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A table tennis table will be installed in Elmhurst Gardens this spring.

It follows a successful crowdfunding campaign, which raised £4,103, including £2,076 from Redbridge Council’s Community Crowdfunding Programme.

“We would like to say a huge thank you to all who supported this fundraiser and give a special mention to KidsOwn nursery, who generously donated £1,000. It feels like a real community effort to add a new resource to our park,” said a spokesperson for Elmhurst Playground Association.

An application to build a four-storey block of flats with access to Crescent Road in South Woodford has been withdrawn following confusion over ownership of part of the site.

A new application cannot be submitted until attempts are made to identify who owns the land.

Over 100 objections were made to the original planning application, and a campaign group of residents are hoping the applicants will now abandon their plans.

It has been a busy few months for the South Woodford Pathfinder Group as they continue to work towards producing a local design code. Pearl Arbenser-Simmonds reports

A design code is a collection of design principles to help local areas deliver beautiful and sustainable places. It enables the community to lead the way in shaping the design of their own neighbourhood. The document will provide guidance for development, covering the design of streets, public spaces and buildings, as well as spaces for nature. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in our survey, walking tours, focus groups and interviews. It was also great to meet you and hear your thoughts at our stall at the monthly South Woodford market. There were some very interesting outcomes. Our report is available to read in its entirety online, but the top three priorities identified by you were:

• Deficiency of (active) green space.
• Improvements to the quality of public space.
• A lack of key amenities.

Over the next few weeks, we will be engaging an architectural consultancy firm who will help us deliver a draft design code. We will present that for consultation, inviting comments and engagement before finalising it towards the end of March or April 2023. We will also have a stall at the George Lane market on 22 January (11am to 4pm), so do please stop by and have a chat.

We have spent some more time updating the South Woodford Design Code website to make it even more interactive and easier to use. Your input is crucial throughout this process! Let us know what you think about the various options and designs and have some fun identifying areas you think could be improved. We do hope you will enjoy the changes to the site. It will be constantly updated so you can keep track of progress, as well as contribute to the draft code.

Time will not permit us to run another survey, so the website will be our main consultation tool, and will allow the draft code to evolve quite rapidly in line with any comments and suggestions submitted.  

Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate, engage and support the work to ensure the design code truly represents the needs and vision of our community. A special thanks to Waitrose, who very generously donated gift vouchers for our interviewees as well as a cheque for £1,000 to help with the various regreening initiatives being carried out by the South Woodford Society. Thanks also to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for their support and guidance, and to Tally Lucas Associates for offering their space to host our discussions.

To read the South Woodford Design Code consultation report, visit swvg.co.uk/dccr

For more information, visit swvg.co.uk/dc

Local gardening group Woodford Greeners has successfully managed to raise more than £6,000 to build a brand-new community garden in Ray Park. The group’s co-founder Lydia Fraser-Ward reports

Within Ray Park there is an octagonal 18th-century walled garden, which is currently closed to the public. Inside is a wild, natural habitat, but some areas have become overgrown and this will impact on the site’s heritage value. Following a successful crowdfunding campaign, the Woodford Greeners – which is run by local resident volunteers – is now set to build a brand-new community garden on the site.

We will clear a small area of the premises currently overgrown with weeds. We then plan to put in a mains water supply as well as create a planting area for perennial flowers, which when fully grown will be moved to public planters around the Woodford Green neighbourhood, including around Ray Lodge Primary School and in front of businesses on Snakes Lane East. In addition, the funding will enable us to create a small medicinal garden and erect a timber gazebo, where we will hold regular workshops about gardening, food-growing and crafts, enabling more local people to get involved and learn new skills.

This new Ray Park Community Garden has been made possible through public donations via an online crowdfunding platform called Spacehive. Around 80 people and community groups all made contributions, including the Wanstead Community Gardeners and the 19th Woodford Brownies, amongst many others. Public donations were then match-funded by Redbridge Council through their Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy.

The Woodford Greeners also ran a very successful winter fundraising event at Ray Park Café in early December, when local residents were able to enjoy Christmas wreath-making, face painting, homemade cakes and gingerbread decorating, which raised more than £700 for the project.

We have been overwhelmed by the generosity and support of local people for this project. So many residents have told us how excited they are by the prospect of a new community space within the walled garden at Ray Park and they have really got behind the idea. We can’t wait to get started!

Our project will help to bring to life an unused area of the park and make it more accessible to the public. It also presents a wonderful volunteering opportunity for residents to come together and learn about gardening, forge friendships and be physically active outdoors.

Work to create the Ray Park Community Garden will be ongoing throughout winter and spring 2023, with a view to commencing a creative workshop programme in the summer.

For more information and to get involved, visit woodfordgreeners.uk or email woodfordgreeners@gmail.com 

Redbridge Council has launched its Women’s Safety Mission Statement.

“Over the last two years, Redbridge Council has listened to the views of women and girls… The listening exercises consisted of surveys, focus groups, safety walks and workshops, and the findings formed the basis for the Women’s Safety Mission Statement. In total, we were able to hear from over 2,500 individuals about the issue of safety for women and girls in the borough,” said a spokesperson.

Visit swvg.co.uk/wsms

One of the creators of Walks Past – a series of free, self-guided London history walks – has launched two new routes, exploring the history of Wanstead Park.

“Last summer, to mark the 300-year anniversary of Wanstead House, I ran a series of live walks on behalf of the Friends of Wanstead Parklands. These were well received, so I decided to create online versions of the routes with audio commentaries. The guides are designed to be used on a phone with internet access,” said Russell Kenny.

Visit swvg.co.uk/parkwalks

Local residents filled the Sir James Hawkey Hall in Woodford Green in November to put their questions to the Mayor of London and Members of the London Assembly.

“It was a jam-packed People’s Question Time. The hundreds of people in attendance fired questions at Sadiq Khan and the panel about issues of local importance,” said a spokesperson. Topics included transport, policing, the environment and London’s economic recovery.

A recording of the event is available online.

Visit swvg.co.uk/watchpqt

A student from Woodbridge High School finished in first place at the Elite International Karate Championships, held in Harlow in October.

Anna Shvaiuk, a Year 7 pupil, also came third in the Central England International Open in November, which is the biggest karate tournament in England, with over 1,000 competitors from 12 different countries taking part.

“We’re very proud of Anna for kicking and punching her way to success. We’re sure there will be more trophies to come!” said a school spokesperson.

Residents gathered on George Lane in early December for the annual switching on of South Woodford’s Christmas tree lights.

“It was lovely to see so many families there. Thanks to Oakdale School choir, Brook Brass, Redbridge Music Lounge, Woodford Panto and Father Christmas! The Stow Brothers, Redbridge Council and the South Woodford Village Gazette were so generous with their support. Our marshals worked hard, and Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP gave a warm welcome,” said a South Woodford Society spokesperson.

Where are you headed to this Christmas? However you celebrate the festive season, if at all, it’s a time when many embark on journeys of significance, says Rev Abi Todd of Holy Trinity Church, South Woodford 

Whether you celebrate Christmas as a religious festival, a cultural festival, or not at all, Christmas is a time when many people move around the country to see family and friends, enjoy the bank holidays and some festive cheer. There’s something significant about the journeys we make – the destination, yes, but the journey itself as well. 

This year, we have seen the amazing outpouring of love and grief expressed in ‘the queue’ – thousands waiting and walking and waiting some more… the Queen’s lying in state eventually seemed to take second place in the media coverage. This is a prime example of the importance of journey as well as the destination. So many people had profound experiences, not only as they reached their journey’s climax, but also as they queued with others on the same pilgrimage. 

The Christmas story is also all about journeys. Joseph and the pregnant Mary travelling to Bethlehem is really how the story begins. They know the baby will be born, but the journey there is significant. The “Magi from the East” followed the star. They also followed different religious beliefs and practices but ended up following them to this new king. The shepherds, too, travelled from the hills into the town. They were Jesus’s first visitors, these humble folk, invited into something sacred because of their journey. 

It seems only a short time ago I was asking my parents from the back of the car: “Are we nearly there yet?” and now I am the one in the driver’s seat, rolling my eyes! For children, the frustration of a long journey is twofold: the time it takes and the lack of knowledge about the journey. We can often be in the same state, asking in our lives: “Are we nearly there yet?” Perhaps our journeys might be the same – the ones in the car, and the more metaphorical journeys; a journey back to health or to reconciliation with a family member. How do we deal with the frustration of undefined journeys? 

Perhaps, like Mary, we can find joy at the end of the journey, even if our destination isn’t as comfortable as we thought it might be. Perhaps like the Magi, we might set off on a totally unexpected journey, not quite knowing where we’ll end up. Perhaps like the shepherds, we can know that the message of Christmas is good news for all people and yet found in an unexpected package. Perhaps, as the Queen said in her final Christmas Day speech, we might find that if we journey to see Jesus, we can say to him: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.” 

Wherever you spend Christmas this year, and whoever it’s with, I hope you have a blessed and joyful time and that you can reflect on your own Christmas journey. What’s at its end and what are you discovering on the way?

To contact Reverend Abi Todd, email abi.todd@htsw.org.uk

The Woodford Greeners will be hosting a festive fundraising event in Ray Park on 3 December.

“To help raise funds for the Ray Park Community Garden inside the Walled Garden, we are planning lots of festive fun activities. Including Christmas wreath making for grown ups, lots of other handmade crafts, items donated by local artisans, face painting, cake and seasonal cheer to get everyone in the Christmas spirit'” said a spokesperson.

The event will take place from 11am to 1pm at the Ray Park Cafe.

If you would like to donate and help the group’s community garden project inside the parks 18th-century Walled Garden, click here.