A surprise visit from Neighbours star Jason Donovan delighted pupils at Aldersbrook Primary School, and also the co-head, Mr Hughes, who is soon to leave the school and return to Australia.
Mr Hughes is a Donovan-superfan, and so colleagues arranged the surprise trip as a parting gift. The school said on its site: “The uncanny resemblance between Jason Donovan and Mr. Hughes added an extra layer of fun and fanfare, making it a standout memory for everyone who finally witnessed the two Australian superstars standing side by side!” Mr Hughes is on the left. More details and pictures here.
A new “hub” is being opened in Woodford which will have 20 officers based there, including the Safer Neighbourhood Teams for Wanstead Park, Wanstead Village, South Woodford and other areas. It’s a joint venture between Redbridge and the Met.
We’re delivering a ground-breaking new Police Hub in Woodford, bringing police back into local communities. The Woodford Police Hub will be home to @MPSRedbridge police officers working in partnership with our staff.
The new Woodford Police Hub will be home to at least 20 police officers working in partnership with council staff and Redbridge Housing Officers to prevent antisocial behaviour and support local people across the west of Redbridge.
Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams from Wanstead Park, Wanstead Village, South Woodford, Churchfields, Bridge, and Monkhams will call the new Police Hub home, bringing them closer to their neighbourhoods and cutting down on travel time.
The new Police Hub will sit on the Orchard Estate in Woodford, within 10 minutes travel time of South Woodford, Wanstead, and Monkhams. The Woodford Police Hub follows the installation of Redbridge Enforcement Hubs in Ilford and Hainault, the Mobile Enforcement Hub, and the expanded Town Centre Police Team as the latest development in Redbridge Council’s plan to put police back into the heart of the communities they service.
Wanstead Police Station closed in 2013 after 127 years in service on Spratt Hall Road. The closure came a year after thieves stole the station’s roof.
Image from WeDrawPlans, via Redbridge Planning application 0735/23
Residents in Highstone Avenue, off Cambridge Park, have been somewhat surprised by a planning application for a five story block of flats on their road.
The block would have nine flats, consisting of two one-bedroom flats, five two-bedroom and two three-bedroom.
One resident told Wansteadium: “It looks to be enormous on the plot , and it will be much taller than anything around it. It would have windows and balconies over-looking houses opposite and the care home beside it.
“Most residents aren’t against some building on the plot, but this is out of character and too tall not to cause problems. There seem to be very few 5+ storey buildings in Wanstead, and surely not so close to smaller housing.”
The application, numbered 0735/23 on the Redbridge planning portal, includes a statement saying there is no risk of privacy for other properties, thanks in part to “a large screening of trees”, though the resident pointed out that this would only apply when the trees are in leaf.
The application also contains several references to Newham, including that the site is “adjacent to Barking Road Recreation Ground”.
The application is open to comments now, with an application target date of 1 January.
This is one of the first adverts to be shown on Wanstead High Street’s new ‘phone box’. It’s for a government project to collect pictures of the high street.
Maybe a local talented photographer will be moved to take a picture of Wanstead High Street with no lit signs except for something which purports to be a phone box.
The Frank Charles Give a Gift appeal – the local charity which is celebrating its 20th year of collecting presents for children at Whipps Cross – is open for your new, unwrapped present donations at Wanstead Pharmacy until 13 December.
Longstanding Wanstead solicitors’ firm Wiseman Lee was shut down by regulators in September following the collapse of its parent company which had acquired the formerly independent firm earlier in the year.
In cases like this a firm’s assets are seized by the regulator to protect clients and others, but things do not move quickly and many former customers will have been put into limbo while affairs are sorted out. One, Jane, not her real name, wrote to us to explain the impact on her.
Dear Wansteadium,
My name is Jane. I was named as a beneficiary in a dear friend’s will. My friend, Audrey, had been a nun and a librarian through her long 94-year life. But she never married and had no relatives or dependants. We were neighbours for 20 years. In that time, like anyone, we went through ups and downs. Health and family issues. All of these forged our friendship and I always felt Audrey was more a mother than friend to me.
Sadly, Audrey passed in July 2022, leaving her long-standing solicitors, Wiseman Lee, as her executors. It was a wonderful surprise to discover that she had thought as much of me as I did her, as she left me 30% of her house and assets. The other 70% were distributed between charities dear to her heart.
Long story short. I decided to buy Audrey’s house by selling my own investment property, porting my small mortgage and utilising the will funds to meet the gap. I instructed a firm to begin renovations on the property, but they obviously required a large down payment. My conveyancing solicitor – a firm in Billericay – managed with some difficulty to get Wiseman Lee to agree a completion date of Friday 15 September. However on Thursday the 14th, I received a call from my solicitor saying the money I was expecting from Audrey’s will would not be coming, as Wiseman Lee’s parent company, Axiom Ince, had had its assets frozen. My solicitor spent the whole day securing me the 30% of the property that I had been left, but this left me £18,000 short.
I can honestly tell you I was so shocked that day that I blacked out. I have never been in debt and have always been a good provider for my family. I am now in debt and living day-to-day. I have made a claim against the Solicitors Regulatory Authority [the organisation which seizes solicitors’ funds when they are closed down] and await a caseworker to pick up the story in 8 weeks.
I thought you might be interested in the end of this dreadful chain of events. Audrey lived a long and frugal life, leaving a kind gift to me and charities. Whatever happened with Axiom Ince, this solvent, secure by-stander has been pushed into debt. I am fearful every day. For example my car decided it would develop a catastrophic mechanical issue which I have been quoted could be up to £3000. Not a penny of which I now have. I hope you have been able to see how this ripple effect has changed my life.
