Wansteadium

With so much going on in the Wanstead Fringe, and with several events already sold out, here are some atttractions not to be missed.

The Wanstead Kinema indoor showings continue with:
* 12 Years A Slave (Cert 15) with introduction by Dr Teresa Hagan, Tuesday at 7.30pm at the Wanstead Curtain
* Romeo + Juliet (Cert 12A) on Thursday at 7.30pm

Aldersbrook-based parenting guru and Dr Martha is speaking on Tuesday in the first of this year’s Wanstead Book Festival events. It’s at 5.30pm so parent can bring children if they need to without disrupting bedtimes too much.

Ace photographers Geoff Wilkinson and Stefan Rousseau will be showing some of their photos, new and old, and telling the tales behind them at Wanstead Cricket Club on Wednesday.

Two plays begin runs on Wednesday:
* The Silk Road (kinda) and Woodrow Auditions Live, both at the Bull. They are both character-based plays, and double-bill tickets are available.

There’s a friendly debate about hipster craft beer at The Duke on Thursday at 7pm, and a cigar masterclass at MUST Wine at 7.30pm

And musically there is:
* The Jon Howells Trio – jazz in St Mary’s on Thursday at 7pm
* Violinist Jan Regulski with music by Arvo Pärt, Astor Piazzolla and others at Wanstead URC at 7.30pm (nb not at lunchtime as mistakenly listed in the printed programme)

The Wanstead Fringe got off to a boisterous start on Friday with Lucy and Joe’s Charivari at St Mary’s, followed by a weekend of partying, plays, films, comedy, workshops and tastings.

Here are some of the sights. Feel free to send in any you have to info@wansteadium.com

People are finding new patterns of their daily lives as they adjust to the W12 W14 becoming an hourly service, in place of the 20 or 30 minute service which has run for years.

TfL changed the bus services over the weekend, and now larger buses are serving Wanstead and South Woodford, but less frequently.

There are reports of bus drivers complaining that the larger vehicles don’t easily get through the narrower streets on the Nightingale Estate. But it is the timing change which will probably cause most disruption. One Wansteadium reader, Sumit, stoicly wrote:

“Unless the hourly bus goes past at 15 mins past the hour during the week, my kids will no longer be using a bus after school. I used to take the W12 from school back in 1988 (same school as my kids now attend) but I guess nothing lasts forever. “

The changes were opposed by many residents, and there were complaints that TfL’s consultation process was inadequate, especially to people who do not use the internet.

Retrospective planning permission is being sought for the parcel locker installed in March outside the Krishanco newsagent because it affects ‘the character or appearance of the Wanstead Village Conservation Area’. The application is number 2113/24 at Redbridge Council.

Here is the first view of the Wanstead Curtain, a performance space the Wanstead Fringe has crafted to become a stunning venue for theatre and cinema.

The Curtain is a reinvention of the hall at Wanstead Methodist Church on Hermon Hill. It’s been familiar to generations of Wanstead folk, whether through Beavers, junior church, youth club, nursery, ballet lessons or countless other events. Now that legacy will continue.

The church ceased holding services at the site a couple of years ago and the Curtain is the result of a vision shared between the church’s minister, Mike Long, and the Fringe to make something really useful and enduring for Wanstead.

So with much hard work in the past few months, the hall has taken on a completely new vibe, and will be hosting its first events this week as the Fringe gets under way.

Indoor film screenings from the Wanstead Kinema are first, followed by three plays – Richard II, Global Voices and Miss Julie.

Tickets for the landmark screenings at the Curtain are available now – use these links below or get tickets directly from the Wanstead Fringe site.

Indoor Kinema: The Personal History of David Copperfield

Indoor Kinema: 12 Years a Slave

Indoor Kinema: Romeo + Juliet

Details have become clearer about TfL’s new bus routes serving Wanstead, which are coming into effect this weekend.

At a meeting at the Town Hall in Ilford on Monday night it became clearer that an earlier proposal to remove the Nightingale Estate from the new W14 route, which replaces the W12, has been amended. It now appears the new route will follow the existing one, which will be welcomed by many people who depend on the hail-and-ride service.

However in a major change the new service will run only once every 60 minutes rather than a mix of every 20 and 30 minutes at present. If the same sized buses are being used this will cause serious overcrowding, especially at peak times. It will also limit the usefulness for people using buses for school or to get to Tube stations for work.

And in another significant change, the new services will no longer go into Whipps Cross, but rather stop outside.

Campaigners say their petition goes on.

Details on the new routes are set out by TfL here.