Editor

One of South Woodford’s most senior residents, master craftswoman Wendy Lawson, is surrounded in her home by beautiful examples of her own handiwork. Bernice Butcher meets a woman of many talents

Years ago, ‘make do and mend’ was a practical necessity for many people, especially in wartime. It’s interesting to see those creative skills, such as sewing, coming back into fashion, as people begin to appreciate the contribution that recycling and ‘upcycling’ make to a less wasteful and healthier world.

Almost everything sewn in Wendy Lawson’s home has been made by her. The quilts, in particular, are stunning, but Wendy’s achievements also include furniture making, gilding, drawing, painting and photography.

Born in 1928, Wendy attended boarding school during World War Two. Her father was a senior officer in the RAF and had to move around the country. Wendy’s mother travelled with him, volunteering in the WVS (now WRVS), driving ambulances and other heavy military vehicles, often without headlights. Wendy enjoyed boarding school, where her interest in needlework was encouraged. Its foundation was in her family background, however. “Mother was an excellent seamstress and made several garments out of parachute silks.”

Her father was also good with a needle and made various tapestries. His uncle was Sir James Hawkey (of Hawkey Hall fame) and the family had a house built on the Monkhams Estate. “I remember that the opposite side of the road to our house was forest – no houses at all,” recalls Wendy.

Following a short period at the Bank of England (where she was shown the gold reserves!), Wendy joined the Royal Navy and then the Merchant Navy, where she met her husband Ashley, a civil engineer. She organised activities for passengers’ children and still loves to be around young people.

After leaving the Merchant Navy, Wendy attended the London College of Furniture where she studied furniture restoration, making a pair of chairs and a writing desk, both of which daughter Charlotte is the proud custodian. Charlotte recalls a family project on her brother Jolyon’s car. Wendy went to Connolly’s Leather Yard, then in the East End, to choose the hides for the car seats and roof, which she then upholstered.

Wood carving and upholstery led to soft furnishings, which eventually became her chosen field. Encouraged to teach, she eventually took over her tutor’s classes when she retired. Patchwork and quilting were a natural progression, and she later developed City and Guilds courses in this and other sewing crafts at Loughton College. Wendy’s quilts have been featured in shows in America and the UK.

These days, Wendy takes pleasure in her garden – and is still sewing at 93. “Sewing has always been an enormous part of my life, giving me great satisfaction and comfort.”

Vision RCL has issued a statement following the selection of kGems Day Nursery as the new operators of the former bowls club site in Elmhurst Gardens:

“At this stage, the process has been concluded, and kGems will be providing a nursery and a café. They will also be hiring out the outdoor space at weekends. They are committed to working with the community and will meet with the Friends of Elmhurst Gardens to look at how they can work together, including committing £1,000 per year to fund community activities.”

Campaigners seeking to overturn the decision to award the former Elmhurst Gardens bowls club site to a private nursery held a protest picnic in the park in August.

“It was fantastic to see over 100 people coming together to show how much they appreciate and love this park and talk about how good it would be to have a dedicated community space and café here,” said Kerry Oliver.

A petition – which has received over 1,500 signatures – is due to be debated at a Redbridge Council meeting on 23 September.

Visit swvg.co.uk/egpetition

A petition calling for speeding controls and safer pavements on Hermon Hill has been sent to John Cryer MP.

“Our council have not acted on individual complaints, so I am hoping with this we can show the collective will of residents and those who use the road to demand action from Redbridge Council,” said Lloyd Sampson, whose petition has received over 275 signatures.

Speed measuring devices are due to be reinstalled in September after the last monitoring period clashed with roadworks.

Visit swvg.co.uk/hermonhill

English longhorns returned to Wanstead Park in August to graze until the beginning of September.

“These mowing machines perform a good job at grazing the area selectively, which is uneven due to anthills. They also eat tougher plant life, which prevents the area from becoming too overgrown and allows more diverse flora to establish. And their dung is home to a wide variety of beetle and fly larvae, which provides food for birds. So, their presence is of great benefit to the ecosystem,” said volunteer cow warden Karen Humpage.

Redbridge Council is giving away 50,000 spring-flowering bulbs in the return of its Big Bulb Giveaway.

“Since its launch three years ago, the much-loved initiative has continued to flourish, and we are giving away an extra 10,000 bulbs this year. Community groups, residents and schools can request the bulbs by completing an online form by 20 September,” said a spokesperson.

The giveaway will be followed by its partner event, The Big Planting Weekend, taking place between 15 and 17 October.

Visit swvg.co.uk/bbg

New recycling bins have been put in place at Sainsbury’s on George Lane.

“We recently replaced the recycling bins at our South Woodford store and customers can now recycle paper, card, mixed cans, mixed glass and plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, as well as an Oxfam clothing bank,” said a spokesperson.

The previous recycling facilities were removed earlier this year.

The return has been welcomed given Redbridge Council’s kerbside recycling collections do not accept some plastic items.

Visit swvg.co.uk/plastic

A Food and Fun Day will mark the return of community events at St Mary’s Church on 11 September (10am to 3.30pm).

“The event will take place mainly outside on the drive and lawn, with everyone welcome,” said the church’s new rector Elizabeth Lowson.

Alongside the stalls and activities, attendees will also have the chance to experience the view from the church tower, and a craft market will take place in the adjacent Memorial Hall.

“This is an opportunity to once again sit and chat through the day with friends.”

Redbridge Council’s Local Forum for residents in the west of the borough will take place this evening (28 July, from 7pm).

“Residents who live or work in Monkhams, Bridge, Churchfields, South Woodford, Wanstead Village and Wanstead Park areas are invited to discuss any issues or concerns they may have,” said a spokesperson.

The Ashton playing fields, Wanstead’s swimming pool, wheelie bins and tackling crime are some of the topics which will be discussed during the online event.

Leader of the council, Councillor Jas Athwal, will open the event with a presentation on what’s happening locally, and will also take questions from the audience.

To join the event, click here.

Some South Woodford scribbles from DD, our resident diarist, commentator and observer of all things local

I have often written about memory. About memories as well, of course, but also about the faculty of memory itself. The gift of being able to recall and almost relive an experience. One of my readers has shared a memory with me. She tells me she absolutely loves living in South Woodford, and although her children left home some years ago, she has no intention of moving. I think we have much in common.

This is what she wrote: “I was pottering around in the front garden one spring afternoon when two older ladies slowly pulled over in their car outside my house. The driver (who turned out to be the daughter of the even older lady, now in her mid-90s) got out and tentatively asked if I had lived here long, as it had once been the childhood home of her mum. Oh, I had to ask them both in! They were both thrilled to be asked to do so. She admitted she remembered nothing of the interior of the house, except the steps down into the ‘morning room’ and kitchen. However, when she stepped into the back garden, her eyes filled with tears as she looked up at the massive pear tree in full blossom. ‘My dad planted that as a sapling when I was a little girl,’ she said.”

This story reminded me of an occasion when I couldn’t resist knocking on the door of the house where I spent my early childhood. It’s in Hillside Avenue, ‘below the line’ in Woodford. My sister was with me so I expect she egged me on. We weren’t invited in. Other guests were expected. But we did chat on the doorstep. It still looked exactly as it appears in a photograph of me and my brother, standing on it and proudly wearing our primary school uniform.

In a way, we are all making and storing up memories now. For most of us, I suspect, this is a unique period in our lives. We will retain vivid memories of our Covid-19 experience. We will say: “Yes, we were there. We stayed strictly indoors.” “Nothing special in that!” our great-grandchildren might say. Until they understand that this continued for many months and all holidays had to be cancelled. We observed social distancing. We wore masks and formed ‘bubbles’. We sanitised our hands and wore protective gloves. And we waited. What were we waiting for? Most of all, I suppose, it was for the restoration of what we previously recognised as ‘normality’. But meanwhile, we waited for the ‘R number’ to come down, once we’d grasped – I think – what the implications of it were. We waited to receive the invitation to be vaccinated. (One day, one of my neighbours called out to me from the pavement as she hurried past: “I feel like I’ve won the pools! I’m off to the Hawkey Hall for my first jab!”) We waited to feel secure enough to dare to go shopping, to ride on a bus and on the Underground. We waited for the glorious red-letter day when we would be able to meet and hug each other again.

Meanwhile, we developed coping strategies like my (frankly rather amazing) reader with the pear tree. Read how she has been confronting the virus: “Despite being retired, I have never once felt bored or listless. I walk every morning for an hour or so, come rain or shine. I’ve explored the River Roding, going further afield through that hinterland area beside the M11 and A406 which leads to Claybury Park. (How is it that the tower dominates the landscape, yet once you’re in the woods, you can’t get a glimpse of it close up?!) I walk regularly to Gilbert’s Slade, tucked in that wedge of forest land between Waterworks roundabout and Hollow Ponds – what a sanctuary. Or on rainy days, a brisk walk up to Wanstead and around the backstreets keeps me occupied. I do all my exercise classes, previously held at The City Lit or Mary Ward Centre, via Zoom. Yoga and Pilates work well, but Zumba isn’t quite the same! Our book club, usually based at Tim’s Creative Biscuit cafe in George Lane, still meets monthly via Zoom. We’ve recently started community gardening again on the bridge beds and in George Lane. I’m booked to open my garden again for the National Garden Scheme in mid-July, so I’m busy propagating seeds at present. Anyway, here’s wishing you well and I look forward to retaining many aspects of my lockdown routine once we move back to a more open society.”

I wonder: What will this “more open society” be like? Has Covid changed us? Have our neighbourhoods been quietly growing closer through our collective clapping and our universal expressions of “Thank you to the NHS”? Plenty of houses near me have “Thank you, postman” in the front window. Plenty of strangers call out: “Keep well!” as you pass. Our next-door neighbour expressed disappointment when we said we could manage better now with the confidence that the double jab had instilled. “But I really enjoyed getting your texts with the shopping lists and dropping the bags in your porch.” I steer clear of politics and I’m not making a political point, but didn’t Mrs T famously claim that “there’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first”? The experience of the last few months doesn’t seem to support this view.

The paradox at the heart of the pandemic is that the government agenda designed to keep people at a distance from each other and reduce communication may well have strengthened ties in the community and shone a bright light on the things that really matter and make life worthwhile and on the key people who really keep the ship afloat. We need handshakes and hugs; elbows are not enough.

The latest stamp duty holiday is over, meaning buyers need to be aware of the implications to their chain and mortgage offer, says Derek Inkpin from local solicitors Wiseman Lee

All good things, as we know, come to an end. The amount of financial help given by the government since March 2020 in the relaxation of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) rules has been considerable and with it, a knock-on effect on price increases. Gazumping has reappeared in some cases. But the SDLT holiday ended on 30 June.

With effect from 1 July 2021, the £500,000 threshold for UK main residence property reduces to £250,000 until 30 September 2021, and then from 1 October 2021, the threshold reverts to its previous level of £125,000. If you are buying an additional property, whether as a buy-to-let or a second home, a 3% surcharge applies to the current SDLT regime.

Whether you can still make an SDLT saving up to 30 September 2021 depends on the chain. A short chain of transactions should mean exchange of contracts and completion by 30 September, but unless as a buyer you are aware of these changing rules, don’t forget that an increase to SDLT could take you beyond your budget. Even if as a buyer you are financially OK to proceed, it is worth checking that the other buyers in the chain have the funds to pay the new SDLT rate due up to 30 September and, of course, even worse, if completion takes place after 1 October.

Another point worth checking is the fine print of your mortgage offer and whether the lender has imposed a condition that the purchase can only proceed providing the SDLT concession is still available.

In areas where there are significant delays in obtaining searches, it might be possible to obtain a personal search or, at additional cost, search delay insurance. However, in each case, it will be necessary to check with the lender whether either of these measures is acceptable because if not, the delay in exchanging and then completing after September will likely upset the SDLT apple cart.

Change of subject – for many years, people selling properties subject to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) could report their CGT gains and pay their tax in the next financial year. Not so now – from 6 April 2020 in the sale of taxable residential properties, CGT tax returns and the payment due must be made within 30 days after completion of the sale. Do this late and you will become liable for interest on late payment and possibly HMRC penalties.

Finally, a new Ground Rent Reform bill is proceeding through Parliament. The aim is to stop onerous and rising ground rents from affecting future long leaseholds. The scandal of doubling ground rents every few years needs to be resolved urgently. Hopefully, this will become law in 2023.

Wiseman Lee is located at 9–13 Cambridge Park, Wanstead, E11 2PU. For more information, call 020 8215 1000

Trinity Catholic High School pupil Nate Harding has become an Energy Envoy for the National Energy Foundation. Here, the 14-year-old explains why, and introduces the awareness poster he created

My name is Nate Harding and I live in South Woodford. Just after starting Year 9, I signed up to do the Duke of Edinburgh award. I was really looking forward to doing this; however, there was the tiny issue of a second lockdown just after I began.

The Duke of Edinburgh scheme had already begun adapting to the many issues that lockdown brought, gathering together various schemes you could still take part in, even remotely.

One of these schemes was the opportunity to become an Energy Envoy for the National Energy Foundation. This idea really appealed to me as I have been interested in issues such as climate change and energy consumption for some time. I regularly remind everyone at home to be more energy efficient by turning off lights and switching off devices not in use.

To become an Energy Envoy I had to commit to spending an hour or two a week over a three-month period completing learning modules and undertaking an awareness campaign. For part of this, I had to create and launch a poster, highlighting an aspect of what I had learnt. I chose to do ‘energy awareness’ and concentrated on looking into small energy-saving actions that everyone could do at home.

I wanted to highlight ideas ranging from the smallest and cheapest of solutions through to some longer-term investments, like insulation. Part of my campaign was to demonstrate not only the energy savings but also the financial ones too. Did you know that just turning down your thermostat by 1°C could save you up to 10% off your annual heating bill (between the 18°C–21°C range)?

After creating my poster, I used my parents’ social media accounts to highlight what I had been working on. Part of being an Energy Envoy is to raise awareness in your local community and to report back on how your campaign has been received.

One of the ways I also used social media was to ask my mum to place my poster on our street WhatsApp group. We live on a long road in South Woodford and have many neighbours. This was well received, with one of our neighbours even sending through further information for me to read up on.

It’s been great to get involved in this scheme for the National Energy Foundation and also incredibly useful that they have created something that anyone can get on board with – even during a pandemic.

I intend to keep going with my efforts at home as climate change and energy issues are a huge challenge to the world we live in, a world we all want to keep on enjoying.

Click here to download Nate’s poster

For more information about the Energy Envoy scheme, visit swvg.co.uk/energy