Wansteadium

Our man keeping in touch with the clubhouse writes: “The Herons remain in touch with the Premier League’s leaders after an incontrovertible win against Chingford. The evergreen John Chambers – who has been a 1st team player since his late teens, and is now in his 40s – scored an unbeaten 50 and some chap called Velani managed to scrape a very lucky unbeaten 100. (Lucky for someone who is an England U19 international, that is.)

Away at Chingford the 2nd XI were just as convincing, winning by 146 runs and retaining hopes of leading their league.

Karan Singh’s phone was pilfered while he was batting at Nutter Lane, but his 100* was a major contribution to the 3rd team’s narrow win against Fives & Heronians.

The 4th XI game against Hornchurch was extremely close, all results being very probable, and the team will be relieved not to have lost.

A fairly straightforward win for the Fifths was the outcome against Chingford, Sriram Pathmarajah continuing his form with 57* and continuing to evade his jug-buying duties.”

Geoff Wilkinson wrote on Wanstead Daily Photo some time last week: “Funny old night last night. I had read somewhere that at the moment there is an abundance of shooting stars in the night sky. I thought I would try my luck in the back garden for a couple of hours and try to capture them. So late last night I was sitting quietly in the garden in the dark when a fox nonchalantly walked by and looked at me as if I was mad. He may well have been right. Anyway, no shooting stars, too many clouds but I did end up with this dramatic picture of the night sky over Wanstead.”

(Wansteadium apologises for late appearance of blogging recently. There are other things occupying the Wansteadium mind…)

A four-foot deep hole has appeared in the middle of Nightingale Lane. Jokes (about workmen now looking into it) aside, it is alarmingly deep. It’s been cordoned off.

Councillors have, for the time being, rejected a bid to convert the laundrette on Wanstead High Street into a fast food outlet.

Council planners had recommended that the scheme by the owner be approved, but as the Wanstead Guardian and the Recorder report, councillors rejected that recommendation. The owner could yet appeal, however.

Councillor Paul Canal, who voted against the bid, told the Recorder: “I don’t want Wanstead to turn into somewhere like Leytonstone. The High Street has a unique character and range of shops, a takeaway would attract litter and anti-social behaviour.”

Last year a bid to convert the nearby Wanstead Domestic Appliances site into a takeaway was dropped following opposition, and earlier this year a bid by Domino’s Pizza to change the use of the former Cinnamon restaurant into a takeaway was also dropped.

Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “Driving through Snaresbrook last evening I saw this Horse Chestnut tree. There is such an amazing amount of ‘fruit’ on the bough that it almost reaches the grass. Looks like it is going to be a bumper season for conker players.”

Which bring us on to two excellent points. Geoff is one of the participants of the inaugural Wanstead Fringe, and will be offering people walking tours of some of the photographic highlights of Wanstead, including some of his legendary tuition on making the most of your own photos. Details are to follow – keep an eye on www.wansteadfringe.org, or sign up for Fringe e-mail newsletters.

And secondly, yes, he’s right about the conker harvest going to be bumper. So a repeated request… anyone interested in a conker tournament as part of the fringe? Get in touch – info@wansteadfringe.org