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South Woodford artist Sharon Quinton explains her journey from office work to a whole new world of creativity, community and craft

I am a self-taught artist living in South Woodford. In 2022, after spending over 40 years in various administration and managerial roles, I left behind that career to pursue my passion for art and crafts full-time.

I take inspiration from a variety of sources, including various social media platforms, popular fiction, fantasy and nature.

When something I see particularly piques my interest, I use the skills and experience I’ve gained over the years as both a hobbyist and in a semi-professional capacity to create something brand new. This allows me to explore different mediums, creating artwork that invokes interest and intrigue in others, with my own personal flair.

I have been able to creatively curate various immersive, themed events for birthdays, weddings and other gatherings, providing everything from decor to props and costumes. Examples of my work include two life-sized trees that currently reside in the classrooms of a school in Romford, various Victorian bonnets and festival hats that were commissioned pieces and some costume accessories for an aerial artist.

Additionally, I took on a role as creative designer for Chilled in a Field, a small family festival, working alongside the production and decor team. This involved creating immersive concepts, putting together storyboards for specific public areas and managing several volunteer workshops making sets, backdrops and props. I will always be grateful to the festival for giving me the opportunity to explore different artistic avenues and for the positive impact it had on working with other like-minded people. Sadly, however, the pandemic brought an end to the festival and so I sought new ways to be creative, express my inner visions and keep producing artworks that are both inclusive and thought-provoking. Being part of a group of creative people was pivotal and I wanted to find an art group that was local. And just like that, Art Group Wanstead appeared in one of my newsfeeds. Algorithms can be useful sometimes!

I joined the group in February 2024 and went straight on to do my first exhibition. The art group members are lovely. There’s lots of knowledge, support and guidance within the group.

Recently, I have been experimenting with acrylic paint, creating contemporary, three-dimensional pieces of artwork – like the one shown here – using die-cast models from Star Trek’s Deep Space Nine series. I used specific models – a Nightingale, a Swarm Ship and a Bird of Prey – that tied in with a Winged Wonders-themed exhibition at Wanstead Library in December.

Every piece of art I create is an original and although inspiration can be drawn from other works, both my own and from others, no two pieces are the same.

To view more of Sharon’s artwork, visit swvg.co.uk/quinton. For more information, email SQArt13@gmail.com

To celebrate the reopening of Notre-Dame, Valentine Singers invite you to join them for a day of singing in South Woodford as they prepare for a concert inspired by the cathedral. Oliver Mason reports

On 15 April 2019, Parisians looked on in horror as the roof of the cathedral of Notre-Dame was consumed by fire, and the famous flèche collapsed and crashed through the ceiling of the nave. The damage to the cathedral was extensive and regarded as a cultural disaster across France and the wider world.

Immediately after the fire, President Macron promised that Notre-Dame would be restored, and called for the work to be completed within five years. An international architectural competition was announced to redesign the flèche and roof. The work has now been completed, and the cathedral reopened in December.

To celebrate the reopening, Valentine Singers, with organist Jonathan Dods, will perform two works for choir and organ, which have close links with Notre-Dame: Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle and David Briggs’ Messe pour Notre-Dame. The concert will take place at St Gabriel’s Church in Aldersbrook on 15 March. But before this, on 18 January, we are holding an all-day open workshop, where we will be exploring and singing one of the works, the Messe Solennelle. This will take place at St Mary’s Church in South Woodford and anyone who enjoys choral singing – or would like to sample the experience of singing with a large chorus – is invited to join us (observers are also welcome). The day will be led by the choir’s musical director, Christine Gwynn, with pianist Tim Smith. 

Vierne composed his rich and thrilling Messe Solennelle in 1899, setting the mass text, minus credo, for choir and two organs. For practical reasons, arrangements of the mass for choir and one organ have since been published. The mass was premiered in 1900 at Saint-Sulpice, in Paris, with Widor and Vierne playing the glorious organ parts. By this time, Vierne had become organist of Notre-Dame, where he remained in post until his death in 1937. 

David Briggs studied with Jean Langlais in Paris and was profoundly influenced by the playing of Pierre Cochereau, organist titulaire at Notre-Dame (1955–1984). Briggs’ Messe pour Notre-Dame features four movements – the Introït, Offertoire, Élévation and Sortie. This is a mass with a difference: not only does it have four interpolated organ improvisations as part and parcel of the setting, but also the composer estimates that 15% of the scored material is ‘sampled’ from organ improvisations by Cochereau. 

Valentine Singers is a friendly choir based in Ilford. We relish the challenge of singing a wide range of choral music and we are proud to bring high-quality music to Redbridge for the local community to enjoy.

Valentine Singers will hold an all-day open workshop at St Mary’s Church, South Woodford on 18 January from 10.30am to 4.30pm (tickets: £25). For more information, call 020 8504 1261 or visit valentinesingers.org

A new series of monthly music recitals will launch at Holy Trinity Church on Hermon Hill this January.

“Our first Music on the Hill event will feature soprano Meliza Metzger and pianist Blanca Rodriguez, who will be performing a varied programme of opera arias, West End musical favourites and Latin love songs,” said a church spokesperson.

The event will take place on 24 January, with doors opening at 6.30pm for an hour of socialising before the performance (bar available; tickets: £10; under-18s: £8).

Visit htsw.org.uk 

There was much excitement about recent sightings of otters in the River Roding. It was particularly astonishing given the state of the river, but is a reassuring sign of nature’s resilience, says Councillor Jo Blackman

The River Roding and its tributaries are critical features of Redbridge’s environment and a vital haven for a range of wildlife and biodiversity. They are also valued by residents and form a distinctive part of Wanstead Park and Roding Valley Park, as well as plans for the Ilford Arrival scheme, a Greater London Authority part-funded programme to open up access to the Roding near Ilford, and wider regeneration.

Sadly, the River Roding has suffered similar challenges to other waterways across the country and has some of the highest number of sewage discharges in London, after the Thames. Information on permitted sewage outfalls is now made publicly available on the Thames Water website. 

Recent testing undertaken by Thames21 and the River Roding Trust in collaboration with local citizen scientists shows levels of E. coli and intestinal enterococci bacteria regularly exceeded safe limits during dry weather conditions (sometimes by a factor of over 20). These results are likely evidence of Thames Water spilling untreated sewage in addition to the outfalls authorised by the Environment Agency. Thanks to the work of the River Roding Trust, we are aware of at least two unpermitted sewage outfalls (located on the Aldersbrook and at Little Ilford). Further work is needed by Thames Water to identify any other unknown outfalls in the Roding. 

Thames Water and Environment Agency officials recently appeared in front of the Redbridge Council’s External Scrutiny Committee, chaired by Wanstead Village Councillor Daniel Morgan-Thomas. The real special guest at the committee was the Roding itself. Paul Powlesland from the River Roding Trust brought a container of water from the Roding with him – a powerful reminder that we need to ensure all agencies are acting in the best interests of the river, which has too often been neglected.

Whilst some progress has been made by Thames Water, officials at the meeting were unable to provide the committee with much detail, nor was the Environment Agency able to tell us if they had taken any action against Thames Water for the pollution of the Roding. I have therefore joined forces with Calvin Bailey MP, Chairman of the Epping Forest and Commons Committee Ben Murphy and Redbridge Council Leader Kam Rai in a letter to Thames Water and the Environment Agency demanding urgent action in the interests of the environment, public health and our residents. 

If we want the otters and other wildlife to thrive in the Roding, we need Thames Water and the Environment Agency to step up and take action to address the sewage scandal.

Jo Blackman is a Labour councillor for Wanstead Village and Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability. Visit wnstd.com/blackman

Acting Inspector Reshma Sher shares how local Safer Neighbourhoods Teams are addressing South Woodford’s crime issues and encourages residents to help make a difference

Hello everyone. My name is Reshma Sher and I am currently the Acting Inspector for the Safer Neighbourhoods Teams (SNT). I cover North Redbridge. I am based at Barkingside Police Station, where I oversee neighbourhood policing for South Woodford, Churchfields and nine other surrounding wards. Prior to this, I was a sergeant on SNT covering the same area, so I have a good understanding of neighbourhood policing and this is something that is so important to me.

I have been a resident in Redbridge for my whole life and I have seen and experienced issues as a resident of Redbridge as well as a police officer. I joined the Met in 2014 and I have served on a variety of teams within the East Area Command Unit.

The community is important to me and my teams. We want everyone to feel safe where they live, work, go to school or college or when they are out socialising with friends and family. Your neighbourhood teams complete reassurance patrols, community engagement events, weapon sweeps, execute warrants, tackle antisocial behaviour and take positive action in relation to any criminal incidents.

We aim to prioritise the community’s needs in all we do. I am aware concerns have been raised about motor vehicle crime and robberies taking place in South Woodford. We are carrying out plain-clothes, proactive patrols as well as providing a uniformed presence during the various times of day the crimes are being committed. The local policing team is working in partnership with other neighbourhood teams, as well as British Transport Police, Safer Transport Teams and the local authority to tackle the incidents as best as we can. 

The local team will be arranging crime prevention stalls to provide advice on stopping the theft of motor vehicles, such as using steering wheel locks combined with signal-blocking pouches. They will give advice on keeping your mobile phones safe and some tips, such as making a note of the IMEI number. They will be publishing dates on social media and the Redbridge WhatsApp channel. The local teams will also be putting their contact details in your local shops.

We also hold quarterly ward panel meetings. If you are a resident or work in the area, why not come along? You can really make a difference and have a say in what you feel should be the ward priorities to help us with our community crime fighting. Please contact your local SNT if you would like to be a part of this.

To contact South Woodford SNT, email SNTJI-South-Woodford@met.police.uk
or call 07887 626 647 

To contact Churchfields SNT, email SNTJI-Churchfields@met.police.uk
or call 07407 492 729 

To join the Redbridge WhatsApp channel, visit swvg.co.uk/rwa

South Woodford’s Repair Cafés will return in 2025, with the first of four events taking place on 25 January at Woodford Memorial Hall from 10am to 1pm.

“The South Woodford Repair Café has proven incredibly popular, with residents queuing up to bring gadgets, clothes and household items to be expertly mended. The event provides free refreshments as well as a number of activities, including creative workshops and information stalls,” said a spokesperson.

Additional events will take place on 26 April, 19 July and 18 October.

The Friends of Elmhurst Gardens are keen to boost community involvement and invite residents to join action days and special events in the park in 2025. Kathie Teahan reports

The Friends of Elmhurst Gardens was formed in 2008. Friends’ numbers have dwindled in recent years, but we now want to resurrect local community involvement in the upkeep of the park.

In the early 19th century, the land here was fields within the estate of Elmhurst, which in 1832 may have been held by Alexander Steward. In 1856, land to the east had been annexed for constructing the railway and the future site of the park was separated by the new railway line from the house and immediate grounds of Elmhurst. In the early 20th century, the site was leased to Woodford Urban District Council and used for allotments. In 1920, three lots were sold off by the owner, Mr Lister Harrison. The council purchased the freehold of lot number three in 1921, most of which later became the public park. It was opened in July 1927 as Woodford Recreation Ground.

The gardens possess notable beech, oak and lime trees, many in groups or rows, and concentrated at the east end of the site. Just off the path by the entrance, now near the busy A406, is a picturesque brick sundial, which had been erected by 1930.

Recreational facilities include tennis courts and a children’s playground. The bowling green was used by the South Woodford Bowling Club until 2020. There are now also various creatures carved in a fallen oak tree by chainsaw artist Marshall Lambert. An outdoor table tennis table – funded by a Just Giving project run by the Elmhurst Playground Association – was installed in 2022. Elmhurst Gardens retained its Green Flag status in 2024.

Redbridge Council’s partner, Vision RCL, in collaboration with the Friends of Elmhurst Gardens, now intend to have monthly action days in the park from April until October 2025, whereby members of the community spend an hour to help look after the park by planting, maintaining areas and litter picking. Equipment and refreshments will be provided.

It’s a great opportunity to meet neighbours and keep up to date with what’s planned for the park, especially the derelict bowls club. The council has received compensation for the damage to the clubhouse and there is a current tender exercise to begin the replacement or refurbishment of the building. Work is planned to take seven months, beginning January 2025. 

Please look out for action day notices on the park noticeboard, as well as in this magazine and the Maybank Community Association newsletter. And don’t forget, the annual Easter Egg Hunt is just around the corner. Other events are being planned; watch this space.

For more information on Elmhurst Gardens, visit swvg.co.uk/elmhurstgdns

To contact the Friends of Elmhurst Gardens, email elmhurst@swvg.co.uk

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

Recently, we treated ourselves to a ‘bargain break’ in Winchester. What a bonus: we were there on market day and we each bought a hat. David’s was tweedy and dignified, a flat cap. Mine was rather jaunty, a baker boy hat, I discovered later. 

But we spent most of our time exploring the magnificent cathedral. Perhaps we even hoped to catch a sense of the presence of a dear, deceased old friend of ours who had been the bishop there for 10 years. He once recounted an experience of processing in line into St George’s Chapel, Windsor, with other knights of the Order of the Garter, when a sudden gust of wind sent his lordly hat flying. Feeling unsure about the protocol of going back to retrieve it and deciding it might seem undignified, he walked on, only to detect the sound of running steps behind him. He turned around and retrieved the errant hat from the smiling hands of the then Duke of Edinburgh.

Back home in South Woodford, I sensed a new, joyfully silly theme developing for the January edition. George Lane, here we come! Kevin was sporting an impressive fedora. “I just happen to like hats,” he said. “I feel the heat in the summer. I feel the cold in the winter. Look at me! I’m middle height, sturdy build and bald as a coot. Wearing a hat protects me at least from being mistaken for a bouncer!” Thanks Kevin. Your frankness convinced me there could actually be significant mileage in the unlikely topic of hats!

Altaf was buying his morning paper at Sainsbury’s. I admired his elegant Panama style. “I always feel comfortable in a hat,” he said. “My son knew that, of course, and he had this one made for me on one of his trips abroad.” He took it off and we both peered at the label inside. Gosh, ‘hand-woven in Ecuador’!

Mary emerged from Greggs: “I fell in love with hats 30 years ago when my daughter presented me with a gloriously colourful, flamboyant, pill-box-style felt hat. Mustard colour with cyclamen, pink and emerald-green decoration. I lacked the confidence to wear it for a few years, but then I decided hats suited me. I felt quite plain, but the hat transformed me. Now I have six berets in different colours. There’s consternation if I turn up at my Jazz Club on Mondays hatless!”

“Do you sometimes wear a hat?” I asked Clare. “Yes, indeed. Mainly for special occasions. I always wear a hat when attending a funeral, as a mark of respect. And, of course, a wedding is a chance to dress up. In my view, if the ceremony is in a church, you wear a hat. You are honouring a special day.” 

Vipun was very happy to chat: he had been born in India in 1963 but has lived locally for the last 23 years. “It’s a great place to live, midway between the countryside and the city. Actually, I’ve had a transplant. My brother donated a kidney. On cold days, I wear this woolly hat to cover my bald head. In summer, it’s a baseball cap. My dermatologist advised me about avoiding skin cancer. So, you could say I’m hatted for medical reasons.”

Down at the station, Naomi didn’t hesitate: “I feel cool wearing a hat, and it keeps me warm.” We both laughed at this! “I’ve got loads of hats, all brightly coloured,” (today’s was in dazzling purpley pink.) “If I’m in a hurry I can just throw one on and go. It makes life easy.”

I was to be educated by my next contributor: Harry was sporting a ‘beanie’. “This is called streetwear. I bought it years ago. You can see the logo of the Wu-Tang Clan here, a famous rap group in New York. They teamed up with the Rockwell Clothing label. Often, a performing group will collaborate with a designer as part of their marketing strategy.” Harry’s partner, Priya, was more down-to-earth: “A cap with a brim protects your eyes, but really, I just love the fact that no one can see your hair’s in a mess.”

Dean was wearing a baseball cap. Not just any baseball cap. Clear to see was the Armani designer label. “I look for good quality clothing. I have a trilby for more formal wear.” His wife Kellie was nodding: “Our daughter has a hat for every occasion, including a rather lovely flippy floppy bonnet covered in animal prints.”

Isolde was helping out at St Mary’s grand annual Christmas Charity Bazaar. “Oh yes!” she said. “In the summer, I get lots of compliments on my purple and orange sunhat. It’s covered with pin badges; there’s one from the Great Western Railway, there’s even one from Mont Saint-Michel. Really, a hat ties your outfit together, the hat, coat and shoes. One hat I knitted looks exactly like a large orange complete with a green stalk on top. Another is in the shape of a Christmas tree complete with fairy lights that I can turn on from a little switch in my shirt pocket.”

My brain has been teeming with hats! Some worn with pride, like the green beret or the jockey cap; some born of tradition like the boaters at a regatta or the mortarboards on graduation day; some for identity like the policeman’s helmet, the chef’s white topper. We all picture Sherlock Holmes in his deerstalker and Captain Hook in his striped bandanna. Imagine Tommy Cooper without his fez, Charlie Chaplain without his shabby bowler or Willie Wonka without his purple topper.

Let’s allow the fashion gurus the last word on hats: Christian Dior went magnificently (crazily) overboard: “Without hats, there is no civilisation,” he proclaimed. (Surely with a smile on his face?) But I prefer the less grandiose comment from world-famous Philip Treacy, ‘perhaps the greatest living milliner’ according to Vogue magazine: “Hats make people feel good. That’s the point of them!”

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

Residents have several options for disposing of real Christmas trees this January.

Local charity Haven House will be collecting and recycling trees from 10 to 13 January (donation and booking required).

Redbridge Council will also collect real trees for free between 6 and 17 January. Collection dates will vary across the borough, so trees must be left at the property boundary by 6am on the first day of the service. Christmas trees can also be taken to Chigwell Road Reuse and Recycling Centre.

Visit swvg.co.uk/treecollect 

Alerted to major bus problems by local campaigners, Calvin Bailey MP is taking South Woodford’s issues to Westminster. Residents affected by W14, W13 and W12 changes should now contact him, says Donna Mizzi 

TfL must stop waiting for data and start caring about how its changed bus services are leaving passengers stranded and distraught. That’s the message from local residents, in response to a statement from Calvin Bailey MP. 

At a meeting with Mr Bailey to discuss a number of acute problems created by TfL route changes, senior officials failed to address the main issues affecting South Woodford residents, and only agreed to consider reinstating Wanstead’s Woodbine Place stop for W14 bus users “subject to data”. As a result, the MP has decided to formally present a petition to Parliament.

TfL claimed that following the cyber attack on 1 September, reliable timetables and bus information would at last be issued for South Woodford from mid-November. But, as local bus users are aware, information at E18 bus stops continues to be lacking or frequently wrong. And the hourly W14 runs late in both directions or doesn’t arrive at all!

Nightingale Estate residents are starting to demand that “completely out-of-touch” TfL leaders spend time with them to see how lives and health are impacted by the “carelessly planned bus scheme.” They say transport chiefs should witness how schoolchildren wait at bus stops from 7.30am as buses ride past because they are already full; how people with mobility issues can’t reach GPs and vital amenities; how elderly and disabled people and mums with small children can’t wait in the freezing cold for an unreliable once-an-hour bus, or walk along dark and icy side roads for up to a mile to reach their homes. Many commuters are finding it difficult to reach work or get home, and some elderly people are saying they cannot go out any more.

Save Our Local Bus Services organiser Liz Martins says: “Environmentally concerned residents are being forced to go back to using cars, which flies directly in the face of the TfL chairman and Mayor Sadiq Khan’s policy to lower emissions.” Regarding “data”, the campaign urges TfL chiefs to take the advice of South Woodford resident Prof Norman Fenton, a Turing Fellow and data science expert. He said: “Sometimes, all that is needed is common sense.”

Following his meeting with TfL, Calvin Bailey said: “I am concerned about these issues and disappointed TfL has not taken meaningful steps to address them. That is why I will be formally presenting a petition to Parliament… It is important I hear from constituents. Please contact my office to register your reports. The more voices, the stronger the case will be when I go back to TfL.”

To contact Calvin Bailey MP, email calvin.bailey.mp@parliament.uk, call 020 7219 7417 or post letters to Calvin Bailey MP, House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA.

To read the MP’s statement in full, visit swvg.co.uk/mpbus

With otters recently spotted on a local stretch of the River Roding, Paul Powlesland – who founded the River Roding Trust five years ago – is looking for Woodford residents to become guardians of the river 

When I moved to the River Roding in Barking on my boat in 2017, I perhaps naively assumed there were professionals and government officials looking after the river. After all, the Roding – flowing over 40 miles from its source in Molehill Green in Essex to its confluence with the Thames in Barking – is London’s third-largest river and crucial to the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people in its catchment, as well as the nature that relies on it.

Having lived on and grown to know the river over the past seven years, I came to understand the awful truth that no one was truly acting and speaking in the river’s interests and preventing damage and destruction to the river; as a result, the lower river in particular was in serious trouble. 

I therefore set up the Friends of the River Roding group on Facebook to start gathering other volunteers. This project became the River Roding Trust in 2019 and since then our volunteers have undertaken a growing range of activities to care for the river: water quality testing, continuing litter picks (removing up to 400 bags in a single weekend!), planting trees, opening riverside paths, removing invasive species, ensuring riverside developments benefit the river, restoring the Roding’s lost riverside meadows and marshes wherever possible, and many more.

Our approach as a charity has been very much a grassroots one and we continue to be run solely by volunteers. We are also very locally run, with volunteers getting to know a particular part of the river and then seeking to protect and restore it in whatever ways we can. Although we have sought to protect all of the river, much of our effort so far has been in Barking and in Ilford, where many of our volunteers live. We have now set up volunteer groups further along the river, including in Wanstead and Woodford, providing them with the equipment, training, knowledge, advice and social media and organisational connections they need to act as guardians on their part of the river.

The Roding is an incredible river, which along with its valley and catchment could be one of the wildest, most beautiful and ecology-rich urban rivers in the country. But its fate very much hangs in the balance, with bad news about continued ecological and water quality degradation contrasting with positive news like the recent discovery of otters living in the river in Redbridge.

Each one of us who lives in the catchment can make a big difference for our river, so if you love and care for the Roding and would like to get involved in any capacity as a guardian of the river, please do get in touch.

For more information and to get involved, email river.roding@gmail.com or visit swvg.co.uk/rodingfriends

Plans are being made to plant a replacement for Wanstead Park’s iconic map tree, a British Isles-shaped Cedar.

While deemed safe by the City of London Corporation – which manages the park – damage to the 200-year-old tree’s roots from footfall and a worsening lean towards Ornamental Water have raised concerns.

Arborists considered propping, cabling and rerouting the path, but all options were deemed unsuitable.

A replacement tree with protective fencing is expected to be planted in September, costing £4,000.