Editor

Redbridge Council is proposing to trial a traffic reduction scheme on Granville Road and Albert Road in South Woodford.

A ‘no entry except for access’ restriction will prevent motorists from using the streets as a rat run from Ashford Road to Chigwell Road. If progressed, the restrictions will be in force from 7am to 7pm on weekdays. Cameras will be able to identify if a vehicle has driven through without stopping, and if it has, a penalty notice will be issued.

A consultation is open until 16 July.

Visit swvg.co.uk/noentry

South Woodford’s neighbourhood police team is keen to highlight the ongoing ‘Cuppa with a Copper’ sessions which take place in Starbucks on George Lane.

“The Cuppa with a Copper events are about inviting residents to discuss local issues with neighbourhood police officers and a chance to get to know local police personnel,” said a police spokesperson.

Sessions will take place on 5 July and 9 August, from 3pm to 3.45pm.

TfL is proposing to make changes to the W12, W13, W14 and 549 bus routes between the Walthamstow, Wanstead and Woodford areas.

“This is in response to feedback from our customers to improve connectivity to Whipps Cross Hospital and local destinations… We would restructure routes W12, W13 and W14 and withdraw route 549. Other bus routes in the area would remain unchanged,” said a spokesperson. A consultation on the plans is open until 30 July.

Visit wnstd.com/buses or call 020 3054 6037 

An open day at the new community garden in Ray Park took place last weekend.

“We’ve been toiling away since January to create a new space for perennial plants, annual flowers and medicinal herbs alongside a small kitchen garden. The project is ongoing, but we wanted to thank those people who have helped make it happen and show everyone what has been accomplished so far,” said a spokesperson for the Woodford Greeners.

A free mosaic stepping stones workshop will be held in the garden on 22 July.

Visit swvg.co.uk/wg

Psychologist Niamh Moriarty invites you to experience the positive physical and mental health impacts of South Woodford’s community gardening initiatives. Photo by Geoff Wilkinson

How many of us have felt uplifted at the sight of that first daffodil or snowdrop peeking through after a long, dark, dreary winter? Perhaps it signifies hope, that life and beauty can thrive despite harshness? Or how about the roses that bloom heralding the arrival of summer?

For some, these blooms awaken something almost innate; an internal drive to start planting, nurturing, watching and awaiting the eventual reward of a healthy leaf or a beautiful bloom. It turns out though, that gardening may be nurturing us in return!

Of course, digging and weeding are beneficial in terms of exercise; it’s easy to meet the guidelines of 20 minutes of daily activity when there is grass to mow, shrubs to trim and watering to be done! But are you aware research proves gardening has a positive impact on our mental health also? Researchers from Essex University use the term ‘green exercise’. Recent studies have demonstrated that green exercise benefits mental wellness with reductions in stress and depression alongside increases in mood and self-esteem. It appears even small doses of a few minutes can have an immediate impact, while regular gardening has been found to reduce stress and increase life satisfaction, including feelings of mastery and accomplishment. In fact, horticultural therapy is now offered within many NHS trusts.

When it comes to community gardening, there are benefits for the gardeners and the non-gardeners alike. The Royal Horticultural Society says community gardening leads to an increased sense of ownership of local spaces, a healthier environment, lower crime rates and reduced antisocial behaviour, and a boost to the local economy. Gardening in a group encourages people to develop relationships, reduces isolation and provides social opportunities to the large numbers of people now working from home. 

So many of us enjoy looking at the plants and flowers around us in South Woodford throughout the seasons. But did you ever wonder how these flower beds came about? We are an area rich with community gardening initiatives.

South Woodford Gardeners
These trailblazing gardeners commenced their work in 2014. Having transformed the flower beds along George Lane, they moved onto the six flower beds on the A406 bridge opposite Waitrose. Expanding further, they adopted the bed outside Regency Court, and this past year, they have taken over the pavement railing flower boxes around the area.

The gardeners meet one weekday morning a week. Join the South Woodford Gardeners Facebook group here. 

Footpath No. 60 Community Garden
A new community garden along the length of public footpath number 60, linking Woodford High Road to the Laings Estate. The flower beds along this popular shortcut next to Priory Close had become barren stretches, making this alleyway appear unsafe and uninviting. Spurred on by increased use during lockdown walks, this new community group started clearing and planting. The group is keen to promote the use of drought-resistant, native plants that will support wildlife.

Meeting for an hour most weekend mornings this new group welcomes new volunteers, as well as family involvement in creating bug hotels, painted stones, bunting and other creative ideas. Email: footpathno60garden@gmail.com 

South Woodford Society
The South Woodford Society has adopted three grow zones: Eastwood Green (at the corner of Eastwood Green and George Lane roundabout), the Community Orchard (on the corner of Primrose Road and Mulberry Way) and Bell Green (outside South Woodford station). 

The South Woodford Society have been running twilight weeding sessions during the longer summer evenings. Email e18society@gmail.com 

Get involved in community gardening

• Donate your time: one hour a week makes a huge difference.
• Share spare plants from your garden.
• If you live near a community garden, take a walk in the evening to water it, or empty your water bottle as you pass by. You can also offer to refill watering cans during gardening sessions. 
• Funding: most of these community gardening projects have been supported by crowdfunding, funding from the council or other initiatives. If your skill set lies in this area rather than as a gardener, do get in touch.

When Spencer Simmons inherited a leather travel case some 45 years ago, little did he realise it would lead to the writing and production of a play for the Edinburgh Fringe, with a preview at Redbridge Drama Centre 

The leather travel case in question came with the initials ‘MAC’ embossed on it. I was told the case belonged to an American named General Cohen, but I could find no information about it. My uncle, who I inherited it from, was the black sheep of the family, known as Spider (after the snooker cue rest), and who allegedly worked for two weeks, didn’t like it and spent the rest of his life earning a living in unconventional ways. I used the case as a period prop in many am-dram productions, but always wondered whose case it was.

Thirty years later, at a funeral, by sheer chance, I overheard a conversation about a relation, Two-Gun Cohen, and it clicked. MAC was Morris Abraham Cohen, otherwise known as Two-Gun Cohen, who incredibly started life as a babe in arms of an immigrant Jewish family in London’s East End and became a general in the Chinese army and aide-de-camp to Sun Yat-sen, one of the founding fathers of modern China and Taiwan.

Cohen was a wild child, a boxer and a pickpocket who, after being sent to Borstal aged 10, was sent away by his despairing parents aged 15 to work on a relative’s ranch in the wilds of Canada. There, he became a gambler, land salesman and fairground worker. He became involved with the Canadian Chinese community as a gambler, and after saving the life of a Chinese friend was inducted into a Tong, a Chinese secret society, and introduced to Sun Yat-sen. Cohen fought in the First World War, the Chinese civil war and the Sino-Japanese war, where he was captured, interrogated and brutally beaten by the Japanese.

With the idea of producing a play, I started researching Cohen’s incredible life, recounted by two biographies, three films based on his life, numerous internet articles, family recollections and even a tape from the Canadian Broadcasting Service of his appearance on a What’s My Line-style TV programme in the 1960s.

I still didn’t know exactly how I was related to Cohen, but after much research and a chance comment by my mother, it was found that Spider’s wife was Two-Gun’s cousin. 

In 2013, I was excited to produce and direct a full-length play for WP Drama (then known as Wanstead Players) on Cohen’s life at the Kenneth More Theatre, written with a cousin, with five in the cast, but I dreamed of putting it on in Edinburgh. Some 10 years later, it has now been rewritten as a two-man play set in a Japanese prison in 1941, with Jonathan Meyer reprising the title role he played a decade ago. 

How did Cohen come by the name Two-Gun Cohen? The play reveals all.

WP Drama will perform Two-Gun Cohen at Redbridge Drama Centre in South Woodford on 5 and 6 July (7.30pm; tickets: £11.50), and again at the Edinburgh Fringe in August. Visit twoguncohen.co.uk

Wells (All Saints) Pre-school is celebrating its 60th anniversary this July.

“The pre-school was opened in 1963 by a group of local mums at All Saints Church in Woodford Wells so they could get together and their children could play with their peers… We are celebrating with a party on 8 July at the church. It is open to anyone who has been part of the pre-school community, past and present! There will be food and drink and entertainment,” said a spokesperson.

The event runs from 12 noon to 3pm (book by 3 July).

Visit swvg.co.uk/was

The 17th annual cake sale and garden party at the home of a South Woodford resident has raised £10,166, enough to pay for a day of care at Haven House Children’s Hospice.

“I am totally amazed and overwhelmed by how successful another year has been. I am very, very lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family who have put up with my anxiety over the last few weeks and helped make this happen. It was an incredible team effort,” said Michelle Vanlint of Derby Road.

Donations are still welcome.

Visit swvg.co.uk/cakes23

George Lane was partially closed and transformed into a radiant hub of activity on 18 June as residents and visitors gathered for South Woodford’s second annual summer market.

“There was a wonderful atmosphere with plenty going on. There were two magic shows, musical performances, a popular face painter and an ecological crafting stall in the Galleria… The event was a testament to the remarkable contributions of residents, businesses, schools, charities and Redbridge Council, all of whom joined forces to make this day truly memorable,” said a spokesperson for the South Woodford Society, which organised the event.

Plans are now underway to build on the success. “Looking ahead, our shared vision is to grow the summer market and Christmas lights switch-on event, transforming them into annual fixtures on our local community calendar.”

Visit swvg.co.uk/sws

Local councillors are continuing to push for a new Post Office in South Woodford.

“We remain in a positive dialogue with the Post Office. Matters are moving forward, and as soon as we are in a position to provide further details we will do so,” said Councillor Joe Hehir.

The George Lane Post Office closed in 2021, and the subsequent temporary Post Office in The Galleria closed the following year following a number of robberies.

South Woodford pianist, composer and sound designer Giusto Di Lallo invites you to join him for a local concert next month, when he will be performing the Piano Etudes by Philip Glass

Philip Glass (Baltimore, 1937) is widely known as one of the most celebrated, influential and prolific of the modern composers. He is frequently referred to as a minimalist, though he prefers to call himself a composer of “music with repetitive structures”. He has written many operas, symphonies, chamber music, musical theatre works and film scores.

The Piano Etudes were composed between 1991 and 2012,  largely in response to Glass’ need for repertoire of his solo piano concerts. They are therefore closely linked to Glass both as composer and performer. For almost two decades he was the only person who performed this music.

Glass himself remarked that this work had a twin objective, “to explore a variety of tempi, textures and piano techniques and at the same time to serve as a pedagogical tool by which I would improve my piano playing”.

The unique style and the quirks of Glass’s harmonic languages are instantly recognisable in each of the 20 Etudes; indeed, he has described them as self-portraits of sorts.

Since their publication in December 2014, the Etudes have been enthusiastically embraced by pianists around the world and they have taken their place as modern classics of the literature, bringing their unique soundworlds to new audiences.

I started my music studies at the age of four and from 1994 to 2012 I studied at the Conservatorio “Lorenzo Perosi” achieving the Master degree in Piano (2003) and the Master degree in Composition (2012).

My professional career started in 1996 and to date I have performed over 1,800 concerts, both as soloist and accompanist in various projects of different music styles, from classical to experimental music.

I also compose music for screen, ballet and theatre, direct multimedia shows and provide live soundtrack for art galleries and for audio-visual projects.

The performance will take place at St Mary’s Church in South Woodford on 2 July, from 3pm to 4.30pm.

Tickets: £12 (Early bird), £15 (Standard Ticket)

giustodilallo.eventbrite.co.uk

Residents are invited to celebrate Ukrainian culture at a concert in South Woodford this week

Following the weekend celebrating the Day of Kyiv in Ukraine (28 May), you are invited to a charitable concert offering a glimpse at the richness of the Ukrainian culture. Three incredibly gifted Ukrainian musicians – Iryna Rodionova (vocal, bandura), Luka Stepanyak (violin) and Nazar Voronov (piano) – will take the audience on an artistic journey and a musical walk through the country which is now fighting for its freedom.

In addition, with their performance, the musicians also wish to take an opportunity to express their gratitude to the British people for showing their overwhelming support and kindness to those in need of help and shelter. Two of the musicians have been recently displaced; they fled the war and are currently living in London.

The special programme will feature compositions by the jewels of the Ukrainian musical tradition including Bashtan, Starytsky, and Skoryk, as well as an iconic “My Kyiv” by Shamo and a 100 year old song “Chervona Kalyna” (The red viburnum) which is enjoying a renewed popularity in Ukraine especially since the Russian war broke out in 2014.

Kyiv Day, or officially the Day of Kyiv, is a holiday in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv that is usually celebrated in the last Sunday of May. Traditionally, the celebration features activities and festive events such as street and outdoor performances, cultural exhibitions, sporting activities, fashion shows, and music concerts. In peaceful times there used to be a firework show in the evening. Bandura Musical Instrument The bandura is the instrument that best embodies the voice and soul of Ukraine, and is considered by many to be the national instrument of Ukraine. From a musical perspective, the bandura unifies acoustic principles of both the lute and the harp. This produces a sound that is emphatic and gentle, resembling that of a harpsichord, but with a wide range of dynamics and tonal control. The bandura’s development closely reflects the history of the Ukrainian nation, dating back hundreds of centuries. Historically, the bandura was developed from kobza and played by blind minstrels who travelled from village to village singing epic ballads and historical songs, the singers were known as kobzars. It has 32-55 strings. Over centuries, the bandura has remained remarkably stable for the past 300 years both in its appearance and sound.

The concert will take place at St. Mary’s Church in South Woodford on 1 June from 7pm. Click here for tickets.

 ALL PROCEEDS TO BRITISH-UKRAINIAN AID