July 2026

Wanstead has a new micro creative display space in the form of the Free Little Art Gallery.

“It’s a community project just like the little free book libraries, but for art. The idea is to drop off something you have made and take away something that calls to you. Everyone is welcome to join in. Paintings, drawings and handmade pieces are welcome; the only condition is your art needs to be small enough to fit inside the gallery!” said Laura Smith, who bought the display case on eBay and installed it on her garden wall.

“I’d love this idea to grow and expand to other locations. If anyone would like advice on setting one up outside their home, please get in touch.”

The Free Little Art Gallery is located on the corner of Nelson Road and Hermon Hill. People are encouraged to check the display regularly as the items on show will continually change.

Visit wnstd.com/littleart

A new book has been published charting the vast array of flying activities that have taken place on Wanstead Flats over the last two centuries.

“Many were purely recreational, from pigeon flying – the sport was actually launched on the Flats – to paragliding and model aircraft flying. But there have been more serious reasons for taking to the sky, including the bombing raids of two world wars. And then there are the utterly bizarre, such as Colonel Cody’s man-bearing kite,” said the authors.

The book is priced £6 and available from:

• Emporium 8, Sebert Rd, E7
• Newham Bookshop, Barking Rd E13
• V&A books and gifts (Highams Park Bookshop) 2A The Avenue E4
• Friends of Wanstead Parklands stalls on litter pick days in Wanstead park
• local history events in the Wanstead area
• or from the authors: email pows.wanstead@gmail.com

Epping Forest’s Enforcement Team joined forces with the Metropolitan Police and the Environment Agency on Wanstead Flats earlier this month to conduct an operation aimed at suppressing fly-tipping.

“A total of 73 vehicles were stopped, which led to four being seized for no insurance, four drivers reported for failing to have a valid waste licence and four environmental warnings issued for missing lower-tier waste carrier licences… Fly-tipping is an environmental crime, and we will not tolerate it,” said a spokesperson.

The Environment Agency has dropped plans to prosecute River Roding Trust volunteers for restoring the Alders Brook without a permit.

“It’s a relief they have finally realised that prosecuting volunteers for cleaning and restoring a river – which they had left to rot – was not a good look, so they have dropped their charges in favour of a ‘warning’. This is, however, not the end of the story… I will not be seeking their permission to continue to care for and restore the river I love,” said Trust chair Paul Powlesland.

Redbridge Council is inviting residents to help shape its updated Air Quality Action Plan.

“It sets out what the council aims to do over the next five years to reduce harmful air pollutants, and we want you to be included in those decisions,” said a spokesperson.

An information drop-in session will take place at Wanstead Library on 3 August from 10am to 3pm, and the consultation will remain open until 5 October.

Visit wnstd.com/airplan

One writer, one Interrail pass and a wildly over-ambitious, 37-stop journey to test railway accessibility in Europe. Wanstead-based travel writer Carole Edrich presents the sixth instalment of her Big Rail Story

Ypres is my first proper stop. I mean, I know I’ve stopped and looked around at St Pancras, Lille Europe, Brussels and Ghent, but they weren’t proper stops, just little wanders. Tiny impromptu detours I could do because the Interrail app lets me change plans at the very last minute. I’m surprised as I walk to my hotel, having expected boring post-war buildings, not a vibrant city square with romantic renaissance and medieval architecture, and I guess I must have been wrong.

The super-accessible Flanders Fields Museum starts with a screening of Belle Époque splendour, wealth and optimism. The same screen’s back shows the era’s shadier side. My bracelet’s chip has matched me to four historical individuals; from my own region, of the opposite sex, of a different age and a ‘random’. I ‘meet’ them chronologically as I travel through the museum. One says the Tommies called this place Wipers! At the end of the hall is a row of long, simple banners. Each carries sequential lists of the wars we’ve had since the Great War, once expressed as the ‘war to end all wars’. They’re a lot.

In the same building (the Cloth Hall, rebuilt better post World-War-One onslaught) is the Yper Museum (yes, yet another spelling). As I learn about 11 centuries of rather eventful (and very accessible) history, I discover I was wrong about being wrong. While some wanted to rebuild their bombed city into something modern with clean 1920s architectural lines, those who wanted to rebuild in Flemish medieval and renaissance styles won. Unsurprising, since one of the latter was King Albert. Like with us and AI, their scope magically expanded, so the new Ypres (or Ieper, or Yper… whatever) holds medieval architecture where it never existed before. Inspired by local traditions and Bruges’ past, the highly planned new old Ypres was built back more medieval, more detailed, prettier and more creatively coherent than any real medieval city would be.

On the short walk back to my hotel (via the mandatory World War One themed coffee shop), I think of what I’ve seen. Of the interlaced history of the area, of the beauty of the architecture, of what I’ve learned of the city’s history, and the number of people with my surname who died in the Great War (not telling). I think of Ukraine-Russia, Palestine-Israel, America-Iran, Sudan, Myanmar, the Sahel, Eastern Congo-Rwanda, Somalia, Ethiopia-Eritrea, Cambodia-Thailand, Afghanistan-Pakistan, what’s happening to the Kurds, the Yazidis, in Colombia, Haiti, the Lebanon and South Sudan. Wars and insurgencies, genocides and betrayals… By the time I’ve been to the Menin Gate for the daily 8pm Last Post ceremony, I’m in tears.

That’s as it should be, I reflect, at far-too-early the next morning. Time to get up, get dressed, and move on.

For links to the places and to listen to Carole’s podcast, visit wnstd.com/rail

The government’s plans to restrict the right to trial by jury to tackle the Crown Court backlog amounts to the quiet dismantling of British justice, says Stephen Davies of local solicitors Edwards Duthie Shamash

The Crown Court backlog stands at a record 80,000-plus cases, more than double the pre-pandemic level of around 38,000 (2019). Trials are now being listed as far as December 2030, and soon it will be beyond that. Victims wait years for justice. Defendants languish on bail or in custody, unable to get on with their lives. Yet instead of fixing the root causes, Lord Chancellor David Lammy MP is pressing ahead with proposals to curtail trial by jury for most ‘either-way’ offences (offences that can be tried either in the Crown Court or Magistrates Court). This is a dangerous distraction.

In 2021, the government falsely claimed the pandemic caused the backlog. The crisis was already exploding before COVID. Court closures and savage austerity cuts, particularly to criminal legal aid, resulted in the justice budget being slashed. In 2010, there were 923 courts. By 2019, just 628 remained, with most of those court buildings in disrepair. Crown Court sitting days (the number of days the Crown Courts are funded to hear cases) had fallen from 110,000 to 86,000. The backlog was rising fast.

Reports from the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, Crest Advisory, the Institute for Government and the Public Accounts Committee all warned of the same thing: years of underinvestment had left the system on the brink. The pandemic simply poured fuel on the fire by suspending jury trials. Post-pandemic, a slump in court productivity has made it worse still and new cases continue to outpace disposals.

Scrapping or restricting jury trials for most cases will deliver statistically negligible relief. Leveson suggested a 20% time-saving without any evidence to back it up. In reality, it would free up only a fraction of hearing days while the real drivers – insufficient court capacity, crumbling buildings, lawyer shortages and endless new cases – remain untouched. The Institute for Government and legal experts have repeatedly said the same: this is not a solution to the backlog; it is window-dressing. What it will do is destroy public confidence. Jury trials are not a luxury. They are a constitutional safeguard that put ordinary citizens, not the state, at the heart of justice. Most people will only recognise the value of a jury trial when they have been wrongly accused of a crime. Karl Turner MP has warned the proposal to restrict them is undemocratic, unnecessary and ineffective.

Once you surrender jury trials, you will never get them back. This is not ‘modernisation’. It is the permanent weakening of the one institution that has protected liberty for eight centuries. The backlog demands more courts and more judges, not the quiet dismantling of British justice.

Edwards Duthie Shamash is located at 149 High Street, Wanstead, E11 2RL. For more information, call 020 8514 9000 or visit edwardsduthieshamash.co.uk

In the ninth of a series of articles featuring images by the Woodford and Wanstead Photographic Society, Anuraj Theivendram introduces well-travelled, long-distance member Hank Bishop

This month, the Woodford and Wanstead Photographic Society (WWPS) is delighted to spotlight a remarkable photographer who, despite living thousands of miles away in the USA, has become an enthusiastic and valued contributor to our community: Hank Bishop.

Hank’s photographic journey is anything but ordinary. Before turning his eye to the wider world, he spent his career as a cardiologist, interpreting echocardiograms and performing cardiac catheterisations (or ‘catheterizations’ as Hank would spell it). This line of work demanded precision, close observation and an ability to read the stories hidden within images. As Hank explains, this lifelong habit of “looking closely, noticing details and appreciating the stories that images can reveal” naturally evolved into a passion for photography.

Travel has long been central to Hank’s life. Together with his wife, he has explored an extraordinary 56 countries, each journey deepening his appreciation for the diversity of landscapes, cultures and wildlife encountered along the way. Photography became the perfect companion to these travels; a way not only to document beauty, but to preserve the human warmth, fleeting moments and natural majesty that give each place its meaning.

Hank’s portfolio reflects this breadth of experience. His landscapes celebrate the scale and serenity of the natural world; his portraits capture the character and dignity of people whose stories might otherwise go untold; and his wildlife images reveal both the power and vulnerability of the animals he encounters. His work is thoughtful, observant and deeply connected to the environments he photographs, a continuation of the same sensitivity that shaped his medical career.

We are proud that Hank is part of our WWPS family, and we look forward to sharing more of his work with our members. If you would like to learn more about WWPS and what we do, please visit our website for details.

For more information on the Woodford and Wanstead Photographic Society, visit wnstd.com/wwps

Climate anxiety can feel overwhelming, but Wanstead’s Climate Café Listening Circles offer a calm, supportive space to share feelings and build resilience around the climate and nature crisis, says Liz Bodycote

How can we face the seriousness of the climate and nature crisis without feeling overwhelmed by helplessness, anxiety for our children and grandchildren or anger at political inaction? Daily life is already demanding enough: there’s always more to do than time allows and the cost of simply getting by seems to rise every day. To consider the wider picture of our planet can feel like tipping into a sea of doom, when all we want is to keep our heads above water and remain positive for those we love.

Perhaps you are in a more comfortable position. You’ve worked hard to build a secure life for yourself and your family and you’re thankful not to have constant financial worry. There’s room now for more of life’s pleasures than when you were younger, and thinking about the state of the planet might feel like an unwanted burden.

Being in touch with the costs of our way of life on the Earth is profoundly difficult, maybe even impossible. As humans, we cope in many different ways. Some deny the science or turn a blind eye; others take bold action, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. There can be many staging posts along the way: experiences of shock, grief, anxiety, anger, despair, cynicism or hope; the wish for repair, resilience, collaboration, change.

The Climate Café Listening Circle offers a simple structure for expressing and hearing these complex responses to the climate and nature crisis in a supportive, collaborative setting. Inspired by Death Cafés, which provide a space to share feelings around bereavement, the Climate Psychology Alliance (CPA) and other organisations have adapted the model for climate concerns.

In a Climate Café Listening Circle, there are no speakers or action plans; just a warm, welcoming atmosphere where individuals can speak from the heart about what’s on their minds and be listened to.

Sharing in this way can bring relief, enable conversation and reduce the sense of taboo around discussing climate and nature in daily life. In this way, it can nurture both personal and, for some, political agency.

Two of us trained in the CPA approach began hosting Climate Café Listening Circles last year at Wanstead Quaker Meeting House, generously provided rent-free by Wanstead Quakers. Words that have emerged from participants about their experience include: gratitude, community, inspiration, solace, rejuvenation and balance. If you’d like to find out more or attend a future Climate Café Listening Circle, please get in touch.

Climate Café Listening Circles will take place on 25 July, 3 October, and 5 December at Wanstead Quaker Meeting House, Bush Road, E11 3AU (10.30am; free; booking required). For more information, email liz.bodycote@googlemail.com

In the fourth of a series of articles, Susan Allison reflects on a community project which created nearly 50 kneelers for Christ Church, each with a story to tell and each recording a snapshot of present-day Wanstead

This community project got underway at the Wanstead Festival in September 2024, when stitching began on the first kneeler (known as the Community Kneeler). Over the following 12 months, another 40-plus kneelers were stitched by numerous members of the community, celebrating the diversity of people and experiences in our village. The kneelers were presented to the church in October 2025.

We are now preparing a celebration event to mark the formal end of the project, which will be at this year’s Wanstead Festival on 13 September, so please make a note in your diary.

Alongside a display and exhibition showing the backstories of some of the kneelers, there will be a ‘bake a kneeler’ cake competition with their sale by silent auction; friendship bracelet packs and mini sewing kits using yarns from the kneelers; a ‘Where is it?’ photo trail of Christ Church features for children; and, most excitingly, a ‘come and sing’, all-voices-welcome session to learn the joyous Kneelers song written especially for the project by Tina Lloyd-Morris, as well as the Kneeler Guidebook (£5), with all sales and voluntary donations going to the church tower restoration fund.

All project documents and ephemera will then be collated and archived.

Camera
Sewn by: Jan Andrews
Dedicated to: Woodford and Wanstead Photographic Society

The Woodford and Wanstead Photographic Society was started in 1893 when seven local residents met in the Coffee Tavern next to George Lane station, Woodford. From a membership of 15 at the end of that first year, the club grew, reaching a high point of 104 in 1906. For the first 105 years of the club’s existence, it met in a variety of locations across Woodford. In 1998, it began meeting in Wanstead, and since 2014 has found a home at Wanstead House. It therefore made sense to add ‘Wanstead’ to the club’s name. When the club was founded, it had three aims: the advancement of photography, technically and artistically; for the society to take its place amongst the foremost in the kingdom; and to do something of value for the community. This third aim is one of the reasons the club responded to social media posts about the kneelers project and its legacy, and the club hopes to make use of the space in the church for displays in the future.

Barn Owl
Sewn by: Claire Metcalfe
Dedicated to: Gwen Hamilton

Gwen Hamilton (1926–2021) grew up in Walthamstow. During World War Two, Gwen was evacuated to Wellingborough, where she spent school holidays helping on a farm. She moved to Wanstead in 1952 with her husband, Bert, and become a devoted member of Christ Church. Gwen had a generous spirit, supporting many charities and volunteering for years at the Corner House lunch centre. Alongside Bert, she helped organise and lead holidays for the elderly, both in the UK and across Europe. A lifelong nature enthusiast, Gwen loved watching the birds in her garden and supported a nesting box through the Hawk and Owl Trust. Her fondness for owls was evident in the many owl-themed pictures and trinkets that decorated her home.

For more information on the project and the event on 13 September, email kneelers4cc@gmail.com