Wansteadium

A brief public service announcement: the Wanstead Comedy Night returns on Thursday 27 March at Wanstead Golf Club with a particularly promising line-up. It includes Holly Walsh (left) who has appeared on Mock the Week, 8 Out Of 10 Cats and The News Quiz, and headliner Nick Doody whose act has been described as “simply the best unadulterated, gimmick-free hour of pure stand-up”. Tickets are £10. Doors open at 8pm and the show runs from 8.45 until 11pm. Contact organiser Jon Fentiman to reserve tickets on 07950 759587.

Photos thanks to Suki Orange, John Wagstaff

Wanted to be there but couldn’t get off work, how ironic

From Wansteadium reader Stuart Johnson March 24, 2014, 8:51 pm

It turns out there are 1167 “tree pits” in Snaresbrook Ward, and the rush is on for residents to claim their nearest one before a team of weed-killer wielding operatives do their rounds.

It sounds dramatic – but the effort is part of a plan to get people to look after their nearest tree, plant the “pit” with wild flowers, and help encourage bees this summer. The scheme, being run by Wanstead and Woodford Friends of the Earth with backing from Redbridge and the Olympic Legacy fund, will offer advice and even free seeds if people need them.

But time is tight – once the council does its annual weedkilling rounds in early April, hopes of planting anything successfully will shrivel up and die. So there are some easy steps:

1. See if you are in Snaresbrook (map below) and if you are, choose your tree.

2. Ring the Redbridge tree folk on 020 8708 5325 and tell them who you are and where your desired tree is.

3. Get some hints on what to plant here.

4. Book a free ticket for a showing of pro-bee film More Than Honey at Wanstead Library on 25 April. Get in contact with Friends of the Earth and, if you can, volunteer to help (leafletting, organising etc).

5. Take a tree selfie. Pose with your tree pit in its unplanted state. This will be useful later on when Wansteadium celebrates the best pits in town.

6. Do your planting, but beware of sudden beards.

Wanstead Magazine Club is a great thing. Instead of just chucking interesting magazines into the recycling, it places them in spots where other Wanstead folk might pick them up and read them. They can even take them home if they like. The Larder is the focal point of its activities – a new crop including Vice, Vanity Fair, Which and BBC Wildlife magazine has just been delivered – but with more people taking part it could extend to a number of other Wanstead establishments which are interested.

If you would like to share your old readworthy magazines, or if you would like to help organise this noble effort, drop an email to magazines@wansteadium.com.

Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “I really like the shapes and swirls in the picture, they could be clouds, waves or anything your imagination can conjure up. They are of course just swirls of whitewash put on windows by builders, while refitting the site of the former Cinnamon Restaurant in the High Street.”