication, duty and public service. While remaining steadfast, she has relentlessly and imperceptibly moved the monarchy forward with the times. There are several snapshots from her long life and 70 years of service which I believe reveal what a truly remarkable woman she was.

Archive footage from her coronation in 1953 shows a beautiful young girl seemingly effortlessly assuming the burden of regal responsibility. Although she was just 27 at the time, she bears the crown with such dignity and grace – an early indication her reign will prove to be something special.

In 1981, during a Trooping the Colour ceremony, shots (later found to be blanks)were fired at her as she rode down The Mall. While riding side saddle, her only concern was for the horse, a 19-year-old mare called Burmese. With a few words, she gently calmed him and rode on to complete the procession while policemen sprang into chaotic action behind her to tackle the assailant.

It felt like there was an audible gasp across the country when she turned and said: “Good evening, Mr Bond,” in that famous clip recorded for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London in 2012. The fact she had agreed to appear with the actor Daniel Craig, who portrayed the fictional spy, astonished everyone watching and revealed her much-rumoured mischievous sense of humour. When she arrived in the stadium later that night, there was a definite twinkle in her eye.

Earlier this year, while grieving the death of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, and affected by mobility problems, she appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace as part of events to mark her Platinum Jubilee. Although she was 96 years old, she remained determined not to let people down and to join the long-planned celebrations and thrill the expectant crowds.

On her 21st birthday in 1947, the then Princess Elizabeth made this vow in a radio broadcast from Cape Town in South Africa: “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service.” Throughout her unprecedented reign, she never let us down and kept her word to the very end. We shall not see her like again. Thank you for everything, Your Majesty, and farewell.

God save the King.

For more information on the life of Queen Elizabeth II, visit wnstd.com/queen

In the 11th of a series of articles looking at the redevelopment of Whipps Cross Hospital, Charlotte Monro asks readers to share their healthcare experiences, which could influence bed numbers in the new hospital

Funding has been approved for the next phase of work preparing the ground at Whipps for building a new hospital; £28m for a 500-space, multi-storey car park and access roads was announced in August. This is being hailed as a breakthrough after a rather long government silence. But there is still no announcement on what funding will be given to build the new Whipps, nor final confirmation that it can go ahead.

Whipps is part of the national New Hospitals Programme, announced in 2019, with £2.7bn of government funding. Whipps is one of eight ’pathfinder’ hospitals in this scheme and £350m is likely less than half the real cost, hence the pressure to build our new hospital too small and sell off too much of the land. A warning: as the new Royal Liverpool Hospital is finally opening – with fewer beds – the larger hospital it replaces was declared at full capacity under extreme pressure.

Whipps, like most of the NHS, is operating under pressure now. Barts Health Trust hospitals have had the highest volume of A&E attendances in England. Pressure needs to be designed out of the system, not into it. Under pressure, mistakes happen and safety can be compromised. A three-year-old child died when he was sent home from Whipps A&E on a night when the department was under such pressure on a shift described as ‘extremely challenging’ by the medical director.

The four-hour maximum wait in A&E before admission target is never met these days, and that is largely because beds are full. Systems are now in place for early discharge to free up beds. This can only work safely if community services and health and social care have the capacity to provide sufficient support. The reality is they often do not. ‘Elsie’, who was getting out and about before a fall and hospital admission, was discharged unable to get up to her bed; no rails installed. Awaiting a home assessment, she fell again and fractured her hip, and is now too frail to live at home. Adding indignity, she was told she should wee in her pads (she was not incontinent). This indignity, I fear, is being built into the system.

The Action 4 Whipps campaign has been informed by Barts Health of transformation programmes for health and care services within the Whipps catchment area, led by North East London Integrated Care System. They want to measure the impact on hospital admissions, length of stay and health, influencing the number of beds in the new hospital. From the off, we have been urging decisions on bed numbers to be grounded in the reality of what is happening in the community. Which is where readers can help. Please get in touch if you have experience of hospital discharges or community care we can feed back. And, of course, do get in touch if you want to be involved in our campaign to ensure the new hospital truly meets the needs of the future.

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

Visitors to Wanstead Park and Wanstead Flats are urged not to leave food for waterfowl on the banks.

“Food left on the banks turns mouldy and is extremely toxic to waterfowl, causing a fungal respiratory illness. We encourage the feeding of birds, particularly as we are now entering the colder months, but please feed them in the water and refrain from throwing in more food until they have finished what is already there. Good foods are seeds, wholemeal bread, peas, spinach and lettuce,” said Swan Sanctuary volunteer Louisa Green.

Redbridge Museum will open a new permanent exhibition later this year exploring local history. Here, Museum Officer Nishat Alam looks back on Her Late Majesty’s visits to the borough, including Wanstead

By the time this issue of the Wanstead Village Directory goes out, it will have been almost two weeks since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. As the longest-serving monarch in British history, the event was incomparable to anything most of us will have seen in our lives. In this article, I look back at the Queen’s visits to Redbridge over the years.

The then Princess Elizabeth’s first visit to what is now Redbridge was on 9 May 1945, the day after VE Day. The Royal Family visited Ilford on a tour of parts of east London that had been most affected by bombing during the Second World War, meeting local civil defence workers outside the bomb-damaged Ilford Super Cinema across the road from Ilford Station. 

Elizabeth visited Ilford again on 25 October 1949 to celebrate the 1,000th house built by Ilford Council as part of the new welfare state after the end of the war. Local people gathered in crowds to catch a glimpse of the young princess, and several residents were lucky enough to meet her in their new homes (see photo above). 

In 1952, Elizabeth became queen and was crowned the following year on 2 June 1953. Peter Lawrence of Woodford, aged 10 at the time, remembers that “the Coronation [was] the event that brought people into the television age,” with many across the country buying a TV set to watch the first-ever televised Coronation. Local people also bought souvenirs like plates, teacups and biscuit tins, many of which are now in the collections at Redbridge Museum. Street parties were held across Redbridge to celebrate the Coronation. Residents decorated their streets with Union Jack flags and bunting, and came together for food, singing and dancing. Similar festivities took place for the Queen’s jubilees over the years, including the Platinum Jubilee four months ago, which marked 70 years of the Queen’s reign.

The Queen made her first visit to Wanstead on 9 May 2002 as part of her Golden Jubilee tour of east London. She and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the allotments on Redbridge Lane West, where they met members of the Redbridge Food Futures project which supported people with learning disabilities, many from the Woodbine Clubhouse in Wanstead. The Queen was even presented with a basket of vegetables grown on the allotment! Plot holders Donald Doody and John Harrison met the Queen. 

She was back in Redbridge on 29 March 2012, this time to Valentines Mansion in Ilford as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour. At the Mansion, the Queen viewed exhibits from Redbridge Museum as part of the ‘London Pride’ art and design festival and remarked: “Goodness, how things have changed!”

And how! The passing of the Queen brings about the end of an era characterised by several momentous events that have left a lasting impact on the social, political and cultural landscape of the United Kingdom. As a new chapter in British history begins, the new Redbridge Museum will look back on the past to allow new and existing audiences to understand how and why we are where we are today.

Redbridge Museum is located on Clements Road, Ilford. Visit wnstd.com/rm
To complete a survey on what should go on display, visit wnstd.com/rms

Derek Inkpin from local solicitors Wiseman Lee offers his thanks and pays tribute to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, or as he believes is a more fitting moniker, Elizabeth the Great

By the time this edition of the Wanstead Village Directory is read, the seismic and utterly unique circumstances which happened to the UK in September 2022 after the death of our dear Queen will be passing into the near distance of the autumn.

Millions of words, both written and spoken, not just in the UK, but globally, about the most famous woman in the world, have been articulated.

It is quite clear we will never see her like again. We all know that she has been praised for her selfless devotion to duty, her friendliness, her humour and her hard work for 70 years in representing this country and the Commonwealth. She was ‘our’ Queen, but to the rest of the world, she was ‘the’ Queen.

Her dedication to duty in front of the camera at such a young age to confirm whether her life be short or long clearly told us we were dealing with someone special. In time, over many years, she became the nation’s granny and has earned our deep respect.

The announcement of the Queen’s death on the afternoon of 8 September 2022 was received with shock, even though we all knew that at the age of 96 she would not live forever. Nevertheless, we hoped her life would not end. When the end came, we were simply not prepared for the news.

My firm was started by Cyril Wiseman in East Ham in the year of the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, and there are not now many people who remember those days, when Winston Churchill was prime minister, the four young men who became The Beatles were still at school, sweet rationing was still in force and the man who is now king was four years old. King Charles III has had the longest apprenticeship in the world.

Some years ago, when the Queen and Prince Philip visited Essex, we were told their car on returning to London would progress along Cambridge Park, Wanstead, before turning left into Blake Hall Road. I left my office and as the car passed we all applauded. It only took a few seconds, but those who witnessed it knew we had to be there to pay our respects.

Since her death, the Queen has been referred to as Elizabeth the Great. I would like to think to the generations that follow she will become known by that title.

I can think of five words, which for me, summarise the last 70 years in the words of Paddington Bear at his famous meeting with the Queen earlier this year: “Thank you, ma’am. For everything.”

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

A climate picnic took place on Christ Church Green last month.

“We had group discussions and experts speaking about community gardening and biodiversity, recycling, food waste, composting, air pollution and active travel, fast fashion and home insulation. Plus, we had workshops on creating hedgehog-friendly gardens and origami animals for kids. A lovely and informative afternoon was had by all,” said a spokesperson for Wanstead Climate Action, which organised the event as part of the Wanstead Fringe.

Visit wnstd.com/wca