Wansteadium

It’s now just four weeks until the inaugural Wanstead Fringe, and there is still time to organise an event as part of it. 

To recap, the fringe will take place from Saturday 7 September to Saturday 14 September, i.e. the week before the Wanstead Festival (Sunday 15 September). It will take place at a number of venues around Wanstead. Volunteers (who in many ways resemble readers of Wansteadium) are organising these events themselves, but publicity is being co-ordinated for maximum effect.We hope that this might be the start of an honourable Wanstead tradition.

So far we have:

* MUSIC – a number of gigs and musical events at a number of venues

* TALKS – about writing, baking, the media, development in Wanstead, ideas

* PHOTOGRAPHY – walking and photographing tours of points of interest in Wanstead

* STORYTELLING – with amazing tales for children

* CYCLING – turn up and join in rides

* COMEDY – with some top acts

* GARDENING – an exhibition of creative greenfingery

* COOKING – to test the skilled an unskilled alike

*AND MORE, including yoga, poetry, and one very big event we are too excited to talk about in case it doesn’t come off.

So what can you do to join in? Well, all of the events above will welcome your support, either as an attender or as a helper. But there may be an idea that you think you really ought to share with your fellow Wanstead folk. We’ve come an enormous way in just three weeks since the idea was first floated, and if that proves anything it’s that there is PLENTY of time left to get your organising head on. Do you, for instance, fancy organising a conker tournament, perfectly timed for mid-September?

In the coming days we will be telling you some details of the events. And in the next week or two you will see our rather nifty Fringe posters around the place. Please get hold of one and display it to help with the sense of event (we’ll let you know where you can get them from). At the very least, do follow us on Twitter (@WansteadFringe), Facebook (facebook.com/wansteadfringe), or sign up for our general Fringe email newsletter, available from the new Wanstead Fringe website wansteadfringe.org.

 

Spotted by Wansteadium reader Suzanne who reports that he goes by the name of Morris.

Geoff Wilkinson writes on Wanstead Daily Photo: “It used to be said that ‘the camera does not lie’. If you look at the picture above you would be forgiven for thinking that it’s a row of houses with the lights on but it’s not. I took this picture in Charnwood Drive yesterday evening, it’s just the setting sun reflecting on the glass in the windows.”

Unannounced and untitled, a toy shop has appeared on Wanstead High Street. It’s in the modern block near Snaresbrook Station, close to Lilies of Wanstead.

It’s small, but looks well worth investigating. More information to come when we know more but in the meantime, score one point for high street diversity.

Look we have a new toyshop on Wanstead high street! @wansteadium were you aware? Near Lillies of wanstead pic.twitter.com/UOQ7e73tTA

— WansteadPaddy (@WansteadPaddy) August 3, 2013

It’s taken an age getting here – five months at our reckoning – but Wanstead’s first sushi restaurant, Sumo Fresh, opened its doors tonight (Thursday). Good luck to all who sail in her.

As ever, reviews from anyone who eats there are welcome here.

Wansteadium’s property blogger George C Parker writes:

In 2009 the whole town of Scenic, South Dakota, was put up for sale by its owner. Of late I must say I’m beginning to feel Wanstead has been going the same way.

A development company recently advertised the large parcel of land adjoining the High Street that is currently occupied by J Jolliffe Ltd builders.

As the picture indicates, with access directly onto the High Street this is a truly plum site in the centre of Wanstead, with space for residential and retail development.

Somebody with an estimated £1.3m to hand must have agreed with this assessment as the advert was removed as suddenly as it had appeared.

Shortly afterwards @RedbridgeBlue (who knows a thing or two) commented on the Wansteadium Facebook page that a sale had already happened.

Of course, on the other side of the road lies the (partially?) for sale Evergreen site – which is sadly no more than a petulant monument to upset local sentiment at present.

Let’s hope that the end product at Joliffe’s is beautiful and useful. Upmarket apartments with their own onsite parking should encourage the new sprinking of local eateries.

*On the subject of which, as a champion of local enterprise and part time bon viveur I raise my napkin ring to all those restaurateurs who have recently entered the Wanstead scene.

I’m yet to sashay to sashimi at Sumo Fresh – due to open I understand, like the Third Ashes Test on Thursday – but I’ve certainly enjoyed meeting with other moguls and tycoons on the Provender terrace this summer during the recent sunny months. An incarnation of Hadley House appears to be making a comeback as well, with some decking appearing outside the building together with a wheelchair ramp run at a rather rakish angle (seat-belts advised).

Possibly most excitingly of all, the incoming maitre patissier at Nice Croissant is reputedly a Generalissimo of the gateau, a trojan of the tart, a mousquetaire of the macaron. People sometimes take the village ambiance for granted, but Wanstead derives great benefit from the hard graft and hot ovens of these business people (I should also mention those running the nattier boutiques). Bravi.

* As is traditional in these parts, I wish the staff of the forthcoming Costa – now a very visible reality – well in their endeavours.

* For those who have been wondering how best to enjoy the summer sunshine, and who were pipped on the £1.3m Joliffe site – here is a wonderful residence with pool on Draycot Avenue. Imagine afternoon tea (Belgique is handily close for buns) on that lawn, followed by a dip in the twinkling azure waters … the Wanstead Riviera?

* And finally, friends: this house in Warren Drive appears to be undergoing minor cosmetic refurbishment at the moment. If memory serves, this is the same property that had an armoured vehicle parked on the drive for many months (see Wansteadium passim). A case of Tanks for the memories?