August 2025

In the 13th of a series of articles looking at the redevelopment of Whipps Cross Hospital, Charlotte Monro explains why the Action4Whipps community campaign is needed now more than ever before

In January this year, the government decided our urgently needed new Whipps Cross Hospital will not be funded till 2032 to 2034. It could now be 11 years or more before the new hospital opens. Keeping the old buildings and equipment in a fit state for patient care over that time will cost at least £200m.

Five years ago, as a new hospital became a real prospect, people came together to make sure a new Whipps will be built to the highest standards to meet the population’s needs into the future. Action4Whipps community campaign has been having a significant impact, on the streets, submitting petitions and evidence and talking to NHS bodies, councillors and MPs. The need for campaigning is even greater now.

Hospitals serving our area are under huge pressure and facing budget cuts. We are continuing our fight to make sure valued services – like the excellent Margaret Centre providing palliative and end-of-life care, and the Connaught Day Hospital for older people – are secured for the future (neither were included in the new hospital designs).

Whipps A&E is at the sharp end of pressure with over half of patients who need to be admitted to hospital waiting for over 12 hours (2024/25 figures). Some 65% of all those who attend A&E have serious or life-threatening conditions.

Hospital staff do their very best to provide high standards of care, but conditions that too often prevail increase the risk of something going wrong. A recent coroner report showed tragic consequences for a 59-year-old woman whose death from sepsis could have been avoided had she been able to receive the right care. No beds were available in resuscitation; on that day, 25 patients were being cared for in corridors. Often, there are not enough staff.

Having worked at Whipps for many years, I remember a time when we looked back on 12-hour waits and trollies in the corridor as a shocking thing of the past. We must not accept that such conditions can be the norm. The planned physical upgrade of the current emergency department is welcome, but sufficient beds in the hospital and correct staffing are also crucial.

The UK has wealth, and the NHS should be a priority. But instead of the increase in nurses, doctors, therapists and new infrastructure so urgently needed, the government’s 10-year plan for the NHS, released last month, focuses on digital apps, shifting care to the community without clear plans or sufficient funding and expanding the role of the private sector. Worryingly, the few structures in which the community can influence decisions on health provision, for example, scrutiny committees, may be abolished.

For more information on the campaign, visit wnstd.com/a4w or email whipps.cross.campaign@gmail.com

The Barrel Boulangerie on Wanstead High Street is now displaying a wide range of paintings by local adult students. Yet, art can do even more than create beautiful surroundings. Donna Mizzi reports

Consciously and unconsciously, a growing number of adults are taking up local art classes to achieve a greater sense of wellbeing. That’s the clear observation made by watercolourist Brenda Coyle, who teaches art classes at Wanstead House community centre.

Pursuing art has proven health benefits, as recently publicised, as well as stimulating creativity. Brenda has long focused on “relaxation through art” – whether it’s running classes within the learning departments of London museums, royal palaces, corporate workplaces and now in her home area of Wanstead. She decided to approach Zak, manager of the popular Barrel Boulangerie, about displaying her students’ work, and was delighted he agreed, seeing the mutual benefit: encouraging creativity and providing visual interest for customers (as well as the opportunity to buy local artists’ work). It may also encourage customers to join local art classes.

Brenda’s art classes at Wanstead House start with gentle meditative techniques that help students to relax after a busy morning or rushing to class. For many, the connection between restfulness and the ability to paint is a fascinating revelation. She explains: “It is important for people to take a breath between one activity and another so they are mentally ready to fully enjoy the session ahead. I fully believe the power of creativity can make us feel good as it releases dopamine, a chemical that facilitates feelings of pleasure and happiness. This can serve as a valuable tool for reducing anxiety and depression, and allows us to become fully absorbed, providing an opportunity to experience a sense of ‘free flow’ – a feeling of being completely wrapped in an activity we enjoy. Joining a class is an opportunity to be with like-minded people, to make new friends and new connections within our community.”

This tutor’s students will also display their work alongside members of Art Group Wanstead at the Wanstead Festival on 14 September. And Brenda will be offering free one-to-one ‘Painting for the Petrified’ art sessions at the festival.

The Barrel Boulangerie is located at 151 Wanstead High Street.

For more information, call 07745 334 261 or email mbbcraft@gmail.com

For details of all other classes at Wanstead House, call 020 8989 3693

In the second of a series of articles documenting the development of Wanstead’s Evergreen Field, Geoff Horsnell looks at the contractors’ breach of conditions that caused work to be halted. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson

When the Metropolitan Police first put the Evergreen Field up for auction in the late 1990s, a number of local residents clubbed together to try to submit a bid, which was ultimately unsuccessful. From this beginning, the Wanstead Society was formed.

The first matter on the agenda for the society was to try to preserve the Evergreen Field, perhaps as part of the adjacent Christ Church Green. On the whole, this action was successful until the latest application in 2023. This application – to build a residential block of 24 flats atop a ground-floor nursery – was approved in early 2024, subject to some 41 conditions. Earlier this year, a planning amendment (1759/23/01) was submitted, laying out the proposed plan of action and how the work would be staged. This was in response to condition 1 of the original approval.

Recent events have seen contractors on the site preparing the groundwork by clearing the undergrowth. We witnessed high hoardings being erected around the site with the inevitable graffiti following soon after. Unfortunately for the builders, the application approval came with a whole raft of conditions, some of which needed to be met before any work could begin. The Redbridge Enforcement team was alerted and sent a case officer to the site. He instructed the builders to stop all further work until outstanding conditions had been met. One of the actions had been to start felling some of the mature trees on the site and to pollard others in breach of condition 9 of the application approval.

At this point, I should point out that at least one of the mature trees on the site is a rare Holm Oak tree. This variety is unique in remaining in leaf all year round. For this reason, these oaks have the nickname ‘Evergreen Oaks’, seemingly giving the site its name in the process. A further complication is that the site lies within the Wanstead Village Conservation Area where all mature trees are automatically protected.

As a result of the condition requirements, the developers must now provide a number of written reports to the council. Currently, some five separate amendments have been submitted and have now been validated. The reports have been placed on the planning website for public scrutiny. Generally speaking, these amendments must then be approved before any work can restart. The target date for these amendments is 15 August.

There is also the matter of the mature trees that have already been felled or pollarded. Cutting down or pollarding a protected tree without permission can result in a substantial fine per tree. We can only wait and see if Redbridge Enforcement bite the bullet and go for financial remuneration for this breach.

For more information on the Evergreen Field development plans and to view the full application, visit wnstd.com/field

Restoration work is underway in Wanstead Park, and the decision to add a supportive steel frame to the Grotto was not taken lightly, says Caroline Haines, Chair of the Epping Forest and Commons Committee

I’m delighted to update you on an exciting heritage project that’s now well underway in Wanstead Park – the restoration of the historic Grotto.

Many local residents will know the Grotto as a much-loved feature of the landscape, standing quietly at the edge of the Ornamental Waters. But this Grade II* listed building – one of the most historically significant in Epping Forest – has been on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register for some time, due to the condition of its structure. Now, thanks to funding from the City of London Corporation, as conservators of Epping Forest, vital restoration work is being carried out to stabilise the Grotto and preserve it for future generations.

Working in close partnership with Historic England, we’ve developed a careful plan that respects the heritage value of the site while addressing the practical issues that threaten its long-term survival. The work involves cleaning and repairing the brickwork, filling in cavities, removing vegetation and repointing areas that have weathered over time. From a distance, these changes may appear subtle, but they are critical to the structure’s integrity.

One of the most significant aspects of the project is the introduction of a new steel frame, which will be discreetly placed at the back of the Grotto. This decision was not taken lightly. The top of the Grotto is leaning, and without support, its condition could deteriorate further. After careful consideration, two options were proposed: to demolish and rebuild the original walls in solid masonry, or to stabilise the structure with a sympathetic internal frame. The steel frame was chosen as it preserves the original brickwork and minimises visual impact.

This phase of the project is expected to continue until the end of the year. While some nearby areas may be temporarily closed for safety reasons, we are doing all we can to minimise disruption and keep park users informed through signage and social media updates.

We also need your help. Recently, the contractor’s compound was accessed without permission, with fencing damaged and equipment interfered with. Thankfully, nothing was taken and it appeared to be a case of curiosity rather than criminal intent, but it’s important to remember this is an active construction site and entering it is dangerous. If you ever see someone inside the fenced area during evenings or weekends, please call us. Your vigilance helps protect this important heritage work.

Wanstead Park is a place of national heritage, and I know how deeply it is cherished by the local community. This project is a vital step in ensuring that the Grotto – one of its true jewels – remains part of that story for years to come.

For more information and to contact Epping Forest Keepers call 020 8532 1010

Local resident Delia Ray reports on her visit to the recently refurbished Redbridge Museum, which offers an insight into the rich history of Wanstead, Woodford and the wider borough

The skull of a mighty mammoth looms over the stairs as you climb up to the relaunched Redbridge Museum in Ilford. It’s a reminder that thousands of years ago this area was made up of grassy plains where bears, rhinos and mammoths once roamed.

Over 200,000 years later, the skull is one of more than 350 items making up the museum, which brings new perspectives to our borough’s past. I recently visited with my son to discover what the exhibits can tell us about Wanstead and Woodford.

The museum is on the second floor of Redbridge Central Library, and our first challenge was finding it. But once you make your way past the bookshelves and up through the entrance (there’s also a lift), you’ll find a substantial, well-ordered, local museum.

Following the revamp, there’s extra room for hundreds of exhibits. My son was delighted to discover the displays include family-friendly labels, interactive screens and games. I was oddly proud to discover our home ‘patch’ is one of the most important Iron Age sites in Britain. It’s certainly one of the longest inhabited areas of London. South Woodford can even boast a 300,000-year-old hand axe, found at Elmhurst Gardens in 1975. The Roman era comes to life in Wanstead Park, where archaeologists discovered the remains of a villa, replete with mosaic floors.

These exhibits show early settlement, but the majority of Redbridge was farmland for most of its history. The names of local farms still resonate: Churchfields, Nightingale, Aldersbrook. By the 18th century, wealthy merchants were setting up home across Wanstead and Woodford. Many of them were linked to the East India Company, founded in 1600 to bring goods from India, Indonesia and China. Today, Redbridge is a vibrant, multi-ethnic area and the museum does an impressive job of explaining this history and its sensitivities.

It was all change across Redbridge when the railways arrived in the 19th century. This triggered the phenomenal spread of Victorian and Edwardian homes we see today. And as the displays move through wartime and to the present day, there are inevitably many more available objects on show. This left me eager to find out more, for example, about local shops (who knew that Assam House – the parade of shops near Churchfields in South Woodford – was named after the tea sold there, in T Liddle & Sons Grocers, est 1900?).

Overall, this is an inspiring collection, which digs deeply into the strands that make up today’s Redbridge. I recommend the museum to those wanting to find out more about their neighbourhood or even to take a trip down memory lane. There’s plenty for everyone.

Redbridge Museum is located on the second floor of Redbridge Central Library in Ilford (free entry). Visit wnstd.com/rm

From diving beetles to jumping spiders, James Heal from the Wren Wildlife Group reports on the highlights of this year’s Wanstead Wildlife Weekend, which revealed the diversity of life thriving on our doorstep

We have been organising the Wanstead Wildlife Weekend or something like it for almost a decade now. The original intention was as a slightly more formalised bioblitz where we counted every species – a mass citizen science natural history survey of sorts. The purpose has since morphed into more of an opportunity to showcase the amazing biodiversity we have locally through family-friendly activities. And there were some great highlights from this year’s event at the end of June.

Almost 50 people came out on the Friday evening and were rewarded with some very active bats, mainly Pipistrelles. Tim, who led the bat walk, was also back in Wanstead Park a few hours later for the annual moth trap reveal near the Temple. This is always one of my favourite activities, and lots of moths gently emerged from the egg boxes in the light trap, including crowd pleasers such as Buff-tip (Phalera bucephala), which looks exactly like a hewn-off section of Birch twig or small branch.

Bob led a walk along the transect (technical term for specific surveyed area) which a small team has been regularly surveying for butterflies. Some of the regular summer species were on show, including Essex Skipper, Small Copper, Meadow Brown, three of our ‘White’ species and a bonus from a well-showing Purple Hairstreak. This latter butterfly is often hard to spot as it is small, quite nondescript on the oft-seen underside of the wings, and likes spending time in the canopy, but one or two came down to ground level.

Another highlight was the rather overwhelmingly well-attended pond dipping at Shoulder of Mutton on the Sunday, where Louis and Gosia shared their knowledge and infectious enthusiasm, with young people wading out and finding Great Diving Beetles, water snails and dragonfly nymphs.

Despite the numbers at the pond dipping, there were still plenty of people who joined local bee and wasp expert Tony Madgwick, who helped an engaged crowd observe the drama of life and death unfold around nest holes of both bees and wasps on the dry and dusty pathways near Heronry Pond.

Amongst other activities – those which looked very closely at some wildlife many might miss – were the spider walk on Wanstead Flats and the lichen walk in Wanstead Park. Species highlights included a minuscule jumping spider found on tree trunks that looks like our common Zebra Jumping Spider (Salticus scenicus), but is much smaller and scarcer (S. zebraneus), and a Cladonia type of lichen (lichens are not a single species!) found not on bark or stone, but on soil.

If you would like to take part in Wren activities or if you have enough knowledge to lead a future walk, please do get in touch.

For more information on the Wren Wildlife Group, visit wnstd.com/wren

Wanstead and Snaresbrook Cricket Club president Len Enoch has been named one of 11 MCC Community Cricket Heroes for 2025.

The national award celebrates the grassroots game and the thousands of people who dedicate their time to support cricket in their communities.

“Over 30 years of service, Len has helped to grow junior membership from 100 boys to over 300 boys and girls and has been instrumental in re-establishing women’s cricket and championing EDI policy,” said a spokesperson.

it wnstd.com/enoch

Ofsted has highlighted widespread and systematic failings in provisions for children with special educational needs in Redbridge. Local neurodiversity consultant Jaya Narinesingh is not surprised

I live on the High Street, but to me, Wanstead is more than just a postcode, it’s more than just my home. It’s where Bamboo Elevate – my business teaching students with additional needs – was born over a year ago, with nothing but a business plan and a handful of students quietly slipping through the cracks.

Some of those students will sit GCSEs next May; brilliant, capable young people who still don’t have the access arrangements they qualify for because of waiting lists. Just more pressure on children to perform in a system that rarely pauses to ask if it’s fit for purpose.

When Ofsted’s damning report on Redbridge’s SEND provision was released a couple of months ago, I didn’t feel vindicated. I felt exhausted. Not because it wasn’t true but because it took this long for the truth to be acknowledged. Every parent I work with, every child I advocate for, could have written that report themselves. It’s not news to us.

I’m a single mother of two, one of whom is preverbal autistic. Through my own battles with Redbridge, I realised I would have to build something for my son, something better than the borough’s offering. I wasn’t trying to start a business but create a future. I shared what I was doing with a few local parents. Word spread, and Bamboo quietly became a lifeline for children who don’t ‘fit the mould’, and for families who’d spent years being gaslit, dismissed or passed around like paperwork.

I’ve been in meetings where Educational Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) were finalised without key assessment outcomes included. I’ve seen children placed in unsuitable schools, and I’ve read reports where needs were minimised to fit the budget; not the child, including my own. I now teach students whose families have removed them from school altogether because they were safer at home than in an unsupported classroom.

What’s happening in Redbridge isn’t just an oversight or another gap in provision. It’s a systemic devaluation of children. And while the council scrambles to respond, families are exhausted and left holding the line.

Wanstead raised me to become the educator I am. But Redbridge made me an advocate. And like so many parents here, I don’t want apologies. I want action and transparency. I want a borough that stops treating parents as adversaries and starts recognising us as experts on our children. My business exists because mainstream education isn’t always safe. And until it is, I will keep showing up.

Now that the borough’s failings have been shown, whatever we do next marks a new beginning. And it starts with inclusive practice at the foundation of all teaching.

To view the report, visit wnstd.com/send

To contact Jaya, call 07760 767 405 or visit bamboo-elevate.co.uk

Wanstead’s Tin in a Bin foodbank collection network is seeking new volunteers to help with deliveries.

“We make a nightly collection from the Co-op in Wanstead. We are now in need of more people to join the team, one immediate slot being Sundays, collecting at approximately 6pm and delivering to a hostel in Aldersbrook. We also need more helpers for weekday collections at 9pm,” said Liz Calvert.

The initiative was launched in April 2020 and supports other foodbanks and a wide range of charities.

Call 07943 717 963

Residents are invited to join the Wren Wildlife Group in documenting the butterflies in Wanstead Park.

The event on 9 August is part of the UK-wide Big Butterfly Count 2025. “We will be leading a walk around the park to look for butterflies and to help you identify them. All ages are welcome; we’ll meet by the tea hut at 10am. Handouts will be provided so you can do your own count afterwards in your local area or garden,” said a spokesperson.

The national survey is run by the charity Butterfly Conservation.

Visit wnstd.com/bfly25

A local photographer’s four-year project documenting life on Lea Bridge Road will culminate in an exhibition this month.

“A journey down Lea Bridge Road offers a visual wealth of diverse culture and social change. I used black-and-white film in a vintage Rolleiflex camera to shoot this project, which will be displayed along the fence of Lea Bridge Library,” said Wanstead resident Russell Boyce.

Sponsored by The Stow Brothers, Living The Changes Lea Bridge Road runs from 3 August to 1 November.

Visit wnstd.com/leabridge

Volunteers have removed an invasive plant from a local section of the River Roding.

“After 99 hours of arduous voluntary work over the past month, we have cleared Himalayan Balsam from a 1.5-mile stretch of the river in the Wanstead area. This invasive plant swiftly destroys river banks and can severely impact biodiversity if its seeds are left to disperse. Get in touch if you’d like to be involved with our next project,” said Derek Seume from the River Roding Trust’s Wanstead and Woodford local group.

Visit wnstd.com/friendsroding