© Geoff Wilkinson, who writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “When I bought these at a local shop in Wanstead, I decided to research the history of the hot cross bun on the internet. I could not find a definitive answer. According to one source it was tradition in some countries to mark a new loaf of bread with the sign of the cross in order to bless it and to thank God for it. To me this seems the most likely answer.”
Author: Wansteadium
Wanstead Easter procession 2013
Letter to Wansteadium: A ‘Residents Parking’ loser writes
Wansteadium reader John Wagstaff writes:
The joys of working in Wanstead. These are all tickets given within a week. Wanstead Place is now residents’ parking. The barely visible disabled space in the Co-op car park, and a parking ticket issued one minute before my arrival back at my car.
You can also join the parking discussion forum at Wanstead Talk, here.
Letter to Wansteadium: A ‘Residents Parking’ winner writes
Wansteadium reader ‘Mystery Crew’ writes:
I am a long term resident in the WB parking zone [which includes Cambridge Pk Rd, Chaucer Rd, Dangan Rd, Gordon Rd and Spratt Hall Rd] that voted against the parking restrictions in their current format but agreed with many of my neighbours that some type of restrictions was required to deter commuters – just less draconian measures than those implemented by the Council.
However in a lot of the various debates on this issue there has been little mention of how the parking issue has escalated over the years. There are a number of key events that happened, after each event the parking problems in the WB zone deteriorated. These events are primarily the introduction of the WA Controlled Parking Zone around Wanstead Tube station, the introduction of single yellow lines and free bays on the other side of the high street, the reduction of parking spaces on New Wanstead for safety and traffic calming measures, the inclusion of WB streets on a “where to park in London†website and – for those of us who remember that far back – Cambridge Park being rebuilt with no parking at all.
Consequently the only free unrestricted parking anywhere near the High Street fell on the WB zone. I do hope that something is done to ensure there is more parking for shoppers etc. available close to the high street but focusing exclusively on the WB zone feels a tad mean-spirited when WB zone was the last to fall to the temptation of parking restrictions. Any review of the parking pressures should look at Wanstead as a whole and not piecemeal in the way the council has done in the past.
For more on the parking review in Wanstead, see this story: Parking around Wanstead: The pressure builds
You can also join the discussion forum at Wanstead Talk specifically on parking, here.
The beauties of Wanstead get recognised at last
Feels pretty good, huh? To live in a place which is in the Top 10 Best Places to Live, as determined by the Sunday Times, no less?
There it is, in black, blue and white. Wanstead, number 10. In the company of Stockbridge (‘foodie’), Kentish Town (‘fashionable’), Durham (‘perfect’) and Bath (‘bonnets’). Yes! Little Wanstead in such illustrious company.
There are a few caveats though. This Top 10 is labelled “Best of the Rest”, meaning it comes after the paper has identified the Top 10 in lots of other categories, like Best for Families, Best for Outdoors, Best for Millionaires, Best for Schools etc. So that clouds it a little bit. But let’s put that to one side – and examine what actually the authors (hello, @TheSTHome) actually liked.
Well the top bit is just about spot on, no? Middle England… village green… tennis courts… Chichi deli… good State schools… The property prices a touch out of date, maybe, maybe by 10 years or so.
BUT WTF DOES CHAS N DAVE HAVE TO DO WITH IT??
Wanstead weekend photo, XXII
© Geoff Wilkinson, who writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “I am lucky enough to have a copy of Baedeker’s 1905 ‘London and its Environs’, it’s full of fascinating facts. For instance you could get a room with bath at the Savoy Hotel for 9 shillings and 6 pence – about £27:24 in today’s money. Page 435 describes an excursion on Great Eastern Railway to Epping and beyond that passes through Snaresbrook and mentions the Infant Orphan Asylum ‘with accommodation for 300 children’ and Wanstead Park ‘(184 acres) in which is a heronry’ and finally Wanstead Flats – ‘another public park’. It’s so interesting, I wish the writer had lingered a little longer in Wanstead.”