Volunteers are sought to help Redbridge Libraries deliver its holiday programme of children’s events this summer.
“Do you enjoy working with young people? Are you looking to give back to the community? Volunteers will help listen to children read for the Fabula Reading Challenge, run board games sessions, or help with workshops,” said a spokesperson.
Volunteers must be 14 or over. Visit wnstd.com/fab23
You may be aware that I have been campaigning for quite some time with local residents, Waltham Forest and Redbridge Councils and colleagues cross party for a new hospital at the Whipps Cross site. Whipps has been an East London institution for over a century. It was built during the First World War: many of the first patients cared for there were servicemen injured on the Western Front.
To remind you of the recent background, plans have been in the offing for a new hospital for some years. When Boris Johnson was prime minister, he promised 40 new hospitals. That number subsided to six, went up to 14, then dropped to 12.
There have always been issues that have sparked debate. The original plans were for a cut of 50 beds. After numerous meetings and letters, Bart’s Trust wrote to me to say the new hospital would have the same number of beds as we have at present. That was a step forward, although demographic changes mean that, in my view, bed numbers should be rising.
There is still an argument between me and the trust on the future of the Margaret Centre, which provides outstanding end-of-life care and which will not survive in its current form under the plans.
Steven Barclay (Health Secretary) tweeted last August that the money for a new car park and other preparatory work at Whipps was available. Since then, nothing has happened and there have been no further comments. This has been deeply unfair to the trust managers, patients and to all those who work extremely hard at Whipps, usually for inadequate wages. The radio silence and lack of government commitment to the new hospital has been vexing. I therefore welcome the Department of Health’s renewed commitment to the new hospital, announced recently. I am told the scheme will be delivered by 2030. The local NHS’s preferred way forward is to build a new district general hospital at Whipps Cross in a single-phase build. This will provide a range of patient services, including emergency and maternity, on a cleared site that was formerly the nurses’ accommodation.
I will continue to monitor the progress of the project and to hold ministers and the development team to account. I want to express my gratitude to our great nurses, doctors and NHS staff who have worked so hard for so long in very dilapidated buildings.
I know the affection local people across Redbridge have for Whipps Cross. Residents will have been born, had babies of their own and had relatives cared for at the hospital. What the local community needs is not just a new hospital but the right kind of new hospital, with appropriate services for a rapidly growing population.
To contact John Cryer MP, visit johncryermp.co.uk or call 020 8989 5249
©Geoff WilkinsonTfL is proposing to make changes to the W12, W13, W14 and 549 bus routes between the Walthamstow, Wanstead and Woodford areas.
“This is in response to feedback from our customers to improve connectivity to Whipps Cross Hospital and local destinations… We would restructure routes W12, W13 and W14 and withdraw route 549. Other bus routes in the area would remain unchanged,” said a spokesperson.
A consultation on the plans is open until 30 July.
Visit wnstd.com/buses or call 020 3054 6037
The anonymous yarn bomber who has been creating woollen toppers for a postbox on Hermon Hill has spoken out after their latest creation was stolen.
“Toppers are regularly taken, but many are returned as the pranksters find they have little use for them! I was inspired to start doing this last December, having seen them in a village in Wales. Each topper takes over 80 hours to make. I have been overwhelmed by the support of local people and will be commencing work on my next topper shortly,” said the mystery knitter.
A consultation on London City Airport’s Noise Action Plan is open until 11 August.
“An interesting innovation is the introduction of an enhanced flight monitoring system, allowing the community to review flights and aircraft noise in real time,” said a spokesperson for campaign group HACAN East.
Separately, the airport’s expansion plans will be presented to Newham Council on 10 July.
Visit wnstd.com/lcan
Have you ever pushed a buggy containing a protesting toddler across Wanstead Park to reach the nearest play area, half an hour’s walk away on Christ Church Green in Wanstead? If so, you will know why local mums set up a campaign back in 2001 for a play area within walking distance of families living on the Aldersbrook Estate.
It has been a long, long process, which began with the founding of the Aldersbrook Families Association (AFA). Many were the local sites suggested and rejected. When no suitable site could be found, the AFA decided instead to support local projects to benefit families. So began Music in Wanstead Park, the annual event enjoyed by so many families over 17 years.
When a possible site for a modest woodland play area was eventually identified in Wanstead Park, the AFA committee decided to put the money raised by running Music in Wanstead Park into supporting the new play area project. By now, some of those original campaigners are grannies!
There were many hoops to jump through. Seemingly endless City of London committees. What sort of play equipment was acceptable to all users in a beautiful park with a semi-wild aspect? Who was going to install it? Were there any important historic remains in the ground? Who was responsible for maintenance once the play equipment was in? How to keep children safe? How much money could we raise? Should dogs be allowed? And many more questions to answer.
Finally, after many stops and starts, the chair of the Epping Forest and Commons Committee, Ben Murphy, cut the ceremonial ribbon tied to the log stack in the Woodland Play Area to mark the official opening of the site on 16 June, some 22 years after the AFA first set up its playground campaign! School was out, and many children could be seen negotiating the woodland trail, swinging on the monkey bars and enjoying ice creams. It was a lovely sight.
The play area remains a work in progress. The fencing around the whole site must be finished and a surfaced path is also needed, leading to a piece of accessible play equipment such as a basket swing.
What volunteers have raised:
Now, it’s up to today’s young parents to look after the play area and make it even better.
The Woodland Play Area is located behind the Temple in Wanstead Park. For more information, visit wnstd.com/park
Councillor Jyotsna Islam has been elected as the new Mayor of Redbridge for the 2023–2024 municipal year.
“I moved to Redbridge in the eighties, lived here ever since, married, and raised my family in our borough… By trade, I am a registered social worker. To have been nominated to become the mayor of the borough is a huge privilege and immensely humbling,” said Councillor Islam, who has selected the London Air Ambulance and Woodford Bridge-based ELHAP as the chosen charities for her term in office.
The 17th annual cake sale and garden party at the home of a South Woodford resident has raised £10,166, enough to pay for a day of care at Haven House Children’s Hospice.
“I am totally amazed and overwhelmed by how successful another year has been. I am very, very lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family who have put up with my anxiety over the last few weeks and helped make this happen. It was an incredible team effort,” said Michelle Vanlint of Derby Road.
Donations are still welcome.
Visit swvg.co.uk/cakes23
Jas Athwal, the Leader of the Council, has confirmed in the article that the future of Wanstead Youth Centre will be made at the Cabinet meeting in September 2023.
The SOWYC Group thank councillors, Young People and the wider community for their support in achieving this positive response.
We want to re-iterate our request for the council to grant a moratorium, of at least 12 months, to allow further time to explore and pursue other options and funding streams to retain the only remaining youth centre of its kind in the borough. And to make available, as previously requested, the necessary financial documents to allow this to happen.
We remind the council that over 5,000 people signed the petition to oppose the closure of the centre; and at the public meeting in March many young people spoke about the importance of the centre to their physical and mental health. We sincerely hope this will be central to the decision making in September.
We urge the council to commence a meaningful consultation with the users of the youth centre, to inform the report being compiled for September’s Cabinet meeting.
We would also like to ask for clarity from the council regarding the statement in the article that £14 million that is being invested in the borough into leisure facilities, where in the borough is this investment happening and when? We also request further details on the £4million being spent on the lido in Valentine’s Park and substantiation for the claim the lido will ‘cover it’s own costs’, as we are unaware of a single open-air lido in the country that is self-sufficient.
We invite councillors, as well as the wider community to come and experience the youth centre by attending the ‘Activities and Fun’ event, which is being organised by the campaign group and held at the centre (114 Elmcroft Avenue, E11 2DB) on 15th July 12-3pm (further details on Facebook)
To stay up to date join the ‘Save Wanstead Youth Centre’ Facebook group , or follow the campaign on Twitter @S_W_Y_C. To join the Group please email SaveWansteadYouthCentre@gmail.com or contact Liz Martins on 07403 649306.
Campaigners will host a fun day at the centre on 15 July from 2pm to 5pm to demonstrate the activities available at the venue.
Whose life are you living? We have deep questions within us that demand answers, and often in our best attempts to answer them, we create a false self and abandon our truest self. That loss of self is not only felt at the core of who we are but is an incredible loss for the world.
When we take a close, deep look at the world, it’s not too difficult to imagine a graveyard of buried destinies, dreams and desires. In our efforts to make our way in the world, we compromise a little here and conform a little there. We watch what is working for others and determine to become that. Others try to remake us into what they want. In effect, the gift we are intended to be for the world is traded for a taste of what will never satisfy. We lose. The world loses. And if all our efforts are based on the projection of what is false, what would happen if we lived from what is true? Authenticity can be terrifying! It requires courageous vulnerability.
How do we shake the dirt of conformance and compromise off our feet and flourish in the deeply seeded, eternal purpose planted inside us? How do we unpack ourselves of all the things we’ve filled ourselves up with, thinking, hoping we will belong, be seen, be heard, be respected and valued – that we will be genuinely loved? Our souls will always know that if we achieve what we hope for based on a false projection, then none of those things, when received, are real. They aren’t based on what is true and can never truly satisfy.
Daisy Dresser’s Miracle, a ‘grown-up’ children’s book by Tricia Exman, provides inspiration, and the prompted journal will take you on a journey of discovery back to your truest true you. The world needs the ‘youness’ only you can give. The story of Daisy Dresser’s most miraculous miracle is for anyone who has ever:
Stories and art are powerful tools that bypass our logical brains and reach us at deeper levels, making them powerfully transformative. This is why Daisy’s story is written and illustrated as a children’s book. Big changes in our souls require us to become as children. Embrace the biggest change in your life through this fanciful story of the false identities we accumulate trying to answer our deepest questions.
Daisy Dresser’s Miracle is available in hardback and paperback from Amazon. Visit wnstd.com/daisy
For more information on the author, visit wnstd.com/exman
For more information on the illustrator, visit wnstd.com/karina
Some of the local birders (me included) have been around for a while. I will spare the blushes of one of my fellows who has been ticking stuff locally since before I was born. There are a range of capabilities and specific interests (some of us like gulls, some like surveying breeding birds, some use nocturnal migration recorders and heat sensory binoculars, and some like taking the best photos of birds possible), but this group of core local birders have kept the records flowing over the last decade and more and found some amazing birds. I dread to think about the number of combined hours we have put into birding Wanstead Flats and Wanstead Park – it would be a very large figure indeed. Most of us are out at least weekly, and some of us almost daily!
Birding is about so much more than numbers, but there are few committed birders who are not at least somewhat interested in the numbers game. Birders, as we know, like lists, with several of us now contributing regularly to centralised applications, most notably eBird, which enable our bird data to contribute to wider ornithological science.
I moved to the local area in late 2014, and 2023 is now the ninth year I have been regularly birding the patch. In that time, I have been lucky enough to record 148 species of bird (I say record rather than ‘see’ as two species on my list are ‘heard only’: Quail and Tawny Owl). There are six local birders who have all got over 150 species on their patch lists. I am not going to indulge in false modesty here; for a relatively small and unassuming site, those are impressive numbers! And with 150 years worth of records, and almost 15 years of very comprehensive records, the total patch list is just over 200. Quite phenomenal, really!
Anyhow, I need to get to the point! I realise that for someone early on in their journey of birding, knowing where to start or how to start amassing a substantive list may be a little daunting. So, for the benefit of those who are starting out on their birding journey, or for those who don’t quite visit often enough to make building a big list easy, the following tips are for you.
Get to know the patch
Spend time walking around the local area as regularly as you can. Note what you see, where you see it and when (time of year, but also time of day – these factors can make a massive difference). We have a map on the Wanstead Birding website with some local names for things: Motorcycle Wood, The Gates of Mordor, The Ditch of Despair and the Forbidden Triangle are all on there.
Go out across all four seasons
You don’t need to be a daily or even a weekly birder to clock up some good birds locally, but you do need to get out relatively regularly. You will also build a disproportionately strong list by focusing on birding during the spring and autumn migration periods.
Study your targets
To keep a list, you need to be able to accurately identify your targets by sight (and often at distance) and sound (learning flight calls is essential for the passage migration period). If you are starting from a low base of knowledge, I would suggest using a field guide like the Collins Bird Guide and looking up the birds you see while you are out and about.
Build a base of easy targets
One of two gifts to you from this article is a list of 71 species which should be pretty much guaranteed if you follow the steps above. Admittedly, some of these ‘easy’ birds are easier than others – I doubt I have ever set foot on the patch without ticking off a Robin, whilst I have managed to get several months into the year without adding Grey Wagtail to my year list, but I would be shocked if I didn’t add it before the year is out. Against each of the 71 species, I have put where and when you are most likely to see them.
Devise a list of more challenging targets
Once you have your foundation species, you can now set yourself a target of the species which should be doable within a typical year. Your second gift is a list of 39 species setting out the largely annual birds which can be tricky, but with some dedication, should be largely doable within any given year. As with above, some are easier to get than others. There are arguments that birds like Snipe, Little Owl, Coal Tit and Yellow Wagtail should really be in the ‘easy’ list, while others such as Short-eared Owl and Yellowhammer could be considered too difficult for a list of this nature. However, this is a target list of birds you might reasonably expect to see, and so even if you only got two-thirds of the list in a year, you would be well on your way to getting 100 birds for the year.
Be ready to engage in twitching
Every year, we get a small smattering of rarer birds than those on the lists provided. If you get serious about your patch list or patch year list and would like to see interesting birds locally, you probably need to be ready to respond to news and come out to try and see the good birds when the news goes out. I remember that within a few months of moving to the area, a Slavonian Grebe showed up on Heronry Pond. It was the first record for the patch and the only one to date. If I hadn’t made the effort to go and see it, there was no guarantee that opportunity would come up again locally.
Building a patch list can be a great way to develop your understanding of birds – a stronger sense of the ordinary will give you greater intuition for the extraordinary. If this article was of use to a small handful of people who then go on to strengthen the network of local birders, the more trained eyes there are out on the patch, the better. Not only from a rarity-finding perspective but also to contribute to the understanding of what birds we have present locally and what is happening to their numbers.
For more information on the Wren Wildlife Group and Wanstead Wildlife Weekend (24 and 25 June), visit wnstd.com/wren
To view the bird lists in the group’s latest newsletter, visit wnstd.com/birdlists