Wansteadium

• Staff at Wanstead’s BBQ Express were among those mourning the two men found shot in their car on the edge of Wanstead Flats in Montague Road, Leytonstone. The BBC reported they were murdered in a “ferocious attack by a hooded gang”.  The shop later sent this tweet:
https://twitter.com/BbqExp_Wanstead/status/440913342988046336

• The takeaway, which had a controversial start to life, this week also denied it was to close – a BBQ Express “official” tweet (which has now apparently been deleted) said ties were being cut. The shop told Wansteadium: “Absolute nonsense – business is going well. We have no reason to close down.” It added: “We started off as BBQ Express Wanstead, and will stay the same. BBQ Official has no input to our business.”

• Two people pretending to police officers stole rings and money from an 86-year-old woman in Blake Hall Road.

• But in brighter news, Boris Johnson is on Thursday visiting the pop-up 12-week 12-metre swimming pool which is itself visiting Wanstead Leisure Centre. Sadly the event is not open to the public, and it’s not thought BoJo will swim.

 Elaborate illustrations of Wanstead Park, taken from a re-issue of a classic Edwardian book about the park by Oliver S Dawson. The book has been added to by Richard Arnopp of the Friends of Wanstead Parklands and tells “the tale of the remarkable people who owned the Wanstead estate, and the extravagance and folly which brought about its destruction”. The book was originally published in instalments in The Home Counties Magazine during 1907 and 1908, though it had actually been written in 1894.

Copies of the reissue are available for £9.99 from the Friends of Wanstead Parklands website.

Longtime readers will know of Wansteadium’s interest in hedgehogs bees, such as this colourful tale of honey production. That particular tale had an unhappy ending, however, with all of the hives in question dying out because of last year’s long winter.

But there is happier news on the horizon. A scheme by Wanstead Friends of the Earth is aiming to distribute bee-friendly seeds all around Snaresbrook this year for planting at the base of street trees.

Organiser Ann Williams says: “The general idea of planting-up tree-pits is to provide ‘corridors’ of pollen-bearing flowers in every street, to feed bees and other pollinators, and to reduce the need for the council to spray the tree-pits with pesticides and herbicides. Wild flowers don’t need fertile soil; all that’s needed is to loosen the topsoil around the tree-roots, scratch shallow trenches, and scatter the seed, covering it lightly.”

An experiment on Gordon Road last April looked wonderful, she says, as well as helping the bees out. The group now wants people in Snaresbrook Ward to volunteer to be street co-ordinators and organising the sowing in April and May. Ann says: “This should give a good display in high summer/early autumn, and all that’s needed is a little light watering if the weather turns really dry. If possible (and if the seed holds out) we might consider a second, autumn sowing to bring up flowering plants next spring.”

The scheme is being backed and funded by Redbridge Council and by an Olympic Legacy Grant, and if it’s a success could extend further. Anyone interested should contact Wanstead Friends of the Earth, who are holding a launch event at Wanstead Library on Friday 25 April when the film More Than Honey will be shown.

Since Wansteadium is slightly obsessive, we’ll be keeping track of the scheme. We will try and recruit our favourite nonagenarian gardener Ron to the cause, as well as celebrity lawyer and beekeeper Mark Stephens. And after much consideration we will be labelling future articles here with the inspired name BeE11. Genius.

Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “I spotted these young musicians walking along Cambridge Park. Not quite sure where they were off to, whether a performance or a rehearsal, a nice picture for Sunday morning I thought. Maybe West Ham supporters?”

Wansteadium reader Gary writes: Be aware that Waltham Forest have set up a camera on the bus lane on Whipps Cross Road leading into Green Man Roundabout. Also the other end of Whipps X Road has a new camera operating too. Lots of Hospital staff finding out the hard way. My wife got a PCN but I have found a good reason to appeal which I will share when I have confirmed it is a solid reason.”

The Wanstead Guardian has more on the story here, including the remarkable figure of 6,200 penalty charge notices having been issued.

It seems remarkable but in the nearly five years of Wansteadium, the most distinguised Wanstead-based jazz band has so far escaped notice. So as a bit of a weekend cultural diversion, here is a taste of the Clive Fenner Quartet.

Clive is a stalwart frequenter of Wanstead High Street, and incidentally the host of the weekly jazz club at Tommy Flynn’s in Leytonstone. (The club website is here, and there are more details here about the quartet itself including their current CD, Get It.)