Slider

Ruth Martin, chair of the Aldersbrook Horticultural Society, reports on a recent tree-planting ceremony at Aldersbrook Medical Centre to commemorate all those who have lost their lives to Covid

On the last Saturday in November, Aldersbrook Horticultural Society were very proud to take part in a tree-planting ceremony at Aldersbrook Medical Centre.

A crab apple tree and two ‘discovery’ eating apples were planted in the front garden of the surgery on Aldersbrook Road. Dr Mehta, the senior GP at the practice, spoke movingly about his personal experience of Covid and was helped to plant the central tree by his young son and daughter, with staff from the surgery, patients and members of Aldersbrook Horticultural Society planting the remainder.

A commemorative plaque was placed next to the trees to. The plaque reads:

To commemorate those who have died during the COVID pandemic and to thank all NHS and other key workers.

A golden privet hedge was planted below the lime trees in the garden, and as it grows, it will not only look very pretty but will also provide the garden with shelter. The heavy rain from Storm Arwen didn’t deter enthusiasm and made the refreshments of cake and tea all the more welcome for the good crowd that attended the ceremony.

Aldersbrook Horticultural Society has been working with Aldersbrook Medical Centre for several months. The brick planter next to the bus stop has been transformed from a giant rubbish bin into an attractive flower bed planted with shrubs and colourful perennials. We have been working with the Patient Participation Group to develop a gardening club to support patients at the practice. There are monthly working parties and in October, a raised bed was planted with wallflowers and colourful spring bulbs donated by Redbridge Council. Plans in the future involve more planting and ongoing work to keep the front garden looking its best.

Aldersbrook Horticultural Society continues to go from strength to strength and meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 7.30pm at Aldersbrook Bowls Club. Our meetings are open to members (£35 a year) and to non-members (£5 per meeting).

We have a variety of local and national speakers. Nick Bailey from Gardeners’ World wowed us in September with a talk on ‘365 days of colour’, committee members in October talked about the beginning of the gardening year and in November, Ken Clarke from Forest Gate shared his knowledge and love of succulents and cacti, leaving us all more confident about caring for our plants rather than killing them with love.

This year’s programme of events will begin on 11 January with a presentation by Simone Rauxlah on terra preta soils.

For more information on the Aldersbrook Horticultural Society, visit wnstd.com/ahs

Colin Cronin has organised a public meeting with local councillors and Vision RCL to address the issues surrounding the commercial use of Christchurch Green, as highlighted by the recent Christmas tree market

Christchurch Green has long been the centre of Wanstead. From an arboricultural perspective, the green is a jewel that is home to many different species of trees, both indigenous and non-native to these shores. From a social perspective, it really comes into its own as our ‘village green’, a place where many residents will have fond memories of school sports days, picnics with friends, attending the annual Wanstead Festival or just strolling under the canopy of its trees on their way to support businesses on our local High Street.

This jewel requires constant attention and management to ensure it continues to be the place we love and enjoy so much, and that management comes at a financial cost.

Vision RCL is the social enterprise that has been tasked with managing many of the green spaces in Redbridge, including Christchurch Green, and to meet the costs of maintaining this space has embarked on a number of initiatives aimed at increasing revenue.

In August 2021, Vision announced excitedly that they had been granted planning permission to provide a “new sustainable café kiosk” despite a large number of objections from local residents. Then, in late November, it was Vision who dreamed up a Christmas tree selling gimmick on the green, again designed to increase revenue.

Both of these initiatives have been developed and implemented without any consultation with or concern for local residents’ views or the impact they might potentially have on rate-paying businesses on our High Street. Indeed, so ill-conceived was the pop-up Christmas tree market idea that local traders were subsequently approached by Vision asking if they could sell their surplus Christmas trees at other green spaces in Redbridge.

Whilst we all appreciate that costs need to be met for the maintenance of our green, Vision needs to rethink their approach as to how they go about working with local residents and the businesses of Wanstead going forward to ensure all members of the community can have their say and be heard.

We will therefore look to host a public meeting with our local councillors and Vision representatives to hear their plans and aspirations for Christchurch Green for the future, how we as local residents can be included in those conversations and how we can all work together to ensure the mistakes of last month are not repeated.

The public meeting will take place on 5 March from 2pm at Christ Church, Wanstead.

The Wren Wildlife Group, London Wildlife Trust and Wild Wanstead have compiled a list of 10 species at risk of local extinction. In the last of a series of articles looking at each species in turn, Susie Knox explains why she’s bats about pipistrelles

Pipistrelles are small bats with brown fur and a black face and wings. Their wingspan is about 20cm and they weigh no more than a pound coin. Pipistrelles roost (spend the day) hidden out of sight, singly or in small groups, in crevices in buildings, tree holes and bat boxes. They emerge to feed around 20 minutes after sunset, dining on flies, midges and mosquitoes.

Pipistrelles fly in a fast, jerky way, two to 10 metres above the ground as they pursue small insects, which they catch and eat on the wing. A single bat can consume up to 3,000 insects in one night.

There are two different species of pipistrelle bat in Wanstead: the common pipistrelle and the soprano pipistrelle. Common pipistrelle bats have a slightly lower-pitched voice than their soprano cousins.

Common pipistrelles normally breed in autumn and winter, but will not give birth until the following summer. Males establish courtship territories, which they patrol while emitting high-pitched calls to attract the attention of females. When ready to give birth, females gather in large maternity roosts. Typically, they have one baby (pup), which is fed on its mum’s milk for the first few weeks. The young bats can fly at around three weeks old and by six weeks they are fully independent.

The best time to spot pipistrelles is April to September. They hibernate between December and March, finding a crevice in a building where it’s warm and sheltered.

Pipistrelles are the most common and widespread bats in Britain, but like other species, they’re coming under pressure as land is developed and the wooded areas, ponds and open green spaces they rely on for hunting shrink. It’s unclear how their numbers are holding up. We know from scientific evidence and the absence of bugs on our car windscreens that there have been very significant declines in flying insects, their food source. Another potential threat is the loss of roosting sites due to modern construction and insulation methods reducing the gaps and crevices where bats can shelter.

The Wanstead area is blessed with several lakes surrounded by woodland – ideal places for pipistrelles to hunt at night. Hollow Pond on Leyton Flats and Perch Pond in Wanstead Park are both very good, but there is evidence that numbers there have declined in the last few years.

How to help

• More trees! They’re really important for common pipistrelles. Trees provide cover as bats emerge from their roosts and they often follow treelines to help navigate when out hunting. Plant new trees at the back of your garden and nurture any mature trees you’ve got – they have nooks and crannies where bats can roost.
• Make your garden an oasis for flying insects. Fill it with dense foliage and pollinator-friendly plants like aubretia, jasmine and Michaelmas daisies. Have a wild area with food plants for moths, such as honeysuckle, hawthorn, ivy and sweet rocket.
• Install a wildlife pond and create a long grass area.
• Reduce light pollution by ditching unnecessary night lights in your garden – it disorientates bats and is thought to be contributing to the dramatic decline in insects.
• Put up bat boxes.
• Don’t use pesticides and lobby the council against their use.

For more information about the 10 species under threat of extinction in Wanstead, visit wnstd.com/the10

Iain Ambler was one of 15 plot holders who recently restored the Redbridge Lane West allotment pond, ensuring it remains a haven for wildlife all year round. Photo by Stephen Lines

The pond – situated in one corner of the Redbridge Lane West allotment site – was created over 20 years ago. It is as big as the back garden of an average terraced house, and so is perhaps one of the bigger wildlife ponds in the borough, apart from those in Wanstead Park and on Wanstead Flats or Hollow Pond.

Why did we act?
In recent years, the pond had been dry for long periods of time, probably negatively impacting wildlife. For example, our site previously had common newts, but these hadn’t been seen this year.

Over the summer, I heard of English Cricket Board research which suggested April and May had recently become the driest months of the English year – these are the critical breeding months for our native amphibia and insects. Ponds typically act as a magnet on any wildlife site – for example, they will attract insects, which in turn bring amphibia, bats and birds. So, we wanted to do something to continue our allotment’s tradition of doing its bit for urban wildlife. The site has a history of engagement with and encouragement for wildlife conservation with many plot holders taking part. And, of course, we wanted to restore the pond for the sheer joy of it! In conversation with one Wanstead resident, she said how in the past on an early summer’s evening, she walked along one of the roads adjacent to the allotment and enjoyed, as she put it, “the frog chorus.”

What did we do?
Over the summer months, we cleared the pond and surrounding area of scrub and re-landscaped and relined it with a butyl liner (so it should stay permanently wet). We then added many pond plants, including irises, water lilies, marsh marigolds and oxygenators. We also added natural refuges for wildlife (hibernacula), to allow wildlife to enter and exit from the pond under cover, safe from predators. Finally, we added plants to the raised bank around the pond and started to create mini wild flower meadows to attract pollinators and insects.

This has been a joint project with Simon Litt, Vision RCL’s allotments officer and his team, who contributed the pond liner and plants. Many Redbridge residents kindly contributed underlay for the pond liner following a social media request.

We’ve also had some great expert advice from, among others, Froglife (the UK nature charity for amphibia), Tim Harris from the Wren Wildlife Group, Susie Knox from Wild Wanstead and Enid Barrie from Essex Botany.

What will the benefits be?
We hope that by restoring the pond, we can attract and increase the number of insects, amphibia, birds, waterfowl and mammals that use the pond and site. In addition, we think the pond is a beautiful ‘jewel within a jewel’ on our site, and will inspire both plot holders and the wider community to connect with wildlife and nature.

For more information on allotments in Redbridge, visit wnstd.com/allotments

An initiative to supply Christmas dinner to local residents in need and those living on their own will return to Wanstead next month.

“Last year, we organised the ‘Cook an extra Christmas Dinner’ project, where local families cooked an extra meal that was given to a person in need… If you could provide an extra plate for someone and drop it round to them on Christmas Day, please let me know. If we get enough offers, we should be able to match people fairly locally. In addition, if you know of someone who would benefit from having a Christmas meal, please get in touch. I am especially interested in offers and requests for vegan and vegetarian meals, and other dietary requirements, so we can match cooks and diners more effectively this year,” said organiser Paul Canal.

Join the Facebook group here, email Paul.canal@gmail.com or text 07769 159 433

Ahead of a virtual meeting of Redbridge Council’s new climate forum, Councillor Jo Blackman, Cabinet Member for Environment and Civic Pride, outlines plans to improve greenery across the borough. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson

The pandemic made us all realise the importance of green space in and around our neighbourhoods. The benefits of green space are extensive and well documented – for our own health and well-being as well as for the global climate, nature and biodiversity.

Redbridge Council has recently undertaken a thorough review and update of its policies for managing our green space. For the first time ever, we have a Green Urban Landscape Policy that puts nature and an equitable distribution of green space at its heart.

Nearly 500 people participated in the consultation, showing the value our residents also put on our green space – with environmental concerns and societal benefits featuring prominently in the submissions.

In line with the views received, our new strategy puts the needs of residents and nature at its heart as it sets out how the council will protect, manage and improve greenery and trees.

The action plan included in the policy sets out a number of actions the council will take over the next three years.

We aim to plant over 2,000 new highway trees in addition to several hundred replacement trees, and to replant many shrubs that have been lost from highway beds. This is in addition to thousands more trees that will be planted on other sites across the borough as we seek to support the London-wide target of a 10% increase in canopy cover by 2050.

We have trialled a number of grow zones across the borough where we left grass verges to grow to benefit biodiversity. Initial studies of these sites have revealed an incredible variety of plants and insects, with over 100 different plants identified. We therefore plan to increase these to cover 50,000 square metres across the borough, which equates to 25% of high grass verges.

Our new policy rightly recognises that we need to work with residents to promote the value of our green space, and to help us protect, manage and enhance it.

Our tree pit adoption scheme saw over 1,300 tree pits signed up for adoption this year and we are aiming to double this. Next year, we’ll also be giving away free packets of wild flower seeds to all those who adopt a tree pit. So, make sure you adopt yours – all those who have previously adopted them will need to reapply again this year.

We’re grateful to all our community groups, including the Wanstead and Woodford Community Gardeners, Wild Wanstead and the South Woodford urban orchard, as well as those that maintain the green space around our places of worship and schools. These groups play a vital role, enhancing our natural environment and building strong communities. To support these and other groups across the borough, we’re giving away a record 50,000 bulbs this year for planting in publicly accessible sites.

We also want to encourage people to improve greenery on private land and we will soon be publishing details of our winter fruit tree giveaway.

Finally, we will be hosting an online session on 1 December to explain more about our plans to improve greenery and tackle climate change and how you can get involved.

Applications to adopt a tree pit close on 30 November. Visit wnstd.com/adoptatreepit

To take part in the virtual meeting of Redbridge Council’s new climate forum (1 December, 6.30pm), visit wnstd.com/climateforum

Wanstead’s Christmas lights will be switched on this month.

“The Wanstead Christmas lights switch on will return in-person on Friday 19 November at 4.30pm. There will be traditional music from local schools and performers, the cast of the Kenneth More Theatre pantomime and hopefully our star local milkman from 4pm on George Green. We’ll look forward to seeing you there!” said the Wanstead Village councillors.

Eleanor Taylor was part of a group that welcomed a Syrian refugee family to Wanstead earlier this year. As that family continue to enjoy a safer and happier life, there are now many Afghans in need of similar help

The recent end of UK operations in Afghanistan meant we all saw heart-breaking footage of families who had worked with the UK-backed government, women in positions of power, translators and interpreters, joining the scramble to board flights to safety. Many of us watching wondered how we might be able to directly assist families to start a new life in a place of safety.

The UK government recently released details of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, which will help to relocate some of these families to the UK. In part, the scheme will rely on local authorities to accommodate and resettle families, but the programme will also have a voluntary element. This means all of us in Wanstead and surrounding communities can help Afghan refugee families start a new life, through support and donations, but especially through Community Sponsorship. The scheme will work in the same way as that which helped a group of us to welcome a Syrian refugee family to Wanstead in early 2021.

Our Community Sponsorship journey began in 2019 when a group of volunteers were put in touch by local churches, formed Refugee Welcome Wanstead and applied to the Home Office to support a family for their first two years in the UK. The goal of the project is to support a family towards developing the skills and knowledge needed to live an independent life after their two years with us.

The application process involved fundraising, sourcing suitable accommodation and liaison with the council and other local service providers. We were then matched to a registered refugee family by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration, considering property size, additional needs, and existing links or language compatibility with the host country.

We are currently six months into working with our family, with support from the charity Reset UK, and they are progressing remarkably well. This scheme has helped hundreds of Syrian refugees in the UK, and similar schemes worldwide have enabled thousands of vulnerable refugees to flee the Syrian conflict.

It is clear that, in the coming months, the need for volunteers who can help to support a family fleeing the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan will be greater than ever. There are lots of ways you can help to welcome Afghan refugees to safety. If you would like to hear more about our experience working directly through the Community Sponsorship scheme, please get in touch.

To help welcome an Afghan refugee family, visit wnstd.com/reset

For more information about Refugee Welcome Wanstead, visit wnstd.com/welcome

The Wren Wildlife Group, London Wildlife Trust and Wild Wanstead have compiled a list of 10 species at risk of local extinction. In the ninth of a series of articles looking at each species in turn, Nicola Steele discusses the steps needed to save one of our most endangered creatures, the hedgehog

It’s ironic that one of the UK’s favourite wild animals is also one of the most endangered – as the plight of the hedgehog is a direct result of, you guessed it, us!

As hedgerows have been ripped out in the countryside to make way for industrial farming, and greenery has been ripped out in the cities to make way for patios and cars, these charismatic little creatures have struggled to find a place to call home amongst us. Hedgehogs are classified as vulnerable to extinction on the Red List of British Mammals. Numbers have been dropping for many years now, and even in the past decade, we have lost over a half of rural hedgehogs and a third from towns and cities. This isn’t sustainable and means we could lose hedgehogs for good in the UK.

The decline in towns and cities seems to be slowing, but the situation in the countryside is a real concern. In Wanstead, there are still a few hedgehogs around, but the only known remaining stronghold is in the area around the City of London Cemetery. They are dying here because of factors like traffic, loss of habitat and use of garden pesticides.

One of the reasons hedgehogs have struggled with the modern way we manage our land is that they roam widely during the night in search of food – often by as much as two to four kilometres. This means they need access to space that’s well connected and easy to move around. Roads, fences and walls all create a direct barrier that blocks their ability to forage.

Hedgehogs are fascinating animals. If threatened with danger, they raise their 3,000 to 5,000 spines and curl up into a tight ball. Between November and March, when food is in short supply, hedgehogs hibernate in a nest in a hedgerow, compost heap, or under a thick layer of leaves or logs. Their body temperature drops and breathing almost stops. Hedgehogs are awake again and ready to breed in April. The female makes a nest of leaves and grass and has three to five babies. At first, the young are blind and pink, but soon sprout soft white spines. By four weeks old, they’re ready to go foraging with their mother, and in another 10 days, the offspring go their separate ways. If you’re interested in finding out more, Hedgehog Street is a great organisation trying to save our spikey friends that has lots of information on their website.

How to help

• To help rural hedgehogs, you could consider avoiding industrially produced food and opt for organic, if feasible.
• Closer to home, don’t use slug pellets or pesticides in the garden – hedgehogs eat creepy crawlies so you’re indirectly poisoning them.
• Make your garden attractive to hedgehogs and the food they eat. Leave a wild corner, make a mini wildlife meadow or have a wildlife pond (with an escape ramp).
• Have habitats in your garden suitable for hedgehogs to hibernate in.
• Make hedgehog highways with your neighbours so that hedgehogs can move between gardens to find food at night. Create gaps in your boundaries of 13cm by 13cm (which is too small for nearly all pets to get through), or use hedgehog-friendly gravel boards with ready-made holes. Dig a channel under a wall, fence or gate, or cut a hole at the bottom of the structure.
• If you are lucky enough to have hedgehogs in your garden or neighbourhood, provide supplementary food, ideally dry or wet cat food (not fish).

For more information on helping hedgehogs, visit hedgehogstreet.org

For more information about the 10 species under threat of extinction in Wanstead, visit wnstd.com/the10

As the Friends of Wanstead Parklands prepares its funding strategy for 2022, John Sharpe looks at how money has been spent this year and explains why partnerships with third parties are increasingly important. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson

Wanstead Park users will have been drawn to the elegant new fingerpost signs dotted strategically around the entrances and grounds. These are the culmination of a £4.1k project, with the funding obtained by the Friends of Wanstead Parklands (FWP) and installed by Epping Forest.

The FWP stall at the Wanstead Festival highlighted the other recent voluntary and financial contributions made by the Friends: £10k funding for work on the Grotto; £900 towards new entrance noticeboards; and the organisation of 40 marvellous volunteers to oversee the stewardship of the much-loved longhorn cattle over the summer.

In my June article for the Wanstead Village Directory, I referred to the evolving funding model for the Park, and the developing need for the Friends to collaborate more closely in fundraising with Epping Forest, whose responsibility it is to manage the Park.

It is not universally recognised that Epping Forest is itself a registered charity. During 2020/21, its income streams have decreased due to the impact of Covid, and as a consequence, new ways of raising cash have had to be identified.

One of these is the pay and display parking policy introduced to parts of the Forest earlier in the year, and to the Park’s Warren Road car park anytime soon. This step change in strategy has infuriated regular Forest users, but it is a done deal and although opposed, was steamrollered through by the Epping Forest Commons Committee.

Organisations such as the Friends face a difficult choice in positioning their relationship with the City: opposition or pragmatism?

For now, outside of the core Park maintenance, which Epping Forest provides, projects are increasingly subject to funding applications and work partnerships with third parties. Since the Friends successful joint initiative with the Heritage of London Trust, both the FWP and Epping Forest have turned to funding bids from disparate sources. Earlier this year, Epping Forest made a significant £600k bid to the Green Recovery Challenge Fund for monies to carry out wetlands restoration, pumphouse replacement and land drainage. The bid was ultimately unsuccessful but indicated the direction of travel.

More recently, a project initiated by the Roding, Beam and Ingrebourne Catchment Partnership, working with the City of London, has been funded by Essex and Suffolk Water: The Thames 21 Project. Its objective is to provide water environment improvements for the benefit of wildlife and biodiversity along the River Roding at Wanstead Park. The work is targeted to be carried out between now and January.

The planned natural play area in the Park to which the Friends have committed £2k will be subject to a funding bid to the City of London Central Grant Programme for essential cash.

Other funds also exist to support green initiatives. So, at the next Friends committee meeting, we will be focusing on developing a funding strategy for 2022.

Membership income and successful fund applications will be increasingly important to the FWP as we seek to improve the Park for all.

This is now what we need to do!

For more information and to become a member of the Friends of Wanstead Parklands (individual: £10 per year; household: £15 per year; lifetime: £90), visit wnstd.com/joinfwp

Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday commemorations will take place in Wanstead this month.

Residents are invited to a service at the Snaresbrook Garden of Remembrance on 11 November (arrive by 10.45am). This will be followed by a gathering at the Wanstead War Memorial on 14 November (arrive by 12.15pm).

“From the hymns and wreath-laying through to the sounding of the last post by a lone bugler, I am always struck by the solemnity and peacefulness of both occasions,” said organiser Colin Cronin.

In the third of a series of articles providing an update on the Cleaner Greener Wanstead initiative, Councillor Paul Donovan (Wanstead Village, Labour) looks at the challenges of tackling energy efficiency

One of the biggest challenges we face in the battle to reduce emissions and so cut global warming is a fundamental change in energy use. The use of fossil fuels needs to be phased out quickly. Renewable energy has to become the order of the day.

The government has recognised this demand, with a commitment for no new properties to have gas-fired boilers after 2025 – though with little detail or budget for delivery. There is also talk of a push for the replacement of existing gas-fired boilers, with technology like heat pumps and hydrogen-fuelled devices. Solar photovoltaic panels also have a role to play, though changes to feed-in tariffs have made them less economical for homeowners.

Some 56% of emissions in Redbridge come from buildings, with the council committed to switching to renewable energy for electricity in council buildings, as well as delivering retrofitting of insulation for hundreds of homes through the Go Green programme. However, council-based activities only account for 2.4% of total emissions in the borough.

Energy is an area where there needs to be a real reach out to individuals to act. And there are some fine examples in Wanstead of people taking just such positive actions.

One couple has solar panels on their roof that enables them to heat the house and charge their electric car. They also have low-energy appliances throughout their home.

Another household has solar photovoltaic panels on the roof supplying electricity and heating water. They also produce much of their own food from the back garden.

Another individual is taking advantage of the mayor’s Solar Together scheme, which buys up a large number of panels at a lower price. Selected fitters then assess the properties taking part and come up with a quote. The local resident who has applied for this scheme also intends to power his electric vehicle with energy captured from his roof.

We should all explore switching to renewable energy sourced suppliers, as well as exploring the potential to become our own micro-generator of energy. However, this technology can still be expensive and complicated, so the government needs to step in to help and ensure it is more accessible and economical. It’s only with that help that we are going to see the significant reductions in emissions from buildings required to turn the tide on climate change.

There is a long way to go to make Wanstead a sustainable energy centre, but the examples quoted show what can be done.

For more information on the initiative, visit cleanergreenerwanstead.org