Welcome to this newcomer, just planted outside Gail’s. However, there is an appeal for someone kind to look after it. If that could be you, please follow the instructions on this label which Redbridge has put on the tree.
Update: The tree was paid for by the Wanstead Society, we’re told, who bought it to mark their 25th anniversary.
Congratulations today to Wanstead’s favourite crime writer, A. K. Turner, also known as Anya Lipska. The second instalment of her Cassie Raven series, Life Sentence, is being published today and, because we’ve had a sneak preview, we know it will delight people who like their crime writing a bit macabre.
A.K. (or Alison as she is also also known as) was a much celebrated resident when writing as Anya Lipska, with novels set near to Wanstead, and sometimes even mentioning it.
Her new protagonist Cassie Raven is a young mortuary technician who lives on a house boat in Camden and believes she has an uncanny knack of somehow hearing what a deceased person’s last thoughts might have been. Imagined or not, she does has a real ability to look at cases in different ways and also to find some answers.
The series (which fellow crime writer Ellie Griffiths has enthusiastically endorsed, saying: “I love this series!”) started with Cassie’s debut in Body Language. It’s now being published in seven different languages.
The launch for Life Sentence is being hosted by Wanstead Bookshop and will take place next Wednesday in Wanstead at the Bull at 6.30pm, when Alison will read from the book and answer questions. Tickets are £3, available below, but this will be refunded against the cost of a copy of the book.
Photographer Russell Boyce has brought his exhibition of portraits of Wanstead High Street shopkeepers to Christchurch Green. The portraits, compiled into a book which he has published, tell the story of some of the best known faces in Wanstead and is a great record of the high street during difficult times.
The book is available from the Wanstead Bookshop stall inside City Place Coffee on the High Street, price £6.
Christchurch Green’s new kiosk is taking shape, along with new pledges from Redbridge about the impact it will have on the green.
A meeting held between residents, councillors and council officers resulted in assurances that the kiosk will not be serving alcohol except for during occasional events such as the Wanstead Festival. The kiosk will also avoid using single-use plastics, and there will be “enhanced litter picking”.
There will also be a new team patrolling all Redbridge green spaces, including Christchurch Green, to tackle anti-social behaviour. And, as we reported last week, the toilet block is to be refurbished.
A new Friends of Christchurch Green group has been set up – anyone interested in taking part can reach them on friendsofccgreen@gmail.com.
Jo Blackman, one of the Wanstead councillors, said they would continue to raise residents’ concerns about the kiosk and said: “We hope the friends group will provide a constructive forum for direct engagement between residents, Vision and the council about the use of the green for the community.”
Meanwhile as the kiosk takes shape, early signs are, in Wansteadium’s view, that it does not look like it will be the visual offence that some feared based on the planning document’s projections.
So it’s now obvious what will become of the former Nationwide Building Society on Wanstead High St. Congratulations to those concerned!
In the dim and distant days of December, there were worries (remember?) that the Christmas tree sellers who were positioned on Christchurch Green would damage the grass.
That didn’t seem to happen, and it’s especially cheering to see that the daffodils which are in the same position are showing no signs of being affected either.
