Category: Wansteadium

Legionnaires expertise breaks out

Parents of Nightingale Primary children – many of whom are now facing a third day with their school closed because of legionella bacteria in the water supply – are fast becoming experts on symptoms to look out for. Though there have not thankfully been any cases of the disease itself, local doctors have been informed of what has happened at the school.

Treatment to remove the bacteria from the water supply has now been completed, and the results are awaited. Children in years five and six will be returning to the school on Thursday, but will have staff from lower classes helping to make sure they don’t drink the water and use hand sanitisers.

The school has told parents it hopes it will be able to reopen on Friday for all classes. If that happens, the three-day closure will have been a light escape compared to the Wanstead Youth Centre (which backs onto the school) which was out of action for three weeks in 2013 with another legionella outbreak.

(Information on Legionella and Legionnaire’s symptoms from NHS Choices.)

Wanstead’s Local Forum, as it happened

Wansteadium live-tweeted the first Redbridge Local Forum to be held in Wanstead. It was certainly a different affair than the old area committees, which it replaces. Some will feel that it is more meaningful since it has the leader and deputy leader of the council, plus a senior officer and leader of the opposition present. On the other hand, it’s a borough-wide meeting, which means there is not the focus on hyperlocal (ie Wanstead, Snaresbrook and Aldersbrook) that there was previously.

There were certainly more residents present than at most area committees of the past – one of the key goals of the changes introduced by Redbridge’s new Labour administration – but judging by the number of council staff present, the running costs of the new arrangement will not be negligible.

Here is the meeting, as it happened.

https://twitter.com/RedbridgeTories/status/568074456423378944

https://twitter.com/carolinemilroy/status/568141799967105024

That concluded the coverage of the meeting. A strange way to spend a Wednesday afternoon perhaps, but all in the course of hyperlocal public service journalism. Wanstead, you’re welcome.

And since we’re here, let’s cast our mind back to that bench on Nutter Field. Much discussion at various committees, including petitions and reports, took place to determine the best way to spend some money which was available from the council. The conclusion was a bench on the field. For sake of completeness we should publicise this tweet from September which somehow we overlooked at the time.

 

Wanstead’s Local Forum

Wanstead gets its first taste of Redbridge Council’s new Local Forums on Wednesday afternoon. This is the new meeting which controversially replaced the area forums last year, and will be held from 2pm to 5.15pm at Wanstead Library. More details below. If you are attending, tweet using the hashtag #wansteadLF and we’ll publish or RT the tweets. The meeting is focusing on how the council should make its £70m savings.
localforum

Wanstead weekend photo, CXX


Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “Remember ‘Day of the Triffids’, the novel published in 1951 in which tall carnivorous, venomous plants have a crack at taking over the world. That’s what occurred to me when I spotted these Brussels sprouts underneath this fine mesh. I think the mesh is to help keep the frost off them, I thought it made them look like ghosts rising up…. Anyway between Triffids, ghosts and of course Brussels sprouts I don’t think I’ll be getting an allotment any time soon…”

Cash pledges for new playground start

playground
The parents behind a crowdfunding bid to rejuvenate the Christ Church Green playground have got, rather like a toddler sitting in a swing, a big push from behind as more than £3,000 has been pledged by 35 funders in the appeal’s first couple of days.

The target is £13,704, which will pay for:
* New, modern and inclusive equipment
* A toddler-friendly play area
* Child-friendly flooring
* More benches and places to sit

An action plan along with details of how to contribute has been published by the group – calling itself the Wanstead Playground Association – and you can go to the site via this link. Future fund-raising events include a Frozen Singalong on 7 March from 10-12.00 at the Duke, and a Wanstead Comedy Club event on 27 March. Keatons boards will be going up around Wanstead and South Woodford advertising the appeal (which will make it look like everyone has decided to sell up, but in fact probably shows the opposite).