Just for the record…

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IMG_1516The miserable traffic conditions on Thursday morning – both Central Line and North Circular hit by problems and much of Wanstead at a standstill – could detract attention from the real talking point: EUref last night’s storm.

Wanstead weatherman Scott Whitehead (@wanstead_meteo) says by his reckoning there was more rain yesterday on any single day than before the UK joined the EEC in 1973, though Wanstead seems to have had more than surrounding areas.

Still on the positive side, it’s good to see things are going smoothly on Blake Hall Road…

Caravans depart from George Green

Photo: Mark Stephens
Photo: Mark Stephens

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About 20 caravans parked on George Green in Wanstead on Wednesday lunchtime, causing some concern that a camp was being set up. However by early afternoon the caravans had departed. The Green is owned by the Corporation of London, rather than Redbridge Council.

UPDATE: The Ilford Recorder is reporting:

Forest Keepers from the City of London Corporation – which manages the land – were supported by the Redbridge Community Police Team in assisting the travellers to move on. “Driving on forest land with the intention to stay overnight is a bylaw offence,” said a spokesman for the corporation.

Funeral for Wanstead road crash victim

IMG_1507Three weeks after the death of Basant Lal Sharma in a collision on the pedestrian crossing on Wanstead High Street, his funeral is to be held.

Mr Sharma, who was 91 and had 15 grandchildren and five great-granchildren, had lived in Wanstead for some years after moving from the West Midlands. He would walk around Christ Church Green twice each day.

His family have called for a campaign to move the location of the zebra crossing at the top of Grove Park, saying it is unsafe in its current location.

His funeral will be held at the City of London Crematorium on Thursday 23 June at 3.30pm, and his family say all who knew him are welcome.

*Witnesses to the collision are still being sought, as detailed in the photograph below.

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House monitor: Before and after

Before

Impressive-looking renovation on this magnificent house on Grosvenor Road. We reported just over a year ago that the very run-down property had been sold with an asking price of £1.2m. It was billed as an “extremely rare opportunity to acquire one of the last remaining mid-Victorian character townhouses in Wanstead”, and from the outside at least it looks like a job well done.

After
After

Shop monitor: The gastronomia takes shape

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Looks like the gastronomia which is opening soon will be called More Italy (Wansteadium confesses it rather hoped it would be called Gastronomia, but one can’t have everything.)

And further down the High Street, Bombetta is taking shape at Station Approach, apparently with the blessing of Padre Pio. At least one elected official who resides in Wanstead is threatening to move out because of the impending impact on waistline from the approaching Italian delicacies.
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