Redbridge Museum is inviting Wanstead residents to submit their photos, videos, artwork and stories about life during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We want to know about your daily walks, working or schooling from home, and the ways your community has come together to support one another. Your stories will help to document the impact of the pandemic on our borough and will form part of the collections at Redbridge Museum and Heritage Centre,” said a spokesperson.
Having organised a popular Wellness Week in Wanstead six months ago, Elsa Arnold is now launching Wellness Festival 2021, a month of online events to help us all through the final straight of lockdown
After the success of the well-being week I organised in October last year, I am so excited to share that we’ve got another fabulous series of online events lined up to support people’s health and well-being through the last stretch of lockdown restrictions.
From 5 April to 14 May, you can join one of our free online events as part of our Wellness Festival 2021. The aim of the festival is to highlight the importance of taking time out to care for ourselves, and promote positive health and well-being.
It can be very easy to get caught up in our very busy and fast-paced lives, so I hope that even joining us for one of our events will help you become more aware of the benefits of taking time out to look after yourself. The festival will include events which focus on both mental and physical health, as well as giving you the opportunity to gain new skills and learn new things. All of the events are being run by individuals with small businesses, many of whom are local, and we are really pleased to be supporting them.
There is a mixture of practical activities for all ages including HIIT classes, fun dance classes, yoga and mindfulness, singing workshops and lots more, as well as some insightful talks and training opportunities for you to get involved with. Among the talks and workshops we currently have lined up are presentations on managing sleep and mental health first aid training.
We are also really pleased to be welcoming Dr Audrey Tang to our series of events, who will be running a session on motivation in May. Audrey is a very experienced psychologist with a lot of very insightful and practical advice, which I am sure many of you will find useful.
You can view the full list of events and register for them online. Spaces for some events are limited, so please make sure you sign up to save your spot!
All of the events for the festival are free. However, if you do take part and are able to, we would also like to encourage you to make a voluntary donation towards the mental health charity MIND. This summer, I am taking on the National Three Peaks Challenge – when I will be attempting to climb the highest mountains of England, Scotland and Wales within 24 hours – in aid of MIND, who provide essential advice and support to anyone experiencing a mental health problem and campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding. Anything you can give will be gratefully received and appreciated, and your donation will go directly to MIND.
For Wellness Festival 2021 event listings and booking, visit wnstd.com/well21
To sponsor Elsa in her National Three Peaks Challenge, visit wnstd.com/elsa3peaks
©Stanley LopataMost of us will continue to spend much time at home this year, but are you getting rather tired of seeing the same old street features while taking exercise around Wanstead? If so, this may capture your imagination…
Much as NHS rainbows added colour to our lives, the artwork and creativity of local residents – adults, teens and children – can add interest and vibrancy to our area. And art spotting can be an uplifting visual surprise for passers-by.
For that reason, Art Group Wanstead (AGW) – which has organised Art Trail Wanstead for a decade – this year urges residents to use their creativity and show their own work in front windows and gardens this spring and summer. ‘The year that nature took centre stage’ has been chosen as the theme by members of AGW. Local estate agent The Stow Brothers is supporting the project.
Most of us have appreciated the importance of nature over the past 12 months, and this is an amazingly wide theme. Your work can include anything connected with the natural world, on earth and beyond. You might be inspired to include a forest scene or your pet in the garden. Some of you have already focused paintings and photography on Bruce, the black swan which appeared on Eagle Pond (overheard comment: “See how black lives matter!”). Of course, rainbows will also never go out of fashion.
Work will only be limited by your imagination, and could include gardening projects or installations, and displays on your window-sills. You may want to place abseiling figures descending from climbing jasmine or hang your own hand-painted summery baubles from trees. If you’ve always wanted to make a topiary feature out of your hedge, then now is the time to do just that. If you want to create extravagant birdhouses, give it a go. Want to try your hand at mosaic with some of your broken china? Crack on.
Work can be paintings or drawings displayed from inside your front windows, or could be art in any form – including photography, pottery, glass or stonework and collages. One of our artists has suggested using outside fairy lights in a new creative way for summer evenings. Or paint and decorate jam jars to create lanterns. Battery nightlights are an inexpensive way to add safe candle effects, especially when children are involved. These Easter school holidays are a good time to start. On fairer days, children could even do chalk pavement art outside your home. Any materials, including recycled items from the home, can be used. Plastic bottles can often be cut into a myriad of forms and shapes for the garden: lightly sandpaper the plastic and add permanent felt-tip colours for rainproof features. Our website will gradually also feature some inspiring ideas and tutorials.
Naturally, some outside artwork will get weather-beaten in the months ahead. So gradually remove faded work and replace it with new art. As well as making you feel good, doing more work can even help develop skills that you might not have realised you possess. Release your inner Picasso, or simply enjoy adding splashes of colour.
There are no fees or registration requirements for this project. We are not calling for residents to join the group. We will just ask you to send us an email to tell us which road you are on and when you are starting to show your artwork. That way, we hope to list local streets (not house numbers) where artwork can be spotted, and maybe even build up a trail. Anyway, first step first. Start thinking about what you would love to create. Then set about doing it. Later, if you can send us a photo of your artwork or installation, we will start a photo feature on our website.
AGW has been established for encouragement and cooperation, not for critical assessments. This project is about enjoyable participation at all levels. As a voluntary, non-profit-making organisation, we have only one strict rule about our chosen set themes – and that is you don’t have to stick to them! They are there to inspire, but if you want to do something else entirely, go ahead.
If you have friends or relatives outside the area who wish they could take part, encourage them and tell them to email us some details. We’d love to know the furthest participant. Keep an eye on our website over the months ahead, but for now, fix your sights on your own homefront art space.
To notify the group of your participation, email mail@artgroupwanstead.com. For more information, visit wnstd.com/art
Pre-orders are open for the first-ever large-scale history book of Wanstead House.
“Wanstead House: East London’s Lost Palace will cover the history of the park, the house and its owners in unprecedented detail… it will fascinate anyone who enjoys visiting the park or has an interest in the Palladian mansion that stood at its heart,” said a spokesperson for the Friends of Wanstead Parklands, which commissioned the book in 2019.
Pre-orders receive 40% off the £45 retail price. Publication will be in March 2022.
How to order your copy of ‘Wanstead House: East London’s Lost Palace’
©Terry LawBack in the old days, we had a wide variety of shops in Wanstead to cater for every need – anything from clothes, shoes, homewares, toys, bicycles, furniture, carpets, plants and building materials, so there was little need to shop elsewhere.
Many people will remember Dunhams the drapers, a lovely old-fashioned shop rather like Grace Brothers. It sold winceyette nighties, floral overalls, slippers, sensible stockings, baby clothes and haberdashery, and the stock was kept in old-fashioned wooden drawers with glass fronts. At the rear of the shop was the curtain department, festooned with all kinds of net curtains and presided over by a charming, chatty chap called Anthony.
Woolworths was a really useful shop catering for all our household needs. They sold good-quality Ladybird childrens’ clothes and, of course, Pic n’ Mix sweets. Other shops we used regularly were Attwoods the grocers – who used to pack our order in a box and my husband would collect it on his way home – Harveys the greengrocers and AJ Dennis the butcher, who made his own burgers.
There was a good garden centre with a huge range of plants, run by a very knowledgeable couple. Next door was a little boutique called Myshella and a tiny shop called Truffles the chocolate shop. The owner would put them in a little box with a hand-tied ribbon bow. Nearby on Woodbine Place was the Wanstead Wool Shop – a very tiny shop with balls of wool stacked up from floor to ceiling, run by two sisters who would climb up a ladder to get the wool from the top shelf.
There were few places to eat back then, apart from the Wimpy Bar and the Alhambra Café on Woodbine Place. I remember when Nice Croissant opened, run by Kerry, our first pavement café in Wanstead selling beautiful French patisserie. Previously, it was Dickens the bakery who were well known for their hot cross buns.
In the 1960s we had a very tiny library on the High Street, in the building which is now Zoology. The new library was built around 1970 and seemed huge and modern by contrast. It had a mural on the wall featuring abstract dancers, created by Mr Woolner, the Head of Art at Wanstead High School.
A unique shop was Lewis Marine, a speedboat shop – in hindsight, an unusual shop for any London suburb, but we didn’t seem to think it strange at the time! Their sign can still be seen at the rear of the old Barclays building. Further along was the chemist’s Matthew and Son, with its striped sunblind and two big vials of liquid on display, one red and one green, and nearby was the Arthur Hands photography studio. One of my friends hinted darkly at strange goings-on in the basement – a dubious ‘club’ or parties, but we never found out if this was true or not!
My favourite was ‘Lady’ boutique, run by two lovely ladies called Rita and Di. They would always say: “Ooh, that really suits you!” “Oh, you’ve really lost weight!” They had chairs by the counter and customers would sit there enjoying a gossip and, sometimes, a Baileys!
Flourish
by Jean Medcalf
While clearing out my shed some weeks ago,
I found some bulbs.
Stunted, forgotten, past their “plant-by“ date,
Every gardener knows what I mean.
I held them in my hands, weighing, cogitating.
Were they worth the trouble of planting?
Would knife straight stems grow
from curvy shoots?
I considered.
Give us a chance, the crocuses seemed to plead.
So I did, planted them into pots,
And let the sun do its work.
Some weeks later,
Sunlight and earth makes plants grow straight,
I found.
Give everything another chance to see the light,
Yourself included.
Most of the Walks Past Wanstead series of free, self-guided history walks start on Wanstead Flats. The Flats offer splendid views of London to the west, a range of wildlife habitats, an array of bird life on its lakes, and a lengthy and fascinating history. It’s this history that we look at in this article.
The Flats were cleared of woodland by the Abbots of Stratford in the 12th century to be used as pasture for sheep. Wool exports were the main source of national wealth and the large religious houses maintained huge flocks. Poor soil makes grazing the most productive use of the Flats, and gradually, sheep were replaced by cattle.
Commoners of Epping Forest have the right to graze cattle on the Flats, and drovers taking cattle to market at Smithfield also used the Flats to fatten them up before sale. Competition from railways ended droving in the 1840s, but local farmers continued to use the Flats as summer pasture until the BSE crisis of the 1990s.
By the mid-19th century, the Flats had become the eastern boundary of London. As the closest green space to the densely populated boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, the Flats became a favoured place for recreation. Funfairs attracted large crowds on bank holiday weekends and more sedate recreational activities took place through the year. Near Forest Gate, a bandstand and lake attracted families on summer Sundays. Nearby was an avenue of trees adopted by young people to parade up and down in their Sunday best, providing opportunities for courtship. The Jubilee pond was originally the home of the Forest Gate Model Yacht Club with regular competitions attracting large groups of participants and spectators.
The Flats also provided space for people to gather to advance political and moral causes. In the mid-19th century, evangelical preachers attracted large crowds. Chartists demanded votes for working men, and by the end of the century, Suffragettes were demanding votes for women. Political movements sought to mobilise support through meetings on the Flats. This was starkly represented in the 1930s by competition between the Communists and Mosley’s British Union of Fascists.
Wanstead Flats’ traditional role as a place of assembly and recreation for East Londoners is the fundamental reason for the continued existence of Epping Forest as green space. The piecemeal development of common land by neighbouring landowners threatened this, leading to an organised campaign to resist encroachment. Following violent confrontations on the Flats, the City of London Corporation used the commoners rights they held, as owners of the City of London Cemetery, to persuade Parliament to pass the 1878 Epping Forest Act. This placed the whole of the Forest under their protection for the benefit of the community, the same basis on which it is managed today.
World War II saw the Flats pressed into service. Anti-aircraft guns and barrage balloons defended London against bombing. Prisoner of War camps were built, initially for Italian soldiers captured in North Africa, and subsequently for Germans captured after D-Day. Allied troops assembled on the flats in 1944 before embarking for France. Allotments were established as part of the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. In 1943, an estate of prefabs was built opposite the Golden Fleece pub to house bombed-out families. An attempt in the 1950s to replace this with a larger, permanent council estate was successfully resisted, and the site returned to grass in keeping with the 1878 Act.
Plastic has been an important factor in the advancement of our civilisation. This fact is true in all aspects of our lives. Many of the essentials we enjoy would be impossible if not for the inexpensive and durable properties of this magical man-made substance.
That acknowledged, we produce 270 million tonnes a year to feed our addiction, eight million tonnes destined for the oceans as discarded litter. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) or ‘Garbage Island’, located in the Pacific between Hawaii and California, is estimated at 1.6 million square kilometres, three times the size of France.
One of the reasons plastic pollution is so bad is because no one producing it – or using it as a major part of their product – is required to recycle it, and therefore producers do not have to make plastics easier to recycle or be part of the clean-up effort.
Britain is one of the world’s largest producers of plastic, and yet exports 70% of its plastic waste to developing countries with little to no environmental regulations, allowing greedy opportunists to take advantage of lax laws and a voiceless populace for profit.
New rules regarding the export of plastic waste came into effect in January 2021. Agreed by more than 180 nations under the Basel Convention, a system of ‘prior informed consent’ for all exports of difficult-to-recycle or contaminated plastics will be in place. Though this has been welcomed with much optimism, it can hardly be described as slamming the brakes on a runaway industry.
Garbage Island is only one of five sites plastic is clustered in large amounts where ocean currents meet. The effect on marine life is well documented and is of major international concern, as well as micro-plastics entering our food chain and the very air we breathe, the true effects are yet to be determined fully.
Our continued addiction to plastic has now reached detrimental proportions, and like any other negative, habitual practices, an intervention is required.
Several solutions have been discussed, most notably a complete ban on new oil plastic production. In theory, forcing the industry to look for alternatives, like plant-based plastics, which breakdown in composts, or mine and recycle existing plastics from landfills and the aforementioned Garbage Island.
The plastic industry needs a rigorous shake up. There is no consumer-based solution, regardless of how much a plastic bag costs on your weekly shop.
What is required will take leadership, strong government and cooperation from all stakeholders to take control of an issue that will end in a mass petro-chemical poisoning of our air and oceans and a plastic-wrapped planet Earth.
For further reading, try Karen McVeigh’s article in The Guardian (wnstd.com/polluters). And check out the Wanstead Climate Action website if you’re interested in radical environmental action in the countdown to the global environmental gathering at COP26 this November.
There has been a huge upsurge in the demand for puppies and dogs due to more people being at home and seeking companionship during the pandemic; indeed, the Kennel Club has stated that searches for puppies on their site increased by 168% in 2020.
So, dogs are being stolen to meet the demand for breeding and as family pets. And at the time of writing, dog theft is still not a specific crime (we urge you to sign the petition calling for a change in the law). Further, dog theft has now become organised crime throughout the UK, with some police forces now receiving double the number of reports of dog theft.
Some things you can do to try and reduce the chances of having your dog stolen when out on a walk include:
By law, all dogs must be microchipped. Check your dog’s microchip is up to date at the vets, or buy your own scanner so you can check regularly. If the chip has become dislodged and can’t be found, you may not want to take your dog out until this has been rectified, otherwise no one will know who the dog belongs to if stolen or lost.
When a newly acquired puppy or dog is taken to the vets, it is not a legal requirement for the vet to check the microchip, but if you are a new owner, it may be worth asking them to do so to verify the source of your dog is the same as you have been led to believe.
Choose a well-fitted, comfortable collar or harness with suitable lead. Do not personalise the harness with your dog’s name.
Let those you leave at home or a local friend or family member know your planned route and approximate duration of your walk. Choose your routes in advance, seek routes that are well lit, populated and open with no blind corners. Vary your routes. Be visually observant from the moment you leave your home. Note who is around. Is anyone sitting in a car for extended periods with no obvious reason?
Where possible, walk in pairs or in groups (depending on lockdown rules at the time). Two or more people are less approachable by thieves and your dog is less likely to be taken from you physically.
For more information on Colin’s K9 Training Services, call 07931 460 451
We are about to start up our Bereavement Cafés again – by Zoom! We had been running these cafés for several years before lockdown, and now see our way to opening up again. The cafés offer a safe and friendly place for people who are struggling with the feelings of loss after the death of someone close to talk with others.
We are a group of volunteers from St Mary’s in South Woodford, Christ Church in Wanstead and St Gabriel’s in Aldersbrook. Anybody, with any faith or none, who wants a chance to talk about these things can join us.
“Grief doesn’t end with the funeral, but that is the point at which the level of community and social support we get from those around us can sometimes begin to lessen. As life for others returns to some sort of normality, it can be hardest for those experiencing the grief most profoundly to continue to process the thoughts and feelings they continue to feel, in many different ways and at unexpected times,” said Fr Martyn Hawkes when he helped found the cafés in 2016.
We are not therapists but we are very good listeners. We have some training and we have experienced something similar ourselves. Before lockdown, we offered these meetings in a café meeting space at St Mary’s or Christ Church. The atmosphere of quiet peace there created the calm which helps these conversations.
We know that, for many reasons, it can take a long time after a death to feel enough at ease with ourselves to get on with living our lives alongside our memories and thoughts about those we loved. You may have lived with this person for a long lifetime, had complex and important relationships with them, and experienced an unexpected and shocking loss. More so, perhaps, after COVID-19. We offer people space to talk about their situation over a cuppa when often this may be difficult to do within their own circle.
It’s not quite the same by Zoom but you can join us, in a comfortable chair, with your own cuppa to hand. In a few months, we hope to return to meeting properly, face to face. In the meantime, we hope you will join us online. The meetings are drop-in, so you can come once, come occasionally or come often. You’re always welcome to join in, share and listen. This starts, and sometimes finishes, in a group, but even on Zoom, we can organise space to talk to one another in a ‘break-out room’.
We will be offering a morning and an afternoon session every month. Mornings will start on 16 March from 10.30am to 11.30am (continuing on the third Tuesday of each month). Afternoon sessions will start on 6 April from 2pm to 3pm (continuing on the first Tuesday of each month). We look forward to meeting you there.
The new café kiosk is to be located behind the toilet block along Woodbine Place's boundary with the Green. ©2021 GoogleRedbridge Council’s Leisure partner Vision has announced plans to deliver COVID-safe community focussed events and family activities on Christchurch Green this summer, with a new café kiosk to act as a focal point and meeting space.
“A new licence, applied for in February, will enable Vision to work with local groups and residents to host a range of activities in the park, like children’s storytime, poetry readings, outdoor book clubs and potentially small film screenings,” said a spokesperson.
The new café kiosk – which is expected to be located behind the bathroom block along Woodbine Place’s boundary with the Green – will be run with ‘thought to the environment’, avoiding single-use plastics and using local supply chains, serving coffees, teas, pastries, fruit, sandwiches and cakes. There will be limited seating (tables and chairs and deckchairs) outside the single-story structure, which will measure approximately 6.5m x 3m, and operating hours are likely to be from 10am to twilight (9pm during peak summer).
The location of the kiosk will enable deliveries to be made without vehicles needing to access the Green and its external appearance will be ‘designed in consideration of the Green and the Wanstead Conservation Area requirements’.
The café will have an alcohol licence, providing a limited offering, allowing the kiosk to complement events. “All staff will be fully trained in managing public behaviour to ensure the Green remains a welcoming family-orientated space.”
With littering a growing problem, Vision have confirmed there will be additional bins located around Christchurch Green, and litter picking patrols are to be expanded. To support the café and small events, there will also be a daily staff presence on-site.
“With summer approaching, we want to support local people to enjoy our parks and green spaces as much as possible. Wanstead benefits from such an active, creative community, and our council wants to engage with local people and groups to help organise activities from craft workshops, talks, Sunday afternoon Jazz all the way to puppet shows and school choir performances, all centred around a small café space serving locally sourced products,” said Councillor Kam Rai, Cabinet Member for Finance, Culture and Leisure.
©Don TaylorIt has been a time of tragedy and excitement. As the cygnets start to develop their full white feathers, it is time for mum and dad to think about their new family ahead – sadly, this means a chasing off of last year’s brood.
Our Perch Pond family in Wanstead Park have managed to shoo off one of their offspring (to Jubilee Pond) but, at the time of writing, the other six are reluctant to leave home. Maybe they know all about lockdown!
On Alexander Lake on Wanstead Flats, we were distraught to find a long-standing mate badly injured from a dog bite. The back of her neck was severely gashed, and because of the complexity of her rescue, the Swan Support team had to come out with their boat in the darkness of night. She was rescued and taken poste haste to the Swan Sanctuary, but her injuries were severe and she died the following day. There has been no insight into the owner of the dog. But this is a crime and we hope they will one day be held to account. This swan was a long-term partner and the cob was heard calling for her days afterwards. Please, if you are a dog owner, keep your dog under control.
Then, of course, there is Bruce, the black swan who appeared to have taken advantage of the relaxed rules of lockdown and came to visit some long-distant relatives on Eagle Pond in Snaresbrook. Black swans are native to Australia – hence the imaginative name Bruce – and their habitat requirements are similar to the more common mute swans.
Bruce was also seen on Hollow Ponds and at Walthamstow Wetlands for a few days’ holiday, and prior to that he was at Greenland Dock, Surrey Quays. Quite possibly, he made his way from Regent’s Park. His arrival caused traffic jams and photographers to go wild. At the time of writing, he had left his Eagle Pond residency, but his whereabouts are a closely guarded secret.
Finally, I would like to say thank you to our swan rescuer Louisa Green – who stepped in to cover Gill Walker when she fractured her shoulder – and to all the people who have been amazing in their support of feeding and watching, and to Swan Support. Also to Sandy Hamberger, who is tireless in her support and feeding regime.
Of the more than 270 species of wild bees in the UK, the furry and orangey-red tawny mining bees are one of the more distinctive and recognisable species! You will see them on the wing from early April until mid-June.
Females are a little bigger and stockier than honey bees, with thick reddish hair on the thorax and dense orange hair on the abdomen. Their legs and heads are completely black. The males are less distinctive, being a little smaller, thinner and browner, and with a white moustache over their long mandibles.
Tawny mining bees are a solitary bee – looking after themselves rather than living in a colony with a queen like honey bees and bumblebees. The females make an underground nest where they lay their eggs and store pollen for food so that the young bees can develop before emerging the following year. Each nest has a little volcano-like mound of soil around the mouth of the burrow with a four-millimetre hole in the top. Each female works alone to create her family home, although it’s common to see many nests close together.
Tawny mining bees are important for humans because they pollinate garden plants, fruit trees and crops like oil-seed rape. Indeed, their flight season peaks to coincide with spring-blossoming shrubs.
Tawny mining bees are common nationally, but they can only thrive in places where their habitat is protected. In Wanstead, the sunny, grassy areas where the bees need to nest are under pressure from the paving of gardens, use of artificial grass, and building and development. Bees are thought to be at risk from climate change because rising temperatures can disrupt the synchronisation between when the insects emerge and the flowering of their food plants. Wild bees in cities compete with urban honey bees for early season forage. The growing numbers of urban bee hives means that we should be providing more early and diverse flowering plants and shrubs to support our wild bees. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the population of tawny mining bees in urban Wanstead has declined, although there is a stable population in Wanstead Park.
There are several ways you can help tawny mining bees:
If you see nests in your garden or the park, leave them be. These bees love to nest in managed lawns or flower beds. The small mounds typically only last for a few days or weeks every year and do no lasting damage to lawns. It would be great if you could help us to record these nest sites.
Plant the spring-flowering shrubs and flowers that tawny mining bees love, such as salvia, galanthus (snowdrops), echinacea, cosmos, verbena, willow, raspberries, fruit trees and wild flowers. There are varieties of fruit trees and flowering shrubs for gardens of every shape and size, and many can easily be grown in tubs.
Never use pesticides or weedkillers in your garden. Instead, aim to attract lots of different wildlife to keep things in balance, using biological pest control if necessary.
Lift plastic grass and paving slabs and replace with a lawn. Go no-mow in May to encourage dandelions and buttercups. In a south-facing part of your garden, construct a small earthy bank – the perfect real estate for a variety of different wild bees to build their nest holes.
For more information about the 10 species under threat of extinction in Wanstead, visit wnstd.com/the10