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Features

First orders

The first-ever Wanstead Beer Festival is nearly upon us. If you haven’t got your ticket, get one now, says organiser Paul Donovan, who hopes the event will become an annual fixture

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Features

ALDERSBROOK AGAVE

A botanical spectacle in an Aldersbrook front garden has been the cause of much excitement, says Alice Batsford, proud owner of the Aldersbrook Agave My husband, son and I (and now joined by our newborn daughter) moved to Aldersbrook just over a year ago, and the garden was one of the first things that caught our attention. The people who lived here before us were very green-fingered, especially when it came to growing more unusual, tropical plants.  The Agave in the front garden was impressive back then, but over the last few months has become a real spectacle in the area. Over the course of a week, it suddenly sprouted a spear and since then has grown progressively taller, now standing almost as high as the house with some large yellow flower heads.  Agaves are usually found in North and South America, Mexico and the Caribbean. Given the...

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Features

Centre of Attention

Liz Martins from the Save Our Wanstead Youth Centre campaign group welcomes the council’s new plans for the venue’s future, but explains why their work is far from over

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Features

Centre of Attention

The Leader of Redbridge Council, Councillor Jas Athwal, explains the decision to convert Wanstead Youth Centre into an education and youth hub, and why it must temporarily close in order to do so  

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Features

Carving out memories

Chainsaw artist Marshall Lambert has created three new wood carvings for the play area in Wanstead Park, a place he used to visit as a child. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson I was born in the East End some 60-odd years ago, and as an urban kid, I found the parks and green spaces I fell in love with offered an entirely different playground to my usual surroundings. Many years later, just as the new millennium dawned, I found myself mooching around Hainault Forest and happened across a guy carving the woodhenge that was to be placed around the forest for people to find as they explored the woods. He had started the project carving the life cycle of a frog, and although it was rough cut and nowhere near finished, I was very impressed with his work. In conversation with the artist, he suggested I could...