Redbridge Council’s Community Crowdfunding programme will be hosting an online workshop on 14 July (4pm to 5pm).
“The second round will open soon for local community groups to bid for projects that vary in scale from under £1,000 for smaller projects, up to £20,000 for larger projects. If you have a project idea and are eager to find out how to get involved, please sign up for the next workshop,” said a spokesperson.
Visit swvg.co.uk/ccfund
©Amanda WhittleAs I write this, I am still buzzing from the excitement of our recent exhibition Through the Artists’ Eye, hosted by Packfords Hotel at the beginning of June. We had over 160 visitors who enjoyed our eclectic mix of styles and mediums. There was something for everyone to enjoy: sculpture, mosaic, photography, painting and original prints.
Held in the hotel’s light-filled conservatory, the weather – apart from one day – was gloriously sunny, giving our visitors an added bonus of enjoying refreshments in the shady garden. We were pleased to have the opportunity to show our work in such an enjoyable environment and chat to local visitors.
I have been making mosaics for over 20 years, and hopefully, improving my skills and developing my ideas. I work with traditional tiles and glass, as well as vintage china and found objects. I enjoy using vintage china in my mosaics but it is increasingly difficult to source, and once used it’s impossible to replace, so my mosaics are unique in that sense.
There are many artists (both past and present) who use broken china and found objects in their work. I have been lucky enough to visit Niki de Saint Phalle’s fantasy sculpture park, The Tarot Garden, in Tuscany, Italy as well as Antoni Gaudi’s Guell Park in Barcelona, Spain. Both are just amazing in their scale, detail and imaginative use of materials; both leaving a lasting impression and an experience I hope never to forget.
Whilst my work is often decorative, it also tells a story. Would you Adam and Eve it? (inset image) explores current issues around gender, our perceptions and expectations based on our own experiences, as well as our cultural heritage and education, while Hundertwasser is my Hero (main image) is a commission piece where the client wanted a second mosaic to complement an earlier one. I couldn’t copy the first piece but took elements from it in terms of design and materials used. My inspiration was Hundertwasser, a Viennese artist working from the 1950s to the 1990s, whose incredibly imaginative work I constantly return to.
The older I become, the more I realise I have to learn, and there are so many more incredible mosaic creations to encounter and enjoy.
For more information on Woodford Arts Group and its members’ work, visit woodfordartsgroup.org
Alexandra RoadA total of 18 new electric vehicle charging points have been installed across Wanstead and South Woodford, adding to the 13 already in place.
“The move is designed to encourage the wider use of electric vehicles to help reduce levels of air pollution in the capital and reduce the borough’s carbon footprint,” said a Redbridge Council spokesperson.
A community electric charging hub has also been installed in the Mulberry Way car park in South Woodford.
Visit swvg.co.uk/evcharge
©Geoff WilkinsonThe future of the former bowls club in Elmhurst Gardens has been decided after the initial tender process was reopened.
“This has been awarded to kGems Day Nursery and the pavilion will be a nursery, but they will also provide a kiosk café for park users and the local community,” said a spokesperson for Vision RCL.
The South Woodford Society will be holding its AGM on 28 July from 6.30pm.
“We are hoping to be able to hold the event face to face, restrictions pending, but please check our website for details after the next government announcement,” said a spokesperson for the community group, which was formed in 2015 and now consists of over 500 members.
One of the group’s aims is to create a local Neighbourhood Plan.
Visit swvg.co.uk/sws
Redbridge Council’s School Streets scheme is to be introduced at five more schools across the borough, including Oakdale Infant and Junior Schools in South Woodford.
It means that during term time, traffic will be prohibited from entering Oakdale Road and parts of Ashford Road and Woodville Road from 8.15am to 9.10am and from 2.35pm to 3.40pm. Signs will notify drivers that these roads can only be accessed by cyclists and pedestrians at the displayed times, unless vehicles have an exemption.
Cameras will be installed over the summer to assess traffic flow, and enforcement will start from September.
“These new School Streets will provide a safer and cleaner environment for our children,” said Councillor Jo Blackman, Cabinet Member for Environment and Civic Pride.
Visit swvg.co.uk/schoolstreets
A consultation over plans to update the parliamentary constituency boundaries in England – which includes a change for many local residents – runs until 2 August.
Under proposals put forward by the Boundary Commission, the entirety of the South Woodford ward will be added to the Leyton and Wanstead constituency. Additionally, Bridge and the parts of Churchfields currently in Ilford North will move to the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency.
Visit swvg.co.uk/boundary
Litter pickers from the South Woodford Society collected over 30 bags of rubbish and recycling on 30 May.
“A special thanks to Ella the pug, who was very helpful at keeping up morale on a very warm day,” said a spokesperson for the group. The next litter pick will take place on 1 August, from 10am to 12.30pm, meeting at the community orchard on the corner of Mulberry Way and Primrose Road. “If you’d like to come along, or for more information on what we do, please get in touch.”
Email e18society@gmail.com
The founder of Walk It Out – a new project empowering women in Redbridge – is seeking a mentor from the Woodford area to host local walks and to offer support to young females.
“I am looking for someone to commit to one hour a week, so if there are women who live local to a park and are passionate about supporting and making positive changes in their area, do get in touch,” said April Mehmet.
The group currently hosts walks in Wanstead Park and other locations across the borough.
Photo by Stephan C Archetti/Keystone Features/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesSouth Woodford’s Electric Gallery – located at 12 High Road – has become the exclusive partner for Getty Images in east London and Essex, providing access to a large collection of iconic photography.
“We are delighted to be working with Getty. I’ve admired and collected works from their photographers over the years and it’s thrilling to see their images on the walls,” said gallery founder Jai Francois.
An exhibition of acclaimed photographers – including Michael Ochs, photographer to the Hollywood elite – runs until 17 July.
The ‘park and stride’ scheme is cutting congestion along ChurchfieldsChildren’s safety is something I care about passionately, be it in the home, at play or in the classroom. Some threats are all too obvious, while others are invisible. And both are encountered at the school gates.
The visible threat of cars and other vehicles disproportionately affects child pedestrians under the age of 16 with – nationally – one death and 37 seriously injured every week. Meanwhile, the invisible threat of pollutants from motor vehicles, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulates, can result in asthma, poor lung development and – over time – even death. It is estimated that 29,000 people die as a result of air pollution every year in the UK. And the threat outside school gates, with busy traffic and idling engines at drop-off and pick-up times, is particularly severe.
That is why I met with Rebecca Emeny, the headteacher at Churchfields Junior School, where I’m a governor, and council officers last November to discuss options for reducing school-gate traffic there. Unfortunately, due to the local street layout, it was not thought feasible to close the road outside the school during busy drop-off and pick-up times, so other options had to be sought. The council has since increased parking enforcement near the school, and an innovative ‘park and stride’ scheme, which I believe is the first in Redbridge, came into operation at the start of the summer term.
“Instead of parking on Churchfields, we have been asking parents that drive their children to school to ‘park and stride’ from the Derby Road car park (behind Tesco, on the High Road). This is just a five-minute walk from the school. This summer term, the council’s parking team has agreed free parking for our parents during the morning drop from 8.15am to 9.15am, and at afternoon collection from 3pm to 4pm,” explained Rebecca Emeny.
Taking advantage of the ‘park and stride’ scheme has several benefits. It creates a car-free zone outside the school gates, making it a safer environment for children and families arriving and leaving. It also provides the opportunity to practice essential road safety skills with your child on the short walk; and it allows parent drivers to avoid – and reduce – congestion along Churchfields.
Redbridge School Streets are being rolled out across the borough. These ban traffic at schools’ start and finish times. Where there are practical problems with the implementation of these – as there were at Churchfields – I would like to see the council innovate with measures such as ‘park and stride’ to reduce pollution for everyone outside the school gates, and to increase children’s daily exercise during the final stride to school.
To contact Councillor Rosa Gomez, email rosa.gomez@redbridge.gov.uk or call 07799 057 030
Redbridge in Bloom – the borough’s annual amateur gardening competition – returns this year with a rainbow theme.
“Whatever your level of gardening expertise, help us spread a message of love in support of the NHS by creating your very own rainbow garden. Fill your front gardens with flowers bursting with all the colours of the rainbow,” said a spokesperson for Vision RCL, which organises the competition. The closing date for entries is 5 July, with judging to take place between 12 and 16 July.
Visit swvg.co.uk/bloom21
