A happy new life beckons for the pipe organ which was built into the front room of a house in Hereford Road, after a buyer was found. The entire instrument has been carefully dismantled and will be upgraded into its new home.
The organ was built by the late Gordon Forster, a member at Wanstead United Reformed Church where for many years he would play on Sundays. He died 10 years ago and his widow Diana decided to downsize, meaning the organ needed either to have a new home or be sold for parts, as we reported last month.
Joe Forster, Gordon and Diana’s son, writes:
The organ has been sold. It is being dismantled and taken away. This has taken two days, and three vanloads. The buyer is a Belgian organist and computer programmer who now lives in Tunbridge Wells. The organ will be built into his house there. Some parts may first go to his family firm in Belgium for restoration and modification. On seeing inside it, he said the workmanship was extremely precise and professional. It is purely mechanical, with electrical and pneumatic controls but no electronics. However in its new home it will be fully computerised, incorporating the latest control gear. The couple of hundred pipes, from a few inches to nine feet in length, and the wind delivery hardware will be the same, so the sound will be as traditional as it always was.
Now we are left with a few holes in the floor and some 1960s wallpaper on show.
Here is the organ being played by Gordon’s friend, organist Eric Doig.
Tree Amigos may be controversial, but in the right light, boy do they make Wanstead High Street look Christmassy.
PS. Late intelligences from the former Heads n Tails, Wanstead’s ancestral supplier of fir trees at this time of year, are that they will be selling Christmas trees this year despite change in ownership.
Suspicious items at a house which was searched by police following the death of a Wanstead woman were not explosives, police have confirmed.
The Essex News and Investigations site reports that residents who had been evacuated when the building was being searched on Thursday had been told police suspected there were explosives inside.
However in a statement yesterday the Met confirmed the items had turned out not to be suspicious. It did not confirm what they were.
The suspicious items were found at 3.40pm on Thursday, shortly before Hermon Hill was closed, from Nelson Road to Wellesley Road, and houses were evacuated.
The search followed the unexplained death of 28-year-old resident LorenaCiupeanu, on 5 November. A special post mortem examination gave ‘early indications of a drug overdose’ as a possible cause of death.
The closure of Hermon Hill on Thursday led to traffic chaos in much of Wanstead, but is believed to be related to a police search following the death of a woman two weeks ago.
It’s been reported that a 28-year-old woman from Hermon Hill, Lorena Ciupeanu, died on 5 November from a suspected drug overdose. But police operations have been continuing since then with blue tape keeping part of the pavement cordoned off.
MyLondon reported that a forensics tent had been put up on Thursday as officers continued to investigate the scene.
Police have asked anyone who knew Lorena to contact them if they haven’t done so already by calling 101 and quoting CAD 8040/05NOV22.
Update Friday: Investigations are continuing on Friday and part of Hermon Hill has been closed again, having been reopened late on Thursday. Some residents of nearby houses were evacuated last night. It is still unclear what the cause of the investigation is.
Further update: The Metropolitan Police have issued the following statements:
#UPDATE | We have seen social media posts about police activity in Herman Hill yesterday.
We found suspicious items while searching a house. Specialist officers attended and confirmed the items were not suspicious.
The controversial Christmas tree sellers on Christchurch Green are on their way back, with fencing being put up in readiness on Thursday afternoon.
Last year the sellers raised the ire of many folk who didn’t approve of the green being used for commercial purposes. Some feared it would damage the grass (though this did not seem to happen – see our post from earlier this year).
Wansteadium understands Redbridge Vision has agreed that the same team of sellers as last year will again be operating from the green.
However this year they will face additional competition as trees are to be sold by the Duke pub from the churchyard of St Mary’s Church on Overton Drive, with proceeds going to charity.
Earlier this year we highlighted a problem at the George, where a leaky drainpipe was making Wanstead’s famous Cherry Pie sign constantly wet. Moss was growing around it, and when it rains you can actually see water running over it.
We wrote this post highlighting the problem, hoping that either Lord Sugar’s company (which owns the George freehold) or Wetherspoons (which runs the George) would get the drainpipe fixed.
Well guess what. Nothing has happened. The picture at the top of this post was taken on Thursday.
Water is still running over the sign, moss is still growing, and it’s more verdant than ever. Unless this gets fixed, one of the remaining parts of Wanstead history will be going the way of Wanstead House.
George customers can help – every time you visit the pub please ask them to make sure the drainpipe is fixed. Hopefully the message will be received.
