your independent community newspaper waltham no. 19, …of wfwellcomm cic are: community transport...

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Interview Feature History Event Column

October 2016No. 19, FreeWALTHAM

FOREST ECHO

Your independent community newspaper

www.walthamforestecho.co.ukfacebook.com/WalthamForestEchoT @WFEchoE [email protected]

s local health campaign-ers from Waltham Forest Save Our NHS, we were alarmed to discover that

Barts Health NHS Trust was re-cently put into 'financial special measures' by NHS England. The trust, which runs Whipps

Cross University Hospital in Ley-tonstone, holds the biggest deficit in NHS history thanks in part because it's saddled with the country's largest Private Finance Initiative (PFI) debt. We fear that decisions made by external officials, with power to

instruct Barts on how to cut its budget, could damage Whipps Cross and its ability to care for patients. A few years ago cuts to staff salaries at Whipps Cross resulted in experienced nurses leaving and preceded a report in early 2015 from the Care Quality

Commission that rated the hos-pital 'inadequate'. Staff at Whipps Cross have since worked hard to improve patient care – with acknowledged success. Yet now, the trust is being penal-ised because managers cannot cut the deficit as fast as the govern-ment demands. This year NHS organisations have been told to submit 'sustain-ability and transformation plans' to cut spending. As part of this a plan for Waltham Forest, Newham and Tower Hamlets called 'Transform-ing Services Together' has been written by local health bosses. According to the plan, the pop-ulation across these boroughs is due to rise by 270,000 over 15 years, which would normally require, in ten years, 550 extra hos-pital beds and 195 more GPs. But extra beds and more GPs are not in the plan. Despite hos- pitals and surgeries being stret-ched, a reorganisation is planned to cut hospital admissions. It depends on patients getting more care in the community, despite massive cuts to social services budgets. GP practices will be reor-ganised into 'hubs' providing care to more patients. But there will be fewer GPs; across the boroughs it's planned to cut numbers from 600 to 400 over ten years, with no real increase in staff at the 'hubs'. Cheaper and easier to train physi-cian associates, plus more nurses, pharmacists and community care staff, will be employed. Waltham Forest Save Our NHS is campaigning against the plans because they are unwork-

able and unsafe. But the crisis is no accident; GPs have been un-derfunded for years and the NHS overall has been underfunded since 2010. The 'sustainability' plans regional health providers are forced to draw up is a clever way of pushing responsibility for cuts to a local level. Whatever politicians say, our NHS is starved of funds and more profitable parts are being priva-tised. On its website, Virgin Care claims to run over 250 NHS ser-vices. It's a chilling time indeed for local health services – unless we demand the funding that could, and should, be found.

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'Help us save local NHS services'

P . 5 P . 7 P . 11

Stow Festival's Nick Bason discusses the event's success and the future of live music

The charity that helps keep the borough's homeless people from going hungry

Daniel Shannon-Hughes recounts personal stories from two world wars

A local punk revival is no small wonder thanks to an ongoing exhibition

Bobbie Makoni meets the hockey club that's sticking up for disability

See a selection of our properties inside! p. 8–9 and 15–16

A campaigner from Save Our NHS comments on plans to reduce GP numbers in Waltham Forest

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To find out more about plans for local health services:

Visit transformingservices.org.uk

Read Bart Health's latest statement:

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Waltham Forest Save Our NHS meets at 7.30pm 3rd October, at Ye Olde Rose and Crown, E17 4SA.

Visit wfsonhs.wordpress.com

by Mary Burnett

2 No. 19 OCTOBER 2016 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO

OCTOBER 2016 – No. 19

Waltham Forest Echo is an independent community newspaper. We publish monthly and distribute 20,000 free copies of each issue to libraries, cafes, pubs, and other places around Waltham Forest.

PublisherDavid Floyd

EditorJames Cracknell

Art DirectionJonathan Duncan

Project ManagerAnna Merryfield

ContributorsMary BurnettShelly BerryRussell HargraveGeraldine GrandidierDeborah NashAdjoa WireduKatie RobinsonSusan HigginsDaniel Shannon-HughesJean DugglebyEmma BettsDebra OakabyBobbie Makoni

MembersChris LeminDarrel HunneybellDavid GardinerDavid HamiltonDexter ColesGen FordJean DugglebyManual Arroyo-KalinMalachi DanielMelanie StricklandMichael GrimshawRos KaneSarah Jones

The member organisations of WFWellComm CIC are:Community Transport Waltham Forest, Social Spider CIC, HEET.

WFWellComm CIC Management Board:David Floyd (Social Spider CIC)Tom Ruxton (HEET)Helen Tredoux (Community Transport WF)

Waltham Forest EchoThe Mill, 7 - 11 Coppermill Lane, E17 7HAE [email protected] 0208 521 7956

The Echo began with Big Lottery funding.

Punishing honest mistakes is not fine

ransport for London (TfL) finally acti-vated the new barri-ers at Walthamstow

Central this summer, introduc-ing a seamless commute for those who use this station as an inter-change between the London Over-ground and the Victoria Line. I for one welcome this devel-opment – not only because it seems to have eased congestion, but also because it reduces the chances of me falling foul of the fixed penalty scheme again. It was in December last year that I was stopped at Wood Street and advised that, because I forgot to 'touch in' on the Overground platform when changing from the Victoria Line, I was liable for an £80 fine. While I fully accept the error was mine, what I find hard to digest is TfL's policy when it

comes to punishing those who make genuine mistakes. I'm not naïve enough to think that fare evaders wouldn't come up with similar excuses to my own, but surely even the most cynical enforcement officer can see the difference between someone with an annual travel card, auto top-up, and an electronic record showing regular legitimate use and someone presenting no ev-idence of ever intending to pay for their travel? What happened to the benefit of the doubt and using a bit of discretion? I make this point as someone whose job involves supporting legal action against those in-volved in crime and anti-social behaviour. Some might say that this makes me a hypocrite – but I would argue that this gives me more authority to comment on TfL's policy when it comes to tackling 'offenders'. You see, when someone comes to my at-tention, my automatic reaction

is not to condemn them. Instead I make contact, advise them of my concerns and ask them for their perspective. I even offer them support if there are under-lying reasons for their behaviour to help them avoid getting into trouble with the authorities in the future. It's known as a 'restorative ap-proach' and, while I don't expect TfL to go to the same lengths, it is something that they could cer-tainly learn from. For example, with their ability to electroni-cally track our travel, surely it would be quite easy to email reg-istered Oyster card users if there are problems with their usage? Their lack of willingness to try and assist passengers to avoid their penalties makes me wonder what their motivation is when tar-geting stations without barriers during rush hour. I am pleased to report that, after a second appeal, my fine was waived. But I imagine there

are others who are less successful and are finding themselves having to cough up between £40 and £80 – a significant amount for most households – or end up in court. When I asked TfL to comment on these points for the purpose of this article they didn't get back to me. However, I for one would be interested to know if they have ever considered a less punitive approach that only targets those who deliberately avoid paying their way – and better support for well-meaning commuters strug-gling to make ends meet.

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COMMENT

FELLOWSHIP IS LIFE

A crucial time for local health servicesAn introduction from James Cracknell, editor of Waltham Forest Echo

ello and welcome to issue 19 of Waltham Forest Echo. This month we are lead-

ing on our front page with a plea from local health campaigners who are desperate to protect the NHS services we have in Waltham Forest, and of course those at Whipps Cross University Hos-pital in Leytonstone. Although the NHS seems to be in an almost constant state of flux thanks to successive gov-ernment reform programmes and long-running financial problems, I don't think there's been a greater time of turmoil for health provi-sion in the UK in recent memory. A series of industrial disputes throughout 2016 have still not

been concluded, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is facing near-con-stant calls to resign, and stan-dards are falling. But it also seems as though this part of London is at the epicen-tre of a lot of the difficulties the NHS currently faces, especially considering that the organisation running Whipps Cross, Barts Health, is the most indebted NHS trust in the entire country. At last count, it was running an annual deficit of £134.9million. As well as the concerns for the future of GP services which form the crux of the article on Page 1, there are looming development plans for Whipps Cross due to be announced by Waltham Forest Council later this month. It looks

likely that there will be a signifi-cant rebuilding programme – but whether or not the hospital's ser-vices are enhanced by this rede-velopment remains to be deter-mined. We will report any news on our website. Elsewhere in this month's pa- per you can find, on Page 11, the latest in a series of history fea-tures by Daniel Shannon-Hughes.His research into Waltham Forest Oral History Workshop's ar-chives at Walthamstow's Vestry House Museum has unearthed contrasting stories from local people who lived through the world wars. There's also a feature by Adjoa Wiredu, on Page 7, who has met the team behind one of the most

popular eateries in Waltham Forest – a van in a car park run by the charity Christian Kitchen.

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What happened to the benefit of the doubt and using a bit of discretion?

“by Shelly Berry

Waltham Forest Echo is a member of IMPRESS: The Independent Monitor of The Press. For more information on the Echo’s complaints policy and how to make a complaint visit: walthamforestecho.co.uk/complaints

Distributors of Waltham Forest Echo

Chingford Green Grocer; The Wine Factor; The Feel Good Cafe; Organiclea; The Royal Forest Hotel; The County Arms; The Harvester; Queen Elizabeth; The Dovecote; The Mall; Hucks; L. Manze Pie and Mash; Chequers Pub; Walthamstow Library; Juniper House; The Lord Raglan; Mirth, Marvel and Maud; Le Délice Cafe; Ye Olde Rose and Crown; E17 Art House; The Bell; YMCA East London; The Duke's Head; Blackhorse Workshop; Gnome House; The Mill; The Coppermill Pub; Significant Seams; The Flower Pot; The Old Station Yard Cafe; The Nags Head; Spar Supermarket; Active Change Foundation; Hornbeam Cafe; Bootlaces; Leyton Technical; Smoothies; Birckbeck Tavern; Northcote Arms; The Red Lion; The Star of India; Bumblebee Flowers.

3No. 19 OCTOBER 2016 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO

gramme, which aims to move 20,000 refugees to the UK by 2020. The council indicated that plans have stalled because there is no guarantee of "adequate funding" from central government to cover the extra costs it will face. Waltham Forest Council is not alone in raising this concern. A report last month from the Nation-al Audit Office made it clear that councils fear they may be left with substantial, unpredictable costs, and many are hesitant to take ref-ugees as a result. Central govern-ment will give councils around £8,500 additional funding in the first year that a refugee settles in the area, and smaller amounts in each of the next four years. Nonetheless, some local au-thorities have been able to over-come this uncertainty. Councils elsewhere in London – Camden, Islington, Barnet and Kings-ton – have already welcomed Syrians, according to data re-

25-metre eight-lane competition pool, two diving boards, teach-ing pool, four-court sports hall, activity room, dance studios, 132-station gym, outdoor flood-lit sports pitch, athletics track and 150-seat grandstand, climb-ing walls, trampoline park, ad-

venture zone, 'play kingdom' for small children, and a spa. The facility was unveiled at a special preview event on 29th Sep-tember, attended by local Olympic hero Lutalo Muhammad, who won silver in taekwondo in Rio this past summer. Waltham Forest

Council was keen to show-off its 'ninja run obstacle course' – said to be a first for London. Lutalo had previously trained at Walthamstow Track and Pool, the leisure centre demolished to make way for Waltham Forest Feel Good Centre. He described the new fa-cility as "world class". The ninja course features verti-cal and horizontal climbing walls, 'hang tough' bars and a battle beam, similar to events seen in tele-vision shows such as Gladiators.However, the new leisure complex is not without criticism. While previous facilities included a five- metre diving board and sepa-rate diving pool, which Olympic medallist Peter Waterfield credit-ed with launching his career, the new building omits such features. A local diving club which raised concerns during the planning pro-cess were told instead to use facili-ties at the London Aquatic Centre in Stratford, four miles away. Waltham Forest Feel Good Centre, although financed by the coun-cil, will be operated and managed by Greenwich Leisure Limited, a charitable social enterprise.

leased this summer. Dr Shaukat Khan, who chairs Walthamstow Migrants' Action Group, called on officials in Wal-tham Forest to be "much more proactive". Shaukat told the Echo: "The number of people the council is offering to help, ten families, is a pittance really. "But it is better than nothing and hopefully, if the council takes the lead, people will become even more involved in giving out food and giving people some-where to stay." He added that his charity "wants refugees to come in [to Wal- tham Forest] and feel comfort-able." They already help refugees and migrants currently living in the borough with food, shelter and social support. Other charities joined in praise for the generosity of Waltham Forest residents. Steve Bedlam, who helps run the Refugee Com-munity Kitchen for refugees strand-

ed in Calais, told the Echo that people in the borough had "rallied around" this summer to donate time and food which helped his organisation feed more than three thousand people. A spokesperson for Waltham Forest Council said: "While we have not taken in refugees via the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Reset-tlement Programme (SVPRP) in its current form, we do still remain committed to housing ten Syrian refugee families ahead of 2020, provided that government allo-cate adequate funding to allow us to do this. "Waltham Forest volunteered to be part of the SVPRP and, as yet, we have not received a formal request from government to take in refugees under the current system."Local authorities that have suc-cessfully rehomed Syrian refugees include Barnet Council, which confirmed it had housed eight families, a total of 27 individuals.

Wait goes on to rehome refugees in Waltham Forest

Council feeling good about new leisure centre

local campaign group has criticised Waltham Forest Council's prog-ress on resettling refu-

gees, one year after the UK gov-ernment promised to provide sanctuary to thousands of Syrians. In 2015 the government called on local authorities across the country to accommodate newcomers, and Waltham Forest officials offered to house ten refugee families. However, Walthamstow Mi-grants' Action Group, set up to make migrants feel welcome in the area, described this offer as "a pittance" and told the Echo it be-lieved local people would be sup-portive of the council if it chose to offer homes to more people caught up in the war zone. No Syrian families have yet been settled in the borough as part of the government's five-year pro-

he biggest leisure centre in the borough is opening to the public in Walthamstow

this month. Waltham Forest Feel Good Centre, a new coun-cil-built £23million complex in Chingford Road, features a

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NEWSInterview

P . 5Stow Festival's Nick Bason discusses the event's success and the future of live music

free creative youth club for 10-14 year-olds has reopened after securing funding

for another year. The project at Gnome House in Blackhorse Lane is run by Wal-tham Forest Arts in Education Network and received £7,000 to continue Saturday sessions from 11.30am until 2.30pm. Activities include drama, music tutoring, painting, and table ten-nis. Chrys Christy, chair of William Morris Big Local which has sup-ported the youth club, said: "With so much change taking place around the Blackhorse area it’s great young people can still access a safe place where they can get in-volved with great activities."

new mobile app to celebrate East London women activists has been launched by a

Walthamstow campaigner. In Her Footsteps, created by Share UK and funded by a £58,000 grant from Heritage Lottery Fund, tracks 150 years of women-led ac-tivism, highlighting the contribu-tion made by women around issues such as labour conditions, racism, housing and gender violence. Esther Freeman is leading the project. She said: "Women have been pioneers in social action, yet they rarely get credit. East London has long been a hotspot for activ-ism, and women have been at the centre of huge social change. They deserve their place in history."

altham Forest Community Hub has been award-ed £13,000 by

the Evening Standard Dispos-sessed Fund to deliver an intergen-erational project until June 2017. The funding enables the Or- ford Road charity to recruit staff to plan weekly sessions for older people who live in sheltered hous-ing, and the money's already been used on a safari park trip. Young people from the hub are helping organise more events that will benefit the older generation, including an upcoming play. A weekly social club at Vestry House Museum has also now started.

Youth club reopens

Women's history app

Community hub grant

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by Russell Hargrave

The 25-metre eight-lane competition swimming pool at Waltham Forest Feel Good Centre in Chingford Road, Walthamstow


NEWS

Thousands of new homes and 'creative zone' planned for former industrial area

has promised to provide 224 jobs in place of those lost – although many will be in retail rather than manufacturing. The Mandora scheme forms part of a wider ambition for the area that saw it declared recently by the Greater London Author-ity (GLA) as one of the capital's 20 new 'housing zones' where the construction of new homes will be accelerated. The Blackhorse Lane and Northern Olympic Park Housing Zone, which also includes parts of Leyton, has been allocated £41million in GLA funds. The total value of the developments planned for the housing zone is £1.8billion. Although the benefits of this investment are expected to take more than a decade to be fully re-alised, other impacts are already being felt. James Bates, operations manager at Vibration Group, a specialist production company, says his firm was forced to relo-cate twice within the Blackhorse Lane area because of various de-velopments taking place. "They seem to have kept the smaller industrial units rather than the larger ones," James told the Echo. "We're alright where we are now but we haven't had any compensation for having to move. "I think it's a balancing act, there's all these new people com- ing into the area and they'll be spending money here so the shops are rubbing their hands. It's mainly the area around the tube

station that they want to develop." As well as the Mandora scheme, 235 homes are being built at the former Webbs Industrial Estate, in nearby Sutherland Road. And although Ferry Lane Industrial Estate adjacent to Walthamstow Reservoirs is currently still stand-ing, it too is due to be demolished and replaced with 311 homes. Yet more plans for Blackhorse Lane continue to come forward; the latest, at Forest Works, compris-es another 300 homes. Lacking so far, however, is the provision of homes designated 'af-fordable'. The Blackhorse Lane housing zone was originally slated for an affordable housing quota of 24 percent – meaning nearly one in four of all new homes built should be discounted from the market rate. But the major schemes so far approved – Mandora, Webbs, Ferry Lane – have included afford-able housing quotas of 12, 11 and 12 percent respectively. Further along Blackhorse Lane, away from the station, industrial space is designated as providing 'strategic employment' and pro-tected from redevelopment by the London Plan. It is here, in Priest-ly Way, that Vibration Group has found a new home. James Bates says that despite the upheaval of the last few years, better times are ahead. "A lot of students are going to be moving in, and there's already lots of little creative businesses here which create a sense of community.

We'll be tapping into that. The area is being improved." The creative businesses that James mentions have been steadi-ly increasing in number over the past decade. Neil Irons, an artist who helps run Blackhorse Studios on behalf of the Barbi-can Arts Group Trust, joking-ly says the area's creative vibe "started with us". But he told the Echo that he fears for the area's future as property prices in the area rise. "We were one of the early ones to arrive along with Inky Cuttle-fish Studios," says Neil. "It has changed from being a mostly in-dustrial area to a residential area. It seems inevitable that we will one day be priced out because of it. "I know the council would like to keep the creative industries here but I've seen how it happens – you go somewhere because it is cheap then someone tells the developers about it and they all come along shortly afterwards." Earlier this year the council celebrated the award of a £1.1m grant from the GLA to specifi-cally boost creative firms in the

Blackhorse Lane area. It came after the local authority bid to receive funding from the GLA's London Regeneration Fund. The bid proposed a 'creative indus-tries zone' with money avail-able for new facilities that would help encourage more artists and makers to move into the area. Councillor Clare Coghill, cabinet member for economic growth, said at the time of the award: "This project will trans-form underused space to provide workshop capacity and creative co-working space. [There is] rising demand for tech and cre-ative start-up and move-on space." Blackhorse Workshop, just behind Blackhorse Lane, was established in early 2014 as a community-led space 'dedicat-ed to making and creating'. The project received start-up support from the council and other funders such as Arts Council England. Its facilities, which include a fully-equipped wood and metal workshop, are now used by hundreds of local people every week. Almost forgotten, however, amid all the excitement around new homes and new jobs in Black- horse Lane, is one of the area's oldest remaining buildings. On the corner with Forest Road, op-posite the railway station, is The Standard; a once popular music venue and pub which closed in 2011. This quaint Victorian building was in danger of being lost from view amid the cranes and half-built housing blocks that now surround it, but was given a vibrant new coat of paint as part of a borough-wide street art festival earlier this year. What of its fate? The Standard is owned by Turkish supermarket chain TFC which, after years of delays, finally submitted a plan-ning application for the site this summer. As expected, it includes new homes and a supermarket. But while the existing building will be demolished, TFC state: "A new music venue is proposed to replace The Standard. The team have been working with experienced venue operators to ensure the space meets the re-quirements of today's musicians and event attendees."

Borough's biggest building site taking shape

ork on the largest housing scheme in Waltham For- est is well under-

way – signalling the start of a major transformation for a previously ne-glected part of the borough. The first of more than 2,000 homes that are slated to be built in the Blackhorse Lane area, im-mediately north of Blackhorse Road Station, are now under construction and already changing the skyline. Huge old warehouses and stor-age depots that had dominated this industrial site for a century began to be demolished last year, and the past few months have seen a rapid rise in the new blocks of flats that will replace them. A total of 494 homes and ac-commodation for 519 students are being built on this, the first and largest of a series of connect-ed development sites. The build-ings form part of the so-called 'Mandora' scheme in Blackhorse Lane, named after an old tram depot that most recently housed a mannequin factory. Dozens of businesses provid-ing employment to 192 people were cleared to make way for the development, granted plan-ning permission by Waltham Forest Council in 2014. In their justification planning officers for the council described industrial buildings there as "somewhat un-derused and derelict". Developer MacDonald Egan

WCranes and half-built housing blocks in Blackhorse Lane tower over The Standard, a brightly-coloured former music venue Retrospective Scooters, one of the new businesses in the Blackhorse Lane area

by James Cracknell

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Students are moving in and there's already lots of creative businesses here

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Feature

P . 7The charity that helps keep the borough's homeless people from going hungryINTERVIEW

ive years ago a group of residents decided to organise an event that could promote and show-

case local musical talent. The last dedicated live music venue in Walthamstow, The Stan-dard in Blackhorse Lane, was about to close. Promoters had seemingly given up on the area, perhaps unaware that a cultural renaissance was on the cusp of taking off. Nick Bason and Emma Betts, however, recognised there was talent and saw in it the potential to rejuvenate the borough's flag-ging live music scene. They had little experience in the music in-dustry between them; Nick, a public relations professional in the third sector and a former Liberal Democrat councillor, once worked in HMV, while Emma, then a Waltham Forest Council officer working on the authority's cultural strategy, plays the violin. Crucially, both shared a passion and belief that live music could thrive in the borough. "In 2011 there wasn't really a local music scene to speak of," says Nick. "But there was a lot of talented performers; we wanted to organise an event that showcased

the musical talent here but also at-tracted acts from elsewhere, and to show that Walthamstow does have a cultural identity. "I am just a music fan, going to lots of gigs and festivals. On the managing committee we do have some musicians and DJs, so there is that experience, but we are really just learning as we go along. We fit it in around our jobs but it is supposed to be some-thing fun, so we try to enjoy it as much as possible." The first Stow Festival was such a huge success that it was nom-inated for, and won, the Talk-Talk Digital Heroes Award. The event has gone from strength to strength ever since, expanding the range of venues and increasing the number of acts to provide an eclectic and expansive four-day experience that is now a fixture of the Waltham Forest calendar. This year's Stow Festival, held 15th-18th September, saw 105 acts play across 19 venues, watched by 9,000 people. The line-up in-cluded reggae, folk, electronica, jazz and a string quartet, among others. Venues included churches, libraries, museums, cafes, pubs, and breweries. What's most remarkable about

the whole thing is that it's entire-ly run by a managing committee working in their own free time, as part of a not-for-profit enterprise.Nick is clearly proud of the group's achievements. "The managing committee are all volunteers, and during the event itself there were around 50 volunteers; people on doors, people doing sound. It's an extended family. "This year was probably our biggest and best year. The line-up was varied with our first proper hip-hip act, and we also added an opera act. We had new genres but we made sure the big events such as Electronic17 were there as well – it was a great weekend. "Over the years the festival has evolved and the area has changed. We try to put on events which are challenging by using unusual venues, or putting on acts that don't have exposure elsewhere. "We wanted to show it was pos-sible to put on big events here; now there is a more dynamic music scene. We know we have helped acts develop relation-ships with venues, and we have hosted the debuts of acts such as Walthamstow Acoustic Massive."As Stow Festival has grown and expanded, other music festivals

have been launched by organi-sations seemingly inspired by its success. In 2014 Barbican Arts Trust teamed up with the council to launch Walthamstow Garden Party, a two-day free music and arts festival in Lloyd Park which has attracted big-name headlin-ers such as Ghostpoet and Asian Dub Foundation. "It is a great thing that organ-isations such as Barbican Arts Trust are now involved locally with Walthamstow Garden Party," says Nick, "but what we are doing is on the grassroots level, we're tied to the community. "There is risk that when these big outside organisations come in the grassroots are left behind. We'll make sure it doesn't happen." Meanwhile, the former EMD cinema in Hoe Street, which hosted The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in its 1960s heyday, has been reopened for the first time in over a decade. Though it may not yet be a dedicated music venue, owners Antic are develop-ing plans to turn it into a hub for live performances with the help of Soho Theatre. Nick says Mirth, Marvel and Maud, as the EMD has been renamed in its new guise as a trendy bar, was his favourite venue for this year's Stow Festival. "I am very glad it is open, we always talked about wanting to host a gig there. And while they are offering live music at the moment there is clearly more potential for it to become a significant multi-arts centre. "It is an iconic eye-catching building and there is clearly po-tential. It would be great, for an area that doesn't already have a dedicated music venue, to have somewhere that can showcase not just local acts but headline acts. It could be a hub for the local music scene. I take a keen interest in what they're going to do with it." The renaissance for local music is not confined to Walthamstow, either. Down the road in Leyton-stone a venue called Luna Lounge has been steadily building a reputa-tion, and last year even picked up an award from Time Out magazine. I ask Nick if there might be any

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Putting life back into live musicStow Festival director Nick Bason tells James Cracknell how the event has become such a success, and what's next for live music in the borough

Nick Bason Credit Pamela Hutchinson

plans to extend Stow Festival to other parts of the borough. "In Leyton and Leytonstone there are a lot of new venues, such as the Leyton Technical and the Star, and it would be great to extend the festival to these places. There is scope for it." In the meantime, Nick Bason and Emma Betts have teamed up again to launch a social en-terprise called Beatroots, with an aim to "deliver high-quality musical programmes in partner-ship with the community". Whatever happens next, Wal-tham Forest is now firmly back on London's live music map.

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There is risk that when these big outside organisations come in the grassroots are left behind. We'll make sure it doesn't happen

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To see highlights from Stow Festival: Visit soundcloud.com/stowfestival

Beatroots project Small Wonder Records is featured in an Echo article by Emma Betts on Page 12.

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FEATURES

reen is rarely chosen for a wedding dress. It is said to be the 'un-luckiest of colours';

one that we associate with jeal-ousy or envy, poison, algae, slime, sickness, decay and death. For the ancient Egyptians, eerie green-skinned Osiris was the god of vegetation but also the under-world. This makes green an am-bivalent hue, because we long for it in our gardens when the sun has scorched the grass biscuit brown; we seek it out in the dappled cool-ness of our forests, and we wait for it to appear after the barren greyness of winter. Green is the colour of life and restfulness, and it is the colour I chose to get married in. This was not an arbitrary deci-sion, and I stuck to it even when a housemate said I'd look like a swamp monster (perhaps she was

can still remember my first experience of being read to as a child. It was at school, when I was five or six, and

the book was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Instantly, I was hooked. To me, the idea that you could be transported somewhere different, where weird and wonderful things happened, was just extraordinary.At the time my family was living in the New Hebrides – now known as Vanuatu – and when they moved to France when I was eight I tried, unsuccessfully, to find the book. It wasn’t until I came to England aged 23 that I was finally reunited with Charlie. It felt like meeting an old friend again. I get so much joy from books that I'm proud my company, Tidy Books, can help promote reading. On the first Friday of each month, we host the E17 Kid's Book Drop. We have a collection box in our Walthamstow office where local people can donate pre-loved chil-dren's books. The books are sent off to a charity, Give A Book, which dis-tributes them to breakfast clubs and school book clubs around London, to help more kids get into reading. I started my business making children's bookcases from my Walthamstow violin workshop with a £500 investment. I'm a violin maker by trade, and back in 2004, I was looking for a bookcase for my daughter Adele. I wanted

jealous? Then again, her colour is pink). My surname derives from the ash tree and my brief to the Walthamstow knitwear design-er Craig Lawrence, who created the dress, was to transform me into something sylvan. Having re-searched the secret life of plants in the borough, it seemed fitting that my dress should be foliate. We began with visual refer-ences of how such a dress might look. Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli's painting Prima-vera was a favourite. In the fore-ground, Flora wears a garland of flowers in loose hair and a floaty muslin shift scattered with posies and distinctive dark green leaves.The designer did a rough sketch and began to crochet. Oak, ash and horse chestnut leaves from a palette of green wools and silk piled up on his studio floor. "You will look like a beautiful elf,” someone observed. The com-mentary was beginning to shift in a positive direction, I supposed. Knitting machine punch cards were tried out to find the pattern for the fabric base and soft moss-green yarn with deep gold were twisted together while spring-green shoulder pads with knobbly bits were added, giving the dress a mermaid touch. Long and lean, with two fan-shaped side sections at the bottom, the dress slowly unfurled. But even in its half-finished state I was unable to visualise

a bookcase that showed books with the front covers facing out-wards, so she could pick them out by herself. It was a simple concept, but one which changed the way books are presented in the home. I put a small advert in a parent-ing magazine and found I couldn't make bookcases fast enough. I went from bespoke violins to large-scale production. When I started Tidy Books, my ambition was always to make a difference to children's lives. That's why, as well as hosting the E17 Kid's Book Drops, Tidy Books has an ongoing commit-ment to donate a percentage of online profits to the national lit-eracy charity Beanstalk. Beanstalk places volunteers to read one-to-one with children who have fallen behind with their reading. I know that Waltham-stow's fantastic community spirit will make the E17 Kid's Book Drop a success. It's a simple idea that can make a big impact. If Walthamstow people can give a pre-owned kid's book, that's in good condition, then we can help Give A Book multiply the magic of a good book.

how exactly it would look. My husband-to-be called up images on his laptop of the Incredible Hulk. "Will you be like that?" he asked. I hoped not, but I wasn't entirely sure. A week before the wedding, the dress arrived. There was a veil, there were leaves brushed with gold foil, and the dress fell with weight. It fitted and it felt good on. Shoes were out; I decided to walk the walk bare-footed with purple toe nails. Flowers were in and I carried a purple and cream bouquet. On the day of the wedding the compliments flowed. Someone said I looked like a young willow. But even if I had resembled a swamp monster, the Incredible Hulk, or an elf, I would still have been perfectly contented in my unapologetically green dream.

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Nice day for a green weddingWord on the street

Deborah Nash in the green dress on her wedding day

Knitting machine punching cards and samples

Crocheted leaves for the green dress

One of the bookcases designed by Geraldine Grandidier

Deborah's wedding dress was designed and made by Craig Lawrence. See more of his work:

Visit facebook.com/craiglawrenceuk

Deborah's upcoming play The Mysteries in a Box will be performed on 26th, 27th, 28th November and 3rd and 4th December 2016.

Visit facebook.com/WalthamstowMysteries

by Geraldine Grandidier

How a simple book drop can change a child's life Playwright Deborah Nash tells the story behind her unusual green wedding dress

Book drops are held on the first Friday of the month, 10am-5pm, at 10 Hatherley Mews, Walthamstow E17 4QP. The next donation day is Friday 7th October. For more information:

Visit tidy-books.co.ukVisit giveabook.org.uk


FEATUREHistoryDaniel Shannon-Hughes recounts personal stories from two world wars P . 11

very evening a crowd of people appear and ap-proach an ordinary-look-ing white van parked

in Walthamstow. They form an orderly queue and wait patiently to be served. Volunteers dish out a cooked meal to each of them. This is the Christian Kitchen. Despite the name, some of the volunteers who work here are members of mosques and other local faith groups, or have no faith at all. On a rotation, they each volunteer their time once a month or more, to cook for anyone that turns up. The charity has been running for 25 years and feeds home-less and marginalised people a three-course meal, 365 nights a year. Norman Minter, a former trustee for Christian Kitchen who has been involved with the group for the last 15 years, de-scribes a typical menu: "Friday's meal for instance was mash po-tatoes, sausages, baked beans, a separate salad, plus a dessert of cake with custard. "There's also tea, hot choco-late, coffee – it's very popular." A small team usually starts off the evening cooking at the Branches Hostel kitchen in Forest Road, where they hire a space, and then another team will come in to load the food on to the van around 7pm and take it down to the venue to distrib-ute at around 7:30pm. Serving dinner for anything between 30 and 50 people usually lasts an hour. Norman says: "The team that go out in the van are sometimes five people, it's a good number of people to make sure there's security and everyone queues up. "The same team will clear up any mess that will be in the area at the end of the shift and we finish up at about 9pm." When I ask why they choose to serve the homeless communi-ty an evening meal, he tells me there was no question: "It's quite likely that the meal we provide for them is their main meal of the day, if not their only meal of the day. "Most of us eat our dinner

at that time of the evening so it seems obvious." Norman goes on to make it clear that beyond the food, the relationships formed there are also vital. "It's not just about the food, which is the primary aim and goal. It's hugely important if you're hungry, the aim is to feed people. "But there's also a degree of friendship and compassion in-volved in that. I can think of one or two people there that I've known for years and we have con-versations; 'how's your day been?' – stuff like that. "So there's a spin-off from the primary purpose, which is to feed people." One of the other volunteers, David West, explains that they are also committed to produc-ing the best food they can. "Ev-erything we cook, we cook like we are cooking for ourselves," says David. "The quality of the food is second-to-none. We're very proud of it." Norman Coe, who co-ordi-nates the group and has been involved with Christian Kitchen for more than 20 years, is also in-volved with shelters in the area. He says there should be more for vulnerable people: "I think if you look on the website of the [Waltham Forest] Council, they will try and make out that they have something for everybody, but the reality is not so. "It's very, very difficult to get people the help they need, but we do point people in the right direction. There were about 50 people tonight and I can see that number increasing." Liz Rutherfoord, chief exec-utive at homeless charity SHP, a charity supporting homeless and vulnerable people in London, said: "Latest rough sleeping figures showed that rough sleep-ing in Waltham Forest is rising at more than double the rate of the rest of London. "Perhaps unsurprisingly, this coincides with the closure of almost all supported housing for homeless people in the borough. "Street outreach services like the Christian Kitchen are abso-lutely crucial, but they can't solve

the problem on their own. What we really need in the borough is proper provision for homeless people and a strategy rethink." Figures released by the Com-bined Homelessness and Infor-mation Network (Chain) on 29th June, recorded 139 people living on the streets in the area in 2015/16. At the same time in 2014/15, the number of rough sleepers in the borough was counted as 118.

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One square meal a day

Christian Kitchen volunteers serving meals to people in Walthamstow Credit Adjoa Wiredu

by Adjoa Wiredu

The charity that helps keep the borough's homeless people from going hungry

Are You a Woman in LondonThinking about Starting a Business?

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InspiringWomenEmpowering women forbusiness success

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Book Now:One day seminars will be held on:Wednesday 5th October, 10am - 3pm at:Queens Road Learning Centre, 97 Queens Road, Walthamstow E17 8QRMonday 17th October, 10am - 3pm at:Building 3, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, Barnet N11 1NPWednesday 19th October, 10am - 3pmEnfield Business Centre, 201 Hertford Road, Enfield EN3 5JHTuesday 1st November, 10am - 3pm at:Selby Centre, Selby Rd, Tottenham N17 8JL

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FEATURES

All hands to the pumpkin Building our way up

ctober is here and so is pumpkin season! During my research for a seasonal recipe I

found out about a local com-munity food project called Or-ganiclea, and I was inspired to

n a warm summer evening last year a group of local fami-lies met in the Warrant

Officer pub in Higham Hill, Walthamstow. We all had some-thing in common; serious housing problems. Insecure tenancies, cramped and unsuitable living conditions, several facing eviction, all on the local council housing register with no prospect of being rehoused for a decade, if at all. Another thing everyone had in common was that they had all met or heard of John Struthers and his highly successful self-build project in the borough, Headway Gardens. His house had been part of Green Open Homes, a nation-al event, organised locally by the Hornbeam team, and many people had visited his home and been highly impressed. John's project, which had turn- ed 50 derelict garages into ten spacious family homes, was un-dertaken in conjunction with Waltham Forest Council and Circle33 Housing Association. Circle had been very pleased with the result and had indicated to John that they would be happy to undertake another self-build in future. John said he was keen to help, and John Gillespie from the Com-munity Self Build Agency, who had been involved in and sup-ported the Headway Gardens project, also came to our meeting to answer questions. Afterwards, having shared our stories, we were feeling fired up with enthusiasm. Email address-es and phone numbers were ex-changed, and a group created on social media to help us set up a new community self-build group. One month later, in July 2015, we had our first meeting in the back room of a local cafe, and our group 'Family Foundations' was born. None of us are experts in hous-ing or building. We are eleven or-dinary families, all seeking to give our children a decent and secure

come up with a wholesome and tasty roast pumpkin and sage risotto recipe. Organiclea is a workers' co-op-erative that grows and distributes seasonal and sustainable veg and fruit across Waltham Forest – in-

home to grow up in. Our group grows in strength and confidence. We are looking around at what is starting to happen in response to the terrible housing crisis in London, and indeed the whole country. People are talking about innovative, cost-effective and envi-ronmentally sustainable housing solutions, community-led housing, co-housing, self-build. Inspired by what we see, we have continued to meet faithfully every fortnight and work towards our goal of building environmentally-friendly family homes for ourselves. Like Headway, our project will be a self-finish project, meaning shells of the houses are built by the contractor and the future tenants carry out all of the inter-nal carpentry and fitting out. We have met with Waltham Forest College, who tailored a course in 'second-fix' carpentry for the Headway Gardens group, and dis-cussed a training course for us too. The training, and the tools we need to carry out the work, will have to be funded by our group. Over the last year we have written our constitution, opened a community bank account, and started saving. We have had meet-ings with other self builders and found an architect to work on our project. We have held two very successful fundraising events, and we are now researching sources of finance and putting together our formal proposal in order to ap-proach potential partners. There are many positive out-comes from a self-build project such as Headway Gardens, and we are hoping and expecting that our group, will be the same. By using local contractors and suppliers, the local economy is boosted. People on the project enhance their self-esteem. People can also gain life-changing skills, discover an aptitude they didn't know they had, and go on to fur-ther training and employment. The path ahead may be full of challenges and set-backs, but we are fully committed and deter-mined to succeed in our goal.

cluding pumpkins. The food is grown at Hawkwood Nursery in Chingford, in allotments and gardens across the borough, or is sourced from small-scale organic farmers in East Anglia and Kent. As well as a fruit and veg box scheme and Saturday market stall they also have a monthly open day at Hawkwood Nursery. This is a chance to look around their beautiful site, take part in group gardening and drop-in learning, and try some of their food. The next open day is on Sunday 30th October from 12 – 4pm and every-one is welcome. I am planning to take the kids to the open day so they can see for themselves how food is grown locally. I won't pretend I don't use the supermarket regu-larly, but I am trying to balance that with supporting local and ethical food projects and busi-nesses too. I hope you enjoy my seasonal recipe!

Local food blogger Katie Robinson makes the most of the autumn harvest

The success of a local self-build housing project has inspired a new group to take on the challenge

Roast pumpkin and sage risotto

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Roast pumpkin and sage risotto (serves 4)This is a delicious, creamy dish with the lovely complementary flavours of the pumpkin and sage. It is a fairly simple recipe but you need to be near the hob to stir regularly.

Ingredients

· 1 small/medium pumpkin (skin off and seeds discarded), cut into chunks· 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil· 1 onion, chopped small· 2 cloves garlic, crushed/chopped small· Small handful fresh sage, chopped small· 300g risotto rice· 150ml white wine· 1 litre vegetable stock· 50g parmesan cheese, grated

Method

i) Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees/gas mark six. Put the pumpkin chunks in a baking tray, drizzle over two tablespoons of oil and some salt and pepper. Mix well and put in the oven for around 25-30

minutes until cooked, stirring every five to ten minutes to avoid sticking/burning.

ii) Meanwhile, make the risotto. Cook the onion in a little oil for five minutes until soft. Add the garlic and cook for one minute before adding the wine. Stir regularly until there is hardly any wine left. Add the rice and fry for one minute. Add the stock one ladle at a time and stir regularly so the rice absorbs it and doesn't stick or dry out.

iii) After about 20 minutes the rice should be very nearly cooked (if it doesn't seem cooked you can add a little more stock and keep stirring). Add the parmesan and chopped sage and mix well. Then gently stir in the roast pumpkin. Eat and feel nourished!

Email [email protected] katielovescooking.comTwitter @ktlovescooking

If you have any comments, ideas or tips about food in Waltham Forest, please get in touch with Katie:

by Susan Higgins


EventA local punk revival is no small wonder thanks to an ongoing exhibition P . 12HISTORY

Living through the wars

he scales of conflict, death and mobilisa-tion of populations in the First and Second

World Wars, 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, were unprecedented. The wars shaped the lives of those who lived through them and shaped the world that followed: The welfare state, the end of empire, and the beginning of the Cold War, were all consequences of the war years. Their impact was incalcula-ble and yet for people born in post-war Britain it's almost im-possible to imagine what it was like to live through such turbu-lent times. Fortunately, first-hand accounts from survivors of both world wars do exist and are avail-able in the Waltham Forest Oral History Workshop's archives at Vestry House Museum. A common narrative is of popular enthusiasm among the people for the war effort. I focus here on two interviews that dem- onstrate this enthusiasm but also contain evidence of lesser-voiced resistance. The first recording is with an unidentified member of the South Chingford Co-op Women's

Guild, recorded in 1985. A teen-ager when the First World War started, in 1916 she was working at the Lebus furniture factory in Ferry Lane: "My friend and I, we were 16, we thought we weren't doing enough to help in the war. We were very patriotic at that age… so we left and we went to Woolwich Arsenal." The interviewee was put to work on the highly-explosive com-pound Trinitrotoluene (TNT): "We used to have a little bag about as big as your finger. We put them on the machine, turn a handle, and fill it with TNT. It's like very fine sand and that thing had to be made very hard." After a time she transferred to a munitions factory in Waltham Abbey. Production was round the clock: "We worked three shifts, six 'til two, two til' ten, and ten 'til six, every night except Saturday." The second interviewee is Jack Milford, born 1913 in Leyton. A child in the First World War, he says: "My first recollections were of my mother taking me down to the air-raid shelters in the stables under Lea Bridge Road arches. "My father came home on leave from the trenches, still with Flan-

ders mud on him, and he took us up to Chingford. He laid out on the grass and went to sleep for the whole afternoon while the three kids played." Just like our munitions worker, when the Second World War started, Jack was eager to help his country: "I said to my father; 'I think I’ll join up dad'." Having fought in the previous war, Jack's father knew what the reality of war would entail. "He says; 'You bloody little idiot, you been reading books? You get killed at this game. Don't you bloody volunteer. They'll come for you when they want you without you worrying'." True enough, in 1940 Jack was called up. For our munitions worker, only in looking back did she see the darker aspects of her wartime expe-rience. The bags of TNT she made were designed to kill on the bat-tlefield but they also took the lives of fellow workers: "At Waltham Abbey we saw huge craters where there had been explosions. "You think after it's a bit fright-ening but not at the time because you were young. We just thought we were helping to win the war." After the initial months of mainly popular enthusiasm for the First World War, the horrors of trench warfare meant fewer men were volunteering to fight. Conscrip-tion was introduced to maintain the supply of soldiers. Our munitions worker puts the hostility of her male colleagues down to conscription: "Some of the men weren't very kind. We didn't realise why they didn't like

us. But the reason was [for] every woman they took on, a man was released for the army." The resistance and unwilling-ness to fight among some soldiers, manifested most obviously in several mass mutinies, is omitted from many First World War nar-ratives. It is even rarer for soldiers' resistance to be included in nar-ratives of the Second World War. Jack's memory of embarking shows it was there though: "Mid-night we march out of Oxford… they put us on trains and lock all the bloody doors so you can’t get away. "They put us on the boat, and it immediately goes into the Mersey, a mile out, and anchors. One of the regular soldiers says; 'Ah well, you can say ta-ta to that for five years'. It's a bloody five-year station. "I thought, how can I ever write and tell my missus I've gone for five years? We were going to India… That night, two blokes hung themselves and three tried to swim ashore to Liverpool." Most stories about soldiers in the Second World War focus on their determination, bravery and sacrifice. However, from Jack's account we can also see there was an unwillingness to fight and desperation that pushed sol-diers to desert or commit suicide. The scale of death gives us some insight as to why. "By the time I got back [to Britain in 1946] we had about two thousand of the original men, out of five thousand. Three thousand of them dead. Horrible, isn't it? "And also, uselessly. Absolute-ly and utterly uselessly. Although

we enjoyed it very much… well, you do, in the time." These words also sum up the contrasts in experiences of war and histories of war. Every indi-vidual has different experiences and, as seen with our munitions worker and Jack, can have conflict-ing views about their experiences. People were enthusiastic and did enjoy elements of wartime. There were many acts of kindness and bravery too. It is right this should be recognised. However, they should not obscure the other side of war. The horror, the death, and resistance, have to be includ-ed in the narratives. An awareness of both sides is important because how we feel about these wars can shape our attitudes to contemporary and future conflicts. Only with a fuller picture can we make an informed choice when today's leaders ask us to go to war.

TA civil defence advertisement in Walthamstow during the Second World War. Credit Vestry House Museum/Waltham Forest Council

First World War munitions workers at Woolwich Arsenal Credit Vestry House Museum/Waltham Forest Council

Daniel Shannon-Hughes recounts personal stories from two world wars

”

My first recollections were of my mother taking me down to the air-raid shelters in the stables under Lea Bridge Road arches

“

The Waltham Forest Oral History Workshop is a volunteer group who have been recording oral histories with local residents for the past 30 years. For information on the workshop's archive, joining the group, or being interviewed: Email [email protected] wforalhistory.org.uk


EVENTS

Going round in circles Punk revival is no small wonder

by Emma Betts

by Jean Duggleby

althamstow has been experienc-ing a dynamic punk revival of

late with the launch of Punk Waltham Forest; a diverse pro-gramme of events celebrating Waltham Forest’s unique contri-bution to punk culture. The season is part of the year-long Punk London festival cele-brating 40 years since the advent of punk music. This year also marks 40 years since the band Sex Pistols played at Waltham-stow Assembly Hall! At the heart of Punk Waltham Forest has been an exhibition ded-icated to Small Wonder Records, the seminal record shop and label located at 162 Hoe Street from 1975 until 1983. Small Wonder was home to the debut releases of bands including The Cure, Crass, Bauhaus, Cockney Re-jects and Patrik Fitzgerald. The exhibition has been curated by BBC video journalist and Music Like Dirt blogger Neil Meads, with curatorial support from artist and DJ Julia Spicer. In describing his motivation for ar-ranging the exhibition, Neil said: "It started when I googled 'Small Wonder Records' and got back nothing beyond a brief discog. "So in 2012 I tracked down and interviewed the bobble-hat-ted label owner, Pete Stennett, in a picturesque Suffolk village. The stories Pete told, coupled with the deluge of 'Small Wonder changed

my life' style emails that followed, meant I felt an obligation to bring some overdue public recognition for what was achieved from a tiny shop in Hoe Street." Included in the exhibition has been an installation of the Small Wonder shop, painstakingly recre-ated by Andrea Purcigliotti, Tony Barber and Matt Tully. The exhibition has welcomed over 2,000 people through its doors at Hoe Street Central since it opened on 5th Septem-ber. Alongside the exhibition, the programme has includ-ed two gigs; the first, curated by Walthamstow Rock ‘n’ Roll Book Club's Mark Hart, fea-tured Small Wonder bands The Cravats, The Proles and Geoff Deane from the Leyton Buz-zards and the second, curated by Stow Festival committee member Julian Marszalek, celebrated the ongoing influence of punk on music today, with Spanish punk band Guadalupe Plata, Pussy-cat and The Dirty Johnsons, and local band The Wimmins’ Insti-tute. This event, along with three panel discussions and two music history tours also featured as part of this year's Stow Festival. Reflecting on the panel dis-cussions which included Glen Matlock, former bass guitarist in the Sex Pistols, Mark Hart, said: "Having a Sex Pistol top a fantastic talk by playing one of the band's songs in Walthamstow Library in front of 100 people, 40 years after the original punk band played Walthamstow's Assembly Hall, was beyond cool."

Panel contributors also includ-ed Gina Birch from the Raincoats, Geoff Deane from The Leyton Buzzards, and The Shend from The Cravats. Other events com-prised of a Pop-Up Punk Art School with artist and curator Ellie Pole and graphic designer and lecturer, Gillian Fielden, and Stow Film Lounge screenings of Radio On and Taxi Driver. A much condensed version of the Small Wonder exhibition will move to Hale End Library between 3rd and 22nd October. This includes a launch event with Zillah Minx, vocalist in punk group Rubella Ballet, who will screen her documentary film She’s a Punk Rocker UK, on Saturday 8th October 2 – 4pm. The Small Wonder exhibition then moves to Leytonstone Library between 7th and 26th November and will be launched with a punk gig. Both exhibitions will also include work by art, fashion and media students at Waltham Forest College, inspired by the exhibition and their study of punk culture.

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Small Wonder Records owner Pete Stennett at the Walthamstow exhibition that celebrates the label's legacy Credit Neil Meads

Tickets for the Small Wonder launch event Hale End Library on 8th October are £4:

Visit bit.ly/punkwf

Punk Waltham Forest is commissioned by Waltham Forest Council, part-funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, and produced by Beatroots Creative.

Visit facebook.com/SmallWonderE17

Circle dancing is held on the first Thursday of the month 1.30-3.30pm at Welcome Centre, St. Mary's Church, 8 Church End, Walthamstow E17 9RJ. The cost is £4 including refreshments. For more information:

Call 020 8556 3508Email [email protected]

any years ago on a holiday at a com-munity farm 'circle dance' was on the

evening programme. Never having heard of it, I went along out of curiosity. The teacher asked us to hold hands in a circle and we stood around a centrepiece of flowers and candles. He taught us the steps and we practised the sequences two or three times. He put on some won-derful world music and we danced the evening away. Both authentic folk dances and more recently-choreographed dances from many cultures are fea-tured; including Greek, Balkan, Russian, Gypsy, Turkish, Portu-guese, Armenian and Israeli. Some are energetic, and some are gentle. Ever since that time I have danced regularly with circle dan-cing groups. I have been welcomed by groups all around the world, in-cluding New Zealand, Cape Town, Berlin, Madeira and Croatia. Circle dancers often have sim-ilar attitudes; such as ideals of

peace, fairness and co-operation, symbolised by a circle represent-ing equality. I have made many friends through circle dancing and at a course in central London I met Pat. We both live in Walthamstow and decided to start our very own circle dancing group. The local group is friendly and fun. You need no previous experi-ence, nor a partner. Just turn up.We mostly dance to recorded world music but also have a group of live musicians. I look forward to welcoming Echo readers at our next class!

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Circle dancing in Walthamstow

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Office space for hire at The Mill7-11 Coppermill Lane, Walthamstow, E17 7HA


Upcoming

LISTINGS

The Cornerstone Community Performing Arts DaySaturday 8th October, 10am–9pmThe Cornerstone Church, 149 Canterbury Road, Leyton E10 6EH

The Mill Anniversary QuizFriday 14th October, 7–10pmThe Mill, Coppermill Lane, Walthamstow E17 7HA

Markhouse Corner and Lea Bridge Jumble TrailSunday 16th October, 12–5pmLea Bridge, Markhouse, Church Road areas

The Cornerstone Church will be host-ing a day for you to try your hand at performing arts. We will be running free workshops suitable for people of all ages, including instrument-mak-ing, dance, ukulele, percussion and gospel choir. Workshops run from 10am until 4pm, please book your place in advance. An evening concert will be held at 7pm.

We will be holding an anniversary fund-raising quiz. Enjoy punch and nibbles while testing your general knowledge in a friendly competition. As this is a birthday special there will be addition-al rounds with a 'Mill' theme. There are prizes to be won!

A Jumble Trail is like a car boot sale but on your street. Communities co-ordi-nate to set up stalls outside their houses to sell bric-a-brac, toys, vintage clothes, cakes or whatever. The whole thing is co-ordinated online at jumbletrail.com, providing visitors with a colour-coded map to explore the treasure on sale in your neighbourhood.

Free entryEmail [email protected]

£5 entryEmail [email protected]

Free entryVisit jumbletrail.com/event/E107LD2016

Ongoing

Leyton History SocietyWednesday 19th October, 7.45pmSt Mary's Parish Hall, Lindley Road, Leyton E10 6QT

Woodhouse Players present 'A Number'Six performances starting Friday 21st October, 8pmWelsh Church Hall, 881 High Road, Leytonstone E11 1HR

WE: The ex-Warner Estate in Waltham ForestStarting Saturday 29th October, Wednesday-Sunday, 10am–5pmVestry House Museum, Vestry Road, Walthamstow E17 9NH

Zumba with ZoeEvery Wednesday, 7.30pmThe Cornerstone Centre, 149 Canterbury Road, Leyton, E10 6EH

Children's beginner music groupsMonday - Thursday 4 – 8pmWaltham Forest Music Service, 12 Church Hill, Walthamstow E17 3AG

Tap Dancing ClassesEvery Thursday, from 12.15pm during termSt Edmund's Church, Chingford Mount Road, Chingford E4

Waltham Forest Community ChoirEvery Monday during term, 7.30pm –9.30pmSt Mary's Church, Church End, Walthamstow E17 9RJ

Martin Spafford will share fascinating cutting-edge research causing a rethink of the story of the people of Britain. He will show how migration has shaped all the key defining moments in our history.

What if you had a second chance to bring up your child? To do it all again, avoiding your mistakes from the first time around? Salter has no regrets about taking drastic measures to redeem himself after neglect-ing his young son. But years later he has to justify his decisions not only to the son he abandoned, but to an unknown number of identical doubles. A dark one-act play about love, genetics, doppelgangers, free will and how we deserve blame (or praise) for anything we do.

WE is an arts and heritage project by Lucy Harrison and Katherine Green ex-ploring the social history and continu-ing importance of the Warner Estate in Waltham Forest. Warner properties were built from the late 19th until the mid-20th century with many of the proper-ties taking the form of distinctive red-brick self-contained flats.

Our classes are great fun, an excellent way to keep fit, lose weight and every class feels like a party. Zumba is your op-portunity to express yourself and unleash your 'Latin within'!

Does your child enjoy music? Would they like to try something new or improve ex-isting skills? We offer a variety of begin-ner children's music groups including singing, drumming, strings and more. Singing or playing in a group gives chil-dren the chance to develop their musical ability, while improving confidence and performance skills. It's also a fun and so-ciable experience!

We are a friendly group of tap dancers looking for new members. Beginners or improvers are welcome at 12.15pm, the general class starts at 12.30pm. For all levels.

We are a self-funded group open to anyone living or working in the borough. Previous singing or musical experience is not required. We believe that singing should be accessible to anyone and we do not audition prospective members. Our musical repertoire is diverse, and includes classical, traditional, folk and popular styles.

Free entryVisit leytonhistorysociety.org.uk

Tickets £8 (£5 concessions) advanceCall 020 8504 3872Email [email protected]

Free entryVisit exwarnerproject.co.uk

£5 per class Call 07737 062 504Email [email protected] zumbazoe.co.uk

Free entryVisit walthamforest.gov.uk/ music-serviceCall 020 8496 1584Email [email protected]

£4 per classCall 01992 524 681

£50.00 per termCall 07954 740 745Email [email protected] singwithus.net

Bobbie Makoni meets the hockey club that's sticking up for disability

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Waltham Forest University of the Third Age (U3A)Tuesday 18th October, 2– 4 pmWinchester Road Methodist Church, 82 Winchester Road, Chingford E4 9JP

We are a mixed group of retired or semi-retired over-55s interested in life-long learning. We host monthly talks and provide the opportunity to join small groups in more than 40 subjects from Armchair London to Whist, while taking in Epping Forest Walks and William Shakespeare along the way.

£15 annual subscriptionEmail [email protected] U3asites.org.uk/waltham-forest

Next issue listingsTo list your community event in the November issue of the Echo email the details to [email protected] by 20th October.

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Who grows your food?OrganicLea deliver fresh, healthy, ultra local, organic fruit and veg to pickup points all around Waltham Forest every

Wednesday. Try it out!

www.organiclea.org.uk/box [email protected]

Advertisement

St Barnabas Sunday Concerts Presents 'Simple Gifts'Sunday 16th October 16th, 4pmSt Barnabas Church, St Barnabas Road, Walthamstow E17 8JZ

A plentiful harvest of beautiful songs, ir-resistible duets and rousing opera selec-tions, performed by Walthamstow opera singers Gillian Keith and Tom Randle, and joined by Welsh star Fflur Wyn. This programme of gorgeous music will dispel autumn's chill and warm your heart!

Free entry, donationsVisit facebook.com/StBarnabasSundayConcerts


rior to Hospice Care Week this month I visited Haven House Children's Hospice in

Woodford Green. According to Hospice UK, every year hospices provide more than 26 million hours of tailored and compassionate care, supporting

estled away behind Walthamstow Ac- ademy in Billet Road is the pioneering

Waltham Forest Hockey Club. Named Team GB's 'Club of

360,000 patients and their families.Haven House, near the borough border with Redbridge, is one of those places. Mike Palfreman, chief executive of the charity, says: "We are pro-viding care and support to more life-limited children and their fam-ilies than ever before, but it is still

the Year' in 2013, members range from age two to 82, and include both youngsters hoping to play at the highest level and busy parents simply looking for a way to keep fit. It is not uncommon to find

the case that not enough families are accessing hospice care services in our local area." Forty-two percent of chil-dren using Haven's services live in Waltham Forest, which is the highest proportion of the eleven boroughs they serve. In addi-tion a pilot scheme for provid-ing hospice care at home was launched in this borough a few months ago. Haven House occupies The White House, an impressive de-tached former family home with an illustrious history, is set in four acres of protected woodland. There is a fabulous children's play-ground with a wheelchair accessi-ble swing and a giant sunken tram-poline especially for wheelchairs. Joanne Lazarus, community and events fundraiser at Haven House, came to our Link4Growth meeting in September and told us about Pumpkin Plod; a spooky sponsored forest walk from the hospice on Sunday 23rd October,

parents and their children playing on the same team, especially given there are 18 different teams within the club. One of Waltham Forest Hockey Club's most impressive features is the extraordinary work they have done in the world of disability hockey. They were the first hockey club in the country to fully inte-grate a disability programme and The Flyerz, as they are known, aim to give people with disabili-ties equal opportunities through the sport. This disability programme has now been replicated at clubs across the country, and Team GB's women's team have visited on a number of occasions to support it. Flyerz players are also encour-aged to join the club's mainstream teams where possible. Sharon Allen, whose son Shane has been a Flyerz member since its inception in 2011, explains the

at 2pm. Subsequently, I met Joanne for a guided tour of Haven House. She pointed out some personal touch- es, which make the hospice feel more like a home with lots of fun-filled play activities. The large arts and crafts room enables chil-dren to make their own artwork and explore places in the special-ly-adapted sensory room, without leaving the hospice. Since 2003, Haven House has helped more than 650 families. Joanne showed me two memory books, which commemorate the lives of deceased children. An artist creates a unique page for each child, ensuring that no-one is forgotten. I visited the Butterfly Suite, a per-sonal space where families can say goodbye and grieve privately. Notwithstanding this, Mike said: "Parents need to know a sig-nificant proportion of the care we provide is respite; it is not predom-inantly about death and dying." The hospice has five bedrooms,

impact it has had on his develop-ment: "Shane is autistic and the programme has really helped with his hand-eye co-ordination and the friendships and comradery have made him more confident." Despite such a large and com-mitted membership, the club gets no real funding and relies on a strong army of volunteers as well as the generosity of Waltham Forest Academy, which allows them to use its facilities for free. With Team GB's Olympic suc-cess in Rio, interest in the sport has understandably soared and club chairman Pani Theodor-ou emphasised that to maintain success on a national level there needs to be greater investment at grassroots. However, the lack of funding has not deterred Pani or other volunteers from recruiting new members; each year as well as a large youth intake, the club runs

with bunting draped across the windows and floors raised up, so that children can see the garden and trees outside. They can also bring their own bedding. Families can stay too, in a modern self-con-tained flat on the same floor. One-to-one support is available to brothers and sisters through Buddies, a siblings support group, and they even have their own hut in the garden, which was re-furbished by ITV’s 60-Minute Makeover programme in 2015. Around 70 staff work for Haven House, including registered nurses and healthcare support workers. And there are two charity shops in the borough in Chingford and Ley-tonstone. Hospice Care Week takes place 3rd – 9th October.

adult beginner courses which areequally accessible for those who have never seen a hockey stick and those who need a reminder of the rules they learned at school 40 years ago. After spending an afternoon at the club and speaking to members of all ages, what shone through was the sense of community and inclusiveness throughout every level of the organisation. This special hockey club is tr- uly a testament to what can be achieved with a committed mem-bership and a passion for grass-roots sport.

Home sweet home

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In her regular column highlighting local charities and projects, Link4Growth volunteer Debra Oakaby visits a children’s hospice in Woodford Green

Members of the Team GB women's hockey team join a Waltham Forest Hockey Club training session

For more information about Haven House:

Call 020 8498 5849Visit havenhouse.org.uk

For more information on Waltham Forest Hockey Club and to get involved:

Visit walthamforesthc.co.uk

Sticking up for disabilityIn her regular sports column Bobbie Makoni discovers the award-winning Waltham Forest Hockey Club

Haven House provides children both day care and a place to stay overnight


The Pioneers

Walthamstow has an incredible pioneering spirit — did you know some of the worlds greatest achievements started life right here on our doorstep?

The loo roll Andrex, once made in Higham Hill, is now one of Britains best-loved brands, and when peddling around our very own mini-Holland give a thought to inventor of the ‘modern bicycle’

Mr John Kemp Starley, who lived on Church Hill.

Britain’s ‘first car’ was also built right here by local engineer Fredrick Bremer, but sadly one of the greatest inventions of all was too late for Mr B.

Yes, the finest music cassette tapes, made by Phillips right here in E17.

So thank you Walthamstow, for many of life’s little (& big) essentials!



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Each month we will be giving this page over to a local community group, artist or event organiser, for free. If you have something you’d like to showcase or promote, please email us on [email protected] or call

us on 020 3397 9797 for details of how to submit your information to us.


Keep Warm & Healthy This Winter

HEET is a friendly local charitable organisation

We provide FREE advice and work on

● saving energy in the home ● insulation, draught proofing and heating ● switching tariff and claiming discounts on fuel bills

Call us on 020 8520 1900

NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT We have been shortlisted by the Marks & Spencer Energy Fund for an award of £12,500 but we need your vote to win. We will use this money to ensure that local residents have a warm home to go to when discharged from hospital. To vote, go to www.mandsenergyfund.com/projects/heet-for-health Then click on Vote for Project to Win. Voting closes on Monday 10th October 2016.

Save Money on your Fuel Bills

Help the environment

For Waltham Forest residents who are: • Aged 60 years or more or… • Receive an income or disability related benefit or… • Referred by a health professional

your independent community newspaper waltham no. 19, …of wfwellcomm cic are: community transport...

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