Features

Author, retired vet, ex-racing cyclist and head injury victim Julian Earl has many stories to tell, and residents are invited to hear them at an event in Aldersbrook this month. Gill James reports As pet owners, a trip to the vets is all part and parcel of owning a pet. But have you ever wondered what it is actually like to work as a vet? Such a profession is often seen as a glamorous occupation, but the reality is mess, noise, dealing with the public, being called out for an emergency in the middle of the night and long hours. Plus, there is the constant threat of injuries and accidents from large, unruly animals. You need a sense of humour to be a vet, and the author of Cows in Trees, vet Julian Earl, certainly has that essential attribute. His book is written in a warm and light-hearted style, and yes, the cow in the tree story as depicted on the front cover of this hardback book really did happen! And this month, you have the chance to hear Julian telling us about a vet’s life in person. Julian dreamed of working as a vet from his childhood. He worked in...

The Wanstead Winter Night Shelter launched at Christ Church hall last month. Revd Canon Ann Clarke reports on the largely volunteer work that has made it such a useful resource for their weekly guests Steven Timms, MP for East Ham, acknowledged recently that if it were not for Faith Group Night Shelters, 2,200 more people would be sleeping on the streets of London each night. As part of Forest Churches Emergency Night Shelter (FCENS), Wanstead Parish opened its parish hall doors on 7 January to guests for the very first time. We were able to provide our visitors with a welcoming hot drink, a nourishing hot meal, shelter and breakfast,  and a listening ear and a smile. Thanks to the financial support from our crowdfunding supporters and Aviva employees, £8,491 was the official sum raised, including £2,000 from the Aviva Community Fund. We were able to purchase a dedicated warming oven, fridge, new dishwasher, oven and microwave in time for the opening of the shelter, as well as room dividers, sleeping bags, food, storage equipment and a key fire safety system – a mandatory requirement for having guests sleep overnight. The generosity of the local community has been overwhelming: in...

In the first of a series of articles celebrating the swans that reside on the lakes of Wanstead Park and Wanstead Flats, Tracey Adebowale-Jones explains her love for these graceful birds. After some years of being captivated by and photographing the swans of Wanstead Park, I was walking one day around the Heronry Pond when I spotted a very forlorn-looking swan sitting in the reeds of a muddy, shallow estuary. I was struck by its sadness, condition and reluctance to come over to me for food (unusual for most swans). After that first encounter, I started to take bread and seed, eventually coaxing it across the water so she would eat. Each day I went at the same time and each day she began to wait on the bank, but she seemed unable to preen, remaining dirty and unkempt and thin.  I happened to see a friend who was carrying bags of bird food and I expressed my concern to her. Immediately, she told me about Gill Walker, who rescues swans and other birds and takes them to The Swan Sanctuary in Shepperton, Middlesex for care, healing and, hopefully, a return to the water. I contacted Gill and a day...

In the fourth of a series of articles looking at the redevelopment of Whipps Cross Hospital, Gordon Drakes is pleased to report that being environmentally friendly will be a key design principle in the new build Campaigners were informed last month that an environmentally friendly hospital and the lowest possible carbon footprint will be a key design principle in the new Whipps Cross Hospital, and that the redevelopment team want this to go further and enable the whole of the site to achieve a carbon neutral footprint. To cover additional costs, a 3% uplift to the capital bid for building the hospital is to be included. They are aiming to achieve the ‘Excellent’ level of BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method). Alastair Finney, the Whipps Redevelopment Director, said they will appoint a dedicated sustainability consultant to the team for the next phase: “We will also make sure there are opportunities for expert stakeholders and local people to be engaged and involved in the work as it progresses.” The recent election has demonstrated that, aside from the ‘B’ word, securing a sustainable future for the NHS and the planet are perhaps the two most important issues for the British public....

Ahead of a family orientated oral history training session in Wanstead this month, Rev Dr Jack Dunn explains why listening to your elders is important, and why talking to youngsters is vital for the community This month, Wanstead Parish, in conjunction with Eastside Community Heritage (ECH), will be offering a unique opportunity to develop and gain new skills through oral history training at St Mary’s Church. The training is part of the parish’s Heritage Lottery Funded (HLF) community activities, associated with the recent repair and renovation works of the masonry at St Mary’s, and is open to all. It has been particularly designed to be family friendly and is ideal for children aged 10 and over and their parents, caregivers and grandparents. ECH has been working in east London for over 22 years. During that time, it has become one of the nation’s leading community heritage organisations. It has established (with funding from HLF) the London People’s Archive, now called the Hidden Histories Archive, which contains over 4,000 digitised oral histories of Londoners. ECH’s mission is to uncover the histories of people that would otherwise permanently be hidden or lost from history; from working-class communities, from the economically disadvantaged, from immigrant...

Wanstead and Snaresbrook Cricket Club players Nanette Kritzinger and Saba Nasim reflect on their experiences representing England at the Indoor Cricket Masters Series in 2019 The 2019 Indoor Cricket Masters Series proved one thing: the England women’s team made their mark on the international stage in every possible way; performance, team spirit, sportsmanship, determination, friendship and courage. Heading into the World Series 2019, England was considered the underdog and very much a developing country in the sport of indoor cricket, about to square up against the well-established masters of the game, Australia, New Zealand and hosts South Africa. The fighting spirit of the England team could not be dampened, and it was soon clear that we are now becoming a force to be reckoned with. In our fifth appearance, we beat the mighty New Zealand by sticking to our game plan and ensuring the basics of the game were done right. This moment was made even more special when we realised it was not just us celebrating this historic moment (this was our first ever win at a World Series competition), but also the local crowds and teams from other countries. Everybody there had an unstoppable passion for the sport and...

If the computing world has left you offline, make time for some digital discovery at Wanstead Library next month, says Rose Meredith, Development Librarian at Vision RCL “I just can’t do that!” “That digital stuff isn’t for me, I can’t understand it.” “I’m a total failure at downloading.” “I can’t change!” Do you sometimes feel the digital world has gone on without you and that you will never have a chance to get on board the digital highway? Ever found yourself declaring a story of your fate that cannot alter? Do you feel sure the digital world is really not a place for you? Libraries have altered people’s perceptions throughout time, enabling people to access all kinds of information and participate in new worlds of knowledge. Public libraries have been in the forefront, more recently, in enabling anyone in the community to walk down the information super-highway, accessing books and knowledge, ideas and learning – for all age groups, no matter background or circumstances. Stories are part of the human experience – shared in all kinds of ways amongst friends and families. At every point in the history of humanity, we have wanted to create new stories, travelling into a brave new world...

In the ninth of a series of articles looking at the developing plans for restoring Wanstead Park, Richard Arnopp of the Friends of Wanstead Parklands reflects on the recent River Roding flooding This winter, nature gave Wanstead Park an unexpected but very welcome Christmas present. On 21 December, after days of very heavy rain, the water level in the River Roding rose to its highest level for some years and inundated the Ornamental Water. Within hours, the flood began to recede, but several years of low water levels had been resolved at a stroke, with the lake filled to capacity. The River Roding sits in a huge valley, the relic of its past as a seasonal torrent during the last glaciation, carrying vast volumes of spring meltwater from the ice sheets just to the north. Nowadays, for most of the year, it is a placid little stream, but sometimes during the winter months, it shows something of its old mettle, with significant flooding occurring every decade or so. The Roding and the Ornamental Water have a close historical relationship, which looks likely to be revived in a new form, as I shall explain. Prior to the creation of the lake, the natural...

Paul Kaufman, Chair of East London Humanists, introduces Ariane Sherine, writer, comedienne and woman of many parts who will feature at the group’s Wanstead meeting this month. Ariane Sherine, who lives in Leytonstone, will be talking about her extraordinary and eventful life journey and signing copies of her latest book at Wanstead Library this January. Expelled from school at 16, Ariane started hanging around with Duran Duran and played piano on two of their tracks. Her journalistic career started at 21, reviewing records for NME. She was soon contributing to TV shows,  including Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and Countdown, and spent time on the stand-up comedy circuit. She has gone on to write several books and is a contributor to The Spectator, The Guardian, The Independent, The Sunday Times and Esquire magazine. Ariane has a young daughter and is a patron of Humanists UK. In 2013 she published the ebook Give: How to be Happy. She wrote in The Guardian at its launch about her lack of religious belief and her wish for her daughter to grow up in a kinder world. The book describes 10 practical actions we can all take to help achieve...

Wanstead has changed considerably over the past 160 years. Ahead of a talk at Wanstead Library this month, Dr Colin Runeckles discusses his work cataloguing local building plans dating back to 1858. The Heritage Section of Redbridge Central Library holds over 40,000 building plans for Ilford and 14,000 for Wanstead and Woodford. These range from an entire area, drainage and street plans, churches and cinemas, stables and garages, down to alterations to houses including installing WCs and additional bedrooms. The majority of the plans are folded and stored in individual envelopes and numbered for identification purposes. However, it should be noted that not all plans are available – sometimes, the original list records that the plan is missing and what has been left may be a document relating to the building. Where the original list records the exact location of the building, this still has some use to researchers, but where we are left with simply ‘one house’ in a particular street, the value of the record diminishes greatly. Ilford Historical Society member Carol Franklin took on the task of computerising the details of every Ilford plan onto Excel spreadsheets. The details include the following: plan number, month and year,...

Colin Spence runs dog training classes in Snaresbrook and has been using force-free methods to discipline man’s best friend – and their owners – for 23 years. Here he explains why such classes are important. In my view, a vital aspect of dog ownership should include responsibility for not only the animal’s welfare and wellbeing but also for their training needs. Most dog owners do train their dogs in their home and – as best as they can – in the outside environment as well. This is very good, in my opinion; at least they have done something to improve the diligence of their pet. But training a dog is not as clear-cut as some might think. To get dogs to fulfil good, solid and trusted behaviours, we first need to understand how dogs actually think and learn how the environment plays a part in influencing the behaviour of every dog, no matter where that environment may be, indoors or outdoors. Only when owners truly understand how easily dogs are influenced by – and how they learn from – the environment will they be closer to understanding how to add on the training side (operant conditioning). Dog trainers that are...

In the 19th of a series of articles charting the Wild Wanstead project, Alex Deverill encourages us all to resolve to do more to help local wildlife in 2020. The latest State of Nature report published in October paints a sorry picture of the UK’s wildlife, which is continuing to decline due to factors like modern farming techniques, use of pesticides and urbanisation. But anyone with a bit of outdoor space can make a big difference. Here are six New Year’s resolutions to help nature thrive in Wanstead. Love the trees you’ve got We’re lucky in Wanstead to have some ancient trees in the parks around us. But mature trees in our gardens are just as important. Take the lime trees where I live. These trees are like a wild flower meadow in the sky. The leaves are eaten by many moth caterpillars and attract aphids, which are food for hoverflies, ladybirds and many species of bird. The flowers provide nectar and pollen for insects, particularly bees. Long-lived trees provide dead wood for wood-boring beetles and nesting holes for birds. Plant a new tree Billions of new trees are urgently needed to address the climate crisis, and they have the added...