The Ginger Pig confirmation we’ve been waiting for

  The Ginger Pig has confirmed to Wanstead residents who had encouraged it to open a branch that it will in fact be opening seven days a week, hopefully in August.

In an email on Monday morning the company said:

I’m very happy to let you be the first to know that we listened to your suggestion to open a Ginger Pig in Wanstead, and today can finally say that we are officially taking over No. 3 Clock House Parade! 
We plan on re-fitting the shop before opening later in the year, so unfortunately you have to wait a little longer, but hopefully just until August. The shop will trade seven days a week, with opening times to follow shortly on our website. We’ll try and keep everyone as updated as possible via our social media channels, so do keep an eye on those. If you’d like to be signed up to receive our e-newsletters, then please email me back and I’ll add you to the list.

As you’d expect in any of our shops, we will be selling quality fresh meat from native breed animals reared naturally, slowly and from farms employing the highest welfare practices. There will be a good selection on offer from the everyday things such as free range chicken, bacon and pork chops, to roasting joints for the weekend, and meat for special occasions such as dry aged fore ribs of beef and spectacular geese and turkeys at Christmas.

We’ll also have a deli counter serving cold meats sliced to order, homemade patés and readymade dishes such as lasagne, cottage pie and potato gratin. And of course we’ll have our famous sausage rolls and pies.
I can’t wait to meet you very soon, my colleagues and I will be checking on the shop progress throughout the coming months, so if you are passing by the shop pop your head in and say hello!

Thanks, supporters

Thanks to our kind supporters this month, who have helped cover Wansteadium’s running costs by buying stuff through Amazon using the boxes on this page.  The things they have bought include a spool of blue thread, some Miracle-Gro concentrated enriched compost, some DVDs (the Wizard of Oz and Time Bandits), some books (Anya Lipska’s books Death Can’t Take a Joke and Where the Devil Can’t Go) and some Coolers Men’s Garden Beach Yard Pool Mule EVA Clog Shoes. 

PS. Turns out A Spool of Blue Thread is a novel, not a spool of thread. Actual thread is probably better bought at Heads N Tails. 

Wanstead Tube car fire: Video and photos

The drama at Wanstead Tube on Thursday evening, captured by passers-by.

New love in Wanstead Park

A male swan which was robbed of its mate in a dog attack in Wanstead Park earlier this month has apparently found new love.

The swan’s former mate, known as Mrs Hannibal, was well known to park regulars who had observed her annual breeding. As we reported last week she was a calm, unaggressive bird who loved families to visit.  She died after a dog entered the Heronry Pond.

The mate left the pond after the attack, but has now returned with a new mate, a regular observer, known as GB, has reported to Wansteadium.

“It’s looking like there may be a happier new turn of events for the male swan who lost his Mrs Hannibal – the male who at first was clearly in a depressed state, flew away but has now returned, with a new female, to Heronry Pond. A tender, tentative courtship is taking place.

“It is good news that our male has not abandoned these ponds – but we need to make sure this female doesn’t meet the same fate as Mrs Hannibal and the male’s previous mate also (also killed in a dog attack plus cygnets, in 2012). Conditions vis a vis dog danger plus low water levels are unchanged, thus these swans and other birds are still vulnerable.”