Author: Wansteadium

South Woodford hit, Wanstead nervous

South Woodford was reportedly hit by looters last night, with a jewellers, and the Nationwide Building Society being hit (photos here and here). There was also reportedly a fire in a carpet shop on High Road, Woodford Green.

At 11.30 a tweet claimed a brick had hit a Central Line train at Leytonstone

Wanstead however seemed to escape any activity. Throughout Monday there were lots of jokes on Twitter and Facebook about what rioters and looters would do if they came to Wanstead (e.g. “They’ll be OK if they want olive oil/haircuts/secondhand books/etc” or “Nothing going on in Wanstead – no one knows where it is”), but there were signs of real nerves that trouble would spread, certainly after reports of Tesco in Leytonstone being targeted earlier in the day.

According to reports on Twitter, the Co-op pulled its shutters down early, the George Inn was not serving large groups, and both the George and the Cuckfield stopped serving about 9.30pm.

UPDATE – Tuesday, 1230BST

• One Twitter user who apparently bragged about taking part in looting in South Woodford has now removed his page, this tweet reports.

• Tension seems to have eased now; jokes happily reappearing

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/WansteadBirder/status/100860018810830848″]

• Redbridge Council issues statement

All Party Statement following civil disorder in Redbridge

Redbridge Council completely supports the quick and decisive action of the Police following isolated pockets of disorder in Ilford on Monday. Despite effective crowd control a number of shop fronts were damaged and shops broken into by small groups of young men.

Councillor Keith Prince, Leader of the Council, Councillor Ian Bond, Deputy Leader of the Council, and Councillor Balvinder Saund, Deputy Leader of the Opposition said, “We are disgusted by the actions of these individuals and our community will simply not tolerate anyone who seeks to cause unrest with lawlessness and senseless vandalism.

“These are the actions of a small minority of criminals, and the Council will do all it can to help the Police bring them to justice. The Council are working with the Local Community ands Businesses to offer support and advice to keep our shopping centres open for business as usual.”

Plans are in place to tackle any further disorder should it occur and policing will continue in the Borough to keep the community safe.

You can contact the Police anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or through the new non-emergency 101 number. You should always call 999 in an emergency.

UPDATE: 16:30BST

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/nick_affleck/status/100953118921064448″]

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/AlasdairBain/status/100954728451682306″]

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/simonflavin/status/100945438101876737″]

UPDATE 17:00 BST

Wansteadium reader Jane reports being turned away from the Co-op as it is closing “by order of head office”. Blush Temples florist boarding up windows, she says.

 

A couple of points…

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Much as Wansteadium enjoys the Wanstead Guardian, there are a couple of points which ought to be corrected, just for the record.

1. It’s a hostel that’s being proposed, not a hospice. (P13, 4 August edition). There’s quite a difference.

2. And the billboard could clearly lead people to believe that this alarming incident happened in Wanstead. It did not. It happened in Woodford Green.

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Tips for Wanstead gardeners

Ron, 90, has been cultivating his Wanstead garden for more than 50 years, and now he enjoys abundant fruit and veg, shows of flowering colour spread across the months, and an understanding of the gardening year that only comes from having observed things  for decades. In a new feature for Wansteadium, Ron will be recording his weekly tasks, remembering the jobs that need to be done, and adding a few ideas along the way.

“We’ve had such a mix of weather, one of the things I’ve been making sure to do this week has been because of it being so dry – and one of the others has been because it’s been so wet. But it’s true – it’s been dry enough to mean that I have had to make sure to keep my runner beans well watered this week. I’ve been having a good crop for the past few weeks, but there are still beans growing, and so it’s especially important to keep them wet now to allow them to keep cropping.

On the down side, the rain we’ve had has meant this is great time for weeding. You’ve just got to keep them under control when they are growing as quickly as they have been. Weeds like groundsel (in my picture) need close attention – they’ve got so many seeds that you really need to be careful. Don’t put them anywhere near your compost – you’ll just be propagating them. I put them in my green bag and let the council have the benefit of them.

I have just started getting the first outdoor ripe tomatoes – making sure to keep feeding the plants with Tomorite. I’ve been growing cherry tomatoes this year – Gardener’s Delight – they’re sweet little things. I’ve had a few already but soon I’ll have so many I won’t know what to do with them. I had such a crop of plums this year – they’re all finished now – that I didn’t really know what to do with them. Each morning when I went out, though, I’d find a little heap of stones, cleaned up perfectly. It was the pigeons who ate my gooseberries a few weeks ago, but these stones were so clean I can only think that the fox had been eating them. At least they’re eating healthily, I suppose.”

 You can put your questions to Ron via wansteadium@gmail.com