Wansteadium

First came the saga of the missing Christmas Tree, so Wanstead folk raised the money. Next came the need for renovations of the playground on Christ Church Green – and, again, the target has been reached. Campaigners are celebrating hitting their crowfunding target of £25k, and are now getting ready for a volunteer clean-up day (see above).

One of the more novel contributions to the fund came from the firm which issues and collects parking tickets on behalf of Redbridge Council. Optimists (such as Wansteadium) will welcome the contribution to the community on behalf of anyone ever caught parking wrongly. Cynics will no doubt claim that a better playground will mean more people wanting to visit and thus park, but that kind of conspiracy thinking REALLY HELPS NO ONE, cynics.

Incidentally, happily the Scout Hut which now has its roof in place has also made it to the final six in the same vote, but in a different category. Potentially both efforts will get a funding injection.

The volunteer day on Wednesday will be organised by Amey, the firm which collects waste for Redbridge, which is sending a team of workers down to help paint fence posts and bins and generally tidy up. More volunteers are welcome too. Refreshments are being donated by the estimable Luppolo.

@Wansteadium any one know whats this is about? pic.twitter.com/Yt3TWQt0Nf

— Rudeye (@Rudseye) June 8, 2015

Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “Remember where the antique shop was in the High Street? Well as you probably know it’s gone, and the building has a ‘for sale’ sign on it. Anyway along the side of the main building I found this delightful shiplap timber shed complete with peeling paint. It looks as if it has some age, I hope when the new owners take over they keep this little beauty…”

Thank you to those Wansteadium readers who are continuing to show their support for this website by making their Amazon purchases via the box on this page. Every time you do this, Amazon gives us a few pence. It’s never going to make us a fortune (don’t worry, we’re not going to change) but the pennies add up and help cover our running costs. Popular this month were a set of kitchen cupboard handles, a shed latch, printer cartridges, and a single copy of Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success. (If that particular purchaser becomes a highly successful businessperson, don’t forget us?)

The plan to convert the former British Queen into flats, and to build further flats adjoining on what was the pub/restaurant car park, has been rejected by Redbridge Council. As we reported in November, there were several objections lodged to the plan, including those on the grounds that the design did not fit the style of Wanstead.

One councillor apparently described the design for the flats as being “goggle-eyed”, the Wanstead Guardian reported, with another saying the plans are “out of keeping with the street scene and… rather overbearing”.

The revelation, highlighted by the BBC News website, that Wanstead driving test centre has the third lowest pass rate in the UK is a bit of a shocker for a number of reasons.

Clearly there’s no shortage of candidates wanting to take their test here – as is evidenced by the sheer number of L plates and by the Sun’s naming in 2009 of part of South Woodford as being the country’s worst learner driver hotspot. So apparently the Wanstead centre doesn’t have a bad reputation.

Then there’s the generally benign road layout in these parts: no Old Street roundabout round here.

And lastly there’s the trusty old bit of folklore – that people want their tests in Wanstead because it doesn’t have a car park which allegedly means candidates can avoid tricky parking tests.

Other theories are welcome, via comments below.