Au revoir, Camp Wanstead


Farewell to Wanstead’s tented community. Despite dire warnings, the stream of happy campers – many in pink and puce – up and down Eastern Avenue has been the biggest impact of our own London 2012 campsite.

 
 


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Wanstead honey in seven easy steps

Wanstead has long been a hive of urban wildlife, and its own apiary – situated near Warren Road – has been buzzing with activity this summer. Wansteadium reader @MissisBeekeeper freely admits that it’s usually MrBeekeeper who is closest to the bees, but here she willingly shares the different stages she and her family have gone through in the past week as they harvest their bees’ honey.

To the beekeepers of Wanstead, and on behalf of all the people of Wanstead (especially Ron and his fellow gardeners) we salute you and your bees.

@MissisBeekeeper writes: “Hive and beekeeper, which currently lives in the Epping Forest beekeepers’ Wanstead apiary, owned by Mark Stephens.”

“The first step in obtaining Wanstead honey is uncapping the little sealed cells where the honey is.”

“This is what the frame looks like after uncapping – you can see the honey now.”

“The frame is put inside the extractor – which works by spinning it round very fast.”

“The frame is now empty of honey.”

“This is the honey dripping into the settling tank, where it rests prior to being put into jars.”

“And the honey going into the jar. We would ideally like to have a hive at our home near the Nightingale but will wait until next spring for that. Now the greatest challenge will be to print labels from our new printer!”

Wanstead to get ice cream parlour

Wanstead High Street is to have an ice cream parlour in the shop recently vacated by One Deko.

It might be coming to the end of a disappointing summer (weather-wise), but the venture could do well. It is, for example, likely to effective at liberating pocket money from Wanstead High School pupils. It is also well-positioned for toddlers in Christchurch Green to make the most of their pester power.

Fans of high street diversity will be happy too.

Wanstead News roundup, 27.8.12; A new challenge, old battles & a minor mystery

* Wanstead and Snaresbrook Cricket Club staged a dramatic victory on Sunday to reach the finals of the Kingfisher Beer Cup, the national club championship. The final will be played on Sunday 16 September, but sadly in Derby rather than at Lord’s (nothing against Derby, but, you know).

* The Evergreen field – the usually untended but hugely valuable plot of land next to Christchurch Green – could be much in the news in the coming months. It is reported that the field has been sold and may now be the subject of a planning application. It was as a result of a campaign to stop development on this site that the Wanstead Society was originally formed. More here from the Wanstead Guardian.

* And a campaign is in full swing, backed by politicians from all the parties, to persuade the Metropolitan Police not to close Wanstead Police Station. It’s another rerun of an old battle. A special Area One sub committee meeting is being held on 14 September at 7.15 pm at Wanstead Library.

* Finally a minor mystery, brought to our attention by Wansteadium reader Matt. He writes: “I work in advertising, and recently had to find some footage from the 1980s for a mood film. Stay with me. While in the edit suite, someone walked in with a massive archive box full of DVDs from ITN, all containing archive footage. I picked out maybe 10 DVDs to look through, and started with one that sounded promising, so I threw in into my Mac and started flicking through it… The DVD started with a report on Mercury’s (remember them?) entrance to the pay phone market. The report started with a close up pull-back from a telephone box to a wide shot, I thought, ‘Blimey, I recognise that!’

Now I can’t imagine why you’d be so fussy as to send someone out to St Mary’s avenue from central London, so i’m guessing there was an ITN cameraman living in Wanstead in the 1980s. What were the chances of me coming across this shot? If you’re still awake, you can compare it with Streetview now.”


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So apart from reflecting on how time has not been kind to the institution of phone boxes, the minor mystery of why Wanstead would have featured in this obscure bit of film remains. Anyone got any answers?

No lions in Wanstead (probably)


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