Editor

Councillor Suzanne Nolan (Conservative, South Woodford) talks about her caseload, her work to get policies changed and her battle against the ‘black hole’ that is the council website

We are living in interesting times, with many long-standing issues continuing to dominate nationally.

However, despite these discussions, life here in South Woodford continues, with residents getting on with their lives, dealing with the important issues that affect their daily activities.

We have continued our work doing walkabouts with officers around South Woodford, knocking on doors, talking to residents, and holding our regular stall in George Lane, discussing local issues with all those who come and talk to us, and replying to the many emails and telephone calls we receive.

There are some common themes continually being raised by residents: how the area is deteriorating with increasing littering and fly-tipping,the poor state of roads with potholes and how, when trying to report it online as the council asks, the reports disappear into a black hole and nothing ever appears to be acted upon.

We continue to act ourselves and pressurise council officers to respond to residents and not leave the reports in a black hole called Redbridge Council website.

If you do have problems, contact us and we will act on your behalf.

There is some good news as well, I’m pleased to say.

The inappropriate planning application to redevelop the Incey Winceys Nursery on Eastwood Close was withdrawn once we had called the application in to be discussed by the full planning committee.

But probably the best news is that the government has provided £350m to build a new hospital on the Whipps Cross site, which serves the residents of South Woodford and will provide a new state-of-the-art hospital. While the scheme is being prepared, the Hospital Trust want to consult with patients and residents about the development and priorities.

Myself and Councillor Michael Duffell will continue to work and speak to residents to help solve problems, raise issues and help to maintain and improve our South Woodford and our neighbourhood. From experience, we know that when we work with residents and local groups that great things can be achieved and that politicians will change policies and listen.

In the first of two articles by former South Woodford resident David Williams, the journalist-turned-tour guide and lecturer explains why he often returns to the area to give talks to local groups

Whether I am talking to a genealogy group or local history enthusiasts, I know that at some stage there will be a discussion with someone who wants to tell me how far back they have traced their ancestors. The common factor here is their enthusiasm. I suppose we have to thank the TV programme Who Do You Think You Are? for encouraging family history research and I can only imagine how long people spend trawling through census forms, parochial documents, workhouse records and the Old Bailey online.

Without access to the mass of information available now on the internet we would all face hours travelling to libraries large and small, trying to decipher the handwriting of someone in the 19th century who was making notes and taking down details of what we all hope will lead us to that distant relative who finished up in Newgate Prison or made – and subsequently lost – a fortune.

I was chatting with an old school friend the other day and he was anxious to tell me more about his East End roots and, in particular, his Huguenot ancestry. But I had to remind him that although finding out more about the life and the world of his three times great-grandfather was a triumph of his tenacious research, he was unaware of the social background of his discovery. What was the story behind the census return or the death certificate? What did he know about working and living conditions of that period?

I am not a genealogist but my interest in social and oral history has intrigued me for the past 15 years. Trying to find something which would occupy my time after retiring from a career in print journalism and the film and television industry, it soon became obvious that concentrating on reducing my golf handicap was not the solution. That was when a casual search on the City of London Corporation website revealed an item which seemed worth investigating. They were inviting applications from people who were prepared to consider becoming tour guides and lecturers.

That was for me. I applied, was interviewed and then offered a place on the year-long course, and in 2005 proudly received my badge and certification in the Egyptian Room of the Mansion House. It was the start of a late, late career as a historian – and leading walks and giving talks about the City of London. Since that day, this ex-Churchfields Primary and Buckhurst Hill County High School boy – who fluffed his educational opportunities in the 1950s – has never improved his golf handicap but can certainly appreciate the value of further education.

Two Christmas-themed markets will provide South Woodford residents with additional gift-buying opportunities this festive season.

The Woodford Craft Market will return to Woodford Memorial Hall on 30 November (10am to 4pm; free entry), with 30 talented designer-makers offering handcrafted goods, including jewellery, decorations, clothes and homeware. “With so many local makers showcasing their artisan gifts, it’s the perfect place to do a spot of Christmas shopping,” said organiser Ghene Snowdon.

And as Christmas gets closer, George Lane’s monthly farmers’ market will be complemented by seasonal products on 15 December (10am to 3pm). “We’re hoping this event will bring a real Christmassy community spirit to South Woodford. The monthly farmers’ markets are still relatively new here but are quickly becoming a great addition to South Woodford life, so remember, a farmers’ market is not just for Christmas!” said a spokesperson for the South Woodford Society.

In the second of a series of articles by members of the Woodford and Wanstead Photographic Society, Robert Gibbons tells the story behind this image taken on the South Bank

A few years ago, I had booked to see The Wizard of Oz at the Festival Hall on the South Bank and had arrived early for the afternoon matinee, which was due to start at 2.30pm. I always carry a small compact camera with me and decided to kill time by wandering around on the off-chance of seeing any photos worth taking.

Squeals of laughter drew my attention to an area where multiple jets of water were squirting from the ground at random intervals with children running in and out, trying to guess the right timing in order to avoid a soaking. None of them were successful.

After a while, a couple of young guys spontaneously started to do handstands in the waterjets, and it seemed this might make an interesting shot. However, within a moment, a mother and her small son entered the scene, beyond and between the two handstanders, and I could see that the child was completely enthralled with the action and mesmerised with innocent joy.

As a photographer, you get a kind of visceral feedback when elements combine and the composition feels ‘right’, so I put the viewfinder to my eye, instinctively framed the shot and pressed the shutter to record the ‘decisive moment’ before the scene changed and life moved on.

This picture was accepted for exhibition at the London Salon in 2009.

Although I title this photo Waterjet Handstand, at its heart it’s about the joy of a child experiencing things for the first time, and therefore has a timeless quality. I’m pleased I was able to record it.

The popular South Woodford Farmers’ Market has been running since the summer and December’s Christmas event is set to be the best yet, says Louise Burgess of the South Woodford Society as she updates us on the group’s hopes and plans for the local area

Whether you’re looking for festive food, classic decorations, arts and crafts or that last-minute gift, you can find all you want for Christmas at the South Woodford Christmas market – and at all our other local businesses, of course!  

We are hoping to regale you with traditional seasonal tunes and jazz, mulled wine, jolly bangers from the Giggly Pig and scrumptious cakes, pies and cheeses. Come along from 10am to 3pm on 15 December and join in the festive fun. And do get in touch if you want to be involved with a stall on the day or run an activity at the event.

Other initiatives the South Woodford Society has been working on include the area’s regular litter picks, which have been running in conjunction with CleanupUK, the anti-littering charity and Redbridge Council. We are still also working on the plans for a community orchard outside the station, so please get in touch if you have experience or knowledge in any of the following areas: fruit orchards, market gardening, landscaping, cider making, arboriculture or urban regreening.

Along with the wider population, we too are becoming increasingly concerned with environmental issues. Plastic pollution is a major problem, so reducing your consumption of plastic bottles should be applauded. If just one in 10 Brits refilled their water bottles once a week, we’d have 340 million fewer plastic bottles a year in circulation.

With this in mind, members of the South Woodford Business Forum are planning to join the Refill initiative (refill.org.uk) and become ‘refill stations’, so you can save money, stay hydrated and prevent plastic pollution at source. Download the free Refill app or look out for the Refill droplet in shop and business windows.

Concerned about climate change? So are we, which is why we are planning a public consultation meeting to set up a dedicated environmental group.  Please get in touch if you are interested in being part of that.

Planning issues such as the site of Waltham Forest Fencing, HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) in the Church End triangle and the use of containers for emergency housing have all been raised over the last year, and we continue our dialogue with local councillors and Redbridge Council to ensure the concerns of local residents are being given due consideration. Work is on-going with the Neighbourhood Plan, which ‘sits’ below the Local Plan and should help us plan positively to support local development. If you want to help with this work, please contact us.

As part of Redbridge’s ‘Spruce up your neighbourhood’ campaign, we took part in the Big Bulb Planting Weekend in October, working alongside the South Woodford Community Gardeners and Sainsbury’s to prepare for a glorious display in the area’s flower beds next spring. Bulbs have also been planted in the proposed orchard plot on the corner of Primrose Road and Mulberry Way.

Another of our plans is to develop the area between Boots and M&S into ‘SoWo Square’, to be the heart of George Lane.  Sainsbury’s already has plans to improve seating and planting, and is supporting us to create a mural under the arches along its walkway. We’re working on getting the community notice boards to work better too.

There’s so much going on in South Woodford and we can all be part of it in some way. Please join the South Woodford Society (it’s free) to keep in touch and to let us know how you’d like to be involved. Your suggestions for how you would like to see the community grow are always welcome.

Supporters of Woodford Town Football Club have been left frustrated by the delay in moving into their new ground on Ashton Playing Fields.

“It is disheartening, but it will be worth the wait to see a first-class athletic and football stadium developed on the site off Chigwell Road,” said a spokesperson for the club, which continues to share a ground with Harlow FC. “The move has passed the planning stage, but there is little sign of progress at the site despite extensive liaison between those involved… It will be hard to galvanise the local support until we return home.”

Woodford Town FC currently holds a mid-table position in the Essex Senior League and have built up a very ‘noisy and inclusive’ following despite being based a considerable distance outside the area.

Visit swvg.co.uk/wtfc

A Year 5 Avon House Preparatory School pupil has become an international karate champion.

Nine-year-old Aaron Johnson-Campbell travelled to Scotland in September to compete in the 2019 British Karate Federation’s International Open Championships.

“After four extremely competitive matches, with amazing competitors, Aaron came through successfully to be crowned champion in the boys kumite category (seven to nine years; over 25kg). This was a well-deserved win for Aaron after all the intense training that he put in and we cannot wait to see the fantastic achievements he will accomplish in the future. Well done Aaron!” said a spokesperson for the Woodford Green school.

Kumite literally means ‘grappling hands’ and is one of the three main sections of karate teaching.

Visit swvg.co.uk/bkf

Powers to tackle and reduce anti-social behaviour in the west of the borough have been extended after residents overwhelmingly supported Redbridge Council’s proposals to update a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for the area.

Police and council officers previously had powers to combat street drinking in Bridge, Monkhams, Churchfields, South Woodford, Wanstead Village and Wanstead Park wards. Now, the updated PSPO is enforcing additional restrictions, including begging, public urination, loitering and spitting.

“Public concern prompted a consultation with residents, which received 1,693 responses with an overwhelming majority in favour of all the restrictions,” said a spokesperson.

Breaches of the order can result in a fine of £100 or, in serious cases, prosecution.

Sir Winston Churchill was a world leader, statesman and local MP. Ahead of a talk at Wanstead Library about the iconic politician, Jef Page, president of the Ilford Historical Society, reviews the life of a man he believes was the ‘greatest Briton of all’

Winston Spencer Churchill (1874–1965) was a larger-than-life character, lucky to be born in Blenheim Palace with a massive silver spoon in his mouth, son of the beautiful American heiress Jennie Jerome (he worshipped her) and Lord Randolph Churchill.

Winston attracted both tragedy and attention – hardly surprising as he liked smoking massive seven-inch long Cuban Havana cigars and stuck up a V-sign second to none.

From being reviled in Tonypandy, South Wales where, as Liberal Home Secretary, he sent troops onto the streets during the miner’s strike (1910–1911) and promoted the disastrous Gallipoli and Dardanelles campaign in 1915, he led Britain to victory and triumph in 1945. He almost seemed to like war. He fought at the battle of Omdurman (1898), as a journalist was at Spion Kop (1900; as was Gandhi) and escaped from a prisoner of war camp during the Boer War. And he got himself onto the front line of the Western Front during the First World War. A world-renowned statesman, when asked what his favourite period of his long life was, he immediately replied without hesitation: “1940,” when Britain stood alone during the Second World War and he became Prime Minister. He said history would be kind to him – because he would write it – and he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was bumptious, pushy, an adept ‘string-puller’. Lord Beaverbrook (Max Aitken, owner of the Daily Express) said of Winston that on the crest of a wave he had the makings of a dictator.

John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, more recently questioned Churchill’s status as a hero following a 2002 BBC poll in which he had been voted the greatest Briton of all.

Wanstead and Woodford’s MP from 1924 to 1964, just months before his death aged 90, a skilful artist and bricklayer, he suffered periods of “black dog” depression. Out of office, depressed and mistrusted by the Conservative Party (Winston had been Home Secretary and a member of the Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924), he was considered a political adventurer. His cavalier attitude to party loyalty during the 1930s left him isolated and his was a lone voice against the rise of Fascism, Hitler and the Nazis. So, when in 1939 he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, they sent out just a two-word telegram to all ships: “He’s back”. He had changed sides from the Liberals to Conservative, winning the seat of Epping in 1924. But in Britain’s darkest hour in 1940, after the failure of Neville Chamberlain, Churchill was the only man the Labour Party, led by Clement Atlee (he lived on Monkhams Avenue, Woodford from 1921 to 1931), would serve under in the wartime coalition cabinet and government. Yet, this success didn’t stop Winston being immediately voted out of office as soon as the war was won, though he did return again as prime minister in 1951.

Churchill didn’t visit the constituency much and he didn’t have a home in the borough. However, he got on well with Conservative politician and businessman Sir James Hawkey (1877–1952) and in 1955 it was Churchill who came here to open the hall named after Hawkey (Winston laid a foundation brick in 1954). Hawkey was chairman of Woodford Urban District Council (UDC) from 1916 to 1934 and the newly merged Wanstead and Woodford UDC from 1934 to 1937, and later three-times mayor.

During the war years (1939–1945), it was his wife Clementine who really nursed the constituency. Winston said “my most brilliant achievement was my ability to persuade my wife to marry me”. Clementine nursed him through his “black dog” periods, helped the PDSA to care for animals in Woodford during the war, attended many fetes, balls and constituency meetings, especially during the Blitz, and in 1951 opened the door to the 1,000th new house built in the borough.

Churchill’s statue on Woodford Green was unveiled in 1959 by Viscount Montgomery. Was Churchill worthy of his number one spot as the ‘Greatest Briton’? Definitely!

Are you sitting comfortably? Former teacher and Woodford Green resident Jessica Norrie has a story to tell. Her novel – The Magic Carpet – was inspired by her experiences of teaching and living locally

I’ve lived since 1988 in Walthamstow or Woodford, and taught Redbridge pupils and adults until 2016. Teaching’s a two-way process; we learn from students while they learn from us. I liked and celebrated them, but by retirement, my head was crowded with three decades of lives brought into my classrooms. Thousands passed through, from all income levels, speaking over 50 languages, practising at least 10 religions or none, with single parents, step-parents, carers…   

It’s a teacher’s job to help pupils organise their thoughts by telling or writing news or stories (much like a therapist, but with spellings). I decided to make sense of my experience by doing the same, and began writing The Magic Carpet.

It’s a story for grown-ups, involving three generations in a multicultural community from a street very like some in Redbridge. The target readership is aimed at parents, grandparents, anyone who’s worked with children… human beings.

Various memorable ex-pupils clamoured to be main characters, but the ones I describe are completely fictional and ‘Home Farm Primary’ is invented (though it could easily be a Redbridge school).

In my novel, a Year 3 teacher throws away the phonics in favour of an imaginative project for all the family, inviting the generations to perform a traditional tale together at a storytelling festival. As the project unfolds, I tell of the lives of different family members too, including a grandmother born in Punjab, a Hong Kong-born widower father, single mums from Essex and of Somali heritage, and Alka, aged seven, who’s cared for by Gujarati-speaking grandparents – all backgrounds I worked with locally.

Some parents welcome the project and enjoy creating rich, funny, moving stories. Others find it a nuisance. One poor child may end up with no story at all.

Over six weeks in autumn 2016, my families get to know each other. (They all live on ‘Ditchfield Close’ after the Leyton toy shop my own children loved.) My initial aim was to celebrate the magic of storytelling, but I found I was also exploring whether, when more serious issues threaten the peace, my small fictional community would prove as resilient as most real ones in Redbridge and Walthamstow.  Why not find out if there is a happy ending?

The Woodford Festival Association (WFA) is appealing for new volunteers to help ensure the next event – planned for October 2020 – can go ahead.

The biennial festival – which takes place over the course of a week – embraces a wide range of performing and visual arts, presented mostly by local residents. WFA chairman Geoff Seeff was delighted with the community’s positive response to the nearly 100 individual events that were staged in 2018 and believes that, since its launch in 2008, the festival has become one of the defining features of the local area.

“It’s great fun. We are able to provide a forum for some amazingly talented musicians, artists, poets and speakers and they in turn are able to give much pleasure to their audiences. But there is also quite a lot of work involved in raising funds, arranging venues and preparing programmes and publicity material, and we would benefit from new blood and ideas,” said Geoff.

Email geoffseeff@cix.co.uk