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Cadent has applied to set up a temporary compound on the Redbridge Lane West allotments ahead of work to the adjacent gas site.

“The original planning permission – approved in December 2022 – was for a compound on Wanstead Park Road. This variation effectively means returning to their initial plans to use our allotments as the main site. This has come as a shock and, apart from all the original considerations, likely means some plot holders waiting even longer to return,” said Sally Parker.

Visit wnstd.com/cvar

The growth in Wanstead Fringe events, particularly theatre, is spectacular, says director Jon Fentiman, who will be bringing Miss Julie (a play that was once banned in the UK) to a brand new Fringe stage 

September in Wanstead means the arrival of the Wanstead Festival (15 September) and its bigger brother, the Wanstead Fringe, our very own three-week celebration of music, film, books, performance arts, magic, local history, creative workshops, food, drink and even pre-loved treasures! With opportunities to enjoy everything from comedy nights to opera, stargazing to a jumble trail, events are dotted around our cafes, sports clubs, churches and even the local library, showcasing many of the wonderful venues Wanstead has to offer.

The growth in the number of events being organised this year is quite spectacular, with professional theatre productions leading the way and boasting over 50 performances. For Wanstead Fringe 2024, actor and theatre practitioner Marissa Landy has curated 10 different productions from both her own and visiting companies, some fresh from success at the Edinburgh Fringe, whilst Fiona Gordon’s brilliant Wanstead Theatre Co will be bringing six site-specific performances of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads to City Place Coffee, the perfect venue.

As a director and producer for the East London Theatre Company, I am extremely excited to be bringing a production of the classic play Miss Julie to this year’s Fringe before it transfers to The Courtyard Theatre, Hoxton in October. Written by Strindberg in 1888, performances of Miss Julie were banned in the UK for half a century, only reaching British stages in 1939. For years, Miss Julie was considered just too provocative and inappropriate in its depiction of sexual desire and conflict between classes. Today, it is one of the most regularly performed plays in the UK and across Europe. Set in the servants’ kitchen on the estate of a Swedish aristocrat, the action centres around his errant daughter, Miss Julie, his lordship’s footman, Jean, and the house cook, Katrin. Although set at the end of the 19th century, like any classic play that survives the test of time, its themes – such as how we manage our desire for a better life whilst wrestling with the expectations of society and others – still resonate with a modern audience.

Running for seven nights, you will have the opportunity to enjoy the talents of three brilliant actors: Maria Naterstad (Miss Julie) and Lia Goresh (Katrin), both recent graduates of the internationally renowned East 15 Drama School, along with Chris Agha (Jean), who performs regularly at The Royal Opera House and prestigious off-West End venues. 

Grab a ticket and you’ll not only experience an exciting, intimate performance – staged in the round – but also be amongst the first patrons of The Wanstead Curtain, a new performance space which Wanstead Fringe volunteers have been allowed to create in the hall of Wanstead Methodist Church. Hopefully, see you there!

For more information on Wanstead Fringe events, visit wnstd.com/fringe

Wanstead Theatre Co has been a regular feature at the Fringe and this year, the company returns with Talking Heads. Fiona Gordon explains what to expect and the innovative way it’s being promoted

As a site-specific theatre company, where we perform the play in the place it is set, we are always on the lookout for suitable Wanstead venues. Over the years, Eton Manor (Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson), The Bull (Two) and Our Lady of Lourdes (Bazaar and Rummage) have generously offered us their space and time.

And this year, it is City Place Coffee in the middle of our bustling High Street that has kindly agreed to host our production: the well-loved and universally acclaimed Talking Heads by Alan Bennett.

Filmed originally as a TV series in the late 80s and the early 90s, it was then remade during lockdown for a new housebound audience. It was one of the very few TV shows allowed to be filmed due to social distancing rules, as each episode only has one actor in it. However, the famous episodes featuring Thora Hird in the original series could not be remade due to social contact being restricted with anyone over 70.

Not often performed as a stage show, we are delighted to be bringing it to life in a vibrant high street setting. Three women in a café. Each has a story. What secrets will you overhear?

But that’s not all we’ve been working on. This year we have decided to harness the power of social media to widen our audience at our shows and elevate our profile.

We have made a mini mockumentary about the fictional production team who run Wanstead Theatre Co. Filmed in various Wanstead locations, it is a behind-the-scenes comedy about a theatre company and the current show they are doing, which as far as we know, has never been done before.

We want people to engage with the mockumentary, find it funny, then realise we are a real-life professional theatre company and they can actually come and watch the show featured in the episodes. And who knows? If they are lucky, they may also bump into some of the characters.

Each episode is just two or three minutes long, broken up into mini clips for social media, but the full episodes will be put on YouTube so they can be watched in a more traditional TV format. A selection of the clips can also be seen on the popular Facebook group, Wanstead Community Hub.

We hope this modern way of raising our profile will secure the future of our theatre company. Our mission of bringing the West End to Wanstead still holds true, but hopefully, with the added exposure, we’ll be bringing the audience to Wanstead as well.

For more information on Wanstead Fringe events, visit wnstd.com/fringe

One of the highlights of this year’s Wanstead Fringe is All Rest, an immersive opera set and staged in the graveyard at St Mary’s Church. Here, the opera’s composer Simone Spagnolo explains what to expect

The opera All Rest is an original, immersive opera experience portraying a fictional dreamscape about the people dwelling in St Mary’s graveyard. Six characters and a chorus of ghosts lead the audience on a journey through the grounds, offering a glimpse of past and future stories.

The stories featured include some of Wanstead’s well-known historical characters, including Astronomer Royal James Pound, Admiral Robert Pamplin and Jessie Nutter, one of the sisters who bequeathed much to the people of Wanstead. As ghosts who still inhabit the premises of St Mary’s, these characters narrate precious memories of their lives, eventually reuniting in a final, poignant choral moment to bridge their reminiscences with the audience’s presence. 

The opera features solo voices, a choir, flute, violin, portable speakers and St Mary’s historic organ. It was premiered earlier this year at the St Mary’s Music Festival, which originally commissioned it, but the Fringe has arranged this second opportunity to experience this unique, site-specific work. 

Aside from reflecting on the history of Wanstead and St Mary’s, this performance piece draws inspiration from the aesthetics of promenade and immersive theatre, which enables the spectator to be within the scene and a common location to become a theatrical setting. Serena Braida – who wrote the text – and I shared an aim to join this peculiar format with that of the number opera, so as to allow the magic of the music to further complement the immersive experience. 

Having the possibility to put in action such a stimulating, interdisciplinary exchange certainly prompted our interest and curiosity. Possibly, the most fascinating thing about All Rest is that it gave us the opportunity to create a piece in which reality and representation cross and blur each other in a spectacularly inspiring location. Ghosts, graves, characters from the past, operatic singing, nature walking, portable radios, choral chanting: everything fades into the current moment, subtly offering a spiritual touch. I guess this is what we tried to achieve, a brief spiritual moment in which art and nature meet. 

We hope visitors and audiences will enjoy our work, in its apparent simplicity, and we wholeheartedly thank all those who have contributed to this imaginative performance piece.

For more information on Wanstead Fringe events, visit wnstd.com/fringe

The cultural revolution that has been going on in Wanstead for the past few years is in full flow. And, like all of us, whatever our age, it looks like it is growing up, writes Fringe director Giles Wilson 

The Wanstead Fringe, which started just after the 2012 London Olympics with comedy and open-air cinema, is now in its second decade and has blossomed into a full arts festival with theatre, music recitals, literary events and much more. 

This year’s theme takes a line from Picasso as its inspiration: “Once we grow up,” in which he wrestled with the tension between getting older without losing childlike freshness. That’s something of what we’ve been trying to do.

This year will see a dozen different plays being performed at three sites, including for the first time Shakespeare, with a production of Richard II taking place at the Wanstead Curtain, a new theatre we have created in the hall of the Wanstead Methodist Church on Hermon Hill. Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads will be staged in a High Street cafe and several new works will be performed in the upstairs room at The Bull, including several plays which are coming to us directly after the Edinburgh Fringe.

The Wanstead Curtain will also be the venue for three indoor Kinema screenings, ahead of the traditional favourite open-air Kinema in the grounds of Christ Church. This year’s family film is the hit musical Wonka, featuring the talents of one of the stars of last year’s Fringe, Paterson Joseph.

There will be a range of musical styles being performed, from the Replacement Hipsters through the award-winning Redbridge Brass to top concert instrumentalists and performers. Opera star Lucy Crowe OBE and husband Joe Walters will again be bringing a beguiling mix of musical styles to their eve-of-fringe Charivari in the stunning St Mary’s Church on Overton Drive. And that will also be the venue for two performances of All Rest, an opera written by local composer Simone Spagnolo, which is set in the churchyard featuring some of the former Wanstead residents who are buried there.

There will be 10 literary events during the Wanstead Book Festival, which is part of the Fringe. Among the attractions are fake history-slayer Otto English (in conversation with Lord Victor Adebowale), comedian Paul Sinha, who will be speaking about his autobiography, philosopher Julian Baggini and Daisy Goodwin, author of a heartbreaking history of the life of Maria Callas.

We are lucky in this part of London to have such a range of events in easy reach. But with the Wanstead Fringe, we are trying to build something new and local, and we’re doing it for ourselves.

We look forward to seeing you at events once again this September.

For more information on Wanstead Fringe events, visit wnstd.com/fringe

The Wanstead Fringe will return this month with over 100 events taking place, including 10 different plays.

“The Fringe runs from 7 to 28 September, and this is your chance to help make it the success Wanstead deserves. Take a look through the listings in the Fringe section of this issue and get the dates in your diary so you don’t miss out!” said Fringe director Giles Wilson.

A number of popular Fringe events will return this year, including the open-air Kinema on 14 September and the jumble trail on 21 September.

Visit wnstd.com/fringe

In the first of two articles, Terry Joyes reflects on his 12-year journey to publishing a book about the history of Wanstead High School, just in time for the school’s 100th anniversary next month

The other day I was looking through some old emails, an exercise in which I’m sure many nostalgic hoarders would find indulgence, and I found one dated 2012. Not all that old, but it was its very content that gave it significance. It was part of the correspondence between myself and the late Patrick Renshaw that had given life to my initial idea of compiling a history of Wanstead High School.

Patrick and I had both been pupils at the school, although Patrick was in the year above mine. We also had two conditions in common: we were both born in West Ham and both enjoyed a love of history, he professionally but I as a professed amateur.

In 2012, Wanstead High School was within two years of celebrating its 90th anniversary. There had been such enjoyment of the 75th anniversary in 1999 that the proposition of a further reunion was indeed compelling.

I was delighted to know, through our correspondence, that a professional historian such as Patrick was enthusiastic to the point of offering not only advice but also to writing an essay to set the historical circumstances in which Wanstead High School was born on 23 September 1924. With Patrick’s enthusiasm raising my own expectations of myself, I questioned, nevertheless, my own ability as an historian to undertake such a task. Patrick spurred me on, although he was in a different league; a widely published author of works on the US and its worker population, he was awarded Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. How could I begin to consider collaboration with one of such stature in academia?

Although subject to an inward constraint, I was emboldened to find my collection of important prime evidence and documentation – most of which I had accumulated before and after the 1999 reunion – could be used as building blocks for a projected book; ideas began to flow. Meanwhile, Patrick honoured his commitment to provide a background history, both political and social in context, and I admit to being flattered when he sent me drafts for my consideration. I came to understand the nature of Patrick’s generosity.

The project Patrick and I were pursuing was due for completion by 2014; but we were to be thwarted. The school found itself in line for a rigorous Ofsted inspection, one which would consume the thinking and attitudes of staff so that all preparatory actions became assessment-oriented. Fear of Ofsted’s visit prior to any reunion necessitated cancellation of the 90th anniversary celebration, and with it was lost the impetus we had shared in producing the book. Our initial enthusiasm was dormant, and as I will explain next month, it took a pandemic to revive our interest.

A reunion will take place at the school on 22 September. For more information and to order a copy of The Story of Wanstead High School by Terry Joyes and Patrick Renshaw, visit wnstd.com/whs100

Joshua Abbott has launched a crowdfunding campaign to publish Modernism Beyond Metro-land, a book documenting 20th-century architecture in London’s suburbs. In the second of a series of extracts, the spotlight is on Wanstead Library. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson

Wanstead was part of Essex until 1965 when it became part of the new London Borough of Redbridge. From 1945, Essex County Council instigated a large library building programme overseen by their chief architect HC Connolly, building new facilities all over the county. However, by the late 1960s, Redbridge began a new wave of library construction, often creating buildings that combined health, educational and advice services.

Wanstead Library was opened in 1969 on a site next to Christ Church Green, replacing a smaller branch library from 1944 on the High Street. The new building was designed by the Architects Department of Redbridge Council, at the time led by Michael G Booth, with the job overseen by D Meyer and B Etteridge.

At first glance, the 1969 library might be dismissed as a typical post-war piece of municipal architecture, a mixture of jutting shapes and sharp angles in dark brick. However, if we look closer, we can see it is in fact an interesting and thoughtful piece of design. The building fits into a small plot between Spratt Hall Road and Woodbine Place with facades facing west and north. To ensure a regular and even source of natural light, the building is arranged in a rectangular plan with staggered facades at the north and south ends. The northern end is glazed floor to ceiling with thin, vertical window strips, dispersing the light across the library floor. Light is also admitted via a series of triangular roof lights which face north, allowing a soft, even light suitable for reading and study.

Internally, the library was arranged in separate areas for adults, children and reference books, all accommodated in a column-free space under a timber-clad ceiling. Adjoining the library is the Churchill Room, intended as a meeting space for cultural and educational groups, with room for 150 people. The hall also has facilities for cooking, storage, offices and changing rooms. The library and hall were opened on 4 October 1969 by Patrick Jenkin, the then Conservative Member of Parliament for Wanstead and Woodford. The library and the adjoining Churchill meeting rooms were refurbished in 2017.

For more information on Modernism Beyond Metro-Land and to support the crowdfunder, visit wnstd.com/mbml

In the 12th 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 Little Owl on Wanstead Flats

My hobby is wildlife photography and my favourite subjects are birds of prey, such as Kestrels, Buzzards and Sparrowhawks, all of which can be spotted at times on Wanstead Flats.

There are also one or two Little Owls around in the woods here. They nest in large old trees with hollow cavities and have successfully bred here, as young owlets have been spotted occasionally. They feed mainly on invertebrates such as worms, beetles and grasshoppers and the occasional small mammal or bird. When they spot their prey, they will swoop down to catch it with their sharp talons. 

Little Owls are the smallest UK owls and so are not that easy to spot. They are mainly nocturnal but are also active during the day and can sometimes be seen perching on a branch, especially if the sun is out. They are easier to see when the trees have lost their leaves and there is less cover as their markings make very good camouflage. The giveaway is the pair of sulphur-yellow eyes staring out with a very stern expression.

I was lucky enough to spot this Little Owl in a wooded area of Wanstead Flats one morning in May. It sat there staring at me for some time and I was able to take some photos as it posed, seemingly unconcerned. As I was taking my leave, it blinked, and one of its eyelids got stuck, giving it the appearance of a wink!

It was another unexpected magical moment on Wanstead Flats and the reason I will keep coming back with my camera.

To view more of Diane’s wildlife photos, visit wnstd.com/dalli

A reunion to mark the 100th anniversary of Wanstead High School will take place on 22 September.

“Old Heronians, former staff and all members of the school community are welcome. Catch up with old friends, take a tour of the school to see what’s changed, listen to a programme of live music from pupils and staff and check out our centenary merchandise and historical items from the last 100 years,” said a spokesperson.

A book documenting the history of the school has also been published.

Visit wnstd.com/whs100

In a survey conducted by the Friends of Wanstead Parklands, hundreds of local people have asked the City of London Corporation to start doing something about the state of the park. Lucy Dawes reports

Following a survey of local people, with over 400 responses, Wanstead Park emerges as a much-loved public amenity, but there is frustration at the lack of recent action over a set of key issues. These include preserving the lakes, improving the natural environment, maintaining the historic landscape and making everyone feel safe and welcome.

The responses, from both the public and members of the Friends of Wanstead Parklands, show the overriding top issue and priority (70% of respondents) for the City of London and other stakeholders to address is the current state of the lakes and waterscape. Verbatim feedback included comments such as: “the degradation of the lakes over the years is appalling,” and “the main priority is the restoration of the Ornamental Water.”

People most enjoy the natural environment (86%) of the park. Its preservation, in partnership with other community groups and stakeholders, was the second top issue (after the lakes) that people thought the Friends should focus on (50%). Some of the issues could be addressed by more communication to help people understand what is being done.

The historic landscape was the third most enjoyed aspect (49%) and the fourth highest reason for use of the park (42%). It is also a key concern for the future. People asked: “has work on the Grotto ground to a halt?” and requests included “better use of the Temple, such as summer afternoon teas run in conjunction with the tea hut.” 

Helping every park user to feel safe and welcome is also a concern for visitors. When asked what they disliked about the park, respondents raised a number of issues relating to how safe and welcome they feel. Dog behaviour (26%), cyclists and safety in the park, which includes antisocial behaviour, were mentioned. There were also issues relating to access, including inaccessible muddy paths, lack of access by public transport and disability access. 

Peter Brimson, chair of the Friends of Wanstead Parklands, said: “The committee welcomes our open and friendly dialogue with the City of London Corporation on behalf of the local community, but dialogue needs outcomes. The Friends will continue to campaign for the City of London to act and follow through on commitments it has already made.”

The survey also reflected the joy the people felt using the park. “Peacefulness”, “being close to nature and wildlife”, “the sense of open space” and “walking round the lake” are just some of the positive comments that people added about what they appreciate most about Wanstead Park.

The full report on the Friends of Wanstead Parklands survey is available online. Visit wnstd.com/fwpsurvey

The Parish of Wanstead will be submitting an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund this month in a bid to preserve Christ Church.

It follows a questionnaire completed by over 600 people about the importance of the 160-year-old, Grade II*-listed building, which will be used as part of the funding application to demonstrate community support.

“The overwhelming majority of responses have been positive, although some feel a religious organisation ought not to seek to receive public money. In response, I would say the point of this bid is to restore a local historic building and to make it accessible to all people, not just we Anglicans who currently use it… I am incredibly grateful to the 40 volunteers who have helped to put together a brilliant bid – we now need the prayers of all!” said Revd James Gilder.

An estimated £600,000 is needed to repair structural defects in the church tower. The church interior will also be redesigned to enable greater use by community groups.