It loves it.

So we can really celebrate the achievement of the Wanstead Cricket Club, based in Overton Drive, which consistently performs at every level – and which also is a model for junior cricket, boys and girls.

When Wanstead became ECB Royal London national club champions in 2017 in a final at Lord’s, seven of the team playing had gone through the club’s junior cricket programme as boys.

And when so many are asking how young people can be introduced to the game, Wanstead should be something of an example. There is a way that cricket-lovers can help.

The club is raising money to install new nets at Overton Drive which would massively improve training facilities. It recently received a £25,000 grant towards the nets from Sport England, which helps towards the total of £75,000 which is needed.

Fundraising events are taking place over the summer, but there is also a crowdfunding page here for anyone wanting to make a contribution.

A planning application to rebuild a house on Grove Park included rooms marked “gentleman’s club” and “bar” and one with a “dancing pole”, leading to objections being lodged against the plan.

But the plan, it has emerged, was submitted in error and the rooms in question will actually be a home office. It appears to have been a private joke between the homeowner and architect. The applicant has written to Redbridge explaining the following:

“The architect who drew the plans is a close friend of mine and on an earlier draft set of plans, the room was labelled as a Gentleman’s Club. This was changed to a Home Study/Office on a later set of plans which was intended to be submitted with the planning application.  However, on submission of the planning application, the earlier draft plan was inadvertently included with the application instead of the true plan (the only difference being description of the room as a Home Study/Office).”

Residents have been receiving letters from Thames Water warning them that water pipe work is to start in two weeks’ time and go on until next March.

The work will involve much traffic management, but what has alarmed some residents is the threat to trees and hedges – some street trees may need to be removed, the letter says.

And although the work is to affect the “Herman Hill area” (as they spell it), the map they supply covers pretty much the whole of Wanstead – all the way up to Redbridge Lane West.

Not a #CleanerGreenerWanstead if you live on #HermonHill . @RedbridgeLive firstly allowed parking on pavement, then prune trees so badly they die and now they allow @thameswater to chop down the remaining trees https://t.co/EgjGlKi8Dr

— Lloyd Sampson (@LloydSampson) July 4, 2019

Cheeringly, Wansteadium’s prediction that only a single hedgehog remains in Wanstead have been disproven – just. There is at least one more.

Reader Jon sent us this picture that his daughter Elsie had taken in Wanstead Park last weekend. The hog was “very active”, he said, and was “heading down the main track towards the Temple, no doubt en route to the tea hut”.

Remember folks, don’t leave tea and coffee out for hedgehogs. And if there are any more sightings, please send photos to info@wansteadium.com

The roof of La Bakerie on Wanstead High Street has a secret: a beehive which has started producing honey for the cafe’s customers as well as helping to pollinate Wanstead’s gardens.

Owner Fabien Ecuvillon has harvested the first batch of honey and is now serving it on granola. As the hive grows the hope is that the honey could be sold in jars.

Hedgehog 🦔 Spotted by Eagle pond last night. @Wansteadium does #Snaresbrook count as #Wanstead? pic.twitter.com/1LSnOnR24M

— Aviah Sarah Day (@Aviah_Sarah_Day) June 29, 2019

Wansteadium reader Sarah spotted Wanstead’s last surviving hedgehog. Once upon a time we used to invite people to send in pictures of any hedgehogs they saw in or about Wanstead, but sightings dwindled and we concluded there can’t be any left. We may be wrong though – if so, please send pictures to info@wansteadium.com. Please do prove us wrong. And if you need hedgehog care advice, here is some.