It’s no country lane but a stalled tractor was just the latest hold-up on Wanstead High Street. An industrial agricultural set of jump leads deployed by the City of London’s Epping Forest team got things moving again.
You would never know it from the outside, but a house in Hereford Road has a full church organ in its front room, built lovingly by its owner who was for years a church organist in Wanstead.
Gordon Forster started building the organ in the late 70s, finished it in the 80s, and continued playing it until his death 10 years ago. His widow, Diana, is now downsizing which means the organ needs to find a new home.
Gordon’s son Joe, who grew up with his father making all sorts of musical instruments, is not optimistic that a new home will be found for the organ and suspects the best that can happen is the organ will be broken up and used for parts.
Gordon was a radiographer by training who spent 60 years playing church organs. For many years he was the organist at the Congregational church – now the United Reformed Church – on Nightingale Lane and also played in other churches in the area.
He built the organ after collecting parts from numerous dismantled organs in the area. Joe says: “Maybe there’s somebody around now who’s looking to do the same. It might be broken up for parts.”
Asked how his mother put up with his father taking over the front room, he says: “I don’t think you could have stopped him. He was very energetic. If he decided to do something – whoosh! – he’d be off. There was no stopping him.” He added: “She had her own interests too.”
The organ has 8ft pipes, pedals, a separate console (the keyboard), and a blower which Gordon built into the cellar.
In this video it is being played by Gordon’s friend, organist Eric Doig.
We’ve said it a number of times before but this time of year just highlights that Wanstead’s streets and parks are paved with gold, and that it’s an annual surprise not to see impromptu bouts of conkers being played on every street corner.
Here are the much-delayed winners of the first Wanstead Fringe Handwriting Competition in which Wanstead’s primary school children were invited to demonstrate their skills by writing out a Lewis Carroll poem.
The judges were the Wanstead Fringe’s Maura Wilson and designer Bryony MacQueen of Muriel&Me.
Maura Wilson said: “We were delighted by the care and attention all those who took part put into their entries. People sometimes say that children don’t learn to write properly nowadays but this has shown that not to be the case. Well done to the winners and to everyone who took part – and thank you to the teachers who encouraged the children to enter.”
Each winner receives a £100 prize for their school’s PTA, donated by Fringe sponsors Petty Son and Prestwich, whose managing director John Wagstaff said: “It’s wonderful to be a part of such a fantastic community congratulations to all those who entered and to the worthy winners.”
Three winners were chosen:
The Early Years winner was Orson from Nightingale Primary School.
The Key Stage 1 winner was Edgar from Aldersbrook Primary.
And the Key Stage 2 winner was Xiangxi from Nightingale.
Congratulations to all the winners.
More than 50 bags of rubbish were collected from Eagle Pond by volunteers. The haul included plastic, polystyrene cups, fishing line, shoes, clothes, and an antique clay pipe and bottle. Also, bizarrely, coconuts.
A huge fire at the Chigwell Road recycling centre needed 60 firefighters and eight fire engines to be brought under control. Nobody was injured, but nearby residents were told to close their windows to keep safe from the smoke.
London Fire Brigade station commander Dave Reed, who was at the scene, said: “Around 28 tons of household waste was alight in a covered recycling shed. There was quite a lot of smoke in the area so we advised local residents to keep their doors and windows closed.”
