Wansteadium

Redbridge is again inviting residents to have a say on budget priorities as it works out its spending plans for next year.

A survey has been launched by the council. A spokesperson said: “We want your views on what matters most, and how we can keep our communities safe and healthy and keep our borough clean, green, and welcoming.

“We want to inform you about the difficult decisions we, Redbridge Council, will make when prioritising spending to keep vital services running while balancing a squeezed budget.”

Redbridge says it has lost more than 54p for every £1 of government grant funding, meaning it has £150m less to spend on local services each year.

“Despite the challenges of rising inflation, increasing demand, and reduced government funding, Redbridge Council is innovating to continue delivering with less and protecting the vital services that matter most to local people,” the spokesperson added. “Your responses to the survey questions will help us set the budget for our services in Redbridge for 2026-26.”

Hours after Redbridge workers carefully laid out fresh soil for planting next to a significant road improvement scheme, some nitwit walked all the way through it like it was a pile of leaves.

The new bit of pavement significantly reduces the width of the end of Nightingale Lane where it meets Nelson Road, outside the Duke. The junction has been perilous for pedestrians even before they’ve been to the pub because it was just so wide – it was perfectly possible to start crossing with no cars in sight, only for two or three to arrive by the time you got to the middle of the road.

So the improvements, and planting are welcome indeed. Now the grass just needs to be allowed to grow.

The George and Dragon, formerly the George, will not be opening before Christmas, drinkers have been told, meaning it will be a festive season without their favourite watering location.

Signs outside the pub, which is undergoing some refurbishment, promise a reopening in January – and also announce a recruitment process which will be welcome news to many former bar staff.

The Wanstead Curtain, the new theatre and cinema crafted by the Wanstead Fringe team, is coming back to life for half term with two Halloween films and a play. Tickets are now available for all three events.

Sleepy Hollow

Thursday 31 October 7.30pm
Tim Burton’s 1999 gothic supernatural horror film with a stellar cast, including Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Christopher Walken, Casper Van Dien and even an appearance from the King of Horror Christopher Lee. A Halloween classic for grown ups. Certificate 15. And an interesting factoid taken from Winifred Eastment’s 1949 book Wanstead Through the Ages is that our beloved bit of the world used to be widely known as Sleepy Hollow. You have been warned.

Coco

Saturday 2 November 6pm

If there’s a family film for Halloween week, this is it. Pixar’s 2017 animated fantasy film is inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead festival. The story follows 12-year old Miguel as he attempts to follow his love of guitar (despite his family’s long-standing ban on music), and accidentally embarks on a death-defying journey to solve the mystery of his great-great-grandfather. Certificate PG. Bring your fancy dress, mums and dads. (Children in fancy dress also permitted.)

Rossetti’s Stunners

Sunday 3 November 3pm

An original hit at this year’s Wanstead Fringe, Rossetti’s Stunners tells the tales of the women who were the inspiration for painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti – this is a highly entertaining one-woman drama written and performed by Elaine Britten.

The Wanstead Society has announced it is closing because of a lack of volunteers.

The campaigning group was established in 1997 with the goal of saving the Evergreen Field from development. But with planning permission having been granted by Redbridge Council for a block of flats on the site, the society has decided it’s time has come.

“We feel that we have outlived our usefulness,” a newsletter told members. “We have continued to raise a variety of issues with the Council, principally around planning laws being broken, but are ignored. There comes a time when even the most hardy of organisations has to know when it’s time to go, and our time has come.”

The group does however take pleasure in its successes, which it lists as including:

• Raising money for bins, benches and trees on the High Street
• Helping set up and fund the Wanstead Community Gardeners
• Opening up the once-bricked up flower beds by Wanstead Station
• Helping establish the Wanstead Festival and sponsoring the Wanstead Fringe.

MPs have backed a bid to give protected status to pie and mash, citing the strength of its regional heritage and distinctive characteristics.

Richard Holden, MP for Basildon and Billericay, mentioned Robins Pie & Mash, which has been namechecked in the national press during the debate, saying:

This debate points to something wider about British culinary heritage, about how we view food in Britain, and perhaps a little bit about how we view our own food in this country. That is something we need to look at again. We need to look at how we can celebrate it more. I hope that, as hon. and right hon. Members have mentioned, other parts of the country will look at how we can champion their local food produce—yes, in order for it to be recognised locally, which is a nice thing, but also for the broader economic narrative, whether that is exports or tourism.

I thank my pie and mash shops in Basildon and Billericay for putting up with me invading them over the last few weeks, particularly Robins, which has had the national media with it over the last couple of days. To everyone, I say: get out there—try that pie and mash. To the Minister, I say: I hope we will be able to get this status. I hope that at the end of this process, we can say to him, “Yes, Pie Minister.”

Full report from the BBC here.