The Friends of Elmhurst Gardens are appealing for young volunteers to help keep the Green Flag award-winning park tidy. Kaede Harding – who completed her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award earlier this year – explains why she was proud to help In recent months, I have spent an hour of my Saturday mornings clearing up as much rubbish as I could from Elmhurst Gardens. The reason I did this was part of my three-month volunteer section for my Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. As I approached the time for volunteer work, I thought about how I wanted to do something meaningful that wouldn’t be a half-hearted job just to get an award. Elmhurst Gardens in South Woodford is my local park. I’m a resident of...

For local resident Shelagh French, the pathway to a career as an artist was not straightforward. Now, as a member of the Woodford Arts Group – which will be unveiling its first art exhibition at the end of May – she is keen to see where the path will take her next It wasn’t until going to university to study BA Fine Art at the age of 40 that I discovered I’m dyslexic. It was instantly obvious to my tutors that the written work and research elements of the course were proving to be extremely difficult for me, so they encouraged me to get assessed. This understanding my tutors had towards learning difficulties was not around in my schooldays during the seventies and eighties. Dyslexia...

South Woodford resident Bernice Butcher doesn’t consider herself to be an eco-warrior, but she is worried by two issues impacting the local environment, and ultimately, our health I started thinking seriously about environmental issues in the late 80s when my children were small.  Reflecting on the effect of a road-widening scheme on the character of the area in London where I grew up, I had a sort of epiphany. It hit me that we were sacrificing our health and wellbeing for progress. The car had become our master rather than our slave. Then I got onto the subject of recycling and the wastefulness of so much packaging ending up in landfill. I campaigned about this, as well as the problem of air pollution, as a...

Volunteering is rewarding and changes lives, says Rose Meredith of Vision RCL, who is encouraging residents to come and experience the joy of helping others at South Woodford Library this summer This year, Volunteers’ Week runs from 1 to 8 June. This is when we thank volunteers for all they do and their contributions to volunteering in Redbridge Libraries. Redbridge libraries are run by Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure, and we recruit volunteers in Wanstead and South Woodford libraries to assist the public with all kinds of activities: from individual computer help, such as assistance with filling in online forms, to volunteering to deliver books as part of our Home Library Service for housebound readers, and volunteers enjoy being part of our children’s programme of activities,...

Following concerns over traffic, parking and child safety issues at Churchfields Junior School, Councillor Rosa Gomez (Churchfields, Labour) explains why she would like more children to arrive on foot Many parents have contacted me to say how concerned they are about child safety outside Churchfields Junior School. The road itself is very busy with lots of traffic. Unfortunately,  some parents are adding to these risks by driving up to the school gates and parking dangerously as they drop off children. In response, I organised a morning visit outside the school with Head Teacher Julie Anderson and colleagues from Redbridge Council’s Highways Department so we could see exactly what the situation is like and discuss solutions. I also spoke to parents so I could better understand their concerns....

Elaine Atkins and Louise Burgess were among the volunteers who helped give South Woodford a spring clean in March, removing 30-plus bags of litter from our streets #GBSpringClean invited volunteers to spruce up their local communities up and down the country between 22 March and 23 April, and during the first week, nine community groups and five schools organised litter picks in partnership with the Neighbourhood Team across Redbridge. We were delighted to see so many people turn up for our South Woodford event. You never know who’s going to be there, and it was great to see families, our councillors and groups of friends, as well as people by themselves – we even had a picker in a pushchair! Everyone was speaking to each other within minutes and it...

London Hearts is a charity placing defibrillators in communities across the country. Kimberley Lloyd encourages South Woodford businesses and venues to apply for a life-saving device of their own The biggest killer in the UK is not smoking, alcohol abuse or even road traffic accidents; it’s cardiac arrest, an electrical malfunction of the heart that results in over 100,000 deaths each year. When a cardiac arrest occurs, time is of the essence. The patient needs to be stabilised and kept alive until the ambulance arrives.  Unfortunately, the stats are not in the patient’s favour, as for each minute lost after arrest there is a 10% loss of life expectancy, and as the average UK ambulance arrival time is eight to 10 minutes – well, you...

Redbridge Council has unveiled plans to bring waste collections back in-house by ending its contract with Amey and creating a new council-owned company to manage the service. “This is a huge win for the borough as it ends our reliance on a private company,” said the council leader....

Two South Woodford residents will be making final touches to their gardens in May and June as they prepare to open their gates to the public for the charitable National Garden Scheme (NGS). Helen Auty of 46 Cheyne Avenue will be taking part in the initiative for the seventh time when she welcomes visitors to her fruit and vegetable garden on 7 July (12 noon to 5pm; entry: £4). While Laura Piercy-Farley of 25 Mulberry Way will open her Italian patio-style garden for the first time on 14 July (1pm to 5pm; entry: £3). Helen and Laura are among 3,500 gardeners in England and Wales taking part in the scheme. “Thanks to the generosity of owners, volunteers and visitors, we have donated a total of...

Changes to parking regulations at Sainsbury’s in South Woodford will come into force on 7 May. The new rules will require shoppers who use one of the 298 car parking spaces to spend at least £5 in store in order to receive a parking voucher. Drivers will then be required to scan the voucher at a kiosk in the foyer and to enter their vehicle registration number to authorise two hours of free parking. Shoppers spending less than £5 at the George Lane supermarket will be allowed to park for up to 15 minutes without the need to validate their parking. “We are doing this to enable the genuine customers of South Woodford Sainsbury’s to be able to shop and park where they want, when...

South Woodford Library will be taking part in the nationwide 30th birthday celebrations for Elmer the Patchwork Elephant this May. “For 30 years Elmer has stood for accepting who you are and celebrating difference. We are all different… The differences are what make the world so rich. It’s strange, because we humans seem to like difference in other things, in dogs and trees and flowers, but we don’t accept it in people. If people aren’t like us, we don’t accept them. Elmer tried to be like the other elephants, but in the end, he has to be himself,” said author and artist David McKee, who first published Elmer in 1989 and went on to write 39 follow-up titles. Over 8m copies have been sold worldwide....

Businesses in the George Lane and Woodford High Road areas got together in April for the South Woodford Business Forum’s (SWBF) latest meeting. The forum – which was re-established last year to improve communication and provide support for high street traders – was also attended by local councillors and a representative of Redbridge Council, the South Woodford Society and Churchfields Ward Panel. “At the meeting, Krisztina Vamos (Redbridge West Neighbourhood Engagement and Education Officer) and Councillors Rosa Gomez and Clark Vasey listened to businesses’ concerns about littering, homelessness and traffic,” said an SWBF spokesperson. The next forum is scheduled for 12 July at 11am in the Sainsbury’s meeting room. Email swbf@swvg.co.uk...