RIP Music in Wanstead Park – the seventeenth and final outing for Wanstead’s own mini-music festival took place on Saturday. Bravo and thank you to those stalwarts of the Aldersbrook Families Association who put in the time arranging the event year after year. (And thank you to Jennifer Schenck for the pictures.)
The sky from my flat is nature's pain relief. So gorgeous- changes over 10 minutes #wanstead pic.twitter.com/thBhEuuFUK
— LHPR (@Lornamedia) July 9, 2016
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May we propose a new Wanstead tradition – the marking of Cherry Pie Day, as immortalised in the somehow unexplained plaque on the side of the George. The sign dates from 1752 – well before the current building on the site. Wanstead historian Winifred Phillips thought that it perhaps celebrated a fruit heist (our phrase, not hers), but no one really knows.
It is however one of the best known Wanstead landmarks, so whatever the story, let’s start marking the day. Suggestions for ways to mark it are welcome.
Reader David Ridgwell writes:
I heard an explanation from an old resident years ago, a workman was up a ladder leaned against the wall and stole a cherry pie from a vendor who passed by with a tray of cherry pies on his head. The workman was brought before court for this minor crime and fined half a guinea, hence the “cherry pey as cost half a guinea.”. However as you point out, as the current George building is only just over a hundred years old, how this plaque came to be in the wall or where it was from originally, I have no idea.
The portrait of Winston Churchill which is compiled from dozens of photos of Wanstead residents will return to the George Inn, Wansteadium has been told. The massive picture has been taken down, a spokesman for Wetherspoon’s told us, because it had water damage and needed repairing. He said they were going to repair the picture and then put it back in the George, though possible in a different position.
Yesterday we reported that it had been taken down, with rumours that it would not be returning, which were not going down well with customers. The portrait was made by local artist Carole Edrich and was donated to the pub at the launch of the Wanstead Art Trail in 2010.
Carole told us: “I made it specifically for The George and it comprises hundreds of pictures all taken within a quarter of a mile of the bust of Churchill outside Manor House.” It took weeks to create, she said. Art Trail co-ordinator Donna Mizzi said the work was “fantastic… the picture of Churchill became clear as one stepped into the main entrance of The George, as the angle was just right.”
Wetherspoon’s said it would be contacting Carole to discuss the future of the portrait.
From this week’s Time Out.
Nice work @samanthabaines
The sight of thousands of pounds being invested in Wanstead High Street as its new butcher and greengrocer simultaneously take shape. And for the other traders on the High Street their arrival won’t come a moment too soon – the closure of AG Dennis and Harvey’s has apparently taken its toll on the number of shoppers on the street (as opposed to driving to Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Tesco or Asda).
