Congratulations to Wanstead’s Nick Drew, managing director of visual special effects company Milk, which this week won a Bafta for its work on the Doctor Who 50th special episode, The Day of the Doctor.
Nick and his colleagues set the company up last June, and the BBC commission was its first job. There’s a taste of it below.
Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “I was walking across Christ Church Green, a journey I’ve made countless times before when I spotted this wonderful woodwork on the side of this building. I really like the horizontal lines of the planks and the tiles on the adjoining roofs. If it wasn’t for the bricks on the building behind it would be like being whisked back in time. Where is it I hear you cry, well it’s the flank wall of local estate agent Petty Son and Prestwich in Woodbine Place. Always something new to discover.”
Parents of young children living in central Wanstead believe a “schools black hole” has developed, with their children not being able to get school places at any of the area’s four primaries.
Children living in Nightingale Lane, Grosvenor Road, The Avenue, and Leicester Road are among those who have not got places in Wanstead primaries, instead being told they must go to other schools in the borough. Several children have been told they will have to go to Barkingside, including twins in one family – though they have been placed at two different schools.
Wansteadium reader Emily O’Grady writes:
“Like all parents we want the best education for our children, so when it came to choosing a school for our daughter we listed six local schools in the community where we have put down roots. In order to provide wrap-around care we applied for a place at the local breakfast/after-school club affiliated with the nursery my daughter has attended for the past three years.
Then the nightmare began. We were told that the council had allocated our daughter to Mossford Green Primary, which we had never heard of and never considered as it is more than three miles away in Barkingside.
The journey to reach this school involves a 10-minute walk to the station, five tube stops in the opposite direction to our places of work and a further 15-minute walk. Such a journey twice a day is exhausting for any child and seems ridiculous in 21st Century in London. In addition to having a long arduous journey every day, our daughter will be separated from her existing community and we will be unable to use a local breakfast/afterschool club as these do not serve the schools in Barkingside. I am not even clear how we can get her to the school and back – we both work – but this situation means that one of us will probably have to give up our job.
This is a life changing decision for our family and we are not alone. There are numerous other families living in central Wanstead who have not been offered any of their preferred schools, including one family with twins who have been offered two different schools in Barkingside. How is it possible that all these families can effectively fall into a ‘black hole’ where we are out of catchment for every single local school? We are liaising with local MPs and local councillors to explore the possibility of expanding a Wanstead primary school to address this year’s school crisis.”
Emily invites anyone who is in a similar situation to get in touch at wansteadschoolplaces@gmail.com.
Marian Temple, guerrilla gardener, writes:
Another successful work party at Wanstead Station. Many thanks to the two dads and five children who came along on Sunday all set to make a difference. The dads hacked away while the kids de-manked the bare patches and then chucked wild flower seeds around with gay abandon. The birthday cake was very welcome too, just right for hungry guerrillas. We had fun planting more foxgloves and primroses. Small children have their own style which involves immediately walking over what’s just been planted. Fortunately, our plants are tough.
We probably need just a couple more working parties before we’re at the Pimms and deckchair stage. Unfortunately, I can’t manage any more Sundays. I hope Saturday proves to be an equally family friendly day. Next working party is this Saturday, 3rd May, 10.00ish onwards. All welcome, no experience necessary. Bring any tools you think might be useful and gloves for those so inclined. See you at the station.
The first Sunday in the month is a working party at the Corner House garden. This month it’s Sunday 4th May, 10.30 onwards. On the menu is bluebell bashing, a bit of shifting and planting, and maybe a bit of watering and some sawing. We might even get that lavatory cistern in the front bed planted with the sweet peas that are waiting in the wings. Maybe some useful person could come along and fix a couple of steps in the back garden. The present ones are sloping at a death-defying angle. Good for the adrenaline I suppose but maybe not good for your Wanstead gardeners. All welcome. No experience necessary. Marian.
Ilford Recorder reporting that a body was found in Wanstead on Sunday by two boys playing in woodland.
Police taped off an area of the woods on New Wanstead on Sunday and remained there on Monday morning.
It is not yet clear how long the body had been there or how it came to be there. The paper says police are still identifying the body.
Update 2.30pm: Wanstead Guardian now reporting that police estimate the body had been in the woods for up to two months, and that they were treating it as a crime.
Update 10.30pm:
BBC London also reported the find, clarifying that the death was unexplained, that the gender cannot be established, and that a post mortem examination will be held on Tuesday.
Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “I spoke with Wanstead’s guerrilla gardner, Marian Temple the other day, she was telling me about her recent planting in The Corner House garden. It’s a little unusual as it’s in the form of a toilet cistern, it might look a little unusual now but in the coming months when it’s weathered in and some of the greenery has taken hold it will be a great addition. Marian has also been busy at Wanstead station, if that turns out half as good as the garden of the ‘little house’ on the corner of Sylvan Road that will be great. Anyway here’s a couple more shots of The Corner House garden, it is going to look fab all summer.”
