Our quaint little tradition of marking the first frost of the season continues. Happy Frost Day to those who celebrate. Does it tell us anything? Insert shrug emoji here.
2026 – 13 November
2025 – 18 November
2024 – 11 October
2023 – 16 October
2022 – 6 December
2021 – 2 November
2020 – 4 November
2019 – 4 November
2018 – 25 September
2017 – 30 October
2016 – 2 November
2015 – 23 November
2014 – 6 November
2013 – 13 November
2012 – 6 November
2011 – 25 November
2010 – 21 October
It might be chilly out, but parents of children at Nightingale primary school are keeping an eye on record-breaking temperatures and trying to raise money for air conditioning for classrooms.
It’s not been a good year for the PTA. The company they had booked to provide inflatables for their summer fete ceased trading. A replacement supplier they arranged had its own troubles – its inflatables failed within the first hour of the fete, and meant they couldn’t sell wristbands to raise funds. All in all it means the PTA is about £5,000 down on where it had hoped to be – which was ordering air-conditioning units for classrooms.
A spokesperson said: “That money was meant for our children. We’d hoped the summer fete would go a long way towards air-conditioning for the school this year. Anyone who has picked up a hot, worn-out child at the end of a summer’s day knows how stuffy those classrooms get. For now, that plan is out of reach.”
They have turned instead to a crowdfunder, promising that every £3,000 they raise will air condition another classroom. Details of how to donate are here:
https://superkind.org/campaign/nightingale-primary-school-pta-aircon-fundraiser
The Wanstead Beer Festival (WBF) raised £5,500 for local charities in a record-breaking year. The festival attracted a record turnout of 1300 thirsty drinkers to Christ Church last month.
The three selected charities – the River Roding Trust, the War Memorial Restoration and Growing Hope – will now receive equal shares of the total. Some £500 plus was also raised on the day via a raffle for Tin in a Bin.
“It has been another record breaking year for the WBF. Everyone involved is delighted to be able to donate over £5, 000 to local charities,” Paul Donovan, one of the organisers, said.”, co-organiser. “It’s is a community-based event, so it is great to be able to give back in this way. So now it is on to next year, when the WBF will take place on Saturday 9 October 2027 – same time, same place.”
A new regular round-up of cultural events of interest to Wanstead people, here and further afield. Suggestions for inclusion are welcome – just email culture@wansteadium.com
ART: Wanstead artist Andrea Marsh’s work is part of an exhibition, Undercurrent: Art, Memory and What Lies Beneath, at Espacio Gallery on Bethnal Green Road until Monday 16 Nov. The exhibition brings together sculpture, ceramics, painting, collage, prints and mixed media. Marsh is exhibiting alongside Hannah Williams, Karen Topp, Miranda Leung and Victoria Caution, with the artists exploring memory, landscape, personal histories and the less obvious forces that shape our lives. Exhibition details.
COMEDY: Musical comedian Mitch Benn is headlining the Laugh_Able comedy night next Wednesday at the Churchill Room at Wanstead Library on Wednesday 18 November at 7.30pm. Benn wrote satirical songs to Radio 4’s The Now Show for many years. Laugh_Able celebrates disability, neurodivergence and mental health through comedy. Booking details.
MUSIC: Woodford Symphony Orchestra has its autumn concert at Bancroft’s School on Saturday 14 November at 7.30pm, with Rossini’s overture to Tancredi, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, with pianist David Silkoff, and Schubert’s Sixth Symphony. Woodford Symphony Orchestra.
MORE ART: Local artists and art enthusiasts are invited to the George and Dragon on Wednesday 18 November, from noon until 4pm, for an informal art exhibition and gathering organised by A Cup of Art. Whether you paint yourself or simply enjoy looking at art, there’s an opportunity to meet local artists over a cuppa. Event details.
Here are last week’s planning applications registered in Wanstead Village and Wanstead Park (apologies for late arrival – but you WILL now see a tab with applications which have been decided). These details come from Redbridge Council’s public planning register; applications may change as they progress.
For the wider archive, visit Planning in Wanstead. Always consult the official Redbridge application record for the latest information.
Sylvan Road, 8 Nov. Photo: Bibby Binky
Interesting long read in the Guardian this week about parakeets in England, telling us things we never knew about the birds which are a familiar sight and sound in these parts.
By 1895, London had 118 wild-animal shops, which fed a parrot fever (metaphor) that was curtailed only by a parrot fever (real): in 1929 and 1930, an outbreak of a parrot-borne bacterial infection called psittacosis caused widespread alarm. The episode generated Britain’s first parrot-panicked headlines: “Parrot disease”; “Parrot causes man’s death – wife in hospital”; “Don’t kiss ‘Polly’!” The resulting 1930 import ban tanked much of the country’s exotic-bird trade, and one parakeet expert has suggested that fear of the disease might also have caused some to release their birds. Such releases are likely responsible for the parakeets observed in Epping Forest in Essex two years later.
London’s avian founding fathers? Not quite. The Epping parakeets died. So did all the others. Our current abundance actually goes back to Britain’s postwar bird-keeping boom. Between 1947 and 1961, the number of pet birds rose from 600,000 to 11m. By 1971, a self-sustaining population of parakeets had established itself in Croydon. In 1986, Peter Lack’s Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland put the population at about 1,000. The birds soon expanded their range from strongholds in south London and Kent, and estimates in 1997 put the entire UK population at around 3,500 breeding pairs.
It was parakeets, remember, which were front and centre of the Wanstead Fringe artwork this year (the work of local artist Aaron Williams). The message was about sharing common space.
The article, by David Wingrave, concludes: “Are the parakeets ‘bad’? It depends on whom you ask. To fruit farmers, they are a growing pest. To nuthatches, they are a potential nest thief. But to many members of the public, they are a welcome addition to otherwise grey cityscapes and a reminder – more benign than, say, tick-borne steak allergies – of our changing world.”
Photograph: Bibby Binky
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Wanstead War Memorial. 8th November 2026.
Photograph: Martin Smith
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Wanstead man Kevin Bramley has been charged with the murder of Lorena Ciupeanu who died in 2022.
The Metropolitan Police issued this statement yesterday:
A man has been charged with the murder of Lorena Ciupeanu in 2022.
Kevin Bramley, 68 (12.10.1958), of Hermon Hill, Wanstead, who was in a relationship with Lorena at the time of her death, was arrested on Thursday, 5 November on suspicion of her murder.
He was charged later the same day with murder, sexual assault, coercive and controlling behaviour and causing actual bodily harm. The charges all relate to Lorena.
Bramley will appear at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court this morning, Friday, 6 November.
Police were called after 28-year-old Lorena was taken to Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone on 4 November 2022 after being found unresponsive. Despite the efforts of paramedics, she sadly died the following day.
Holy Trinity on Hermon Hill lit up and looking good ahead of fireworks night… lots of the local displays are sold out so nice to have this given to us for free. (Pooches not included.)
Photograph: Bibby Binky
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