Editor

A community health drop-in session will take place in South Woodford this month.

A community health drop-in event, organised by local Patient Participation Groups, will take place on Thursday 26 September 2024, from 1.00 PM to 5.00 PM, at the South Woodford Health Centre, located at 114 High Road, E18 2QS.

The event will offer free health checks, including blood pressure and diabetes screenings. The Mayor of Redbridge is expected to be in attendance.

For more information, residents can contact:

• Chandra Patel (Elmhurst): 07961 145592
• Rakesh Dutta (Queen Mary): 07931 514129
• Michelle Greene (Shrubberies): 07941 077350

The entrance to the health centre is from High Road.

Redbridge Council has been awarded £3m to transform the walking route between Wanstead Park, Roding Valley and Ilford town centre.

The funding – part of Greater London Authority’s Civic Partnership Programme – will be used to create a riverside path to connect existing footpaths into Roding Valley and open up access to green spaces.

“By improving pedestrian routes, we’re connecting Wanstead, Woodford and Ilford, making sure people from all parts of the borough can access all we have to offer,” said a council spokesperson.

The Leader of Redbridge Council has issued a statement in response to the government’s review of the New Hospitals Programme.

“The redevelopment of Whipps Cross is essential for the provision of healthcare to people living in the west of Redbridge… We are seeking assurance from Whitehall that plans to redevelop Whipps Cross Hospital will go ahead. The pressing need for action is clear, as the proposed redevelopment will improve health outcomes for around 400,000 residents across Redbridge and Waltham Forest.”

Local residents have launched a campaign in an attempt to persuade TfL not to go ahead with planned changes to local bus routes.

Earlier this year, TfL confirmed adjustments will be made to the W12, W13, W14 and 549 bus routes between the Walthamstow, Wanstead and Woodford areas.

“The W12 and W14 routes in particular are a lifeline for many, and if these proposals are imposed, many residents in Redbridge and Waltham Forest will be devastated and isolated,” said Liz Martins, who claims last year’s consultation process was unfair. The new routes – which include a longer journey time to Whipps Cross Hospital on the W12 – are due to come into effect on 7 September.

“We demand a moratorium on the changes proposed until meaningful consultation, with a view to reaching agreement, takes place.”

A petition has been launched. Visit swvg.co.uk/savebuses

Details of the changes and last year’s consultation is available here.

The Wanstead Village Directory and South Woodford Village Gazette have been put forward for an award that recognises businesses which excel in community engagement.

“We aim to support the community in everything we publish, but we now need the community to support us by voting for our magazines,” said editor Lee Marquis.

The Redbridge Social Value Award is a borough-wide category within the Ilford Business Awards.

Voting is open until 31 October.

Visit swvg.co.uk/voteforus

Members of the Woodford and District Flower Arranging Group will be celebrating their platinum anniversary at Wanstead House next month. Margot Cooper reflects on seven decades of floral artistry 

Some 70 years ago, a group of women met weekly at Woodford County High School and the Odeon, South Woodford, inspired by the flower arranger Julia Clements to create beautiful floral designs for their homes.

These local gatherings developed into the Woodford and District Flower Arranging Group, meeting monthly, entertaining working wives and demonstrating how to create pleasing arrangements in vases, jugs, bowls and any other suitable containers they had in their homes, usually using wire netting or pinholders to hold flowers in place.

In 1959, the many flower clubs and societies across the country joined together to form the National Association of Flower Arrangers (NAFAS). The Association is divided into 21 areas, our local one being London and Overseas. This gives us the benefit of links with flower arrangers worldwide. The club became so popular that there was a waiting list of over 100!

As time passed, the club became an established part of the local community. Members planned and participated in many church festivals and charitable events and welcomed visitors and members to the monthly demonstrations of floral art, as we continue to do today. During the 1980s and 1990s, competitive events were held to showcase members’ skills. These continued, often with other local clubs, until around 2002.

Our members contributed to the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee event ‘London Pride’ in Valentines Park. We have also had the privilege of arranging flowers for a variety of prestigious events in stately homes, garden festivals and cathedrals countrywide, a highlight being Westminster and Southwark cathedrals (which we work with to this day).

Our world has changed dramatically in the last 70 years and this is reflected in our membership numbers, but at our monthly demonstrations (now held at Wanstead Library on the third Monday of every month), many different cultures join together with a shared love of flowers for an evening of harmony and friendship. Visitors are always welcome.

The club also has strong links with Wanstead House Community Association, where classes and workshops are held for those wishing to learn in an educational environment. We will also be holding our 70th-anniversary celebrations here with a lunch followed by a demonstration by international floral designer Derek Armstrong.

The group’s next meeting will take place at Wanstead Library on 19 August at 7pm. The anniversary event will be held at Wanstead House on 13 September (12.30pm; tickets: £30). Email jan.law42@outlook.com

The first Redbridge Photography Awards has been launched, with participants invited to submit their best shots depicting people and places in the borough.

“We have some of the country’s most stunning parks, eye-catching architecture and vibrant communities, and we want you to capture them. Entry is free, and the winners will be invited to an award ceremony where their pictures will be unveiled as part of an exhibition,” said a spokesperson for Redbridge Council.

The closing date is 18 August.

isit wnstd.com/rpa

Councillor Jas Athwal has resigned as leader of Redbridge Council after a decade-long tenure, making him the longest-serving leader since the formation of Redbridge Council in 1965.

It follows his election as MP for Ilford South, where he won a 40.2% share of the vote.

“It has been the honour of my life to serve the people of Redbridge as council leader, and I am immensely proud of our record,” said Councillor Athwal.

Former deputy leader Councillor Kam Rai was elected as his replacement at a council meeting last night.

“I feel so fortunate to represent the place I call home, where we have outstanding schools, safe neighbourhoods, and wonderful parks. Redbridge is a special place, with close-knit and welcoming communities, busy high streets, beautiful green spaces and lots to do – we really have everything we need right on our doorstep, with more on the way,” said Councillor Rai.

Some South Woodford scribbles from DD, our resident diarist and observer of all things local. Illustrated by Evelyn Rowland

What a privilege it was for me to visit and hear the memories of some of South Woodford’s wartime children. Their average age now is 90, but one was 100, and apologised when he wasn’t quite sure of a date. “I’m getting on a bit,” he explained. No more introduction from me; listen to their voices. Perhaps with an occasional smile, perhaps an occasional tear.

Janet
I was nine when the bomb landed in our back garden in Forest Approach on 3 July 1944. We were playing at home, my younger brother and I, and heard an approaching doodlebug. We knew we were safe while we could still hear its engine. (A strange ingredient in our childhood education.) This time, the sound suddenly cut out. We headed straight for our Morrison shelter in the front room. The ‘best room’, where the piano was. Mum, Peter and me, in this strong, solid sort of cage with a mattress inside and a protective grid all round. A terrific bang. Flying glass and brickwork. A huge hole in the wall. We dusted ourselves down. Minutes later, a man in military uniform appeared in our hallway. The large pram Mum used for shopping was kept there. “Where’s the baby? Where’s the baby?” he yelled. There was no baby, of course. That’s what stayed in my memory over the years really, more than the horror of our close escape with death. Mum gathered up all sorts of important documents and possessions, piled them into the pram, and we pushed it up the hill and over the High Road to Empress Avenue, to the grandparents’ house. There were three aunts there too, so it was a bit crowded, but they managed to ‘book’ a place for us to sleep in a brick shelter in the forest up near the Napier Arms. 

Harold
I was eight when the war broke out. My walk to school took me across fields. My mother gave me strict instructions: “If bombers come over, lie flat, facedown, on the ground.” I did lie down. But upward-facing, of course. I wanted to see the bombers! 

John
I was 15 in 1939, at Ilford County High School. Everyone expected something to happen. We were evacuated to Ipswich and then to South Wales. But nothing did happen and in June 1940, I was back home. The Battle of Britain began. I stood gazing up, thrilled. I knew this was for me; I must fly! I volunteered for air crew at 18 and was accepted for pilot training. By 1942, Britain was recruiting thousands of pilots. I was soon off to one of the five British flying schools in America. In Oklahoma. No email then; letters took ages. There was plenty of food; none of the hardships back home. I completed my 200 hours to get my wings on my 20th birthday in 1944. We were a very mixed bunch. If you were ‘public school or university material’, you passed out as a pilot officer. Boys like me from ‘ordinary’ schools became sergeants. I was eventually demobbed as a Warrant Officer, having flown Dakotas and (briefly) Lancasters. You made strong bonds of friendship in those times. One friend from Manchester later became my best man. My full training was completed literally a few days before the end of the war, so I never heard a shot fired in anger. 

Jane
For years, I kept a treasured souvenir of the war in my wardrobe. In Mayfair Gardens, after a raid, we kids took our empty gas mask boxes and collected up all the shrapnel lying amongst the shrubs. We used to swap our finds with each other to secure a good variety of pieces. I was very proud: I had an actual nose cone. I was a bit sad after we moved house to find that neither my shrapnel box nor my teddy bear had come with us.

Gerry
Dad died at the beginning of the war so we had to move in with Grandma and Mum’s sister. Mum was out all hours to do secretarial work from 7am till 5pm. Then she’d grab something to eat and be back out again till about 8pm. The rent had to be paid. Auntie was a health visitor and also in Air Raid Protection. She made a great fuss of me, crawling around the garden with me horse riding on her back. When the sirens went off, we hid under the dresser in the basement. After bombs had dropped nearby, she would say to me: “Shall we go and see which streets have disappeared?” I remember the crowds and the damp smell in the street shelters, but I was too young really to understand or feel afraid. 

David
At school, we children were all required to show that we could put on our gas masks. I was five. I refused point-blank to put it on, even when encouraged by my older cousin. It was ugly and frightening. I ended up being chased around the playground by the teachers and even the headmaster. When my mother was informed of this serious problem, she adopted the psychological approach by placing the gas mask next to my teddy bear. Soon, Teddy was wearing it, and evidently quite happy. It wasn’t long before I tried it out myself. Mum told me I could wear it as a special treat for a few minutes each day, but only if I had been good. She’d done the trick.

Chris
I can remember the death of George V in 1936. By the age of seven, I was at a boarding school in Berkhamsted but living with my grandfather and an aunt in Dublin, so I was travelling (alone!) regularly across the Irish sea for my education. I sort of brought myself up really. My parents were in the colonial service, living in British Malaya. I was 11 when war broke out and most of our younger teachers were called up and things started to fall apart, with retired ex-staff called in to help. There were no interschool sporting rivalries. I missed out on that. The school food went from bad to worse! I didn’t see my father for seven years. For three of these, he was interned by the Japanese. Mother had escaped via Singapore and, amazingly, Cape Town. Dad eventually returned home. He weighed seven stone. “Who’s this man ordering my mother about?” I thought. 

Rowena
I was only three when war broke out. I don’t remember ever being told the war was over. I thought this was the normal status quo, sleeping under the stairs sometimes, going to school and hurrying into an air raid shelter. Stories read to us by torchlight. I used to pray for an air raid on Thursday mornings because that was when we had to sit cross-legged on the floor for hymn practice. We lived in Finchley then. There was only one bomb dropped near me. The house where two elderly sisters lived was destroyed. Mum told me one of the sisters had lost her voice. I saw her one day walking in the ruins; I supposed she must be looking for it. 

Dick
I was six at the beginning and 12 at the end. Father was 39 and called up as an RAF reservist. He was travelling to France the day war was declared, carrying vital equipment for intercepting enemy transmissions as a member of the Wireless Intelligence Service. At my age, it was all hugely interesting; it was tanks and aeroplanes, guns and rockets. I remember sitting reading a book, our old dog beside me. His ears pricked up, even before I heard anything. He’d learnt the meaning of the drone of approaching flying bombs. Mum quickly joined us in the air raid shelter along with our neighbours who’d crawled through a hole in the fence to share it with us. One bomb passing overhead landed in Empress Avenue. I had been crouching down, but when I looked up, I saw sheets of glass flying in. I was never afraid. Rather, I became quite fatalistic. Dad managed to bring himself and his equipment safely out of Brest 10 days after Dunkirk. He admitted in his diary that he’d taken a dip in the Loire en route. Because of the Blitz, Mum and I joined him for two years, now stationed in Islay in the South Hebrides. My reading improved rapidly in the Scottish school and I was into Biggles and other boys’ adventure stories. I remember the lovely sunsets over the mountains, the strong winds and wide landscapes. Other wonderful experiences followed when Dad was posted to a village called Bishampton, in Worcester, and I was helping out on a farm. So far from London, I was regarded almost as an alien, an extraterrestrial even, especially with my temporary Scottish accent. I was so lucky: a suburbanite experiencing wide-ranging country life and returning to dear, familiar Forest Approach, unscathed, when the war was over.

To contact DD with your thoughts or feedback, email dd@swvg.co.uk

Joshua Abbott has launched a crowdfunding campaign to publish Modernism Beyond Metro-land, a book documenting 20th-century architecture in London’s suburbs. In the first of a series of extracts, the spotlight is on South Woodford Library. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson

The London Borough of Redbridge was created in 1965, bringing together the municipal boroughs of Ilford and Wanstead and Woodford, and parts of the boroughs of Dagenham and Chigwell. These fragments had all previously been part of Essex before being transferred to the Greater London area.

Like all of the 32 new boroughs, Redbridge sought to improve their building stock from the late-1960s onwards through their newly created architects departments. Some boroughs like Camden with Neave Brown, or Lambeth with Ted Hollamby, undertook massive housing projects that are now feted as examples of the golden era of social housing. Redbridge’s architects department was led by Michael G Booth, who had worked for the architects department of London County Council, the largest in the world at the time. There, he helped design a range of projects, including schools, colleges and fire stations.  

Booth moved from the London County Council to Redbridge in 1965, joining as deputy borough architect, eventually becoming the youngest chief architect in the 32 boroughs. There, he would oversee the design and construction of housing, schools and other community facilities. Two of the most interesting projects from this period are the libraries in Wanstead and South Woodford.

The library and Churchill Hall in Wanstead were opened in 1969, overseen by Booth. The South Woodford project was completed in 1975, combining a library and health centre. Designed by CA Stok and J Hockley of the borough’s architects department, it is a more complex and ambitious scheme than Wanstead, providing multiple facilities on a site just to the north of the North Circular, previously home to an 18th-century lodge, which was demolished to make way. 

The buildings are constructed of red brick around a concrete frame with black timber window frames. The 1970s saw a backlash against the monolithic concrete designs that had proliferated during the 1960s, with architects turning back to brick, particularly the hot red type used by influential architects James Stirling and James Gowan in their 1960s work, such as the 1963 Engineering Building at Leicester University. However, the concrete frame does appear around the South Woodford building, most notably with the rear staircase. South Woodford Library was refurbished in 2015 and now contains a gym.

For more information on Modernism Beyond Metro-land and to support the crowdfunder, visit swvg.co.uk/mbml

In the third of a series of articles to mark Churchfields Infants’ and Junior School’s 150th anniversary, former pupil Myrtle Watts (class of 2014) reflects on her memories of writing her first book

As an only child, starting school was incredibly exciting. Always very sociable (maybe even too sociable; I often received criticism that I was “too chatty” at parents’ evenings), being thrust into an environment full of other children my age was my idea of heaven. From start to finish, I was lucky enough to have an almost entirely positive experience at Churchfields, with PE the only exception.

To this day I am inept at sports, whether it be with a ball, a racket or a stick of some kind, and this incapability fostered at a young age. As we prepared to move from the infants’ school to the junior school, we were sorted into teams that we would represent during PE and on Sports Day. Placed into the Green team, I clearly remember a fellow student telling me that “the Green team loses everything.” I certainly helped to uphold that reputation; despite being the only student given a wooden egg instead of a real one during the egg and spoon race (due to an egg allergy), I still managed to come last every year. 

While other children would play sports during break time, I instead opted to print off the lyrics to popular songs to take into school and sing with my friends. In the junior school, there was a yearly talent show that I would enter as a singing duo with my friend Nia, and I’m pretty sure we won it more than once! When casting our Year 6 leavers’ production of The Jungle Book, there was fierce competition between us for the only female role in the play (an unnamed girl in the final scene with approximately three lines of singing). Instead of cause what I can only assume would have been an irreconcilable rift in our friendship, our teacher decided to rewrite the scene to have two unnamed girls rather than one.

When I wasn’t singing, I was reading: a complete bookworm as a child, I started writing my own stories from a very young age. At some point in the junior school, I remember writing a book (if you can call it that – I doubt it was more than 10 pages long) and showing it to my teacher, who forwarded it to the headteacher, putting it in the school library! I often wonder whether it’s still there and whether any other students read it. As a soon-to-be graduate of English Literature at the University of York, I can’t help but feel this was one of many moments of encouragement that fostered my love for the subject at a young age.

Eventually leaving the junior school brought a mix of emotions as I anticipated a new chapter at a different secondary school to my friends. Reflecting on my academic journey now, I feel so lucky to have had so much fun and wonder how differently things might have been had I not ended up at Churchfields.

For more information on Churchfields Infants’ School and Churchfields Junior School, visit swvg.co.uk/churchfields

The South Woodford Society will be launching a new website this summer.

“As part of our Design Code work, we are also creating a new website, which will go live in August. This will allow us to incorporate all aspects of our work, such as local events and the business forum, as well as the Neighbourhood Plan and Design Code, bringing all these initiatives together on one site. Over the next few months, we will also be adding interactive maps and even more content,” said a spokesperson.

Visit swvg.co.uk/sws24