Features

Visit the bluebells in Wanstead Park this month, then enjoy them in art form at St Gabriel’s Church, says Art Group Wanstead founder Donna Mizzi

Dr Gayle Chong Kwan is an artist and patron of the Wren Wildlife Group, with a particular interest in ecology, waste, landscape and nature. Here, the local resident reflects on her Epping Forest-inspired work

Having chaired the packed Wanstead Youth Centre public meeting last month, Revd James Gilder of Wanstead Parish talks about hope, faith and turbulent politics in the first of a series of articles

Redbridge Council has partnered with a charity working to reduce the environmental impact of clothes, and residents can now book a free collection of unwanted garments. Council Officer Simon Stodel reports

Over the last 10 years, Redbridge Council has increasingly excluded residents from the planning process, argues Paul Canal, who laments the decision to approve the Snaresbrook Station car park development

In the third of a series of articles featuring the images of local photographers who document the wildlife of Wanstead Park and the surrounding area, Diane Dalli presents her shot of a female ring-necked parakeet

In the fourth of a series of articles, April Mehmet reflects on two years of running Walk It Out, an initiative dedicated to improving the health and well-being of women in Redbridge

Wanstead’s Tin in a Bin charity – which celebrates its third anniversary this month – has partnered with Redbridge Council to help feed more children during the school holidays. Suzanne Paterson reports

Last month, over 250 residents attended a public meeting to discuss the future of Wanstead Youth Centre with Redbridge Council. Kate Sloan from the Save Our Wanstead Youth Centre campaign reports

Stand-up comedian Stephen Catling will be performing in Wanstead this April as part of the Laugh-Able Comedy Night to mark Autism Awareness Month. He believes people with autism need to speak up  I am autistic and came from the North to live in London in 2016. I have been a comedian performing regularly on the London and general UK circuit since 2017. I am known for being an alternative act, who uses clowning and inventiveness on stage on the mainstream circuit. I’ve achieved several accolades including at the Stand-up for Cider comedy competition (finalist, 2023) and from both the South Coast Comedy Awards and the Student Comedy Awards (semi-finalist, 2022). My earliest pathway into comedy was through watching Monty Python in high school, where friends and I wrote our own Pythonesque parodies of biblical stories, such as Noah’s Tardis. But I didn’t start performing solo until I joined the Lancaster University Comedy Institute during my studies in biomedical science and psychology. There I discovered a particular aptitude for surrealism. When I started performing in London, I began to hone my craft by incorporating other forms of comedy, such as clowning. I am now taking my solo show Beehavioural Problems: Something Something...

If we all love living in Wanstead as much as we say we do, then we all need to do more about the litter problem. It’s not the council’s job to clear up what we can’t be bothered to, says Jennie O’Beirne

In the second of a series of articles featuring the images of local photographers who document the wildlife of Wanstead Park and the surrounding area, James Ball presents his close-up of a long-tailed tit