Congratulations to High Street favourites Imran and Nas Asghar on the opening of their new venture, a grocer and butcher’s focusing on organic fruit and vegetables, organic/free range meat, and specialising in marinated options. The brothers moved their other shop, the Tool Box, 100m further up the high street and have employed Wajid, right, who has decades of experience as a butcher, to run the new shop, called Daniyal’s. Good luck to them all.
It seems the Wanstead Swimming Pool completion has been put off until September 2024 – nearly two years later than the last expected date.
A story published in Construction News reveals that Redbridge has now awarded the £13.5m contract to Jerram Falkus Construction for the project which as well as the pool includes a three-story school building, dining hall and kitchen and new leisure centre facilities. The story says the pool should be opening in September 2024
The last update Wansteadium is aware of stated that the completion of the project would be the end of this year, which followed a delay caused by the disruption of Covid. We have contacted Redbridge for an update on the project.
Update: 30 Nov: A Redbridge Council spokesperson said:
“It was not possible to progress as planned during the COVID-19 pandemic, something that impacted many other capital projects across London.
“With the current rising costs of construction nationwide, we’ve had to reprocure to find the most cost-effective way of delivering the new facilities, which we expect to complete in 2024.”
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.
