Wansteadium

George C Parker writes: Summer in Wanstead has long been garlanded with the Festival on Christchurch Green, and the wonderful Music in Wanstead Park event. Thousands are drawn to enjoy these sunny get-togethers which make wonderful and inclusive use of Wanstead’s privileged green spaces.

But, friends, we can go further.

Imagine the warmth of the late afternoon picnicking with family and friends in front of an outdoor summer cinema screen. Imagine the thrill of watching, say, a Hitchcock film flickering away in the balmy dusk. Imagine being able to drop in casually to friends from elsewhere that “Oh we’re going to the Wanstead Open Air Film Festival this weekend.” Imagine, imagine.

So my charge to you, my dearly beloved Wanstead fellows, is who’s up for it? Who will join the campaign I start here and now to rally us to this noble cause? The odds might be stacked against us. There will be bureaucratic hurdles in the way. There will be scoffers. But together, friends, we can overcome all these impediments.

Know something about films? Add your name to our campaign. Know your way round local government? Hop on, sibling. Know how to organise inspiring events from scratch? We’ve got a job for you. Know how to spread the word? Come, do. Know you really ought to get involved in doing something for the community? You’re among friends here.

We need people and business who are thinking about getting into community activities but are unsure whether or where to dip their toe. We need planners, organiser, sponsors, caterers, people to do proper artist’s impressions, helpers and – even if you’re not one of them, we need your support to convince the rest of Wanstead that we can do this together. Views and thoughts on location, scheduling, logistics are desperately needed – please add them in the form below.

Let the show begin.

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• Two homemade signs posted in Wanstead. Make of them both what you will – the first in Grosvenor Road, the second outside the George.
• Green garden waste collections have restarted – the day after your normal collections.
• Having said that, the Easter collections will be affected as follows. Collections due on Good Friday will happen as normal, but week commencing Monday 9 April all collections will be delayed by a day, (Monday’s on Tuesday, Tuesday’s on Wednesday etc) meaning Friday 13 April’s normal collection will take place on Saturday 14. Hope that’s clear.
• Easter Egg rolling will take place in Wanstead Park on 9 April between 1-4pm. Either BYO or £1 each. Details here.
• Objectors to the plan to turn Wanstead Domestic Appliances into a takeaway are calling on the owner to declare what the plans will involve: rumours are circulating that it could become a KFC, but it’s not clear if these are in any way substantiated.
• Julian Clary’s appearance at Wanstead Library for the first event in this year’s Redbridge Books and Media Festival saw more than 100 people attend. One person came specifically from Germany. Photo here by South Woodford photographer Robert Klein.
• The Wanstead Guardian solved the mystery of a box of photos of Wanstead Fair found in a market in Hitchin and posted on the astonishingly beautiful MyFoundPhotos blog.
• And finally a seasonal treat – the beauty of Wanstead Park, as captured by Wansteadium reader Oisin.

Wansteadium’s property blogger, George C Parker, writes:

Getting with the Times: Purveyor of truth since 1785, the Thunderer has recently pronounced Wanstead to be ‘the new City bonus haunt’. Here’s an excerpt of what it had to say, with a link to some pages which are behind Mr Murdoch’s paywall:

Some will no doubt cringe at this ‘City bonus’ sobriquet; brashness and lack of modesty are almost anti-Wansteadian traits. Nevertheless Times journalist Ruth Bloomfield neatly summarised the myriad attractions (good schools, Victorian to Edwardian houses and excellent transport links) while acknowledging the downside (relative proximity to Funky Mojoes). Talking of which…

High Street living: If you live on, or close to the High Street, you undoubtedly welcome the arrival of a new business of the calibre of Provender or Nakhon Thai. The same might not be true when certain globally-franchised vertical scoffing outlets loom large. The proposal to turn the current Wanstead Domestic Appliances into another fast food takeaway is an interesting one. Redbridge is accepting representations on this application right now. It would be So Good ™ to hear residents’ views.

Budget 2012: Unfortunately young Osborne’s Budget changes did nothing to help first-time buyers trying to swing a leg onto the property ladder’s lowest rung (unless they have a city bonus, naturally). As a knock on, there’s a likelihood that this bottleneck delays those trying to trade up from their first flat to a family home in somewhere like Wanstead. At the other end of the stamp duty scale, I wonder if we will see a local transaction being hit with the new 7% scalping applied to property sales over 2 million sovs. As I can never resist a nose, here’s what is being offered at a cool 250 large below the new upper threshold (warning: may contain gold taps).

You can contact George at georgecparker@wansteadium.com