An inquest has been opened into the death of a 16-year-old who died from a head injury after falling from scaffolding in Camden Road, Wanstead, on Wednesday. The teenager, Alfie Perrin, was from Enfield.
Police have appealed for witnesses to the accident, which is being described as unexplained. As was demonstrated in the video which featured in Wansteadium on Thursday, a large crowd gathered when the air ambulance arrived at the scene. The investigation is being conducted by the Metropolitan Police and the Health and Safety Executive.
More from the BBC here, and the Wanstead Guardian here.
Wansteadium won’t be alone in not quite knowing what to make of this video, filmed on Wednesday by Jogga Singh Teidy, the man who rides around Wanstead in a Sinclair C5. Longtime readers of this blog might remember him featuring here last year, and if nothing else, the fact that he is still pootling around is testament to the durability of his plastic battery-powered prototricycle. No one would have seen that coming, in more ways that one.
But regardless of that, and in the interests of the gaiety of the nation, we are happy to present Jogga Singh Teidy’s helicopter news. As he told us:
This is a one man project on enthusiasm and need to create a better world view for our kids, pop songs next for me!
Although the circumstances of the helicopter visit have not been officially verified, tweets from Adam “hotbuns” Lewis @loobola suggest that a construction worker might have fallen from scaffolding in Sydney Road. We wish the injured party well and at the very least we hope that Wanstead’s have-a-go scaffolder Tommy Stapleton has now been safely accounted for.
Last year we ran a selection of Autumn pictures by one of our favourite photographers Richard Chambury. Here’s his 2012 selection. You can see more of his photos on his blog.
Suki Orange, Wansteadium’s food blogger, writes:
Wanstead’s new tea shop, Time for Tea, which opened last month opposite Snaresbrook Station (next door to Tiffin Tin) seems like a jolly fine thing. Starting with a bit of a sow’s ear of a building, they have made something silky and actually quite cool.
As you’ll see from the photos, it’s clean, chic, slightly tongue-in-cheek, Â but without designer prices. Tea brewed in proper pots, (coffee too if you want it) plus a pretty wide choice of home-made cakes. They look good, too, and though I approve on principle of all baked goods, a Rocky Road bar I tasted could have done with a touch more biscuit and chewy stuff, rather fewer peanuts.
Tracy and Dave, the Woodford couple who have done the renovations and are doing the baking and hosting have  also spotted an opening in the lunchtime market for Wanstead – simple inexpensive sandwich lunches. I wondered, in the days before it opened, and with its proximity to Snaresbrook Crown Court, whether it would appeal more to lawyer or defendant. It’s clearly more the former, but they will be outnumbered by Wanstead mums.  It’s good too that they are active tweeters – @TimeFor_Tea – from which we learn that their first celeb customer was Una Stubbs.
So for all the wishful thinking we sometimes engage in here about the potential for Wanstead, here is an example of something really rather good actually happening. Do go along and see for yourself – I’d be interested in knowing what you think. Let me know on this page at Wanstead Talk.Â
PS. I do have one quibble about how the shop is dressed. There are copious copies of Country Life, which work much better as a prop than as something to entertain the customers. I think I can probably pull some strings if Tracy and Dave want to widen their appeal and become the third venue for the magazine-sharing collective, the Wanstead Magazine Club.
A point of view rarely heard about Wanstead – and therefore a contribution to the debate about the renovations to BBQ Express.
I've just come to realise that there is absolutely no fast food (KFC, McDonalds) available in Wanstead. What a nightmare this is… #hungry
— Jamie Hearne (@jamiehearne89) November 11, 2012
This is just one of the subjects being discussed at Wanstead Talk – our new free-to-join forum for civilised conversation for the people of Wanstead.Â
