This month, professional stuntwoman and local resident Lucy Allen will be giving a presentation about the suffragette movement, partly inspired by her window-smashing work on the 2015 film Suffragette. This month, I shall be returning to the Wanstead Park Women’s Club to give my latest talk ‘Suffragette and the Petticoat Rebellion’. I have already shared my adventures as a stuntwoman with this group and also told tales about ‘The Ship of Dreams’, the doomed liner Titanic and what it was like to work on the Oscar-winning film. This time, I will be in window-smashing mode talking about my experiences working on the 2015 film Suffragette and telling the story of the suffragette movement in, I hope, a lively ‘Lucy-style’ way, using the actual voices from the...

Ahead of a family learning workshop about hedgehogs at Wanstead Library this month, Anna MacLaughlin, a nature conservation ranger for Vision RCL, explains how you can help these spiny mammals. The humble hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is one of our most beloved mammals, but sadly, we’re seeing worrying declines across the nation. Evidence shows that over the past 15 years populations have declined by nearly a third in the suburbs and cities and by over half in the countryside, with estimates suggesting there are less than one million hedgehogs left in the UK. Whilst hedgehogs are legally protected from trapping or intentional harm, the legislation does not directly deal with the key drivers of decline. Hedgehogs face a multitude of threats across both urban and rural...

‘This is Essex’ is the theme for an Essex Art Club competition, which will be judged at the group’s annual exhibition at Wanstead House this November. Mary Springham invites artists to join the historic club and enter. Image July-Thaxted by John Tookey Essex is the theme for our special competition for members of Essex Art Club. The prize is £120 for a picture of 120 square inches, to celebrate the 120th year of the club. We are pleased to announce the submitted works – which will be displayed at our November exhibition at Wanstead House – will be judged by Professor Ken Howard OBE, who was our club president for many years and is now our patron. Essex Art Club has been encouraging artists and holding...

Jef Page, president of the Ilford Historical Society, will be talking about William Hogarth’s painting The Assembly at Wanstead House at an event organised by Redbridge Heritage Centre this month. In April 1728, Lord Castlemaine – Sir Richard Child (1680–1750) – wanted to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary with his wife Dorothy (nee Glynne). Nothing too grandiose, he chose a tea and card party held in the ballroom of his sumptuous palace: Wanstead House. To mark the occasion, he decided to record it by having an up-and-coming artist record the event. Twenty-five years earlier, to record his betrothal, he paid for portraits of his wife (sadly, sold on before I had a chance to see them) and himself. Looking resplendent in full-bottomed wig and bright-blue silk...

Library Development Officer Christine Thompson invites Wanstead’s children to take part in a space-themed reading challenge this summer and read six library books over the holidays. The Reading Agency’s annual Summer Reading Challenge is aimed at children aged four to 12 years and helps get almost three quarters of a million children into libraries to boost their reading skills and confidence. Children’s reading can ‘dip’ during the summer holidays if they don’t have regular access to books and encouragement to pick them up. In 2019, children across the UK will be able to take part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, entitled Space Chase, an out-of-this-world adventure inspired by the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. It is also the 20th anniversary of the...

A series of talks will take place at St Mary’s Church this month exploring the building’s history. Canon Professor Mark Chapman, Professor of the History of Modern Theology at Oxford University, is one of the speakers. In the middle of the 19th century church architecture was big business – there was a wholesale rebuilding of medieval buildings and many celebrity architects. Only about a hundred churches were left untouched by the Victorians. Our ideas of what a church should look like come from their rather vivid re-imagination of the Middle Ages. When the Victorians built or ‘restored’ church buildings they had a particular set of ideas they wanted to put into practice: almost always they used Gothic forms, which they felt were properly ‘Christian’ (rather...

In the first of a series of articles looking at Age UK RBH’s Allan Burgess Wanstead Activity Centre, manager Jackie Balman outlines a week of workouts and classes and invites anyone over 55 to pop in. Hello, my name is Jackie Balman and I manage the Allan Burgess Activity Centre in Wanstead for Age UK Redbridge, Barking and Havering (RBH). The centre is located on the corner of Grove Park and Wanstead High Street. We are open from 9.30am to 3.30pm Monday to Friday and from 9.30am to 12.30pm on Saturdays for coffee. In this article, I would like to give you some idea of what we offer here at the centre. For Redbridge residents over 55, this place is an absolute must! The activities...

Ahead of a series of wool art workshops for children at Wanstead Library, Guli Hamra explains how growing up in Kyrgyzstan provided her with an intrinsic connection to wool and how her creativity unravelled. My name is Guli and I have been living in England for 17 years. I am originally from Kyrgyzstan, a country in Central Asia. People in my country have traditionally been nomads and they have always used wool in their life. I grew up where people make carpets from wool, as well as yurts, clothes and many different things which we still use in modern life. In my childhood, I used to help my mum, our neighbours and relatives to make carpets. So, I know how to work with wool! I used to...

James Knight has been experimenting with colour and abstract paintings since his childhood, experiments which have helped prepare him to take part in the 10th Art Trail Wanstead this September. My early years were spent in Shoreditch, and I always had an interest in drawing, painting and colour. My family were printers and worked with colour and form. I remember helping my mother spread ink onto a letterpress printing plate during my childhood. The form of the spread ink was one of my earlier experiments with colour. When I entered secondary school, my two main influences were art teachers Mr Wesley and Mr Swindon. Mr Swindon was a great portrait and caricature artist, whilst Mr Wesley was wonderful with colour and pattern. Both encouraged me to...

Despite missing out on the league title, Snaresbrook FC are still a squad of winners, says Millicent Brown, and they count Frank Lampard Snr among their supporters. It’s been another fantastic year for the historic local Wanstead football team Snaresbrook FC, which has been playing on the Nutter Field for decades. Originally named RAFARNO – short for Royal Air Force Army Royal Navy Officers – the club was set up at the end of World War One to provide sporting activities for the local community. Even these days, a fenced-off section with a fir tree remains at the top end of the ground, marking the area where horses and carriages used to drop off passengers. This season, the team has been competing in one of...

Aldersbrook Lawn Tennis Club held a 24-hour hit-a-thon last week, raising funds for children’s mental health charity Carefree Kids and the club. “Tennis and social members kept a ball in play during 24 hourly slots; either a tennis ball, a table tennis ball or a pool ball,” said a club spokesperson. Running from 6pm on 21 June until 6pm on 22 June, the event has raised £800 so far and was supported by local bands Replay, Breakfast Bunch and Major 3rd. Located on Blake Hall Road, the club boasts six all-weather courts. Visit wnstd.com/altc...

Residents who have been involved in anti-war movements in east London are invited to participate in oral history project ‘Not on our Watch’. “We will be recording stories of campaigning, struggling and building relationships within the grassroots peace movement from post-WWII to the present day,” said a spokesperson for Eastside Community Heritage, a charity which promotes an understanding of inter-generational experiences through historical explorations. Call 020 8553 3116...