Hard to believe it but it was 10 years ago last week that the blow-up Stonehenge made by artist Jeremy Deller appeared on Christchurch Green. Here was how Wansteadium reported it at the time – it seems to have coincided with a period of unrelenting joy and goodwill to all.
Sales of tickets for Wanstead Fringe events broke every first day record on Friday as the full line-up of events was published.
More than £1,000 in tickets for the tours, plays, book talks, Kinema and other events were bought by earlybird purchasers – dwarfing the first day sales in other years. This year’s programme includes more than 60 events.
Wanstead Park’s status as one of the nation’s barometers was reinforced this week as the Press Association photograph of a dried up lake was used across the nation’s media – one of the week’s defining images.
We suspect PA’s chief photographer, and Wanstead resident, Stefan Rousseau has been at work…
This year it will include THREE plays – one coming directly to Wanstead from the Edinburgh Fringe.
There is also the inaugural Wanstead Book Festival which will feature poet Hannah Lowe (winner of the Costa Book Award), the BBC’s Justin Webb, and controversial historian Otto English.
There is also comedy, live music, opera, a brass band, a blow-up planetarium, talks, masterclasses, pottery, the ever-popular Jumble Trail, and more besides.
This is the ninth Wanstead Fringe, which is organised by the Wanstead Fringe Association, a group of residents. It has been built entirely without public money, and is funded by ticket sales and by its generous sponsors who this year include Petty Son and Prestwich, Edwards Duthie Shamash, THP Chartered Accountants, The Wanstead Society, Eton Manor RFC and The Duke.
Let us know what you make of the line-up of events – you can use the comments box below.
During the hottest days of this summer, one patch of Wanstead remained verdant and lush. It now too has dried up.
The oasis on Elmcroft Ave – also known as the Sinkhole, and the Elmcroft Marsh, was until last week green and thriving, thanks to a leaky pipe buried beneath the grass. That has now been fixed (good job too when water restrictions are just around the corner) and the patch has been made good.
Sadly for the grass seed put there, there’s no sign of rain. Just a few pigeons filling their bellies.
