Wansteadium

This is an invitation.

You can’t move for self improvement initiatives nowadays… eat less meat, get more steps, breathe more deeply, and so on. Here is another one: get stuck in.

Wanstead has got so much going for it – one hardly need to tell readers of this site that. But despite that, one thing it is short on is culture. The people here are intelligent and talented, with an appreciation of the good things of life. And yet culture – not so much.

Which is where, nine years ago, the Wanstead Fringe came in. A group of like-minded folk decided to change matters, and in the years since, every autumn this place has been transformed into somewhere with live music, live comedy, films, talks, theatre, cookery demonstrations. The Wanstead Fringe fortnight is one of the undoubted highlights of the year.

So that’s the reason for this invitation to get stuck in. For the Fringe to continue developing and growing and remaining fresh, we need people with new ideas, new enthusiasm, new energy. We want the Fringe to appeal to the whole community, and all age groups. If you can combine your instinct for self-improvement with wanting to improve life in Wanstead, please do get in touch. We will help you get stuck in. You can email me at info@wansteadfringe.org

Thank you

Giles Wilson, Wanstead Fringe Association

We were just saying, just this week, that Wanstead’s new pool was coming along, weren’t we?

Well a few days later and the former geography and arts block at Wanstead High, a familiar but not much-loved sight for many years, is no more. The pool is one step nearer.

If Wansteadium did Instagram, which it does not because life is too short, Wednesday evening would almost certainly have featured (along with thousands of others, no doubt). But it really was a sight.

It’s been so long coming it’s almost possible to forget Wanstead is getting its own swimming pool. But if all goes well, this could be the year.

New-ish illustrations of how the site should look have been posted on boards outside the site in Redbridge Lane West. Along with the 25m pool, the redevelopment includes changing rooms, a dance studio and a three-story teaching block for Wanstead High School.

Naturally, though, it’s the pool which is the most delicious prospect for Wanstead residents.

The last we heard the project was due for completion in late 2022. Can’t wait.

The Recorder has a report on the police investigation into an event at New Wanstead last week in which a man in his 60s suffered head injuries in a fall following an incident.

The Recorder’s report is here, including details of an arrest which has been made.

Anyone who has information that could help police is asked to call 101 ref CAD 5524/21 Jan.

Dear Lord Sugar

Wanstead has loads of history, but not much of it is left for us to enjoy today.

One exception is the Cherry Pie sign on the side of the George. The story behind the sign, which is dated 1752, is a bit mysterious, not least because the building is much more recent than that.

One theory, passed down the generations, is that a workman was up a ladder, leaned against the wall and stole a cherry pie from a vendor who passed by with a tray on his head. The workman was brought before court for this minor crime and fined half a guinea, hence the “cherry pey as cost half a guinea”.

Wikipedia tells us more:

The most likely explanation is that it was placed there by the landlord of 1752, David Jersey (corrupted by centuries of repainting and re-cutting the inscription to D Jerry on the plaque), commemorating a feast which included a huge cherry pie. Monstrous pies were a feature of 18th-century Essex rural festivals; the Galmpton Gooseberry Pie Fair in Devon is still in existence, and other inns around the edge of Epping Forest were famed for pies (rabbit pie at The Reindeer, Loughton, now Warren House, and pigeon pie at The King’s Head, Chigwell). Wanstead was well known for its cherry orchards as late as the 1830s, when they were mentioned by poet Thomas Hood, who lived in Wanstead 1832–5.

So you can see this is a charming bit of Wanstead history, which is in your stewardship since you own the building that the George is in. And yet it looks like it’s in a bit of trouble.

A leaky downpipe has clearly made the side of the wall damp. It’s now covered in green mossy stuff, and it will surely not last much longer unless urgent attention is taken.

Please, Lord Sugar, make sure this is sorted.

Best wishes

Wansteadium