Seats and tables now installed in playground in Christchurch Green. A small but welcome improvement to quality of life.
Wanstead news roundup, 22-07-10; a Good News/Bad News special
GOOD NEWS: The derelict shop, all boarded up and crumbling, next to the pet shop on Wanstead High Street is now be redeveloped, five years after planning permission was given for new flats
above it. Local traders, who had earlier complained of rats in the former antiques shop, have welcomed the news.
BAD NEWS: The long hot dry weather appears to have done for a tree (right) planted on Christchurch Green, Wanstead, donated by the Wanstead Society. Wansteadium regular and society member Yenwod Samoth tweets as below:
@WeLoveWanstead @wansteadium This tree looks very dead, should we have provided more water/care? http://tweetphoto.com/34010954
Yenwod Samoth
yenwodt
GOOD NEWS: Wanstead has now got something in common with West Hampstead (as well as the -stead bit). High-end Indian Takeaway The Tiffin Tin has opened in one of the empty shops opposite Snaresbrook Tube. The relaunched website Smarter High Street campaign praises the renovation as “professional and confident – and everyone’s attracted to confidence”.
BAD NEWS: The three shops next door – also empty – are probably still going to be demolished.
GOOD NEWS: This weekend is Open Weekend at the Olympic Park – and there’s a tour of all three of London’s historic Olympic sites.
BAD NEWS: It’s sponsored by BP.
Wanstead and Snaresbrook now on ‘Media Scum’ line
The obsessions of the Daily Mail have been converted into fake London Underground map by satirical website thepoke.com. Each genre of obsession has its own line – Bakerloo Line becomes Medical Scares, Piccadilly Line becomes Cancers, Northern Line becomes Arch-Enemies. The Central Line is Media Scum, and while Leyton becomes Madonna and Leytonstone becomes Jordan, it’s gratifying to see that Snaresbrook has become new Channel 4 chief executive David Abraham and Wanstead has become what the Guardian called the “puerile digital arts community” b3ta.com (more at Wikipedia). All in all, not too shabby.
Childish sniggering heard all over Wanstead
How the Wanstead Guardian reported the closure of Wanstead Sauna.
Wanstead conkers? In July??
Last August, some newspapers got excited by the early falling of conkers, a combination of unusual seasonal conditions. Conkers shouldn’t fall until September, they said. And this is August.
Well, this was the scene on Wanstead’s Christchurch Green on Thursday. Which was definitely in July. Fleet St can’t be far behind.
Wanstead news roundup, 14.07.10; Music in Wanstead Park, Learner drivers, Olympic policing
The Music in Wanstead Park event is taking place on Saturday. The line-up includes pop, indie rock, folk, blues and 30’s swing, modern & classical, string & sax, Indian sitar and tabla. Also It’s a Knockout style events and blues band Nine Below Zero in the evening. It’s from 2-11pm, and details are here.
Nice observation from Yenwod Samoth, who took this picture, right, and commented: “Conservation at it best in Christchurch park, Wanstead. Nice to them saving the old wood.”
The Drive and nearby streets in South Woodford have been highlighted as the most popular for learner drivers, according to this story in the Daily Telegraph which claims 409 learners in one hour. Wanstead, of course, is no stranger to L-plates, some of which are on the same test routes from the Wanstead Test Centre on Hermon Hill.
People opposing a Metropolitan Police application to build a temporary Olympic policing base on Wanstead Flats held a public meeting in Forest Gate on Wednesday. Here is a Q&A from the City of London Corporation, which owns Wanstead Flats. And here is a Facebook group opposing the plan.