Wanstead children: Get writing

We’re not expecting this, by the way

Who has the best handwriting in Wanstead? This is the chance for Wanstead primary school children to show it’s them, as we launch the Wanstead Fringe Handwriting Competition.

“Handwriting is not an art of the past,” says Maura Wilson of the Wanstead Fringe. “And even though the days of elegant copperplate script are gone, we all have our own styles, each of which says something about us. “

Which is why the Fringe is inviting the primary school children of Wanstead to get their best pens and start writing, and show the rest of us what they can do. They stand the chance to be named as one of Wanstead’s best handwriters and to win prizes for their school, courtesy of our sponsors Petty Son & Prestwich.

The rules for the competition are simple. Any pupil up to year six can take part, whether as part of their class or individually. All they have to do is to write out the Lewis Carroll poem The Crocodile.

Submissions must be made by the end of July, and will be judged over the summer holidays. The winners will be announced during Wanstead Fringe fortnight, which this year is running from 10 to 25 September.

Full rules and the text of the poem are available at the Wanstead Fringe site here.

The Tool Box is moving

The Tool Box, the Aladdin’s cave of DIY goodies run by Imran Asghar with his brother and father, is moving to a new location further down the High Street.

The shop will be moving into a larger shop next door to Phone Fix, a hundred metres towards Snaresbrook Station. There was previously a clothes shop at the site.

The brothers are turning their existing premises into a grocery shop, selling organic fruit and vegetables, and organic/free range meat, specialising in marinated options. It will be called Daniyal’s.

The Asghars have won a loyal customer base thanks to them having nearly everything you could want in stock, and also because of their friendliness and customer service.

Imran said: “We’re really pleased to announce our new venture. Seven years in and Wanstead has become a home to myself. We’re looking forward to moving Tool Box to the new premises. I’m also looking forward to ‘Daniyal’s’ being received the same way once we’re ready.”

Brother Nasir said: “I’m really excited with the new project. I have 15 years of experience & will be bringing a head butcher with over 30 years of experience. Customer service & quality will always be top of my priorities.”

Wanstead’s Robin Das on his England debut

There was more to the story about Wanstead (and Essex) cricketer Robin Das making his England debut at Lord’s last week. Robin is the first cricketer of Bangladeshi heritage to play for England – he tells BBC Essex here:

It means a lot personally – I feel like I have made some of my family not just here but also back in Bangladesh really proud… it’s a very good feeling. I hope that I’m definitely not the last and that there will be more to come.

What can we tell about Wanstead’s wine bar-to-be?

Mustwine.co.uk – image of other branches

Wanstead High Street is to get a new wine bar in the site where Coco has been for a number of years.

The new wine bar will be a branch of Must Wine, which has bars in St Albans and Hampstead. If Wanstead’s is like the others, it will be offering food and wine – the menu, which includes a pretty sophisticated range of food to eat alongside a glass is available here.

We must say that we think this looks like a pretty impressive addition to that end of the High Street. At the Snaresbrook end, Daygustation is doing something similar and making the most of pavement cafe lifestyle. It’s all part of the apparent ongoing transition of Wanstead into a place for bars, restaurants and cafes.

Good luck to them on their new venture.