P . 3 P . 5 P . 7 P . 9 P . 13 Whipps Cross labelled ...walthamforestecho.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Echo-22.pdf · saw 23-year-old Raiché Mederick presented the award at City

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News Feature Feature History Event

January 2017No. 22, FreeWALTHAM

FOREST ECHO

Your independent community newspaper

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

woman from Waltham Forest was named 'You- ng Londoner of the Year' for her "bravery,

entrepreneurship and desire to help others". The third annual Mayor's Fund for London Awards held last month saw 23-year-old Raiché Mederick presented the award at City Hall. Raiché, who suffered from sev- ere burns as a child, is establish-ing her own charity for burns sur-vivors and will focus on helping them through burns trauma. She has previously volunteered and worked for several charities, in-cluding The Children's Burns Club and Katie Piper Foundation, while her passion for events and helping others led to her involvement with an arts programme called Creativ-ity Works. After securing a place at the Cato Academy for Tour and Music Management with a bursary, she became a mentor and regular-ly returns to advise new recruits. Raiché has also run the London

Marathon, completing the race despite breaking her foot. She says: "I was always taught that dreams were important, to always look to the future, to understand that life is so much bigger than what's hap-pened to me." Sir Harvey McGrath, trustee of the Mayor's Fund for London, said: "Raiché is a great example of a young Londoner who has shown resilience and bravery in making the most of the opportunities Lon- don has to offer. Congratulations to her." The Mayor's Fund for London is a social mobility charity that em-powers young Londoners from disadvantaged backgrounds to acquire the skills and opportuni-ties they need to secure employ-ment, and climb the career ladder.

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Young Londoner of the year

P . 3 P . 5 P . 7

Waltham Forest Council leader Chris Robbins quits after eight years

Waltham Forest's beer-brewing scene goes from strength to strength

How a family from Chingford are using their medical skills to make a difference

Author Geoff Barton has pieced together the tale of the Walthamstow Tram Chase

Warm up with Eat or Heat's charity fundraiser, an all-day DJ festival

Raiché Mederick suffered 70 percent burns in a house fire as a toddler

Raiché Mederick collects her trophy at the Mayor's Fund for London Awards

chief inspector of hospitals, Profes-sor Sir Mike Richards, said infec-tion prevention and control proce-dures at Whipps Cross "were not strictly adhered to" and there was "limited evidence of learning from incidents and complaints". "Poor culture" and "evidence of bullying and inequality" were found, he said, and "examples of a lack of compassion towards pa-tients nearing the end of their lives". In a long list of recommenda-tions, the professor said: "The trust must ensure there are suffi-cient numbers of qualified, skilled and experienced staff employed and deployed to meet the needs of patients. This should include en-suring staff have the right skills to recognise and manage the deteri-orating patient." The emergency department at Whipps Cross, where the govern-ment target is to treat and discharge at least 95 percent of patients within

Whipps Cross labelled 'inadequate' for second time

hipps Cross Uni-versity Hospital has been rated 'inadequate' by

care quality inspectors for the second time in a row. The latest report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found the Leytonstone hospital had improved in some key areas, par-ticularly in maternity care and paediatrics, but was still failing overall – with surgery and outpa-tient care listed as major concerns. A previous report in March 2015 resulted in the hospital being placed in 'special measures' and several senior managers departing. It was hoped the changes would lead to rapid improvement, but the new report has been described as "disap-pointing" with progress "too slow". Summarising his findings, the

W

Whipps Cross University Hospital, in Leytonstone

by James Cracknellfour hours, is instead only achiev-ing 85 percent. Waltham Forest Council's cabinet member for health and well-being, Councillor Ahsan Khan, said: "We are of course disappoint-ed by the CQC's findings. Our ex-pectation after the last inspection was that improvements would be delivered rapidly. While there has been improvement in several areas, it’s clear that progress has been too slow." Councillor Khan reacted to the report and called for the hospital to be rebuilt. He added: "We are con-tinuing to lobby the government for Whipps to be redeveloped." A formal outline of redevelopment proposals is due to be published in the spring. Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs Whipps Cross, has the biggest deficit of any NHS trust in the country in the last financial year, amounting to £134.9million. Com-menting on the latest inadequate report for Whipps Cross, Barts chief executive Alwen Williams said: "The quality of care for pa-tients at our hospitals is getting better all the time. I'm very grate-ful for the dedication and passion our staff show every day and night. "We still have much to do and we must tackle all the areas where we are still letting our patients down, as well as taking inspiration from where we are doing well. I am confi-dent Barts Health is now on the right track and with the support of our partners and our committed work-force we will continue to improve."

Inspectors say more experienced staff needed at Leytonstone hospital

” Raiché has shown resilience and bravery

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2 No. 22 JANUARY 2017 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO

JANUARY 2017 – No. 22

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

ContributorsGlenn WallisGeoff EllisSteve WatkinsSophie WatsonDave BrownMichael GrimshawTed BarnesGeoff BartonBobbie MakoniMichelle EdwardsDan CarneyWendy WoodJenni ReganKatie Robinson

MembersChris LeminDarrel HunneybellDavid GardinerDavid HamiltonDexter ColesGen FordJean DugglebyManual Arroyo-KalinMelanie 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.

Waiting for the train

altham Forest commuters have been waiting for a train on the Bar-

king to Gospel Oak line since last June. That was when the stretch through the borough was closed, allowing Network Rail to adapt it to carry electric trains powered from 25,000-volt overheard wires. The whole line closed in Sep-tember. Transport for London (TfL) provided London Over-ground passengers with two rail replacement bus services which failed to link up and missed out half of the stations, but apart from that, passengers were on

their own. If you used the line five times in the eight weeks before 4th June, TfL promised to refund those who had to change their route to include central area Zone 1. Ac-cording to TfL's figures supplied to London Assembly Member Jennette Arnold, 43 percent of regular travellers are receiving refunds. That leaves a majority who are not. The Barking to Gospel Oak Rail Users' Group (BGORUG) has estimated that a large proportion of those receiving no refunds, for whom the limited replacement bus services are not a solution,

have been forking out around £15 per week extra. So when will things return to normal? Given Network Rail's dreadful record of missing com-pletion dates for other electrifi-cation schemes, it is not surpris-ing that this is a concern. Initially programmed to finish at the end of January, completion has re-cently slipped to the end of Feb-ruary and there is so much work still outstanding that it seems hard to accept that there will not be further slippage. There seems to be a drainage problem at Pretoria Avenue and the bridge over the Lea Naviga-tion is missing. While some over-head wires have been erected at Barking and Gospel Oak stations, there are not enough overhead line masts currently in place to put up any more. The station platforms have to be extended to accommo-date four-carriage trains and apart from Walthamstow Queen's Road this work has hardly started. TfL say that six extra platform shel-ters and ten additional canopies will be provided. A best guess is that the line will reopen at the end of Feb-ruary with continuing weekend closures into the summer. This is because, after all the inconve-nience of the many months of closure, the same two-carriage diesel trains will return to service!

Passengers will have to squeeze and struggle aboard just as they did a year before. The new four-carriage electric trains will not arrive until early 2018 and it could be May 2018 before all are in service. There are new trains being delivered for the Liverpool Street to Shen-field service, which is to become the eastern end of Crossrail. The existing 37-year old four-carriage electric trains are to be scrapped. Providing the electrification of the Barking to Gospel Oak line and the platform extensions are completed by the summer these redundant trains could be used as a stop-gap until the new Barking to Gospel Oak trains arrive and give passengers some relief from the chronic overcrowding suffered on the two-carriage diesels. So far, TfL are refusing to do this.

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COMMENT

FELLOWSHIP IS LIFE

A new forum for airing your viewsAn introduction from James Cracknell, editor of Waltham Forest Echo

Glenn Wallis, secretary of the Barking to Gospel Oak Rail User Group, keeps track of the line's progress toward reopening this year

ello and welcome to issue 22 of Wal-tham Forest Echo. I hope 2017 is treat-

ing you well so far! Because this is your indepen-dent community newspaper we have responded to the demands from our readers and are this month launching a letters page. It will become a regular part of the Echo in future and I hope you will value this new forum for dis-cussion and debate on the issues affecting Waltham Forest.

Letters of no more than 200 words should be sent to [email protected] by the 15th of each month for in-clusion in the next edition, but please note we cannot guaran-tee publication. Our first letters, on Page 10, include a wide range of topics; from the protection of green space, to schools, hate crime, and a search for relatives of Second World War soldiers! Aside from letters there's been a lot to pack into this month's paper, with one of the big stories

being the race to succeed Chris Robbins as leader of Waltham Forest Council, after he an-nounced he was stepping down in May from the post he has held for eight years. Just two weeks after the publi-cation of December's Echo, which led on the controversy over two proposed new schools, the gov-ernment announced both were being put on hold. You can find out on Page 6 what the boss of the education trust set to build one of these schools had to say about the

council's opposition. On Page 8, meanwhile, you can read about the school that created what they claim is "the country's biggest wooden spoon choir", and on Page 9 author Geoff Barton has pieced to-gether the tale of the legendary Walthamstow Tram Chase. If your New Year's resolution for 2017 is to give up alcohol, however, I'd suggest Steve Wat-kins' feature on the borough's booming microbrewing indus-try is one to skip!

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After many months of closure, passengers will have to squeeze and struggle aboard just as they did before

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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

Overcrowding at Leyton Midland Road Station, prior to the London Overground line's temporary closure to allow for electrification

3No. 22 JANUARY 2017 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO

NEWSFeature

P . 5Waltham Forest's beer-brewing scene goes from strength to strength

atients can have their say on whether to extend doctors' opening hours. Currently residents

can book a GP or nurse ap-pointment 10am-4pm on weekdays and 9am-5pm at weekends, but a trial since June 2015 has offered evening appointments to residents from three borough surgeries. NHS Waltham Forest Clinical Commissioning Group is now looking to extend hours until 9.30pm on weekdays and 8pm on weekends. Dr Anwar Khan, chairman of Waltham Forest CCG, said: "Feedback has shown the [trial] service is well valued."

eyton Orient Trust, a charity arm of the League Two football club, has teamed up

with Walthamstow Migrants' Action Group (WMAG) to sup-port migrants and refugees in Waltham Forest. The collaboration will enable a wider promotion of the ser-vices and campaigns run by WMAG and help the group reach a larger number of people in need of support. Helen Taylor, WMAG sec-retary, said: "This partnership will help us spread the word about our services and extend a welcome to migrants and refu-gees in our community."

n auctioneers has been named 'employ-er of the year' by a charity which helps

adults with learning disabilities. Walthamstow firm Strettons won the award from Langdon after creating a position for one of the charity's members, Jona-than Kramer. Gary Skovron, Langdon chief executive, said: "For Jonathan, working in a friendly environ-ment at Strettons has been nothing short of life-changing. He has developed new skills, become part of a team, set his own routine, and has really grown in confidence."

Patients survey

Team up for migrants

Friendly employer

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A

he new leader of Wal-tham Forest Council is due to be chosen this month after Coun-

cillor Chris Robbins announced his resignation. Cllr Robbins, who will contin-ue to represent Grove Green ward in Leyton after standing down in May, announced his decision at a council meeting last month. In a statement he did not elaborate on his reasons for resigning other than it being "the right time to let someone else take the reins". Local Labour Party sources suggest that Clare Coghill and Nad- eem Ali are favourites to become the new leader. Cllr Coghill, who represents High Street ward in Walthamstow, is in

charge of the council's econom-ic growth portfolio, while Cllr Ali, who represents William Mor- ris ward, does not currently hold a senior role. On his decision to resign after eight years leading the council, Cllr Robbins said: "I am very proud to have led this council for the past eight years and strongly believe the council has achieved a great deal since 2009. Despite the challenging financial situation, we are stable and have built a strong reputation. By working togeth-er we have delivered a number of successes over the years. "It is therefore the right time to let someone else take the reins, and I am confident the next leader of the council takes over a borough

with much to look forward to and that they will continue to build on our achievements." A new council leader will be chosen at a private meeting of the Labour group this month, when councillors vote to decide their favourite candidate. During his tenure, Cllr Robbins has overseen a period of significant change in Waltham Forest. As a result of co-hosting the London 2012 Olympic Games there were big investments made to revamp town centres, parks and leisure centres, although there were pro-tests at the decision to allow several local green spaces to become paved over before and after the Games. In the same year the council won its bid to demolish Waltham-

stow Stadium, the last remaining dog track in east London. A large housing development is now being built in its place. The council was one of three London authorities in 2014 to win a share of a £100million pot for in-vestment in local cycling infrastruc-ture. Dubbed 'Mini Holland', the scheme has sparked borough-wide protests from motorists and busi-ness owners against road closures and loss of parking spaces, but led to declines in traffic as cycling numbers rise. It has also won a number of awards. In respect of housing, Cllr Robbins oversaw a growing waiting list for council homes that, in 2013, became the largest in London with more than 25,000 households registered. The waiting list has since reduced to 15,000 but is still longer than when Cllr Robbins took charge. Controversy has also surrounded the rebuilding of housing estates in the borough, with fewer social homes being proposed. Overall, the number of council-owned residential properties during Cllr Robbins' tenure has fallen by 503, according to housing charity Shelter. Cllr Robbins' pledge to bring a cinema back to the borough was fulfilled in 2014 with the opening of Walthamstow Empire, while this year he also officially re-opened Lea Bridge Station after more than three decades. Martin Esom, the council's chief executive, said: "Chris has been an outstanding leader for Waltham Forest with his roots firmly placed in the borough he loves. Through dedication and determination, he has delivered much for our citizens."

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New council leader set to be chosenChris Robbins quits after eight years

Councillor Chris Robbins first became council leader in May 2009

duction in funding puts the school's achievements at risk. She said: "We've been involved with some challenging and ex-citing changes over the last few years and it's good to know that the dedication and commitment of staff has been acknowledged and valued by Ofsted. "However, our high standards are threatened by funding changes

which are being made on a national level. These changes will drastical-ly reduce funding, and may make it impossible to maintain the high standards that have allowed us to give each child the best possible ed-ucation so far." Pauline is encouraging people to sign an e-petition to the government calling on the protection of funding for nursery schools. At the

moment local authority-led nursery schools are funded based on histor-ical spend. London schools recent-ly received higher levels of funding, so a move away from this is likely to decrease Church Hill's budget.

Nursery's funding warningn 'outstanding' nursery school in Waltham-stow has warned that its high standard of

teaching is being threatened by government cuts. Church Hill Nursery School re-ceived an outstanding judgment from education watchdog Ofsted in September but its chair of gov-ernors, Pauline France, says a re-

ATo sign the nursery funding petition:Visit petition.parliament.uk/petitions/171052


There is controversy surround-ing some of the redevelopment areas, however, because they fall within protected green space desig-nated as Metropolitan Open Land. Campaign group Save Lea Marshes has consequently launched a peti-tion against the Lea Valley East-side masterplan on the 38 Degrees website. It has so far gained more than 1,250 signatures. The petiton reads: "We are dev-astated to learn that Lea Valley Eastside involves re-zoning the large swathe of green open space around the WaterWorks Centre – part of Leyton marshes – for housing. "This land is Metropolitan Open Land, which means it should be protected from all inappropriate development, just like green belt land. If these plans are approved, then the spectre of our marshes disappearing under high-rise tower blocks comes one step closer." The council says Lea Valley Eastside has the potential to create thousands of new jobs. Local people have until the end of January to contribute to the public consultation. There will also be a series of public exhibi-tions around the borough.

cess of managing multiple require-ments and technical issues, which DfE and their teams have worked very hard to resolve. "There are however some who oppose the opening of the new school on the site that was secured, on the basis of this being clas-sified Metropolitan Open Land and are thus seeking to delay the opening of the school. We have also encountered some rather un-welcome views from local politi-cians and officers at the council, which have been unhelpful and have made the chances of opening successfully in September 2017 less likely. "With this in mind, we would never want to place your child’s secondary education at risk – and are thus reluctantly forced to accept this decision." The news of the delay to the school plans comes after the Echo reported the significant op-position from the council. Coun-cillor Grace Williams, cabinet member for children and young people, questioned whether the Lion Academy Trust was the right provider and said the pro-posed school would be "in the wrong place". Campaigners from Save Lea Marshes and a new group called Leyton Marsh #OurLand say the delay doesn't mean any of the planning issues surrounding the schools will go away. "The lo-

cation, on Lea Bridge Road, is already a traffic bottleneck," cam-paigner Claire Weiss told the Echo. "The proposed schools are a long way from where young people who need school places live. How will 2,000 pupils and staff get to and from the site?" As Metropolitan Open Land the former Thames Water depot is protected from development except in 'extraordinary circum-stances'. It was bought from Th- ames Water by a government agency in 2015 for the purpose of building new schools.

Comment on vision for new homesControversial schools plan put on hold

esidents have the chance to contribute to a masterplan for new housing in the Leyton

and Lea Bridge Road areas. Nearly 4,500 new homes are being planned over the next decade for several key development sites along a corridor of land between Lea Marshes and the Queen Eliz-abeth Olympic Park. Work has already started on some schemes, with tower blocks being built opposite the newly opened Lea Bridge Station and in Ruckholt Road, Leyton, while planning permission is now being sought for others. As well as homes Waltham Forest Council's masterplan for the area, dubbed 'Lea Valley East-side', includes new public spaces, schools, healthcare provision, and a potential new railway station at Ruckholt Road. Improved public access to Ley- ton Jubilee Park and the creation of a new walking and cycling route alongside Dagenham Brook are proposed, while Markhouse Corner would be 'reinvigorated' for local shopping. The focus of the masterplan in Leyton is a new neighbourhood in the area around Coronation Square and Leyton Orient's Matchroom Stadium, together with 'improv-ing and intensifying' development at Leyton Mills Retail Park. Leyton's existing Score Centre is proposed for demolition to make way for housing, with new leisure facilities instead being built nearby at Ive Farm, currently a derelict running track.

lans for two new schools to be built in Lea Bridge Road have been halted by the government after

campaign groups and Waltham Forest Council opposed them. The Department for Educa-tion (DfE) postponed the scheme for both a primary and second-ary academy school last month because of the "perceived plan-ning risk". Barclay Secondary School, back- ed by Lion Education Trust, and Athena Primary School, to be run by REAch2 Academy Trust, had been planned to be built on the former Thames Water depot site opposite Lee Valley Ice Centre, which is designated as Metropol-itan Open Land. Both schools had expected to open this year, but cannot now do so until September 2018 at the ear-liest. Had their plans gone ahead, the schools would have welcomed their first pupils to classes in tem-porary buildings while construc-tion work was completed. In a letter to parents who had selected Barclay as their child's first-choice secondary school for the next academic year, Lion Edu-cation Trust chief executive Justin James criticised Waltham Forest Council for opposing the school. He said: "The project has been de-ferred because of concerns around planning not being achieved in time on the site – a complex pro-

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Proposals for Lea Valley Eastside

Council masterplan is dubbed 'Lea Valley Eastside'Education trust boss hits out at council over delay to scheme

'Hypocrisy over new schools': See Page 10 for comments from Councillor John Moss on the Echo letters page.

by Geoff Ellis

NEWS

Designs for the two schools in Lea Bridge Road, proposed by Lion Academy Trust and REAch2 Academy Trust

”

We have encountered some rather unwelcome views from local politicians and officers at the council

“

To view the Lea Valley Eastside plans and take part in the consultation:

Visit walthamforest-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/ leabridge/leyton

To sign the 38 Degrees petition:

Visit you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-council-s-plan-to-build-on-leyton-marshes


Feature

P . 7How a family from Chingford are using their medical skills to make a differenceFEATURE

Brewers tapping into successby Steve WatkinsWaltham Forest's beer-brewing scene goes from strength to strength

tuart and Claire Lascelles turned a passion for beer into a career when they set up their own micro-

brewery in Leyton. The couple turned their backs on a conventional lifestyle after tiring of their jobs as an indus-trial chemist and public affairs consultant. "The hours are crazy but we wouldn't have it any other way," says Claire. "We started with a blank sheet of paper and a lot of questions." After rapid growth in the last couple of years East London Brew- ing Company (ELB), based on an industrial estate in Lammas Road, recently began exporting its bottled range to Scandinavia. It has picked up industry awards for its Orchid Vanilla Mild and Quadrant Oatmeal Stout, and, adds Claire: "The response from local publicans has been fantastic." ELB now employs eight staff, but the industry has grown so fast that demand for brewing expertise outstrips supply. The company struck lucky in hiring Australian head brewer Ruaridh Atkins, who admits: "Brewing is my religion. I love what I do and the UK scene is really interesting at the moment." There were only a handful of breweries in London when Claire

and Stuart established ELB in 2011. There are now around one hundred brewers in London, and six in Waltham Forest, following a surge in popularity. Competition is friendly, however, with fellow brewers often sharing advice as part of the London Brewers' Alliance. Stuart, whose skills as a chemist have proved invaluable to ELB, says: "It's a relatively small community and we all take an interest in what one another are doing." Other microbreweries in Wal-tham Forest include hop-happy Brodie's, which since 2008 has operated from a small build-ing behind the King William IV public house in Bakers Arms and is known for its annual Bunny Basher beer festival in August; Wild Card Brewery in Waltham-stow Village, which started in 2014 as a 'hobby that got out of hand'; and Left Bank Brewery, a small 'experimental' microbrew-ery which began the same year at Blackhorse Workshop. Wild Card in particular has made a big name for itself locally, opening up its brewery as a bar and occasional music venue in the evening and also selling its play-ing-card themed beers to pubs around Waltham Forest. It even hosts brewery tours. Another local brewer enjoy-

ing big success is Signature Brew, which has built an internation-al reputation based on collabo-rations with musicians such as Frank Turner and members of Mastodon and Enter Shikari – hosting backstage tasting ses-sions at gigs. Founded in 2011 by cousins Sam McGregor and Tom Bott, Signature Brew recently held a crowdfunding campaign to fund its new brewery at Leyton Busi-ness Centre in Etloe Road. The newest brewer to arrive in Waltham Forest, however, is lager specialist Pillars. In October last year the Pillars craft brewery and taproom was launched at Walthamstow Village's popular evening hangout, Ravenswood In-dustrial Estate, where its neigh-bours include Wild Card and God's Own Junkyard. Pillars began in a garden shed, used by co-founders Omar Razaq and Gavin Litton to develop a 'radical' new lager recipe. Says Omar: "We came to Waltham-stow as we thought it was a really exciting place to be. There are lots of new and interesting businesses opening and we love the commu-nity feel of the area." The arrival of so many brew-eries in Waltham Forest has in-spired the launch of the Waltham-stow Beer Project, whose 200-plus members harvest the green flowers

of the hop vine blossom from their allotments, back gardens and balconies. It echoes a tradition from the early 20th Century when Lon-don's poorer inhabitants flocked to Kent's hop fields every summer in search of work and a cheap holiday. Their modern-day coun-terparts pick hops closer to home and raise a glass to their efforts every autumn when the flowers are turned into beer at the brewery run by ELB. A hot summer provides ideal growing conditions but the fickle British weather can sometimes see the hops not flower until Septem-ber. The hops impart bitterness, flavor, as well as aroma to the fin-ished beer, which is ready to drink a month later. Growers from Walthamstow Beer Project are rewarded with free bottles while the remainder is sold to local pubs such as Ye Olde Rose and Crown in Hoe Street – usually selling out within a month.

New growers are welcome every spring and for around £25 you receive a welcome pack, a hop rhizome, fertiliser pack, stakes and growing instructions. One of the existing growers, Sarah Allan, hopes more will be inspired to get involved. "It's a nice community project and we are always looking for new members," she says. "After all, the more hops we grow, the more beer we can drink!"

SRuaridh Atkins, head brewer at East London Brewing Company

Walthamstow Beer Project grower Sarah Allan

The brewing team from East London Brewing Company

If you would like to join Walthamstow Beer Project as a grower:

Email walthamstowbeer @gmail.com

For more information about the East London Brewing Company:

Visit eastlondonbrewing.com

For more information about Pillars Brewery:

Visit pillarsbrewery.com


NEWS

Council is demanding more powers to tackle dirty kitchens

the peri peri sauce we use. I made a complaint about it. "We bought new fridges and now we are cleaning everyday, but because of what the council said our customers don't want to buy chicken anymore." In Church Road, a big clean up was underway at Delicatissen 379 a few weeks after it had been forced to close in November upon discovery of both cockroaches and mice. A friend of the owner, Samir Nacim, said it was due to reopen before the new year. He blamed the failed inspection on a neighbouring takeway and told the Echo: "Next door they are so dirty, but I guess rules are rules; we are taking it seriously." Maamala's in Hoe Street, Wal- thamstow, was until recently one of the most popular Indian restaurants in the borough. But inspectors found cockroaches in the kitchen last September and it closed for one week. Sunil Mahadevam, who works there, said: "Before we were cleaning under the fridge once a month, now we do it everyday. Our trade has gone down 50 percent since it happened." Sunil also blamed a neighbour-

ing food business and showed the Echo an image of a dead mouse he had found behind the compa-ny's premises: "What can we do about that?" Following the high number of failed hygiene inspections last year the council is calling for 'stronger powers' to help combat filthy food outlets that 'put the health of residents at risk'. Councillor Clyde Loakes, cabinet member for environment, said: "We want our residents to be able to buy food from local busi-nesses safe in the knowledge that it has been prepared in a safe and hygienic environment. That's why we will continue to come down hard on businesses that put their customers’ health at risk. "We understand residents' frus-tration when we close a food busi-ness only for it to reopen a short time later, but the law states that we cannot keep them closed once they have made the improvements required of them. "We will keep doing all we can and will look to prosecute serious offenders, but I am also going to be pressing government to give local authorities stronger powers to close down filthy food busi-

nesses for good." The council is proposing a new licensing system for all food busi-nesses which would be renewed annually and include an annual inspection as part of the cost. Currently, food businesses do not require a licence before they open and inspections are held sporadically. There are around

2,000 registered food business-es in Waltham Forest, but only 800 hygiene inspections each year.

High rate of hygiene breaches by food traders

ood businesses in the bor-ough are being closed for breaching hygiene laws at the rate of nearly one

each month. In 2016 there were eleven restau-rants, take-aways, cafés and food shops forced to close by court orders issued following hygiene inspections carried out by Wal-tham Forest Council. Many had infestations of pests such as cockroaches or mice, but were able to reopen within a few weeks after proving that they had successfully cleaned up their premises. An Echo investigation of the businesses that failed hygiene inspections last year found that seven out of eleven had success-fully reopened – despite all suffer-ing large declines in trade. Orient Kebab House in Ley- ton High Road was closed in Oct-ober after inspectors found cock-roaches under a fridge. Owner Heroon Liaqat claimed the council had been unfair: "They said our chicken was off because it looked green, but this is just the colour of

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Maamala's restaurant in Hoe Street, Walthamstow Orient Kebab House in Leyton High Road

Cockroaches found at Delicatissen 379 in Church Road, Leyton

Residents can check food hygiene ratings for local businesses on the Food Standards Agency website.

Visit ratings.food.gov.uk

by James Cracknell


FEATURESHistoryAuthor Geoff Barton has pieced together the tale of the Walthamstow Tram Chase P . 9

The ship that saves lives

Here to listen

by Sophie Watson

by Dave Brown

How a family from Chingford are using their skills to make a difference

The leader of a mentoring programme in Waltham Forest encourages others to get involved

t's definitely not your typical family holiday. This new year the Cheng family, from Chingford, are

travelling to Benin to spend two weeks volunteering on board the world's largest floating hospital. Dr Leo Cheng, Hilary Cheng, and their two daughters Kat and Zoe Cheng, are volunteers with Mercy Ships, a charity that pro-vides ships offering free healthcare and humanitarian aid to some of the poorest countries in Africa. Since the charity's creation in 1978, it has helped more than 2.5 million people. For Dr Cheng, a head and neck surgeon at St Bartholomew's, The Royal London and Homerton hos-pitals, this is the 14th time he has volunteered with Mercy Ships. Only recently has his family also started to join him, this year being their second visit. Each day Dr Cheng is likely to perform two or three surgeries on patients who have never received any kind of healthcare. His pa-tients suffer problems including thyroid, head and neck tumours, and serious wounds. Hilary will be serving as a chap-lain for the patients on board,

an you remember when you were a child and having the feeling that nobody would listen to

you? What was it like? Perhaps you still experience this even if you are now an adult. You want somebody to help you explore what you are thinking and feeling; somebody who won't judge you but will listen and help you through the maze. We think it's important for the healthy emo-tional development of children and young people to have access to such a person. 'We' are Community Active Lo-

supporting them through their life-changing journeys and provid-ing them with spiritual guidance. Kat will be serving as a nurse and Zoe in hospitality. Dr Cheng said: "It is such a priv-ilege to serve on the Africa Mercy with my family again. When we deliver hope and healing to those desperate patients and their loved ones, we also receive far more th-rough the grace, patience and grat-itude from those we serve. "Our culture tells us to acquire

cal Mentors (CALM); a small community organisation set up to train local people to become vol-unteer emotional health mentors for children. CALM is composed entirely of people, initially all from Waltham Forest, who have undertaken the training. We try to work with small groups of schools. We received lottery funding in 2013 to work with three primary schools in the borough; Jenny Hammond, Edin-burgh and Gwyn Jones. At each school, parent volunteers went through a course and training in emotional health mentoring. On

graduation they began mentoring in each other's schools. The feedback we received on the skilled support for children referred to the scheme by teach-ers was very positive and made us even more determined to find funding avenues to continue – es-pecially since we need a rolling training programme because we lose many of our mentors to jobs. In addition to Waltham Forest, we also obtained funding to develop the scheme in four schools in the Romford area, including for the first time a secondary school. Feedback again indicated that

children were benefitting, parents at one school that took part won two national Parent Teacher As-sociation (PTA) awards for par-ticipating in the life of the school. We were very pleased! We are now also working with a group of primary schools in Enfield, in a partnership with the Worker's Educational Asso-ciation, a national adult educa-tion service set up by trade unions nearly a century ago. Back in Waltham Forest, our mentors have recently been work-ing with children in two schools – Sybourn and William Morris.

As usual we are running out of mentors, so we are hoping to put on another course this year to get more. If you are interested please get in touch, we'd love to have you on board!

more and more for personal gain but on the Africa Mercy, the vol-unteers find purpose in their lives by serving others." Every Mercy Ships volunteer pays to be on the ship, meaning that the Chengs are financing their own travel and accommo-dation, and all other expenses in-volved in spending time on board. As a result of Mercy Ships' unique business model, all do-nations made to the charity go straight to patient care and main-

I

C

The Cheng family prepare to board the Africa Mercy floating hospital Credit Ruben Plomp Hilary with a patient Credit Michelle Murrey

taining the hospital ship. Kat added: "Returning to the Africa Mercy is like going to my second home. Now I am further on in my nursing career, I have a greater understanding and appre-ciation for the life changing care that is delivered by each and every volunteer on board and I strive to make a positive difference to the lives of those I meet in Benin." With a crew of more than 400 professional volunteers from more than 40 nations, many of whom

are from the UK, volunteers on the Africa Mercy are currently helping deliver and support the provision of free medical services to Benin's population of around ten million, in addition to carrying out men-toring and training programmes.

For more information about Mercy Ships:

Visit mercyships.org.uk

To get involved or to find out more about Community Active Local Mentors:

Email [email protected]


y son attends The Winns Primary Sch- ool near Lloyd Park in Walthamstow.

For the past six years we have been working with the staff to create school-wide art projects; one in the summer, usually around the E17 Art Trail, and one in the winter around Christmas. It is an opportunity to bring the whole school together and because of this it feels special to both staff and pupils. The chil-dren are aged between four and eleven-years-old, so the challenge is to create a structure that will work for everyone. There is always a collective sense of achievement and to hear the children's comments and smiles

as they walk past is truly life-af-firming. This past Christmas we created The Winns International Community Choir of Kindness, Tolerance and Understanding for 2017 and we think it might be the largest wooden spoon choir in the country! We wanted to make something that was a reaction to the politi-cally turbulent year we have just had, and which was a celebration of the cultures within the school and around the world. The international communi-ty choir is made of many different singing groups, including African township, barber shop, self por-traits, ballet dancers, the Samuel Pepys choir, tin soldiers, a football team, and a heavenly host of angels. There are 900 pupils in the school, and 900 singers in our choir. So as with all our projects, big is beautiful!

Big art with a big heart

M

Children create 'country's biggest wooden spoon choir' in response to 2016

'm sure you've heard people complain that "footballers nowadays are vastly over-paid". Perhaps you've even

said it yourself. But what about those footballers who are not paid at all, in fact who pay to play? Yes, believe it or not, amateur football is still alive and kicking. I work for the Amateur Football Alliance, and one of our member clubs in Waltham Forest is Globe Rangers, situated at the George White Sports Ground in Billet Road, Walthamstow. While on the other side of the River Lea thousands of fans flock to see the multi-millionaires of Tot-tenham Hotspur play, I went down one Saturday afternoon to see Globe Rangers take on Old Toll-ingtonians FC in the Senior 3 North Division of the Amateur Football Combination (AFC) league. At the game I met club admin-istrators Ged Walker and his wife Christine, plus Ben Kotey, the manager of the men's first team. Ged told me the club was origi-nally formed around the Globe Tavern, Stratford, in the late 1800s,

and later reformed in 1953. Ron Hunt was the main man in those days, up until the late 1970s, when it folded again for a while. Then Ged got involved in the early 1980s and has been to the present day. Ged's company, G&M Services, sponsors the club and matches any donations with its own donations. The club has ten coaching staff, all in a totally voluntary capaci-ty. Apart from those involved in running or playing for the club, a handful of spectators attend each game. When I pressed him on the subject, Ged admitted: "The club does take up quite a bit of mine and Christine's time; Tuesday eve-nings, Saturdays, Sundays, plus time spent on administration." The club has a men's first team and veterans' team. The first team was promoted last season, having won the AFC Intermediate Di-vision. The adult players come from a variety of professions and include chauffeurs, stock brokers, plumbers, carpenters, accoun-tants and bankers. There are also seven youth teams, with about 15 youngsters in each squad. The club tries to cater especially for kids from low-in-come and/or single-parent fami-

lies, as well as children with special needs, by helping with costs. The benefits of this for the communi-ty can be considerable. While Globe Rangers have been based at George White Sports Ground for 15 years, the players train in Drapers Field. Ged told me: "We aim to provide afford-able football in a safe environment. "The club is a benefactor of Haven House Children's Hospice, for whom we hold a charity match every so often." Globe Rangers are one of doz- ens of amateur football clubs in Waltham Forest. So why not support your community and play, volunteer, or just turn up and watch? Oh, and in case you were won-dering about the match, it ended Globe Rangers 3 Old Tollingto-nians 3!

I

Globe Rangers administrators Ged and Christine Walker, with first team coach Ben Kotey, at the club's George White Sports Ground in Billet Road, Walthamstow

To find out more about Globe Rangers and to get involved:

Email globerangers@ btconnect.comVisit grfc.org.uk

For the love of the gameMeet the people who keep grassroots football alive

by Michael Grimshaw

by Ted Barnes

The Winns International Community Choir of Kindness, Tolerance and Understanding for 2017

The Winns Primary School claims this is the 'biggest wooden spoon choir in the country'

FEATURES

9No. 22 JANUARY 2017 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO 9

The chase of the century

n the west side of the River Lea they call it the 'Tottenham Outrage', while on the east side

it is known as the 'Walthamstow Tram Chase'. Whatever you call it, this was an event that went down in history. It began on Saturday 23rd Jan-uary 1909 at around 9.30am. Two Latvians ambushed a car deliver-ing the payroll to a rubber factory in Chesnut Road, Tottenham, and shot the chauffeur six times in the chest. They ran off with a black bag containing £80, equiv-alent to more than £8,000 today, which was the weekly wages of 150 people working in the factory. Fortunately, it was the coldest day for 20 years and the chauf-feur was wearing his best clothes, a heavy woollen overcoat, jacket, jumper, shirt and vest, and the bullets lost so much energy going through these that they failed to penetrate the chauffeur's skin. He was uninjured. Being new to England, the Lat-vians had failed to notice that the rubber factory they had chosen

for their armed robbery was next door to Tottenham Police Station. Upon hearing shots, the officers, who had been working a late night shift and were just getting up from the station's sleeping quarters, ran outside to give chase. People who were used to seeing policemen in pressed uniforms and polished boots would have been taken aback to see so many officers dressed in pyjamas and underwear, covered in either shaving foam or shampoo, running down the road. In those days the superinten-dent didn't have a car; he had a go-kart pulled by a dog. The in-spector had a horse, and the other policemen were on foot or riding pedal cycles. In such a rush, they were unable to find the keys to the gun cupboard, so policemen were issued with cutlasses (a type of sword) – the last time in history this happened. Some of the policemen, needing two hands to control their bicycles on roughly-made roads, rode their bikes with the cutlasses between their teeth. They must have looked more like pirates than policemen.

Saturday was market day in Tot- tenham and there was a great deal of local resentment about immi-grants 'taking all the jobs' and 'robbing the locals'. Around a thou-sand local people joined the chase and, on hearing that the police didn't have any guns, hundreds went home and collected the fire-arms they had kept after fighting in the Boer War a few years earlier. This time it wasn't the police who had the guns, but the local people. This mob ran through the st-reets of Tottenham to the 'dust destructor' (what incinerators were then known as) in Park View Road, where they entered the Lea Marshes. Here they were confront-ed by more police from Waltham-stow and Chingford. These officers had guns from their own stations and the gunsmiths who supplied the weapons to the police sent hun-dreds more weapons to the scene. The robbers ran across the marshes and came out just by the Crooked Billet Roundabout. They took over a tram at gun-point as it drove down Ching-ford Road towards Waltham-stow – these were the days of the Walthamstow tramways that op-erated along several major roads in the area. In Forest Road, the robbers abandoned the tram for a horse-drawn milk float and were chased by police on another horse-drawn cart. That lasted until the robbers shot the horse pulling the police cart. Upon seeing several police officers in Forest Road directing traffic at a major road junction called Hagger Bridge, the robbers abandoned their milk float and ran off up Fulbrook Road, across what is now the North Circular near the Peter May Sports Centre, and across the River Ching. It was as they crossed the river that the first robber got so ex-hausted he was unable to clamber over a fence. As the first robber ran off, the second robber con-sidered his options. He checked in his pocket and saw that he was down to his last two bullets and that the mob were closing on him. He took careful aim at the first po-liceman but missed. He then shot himself in the eye. When the mob caught hold of the robber who had shot himself,

he was still alive. He then got a serious kicking and was eventu-ally taken to a hospital in Tot-tenham where, two weeks later, he died of meningitis. The mob, at this point dis-tracted by 'dealing' with the first robber, lost sight of the second. He had run through Hale End to a cottage next door to the Royal Oak pub in Hale End Road and had intended to hide inside and catch his breath while the mob ran past. Unfortunately, there were three young children in the cott-age and their mother had gone outside to check her washing. As the robber ran inside, she looked through the window and saw the desperate, blood-stained man with a shotgun and started to scream hysterically. The mob converged on the cott-age and surrounded it. The robber was completely trapped and going nowhere. He shot himself dead, bringing to an end a chase that had

lasted six-and-a-half miles, taken two-and-a-half-hours, and seen an average of one bullet fired every 15 seconds. There were four deaths in total; a ten-year-old boy and a po-liceman had also been killed.

OThe Walthamstow tram that was hijacked by robbers in 1909, pictured after the chase

Author Geoff Barton has pieced together the tale of the Walthamstow Tram Chase

HISTORYColumnThe view of a social housing tenant whose estate is being demolished P . 11

Geoff Barton has written the first complete book on this incident. The Tottenham Outrage and Walthamstow Tram Chase is published by Waterside Press. Until 21st January there will be an exhibition at Hale End Library in Castle Avenue, Highams Park, and on Saturday 21st between 10am and 3.30pm Geoff will be at the Royal Oak in Hale End Road, to talk about the incident and his book. Tickets, which include breakfast, lunch, a tour of the route, and a signed copy of the book, are available for £20 from the author. For more information:

Call 07768 727 205Email [email protected]

The Tramworks, Hatherley Mews, which until 1952 was a turnaround for Wathamstow Tramways

An artwork in Hatherley Mews commemorates the Walthamstow Tram Chase


LETTERS

Waltham Forest Council has laun-ched a consultation on their vision for 'Lea Valley Eastside'. It's hard to spot in among all the positive rhet-oric, but if you look carefully at page 26, you’ll see that the council is proposing to re-zone the swathe of land around the Waterworks Centre – part of Leyton Marshes – as housing. Why does it matter? Some, al-though by no means all, of the area is already covered by a car park and the Waterworks Centre itself, so why does it matter if blocks of flats are built? It matters because the land is designated as Metropolitan Open Land. This means it should be protected from inappropriate development. If the council ignores this protection, it sets a dangerous precedent that will make it very much easier for develop-ers to build on our open green spaces. If these plans are ap-proved, then the spectre of our marshes disappearing under high-rise tower blocks comes one step closer. We have until the end of Jan-uary to tell the council – loud and clear – that we will not tolerate building on our marshes. If we can stop these plans in their tracks, then we have a chance to save our marshes for the future. Please sign the petition at:

Abigail WoodmanSave Lea Marshes

In last month's article Battle over new schools planned on protected space Councillor Grace Williams claims the council is planning to double the size of Norling-ton School and as such the Lion Trust's proposed new secondary school on the former Thames Water depot in Lea Bridge Road isn't needed. I find this strange as the capital budget for Waltham Forest schools, published on 6th

December in a cabinet report under her signature, doesn't mention Norlington at all and assumes the Lion Trust scheme will proceed. Perhaps the impending Labour candidate re-selections require a show of opposition to new academy schools to burnish one's left-wing credentials with the Momentum wing of the local party? Can there be any reason other than ideology to oppose two new schools on a brownfield site [see editor's note] close to where the council is planning 4,500 new homes and within 800 metres of two railway stations?

John MossConservative councillor for Larkswood

Editor's note: While the site is cur-rently concreted over, it is also des-ignated Metropolitan Open Land and carries the same planning pro-tection as green belt.

Waltham Forest is one of the most culturally diverse boroughs in London, and can be rightly proud of a strong community spirit. As someone who has been working alongside local Muslim women to tackle racism, I was sickened by the recent attack in Chingford Mount on a woman wearing a hijab. There can be only two words to describe this hate-fu-elled attack; 'bullying' and 'cow-

ardly'. Sadly, such crimes upon women are neither isolated, nor new. I know of a local muslim woman who waited patiently to be served at a beauty bar for several minutes. After watch-ing a number of others jump the queue, it dawned on her that the lack of service was related to her hijab. Reporting her treatment elicited an apology, but she has decided not to return to the store. Many women fail to report these more subtle forms of discrimina-tion. With the marked rise in such crimes since the EU referendum, we must ensure they are reported and logged. We are working on an information card on combating hate crime to do just that. Racists are in the minority, but such atti-tudes are contagious – we need to encourage people to speak out.

Rebecca TullyJoint co-ordinator, Waltham Forest and Redbridge Green Party

Thousands of women are missing out on cheap drugs that could prevent their breast cancer from spreading – when it becomes incur-able – because it is unclear which health body should pay for them. A breast cancer diagnosis can be dev-astating for patients and their fam-ilies. If there are drugs out there that can prevent women dying from this dreadful disease, they must be made routinely available. These drugs, called bisphospho-nates, cost on average just 43p per day, and if given to all women who could benefit, one in ten breast cancer deaths could be prevented. It simply doesn't make sense that lives are being lost over this con-fusion over funding. That’s why we're backing Breast Cancer Now's #43paday campaign, calling on local MPs to urge the health sec-retary to clarify who is responsible for funding these drugs and ensure clear guidance is issued, as soon as possible. I would encourage others to join by visiting:

Kathryn RiddickElmfield Road

Kathy BaileyDouglas Avenue

At a time when many families are struggling financially, we're sup-porting The Children's Society campaign to protect the esti-mated 15,400 children living in problem debt in Waltham Forest. Children living in families with problem debt are five times more likely to be unhappy than chil-dren in families without debt troubles. That's why we're calling on the government to introduce a 'breathing space' scheme to give parents time to get their financ-es back in order and repay their debts in a safe and affordable way. Too often families fall into debt because of unexpected life events. They need time and space to get their finances back on track to repay their debts, rather than being chased by bailiffs and having fees and charges added, push-ing them ever deeper into a per-petual cycle of debt. At a time when some families are being forced to cut back on essentials like food and heating, we need our politicians to get behind this campaign to help protect families in Waltham Forest from falling further into the debt trap.

Nicole FassihiThorpe RoadWalthamstow

Jacqueline McNeeWellington RoadLeyton

I would kindly like to ask your readers for help with some research I am doing. I am a researcher from the Netherlands and am trying to find the relatives of four soldiers who were killed during the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944. The details of each soldier

are below. Please email me with any information you may have:

Private Frederick George MatthieuOxford and Bucks Light Infantry, 2nd Airborne BattalionSon of Frederick and Florence Matthieu, of LeytonDied 25th September 1944, aged 22 Lance Sergeant Henry Robert SharpThe Parachute Regiment, Army Air Corps, 3rd BattalionSon of Charles and Constance Sharp and husband of Frances Sharp, all of LeytonDied 18th September 1944, aged 29

Lance Corporal David James SmithSouth Staffordshire Regiment, 2nd Airborne BattalionHusband of Ivy Smith, of LeytonDied 25/26th September 1944, aged 34

Private George Hart The Parachute Regiment, Army Air Corps, 1st BattalionHusband of Amy Hart, of LeytonstoneDied 21st September 1944, aged 32

Philip ReindersThe Netherlands

Save our open land

Hypocrisy over new schools

A response to the Chingford hijab attack

Join our breast cancer campaign

Protect children from debt

Searching for soldiers' families

Dear Waltham Forest Echo

Dear Waltham Forest Echo Dear Waltham Forest Echo




philip@arnhem1944 themissingones.com

you.38degrees.org.uk/p/ leytonmarshes

Letters on issues of local importance should be emailed before 15th January for consideration in the February edition of the paper. Submissions should be under 200 words in length. Please include your name and either your street address or the name of the organisation on behalf of which you are writing. Letters for publication will be chosen on the basis of quality and relevance.

Send your letters to the Echo


breastcancernow.org/43paday


EventWarm up with Eat or Heat's charity fundraiser, an all-day DJ festival P . 13COLUMNS

onsultation is not something Waltham Forest Council is particular-ly good at. The fate

of the famous Walthamstow Stadium springs to mind, as does

Mini Holland. Historically, the thirst to pan- der to property developers and the well-heeled has always crushed citizen activism and the 'little people'. At Marlowe Road, the

consultation to close the play areas and car parks on the estate will probably prove as ineffective as those conducted before it. Thus far, the common com-plaint among residents is that they don't receive 'due notice' or that they are unable to attend pre- arranged meetings. One was pro-posed for 2-7pm, eliminating many in full-time employment. At this juncture, it might be worth explaining the flawed decant procedure for residents on the estate. To obtain vacant pos-session at the start of each phase of the development, residents are expected to actively bid for prop-erties advertised via the council's 'choice homes scheme'. The bidding number is used in conjunction with your date of birth. My application for tempo-rary accommodation has alleged-ly been placed in the council's high-priority 'additional prefer-ence band'. The priority lasts initially for

12 months from the date of a letter from the allocations team and will expire automatically, or upon accepting an offer of al-ternative accommodation. Any residents who have not accepted alternative housing within that timeframe may have their level of priority reviewed. As a result of the decant pro-cess, residents receive a 'distur-bance allowance', a limited sum made available to assist with the moving process (paid following the move, not in advance) and pos-sibly a 'home loss payment'. But residents are reporting a distinct shortage of available properties, possibly because of the uneven demand/supply ratio. The vacated properties on Marlowe Road Es- tate are then rented out to other needy folk on a short tenancy. Are you still with me at the back? Ultimately, if the council fails to move residents via what they term 'voluntary acquisition' they will force their hand using a

compulsory purchase order (CPO). In other words, get out! I have exercised my rights under the legal notice issued in 2013, where it states: "We believe that the new properties can be built in a way that will mean that if you wish to remain in the area, most residents will only need to move once, to a newly built home." I'm staying put. When the diggers first moved on to the estate in October, a huge piece of equipment with the single word 'demolition' on it was adorned with a purple smiley face sticker. Oh the irony; residents who lost their homes had nothing to smile about.

Decant? No thanks

C

The view of a council tenant at Marlowe Road Estate, now being demolished and replaced with fewer social homes

ost of us can agree that 2016 has been a somewhat trying year, however in

the midst of the doom and gloom British tennis was a constant source of cheer. Heather Watson won her first Wimbledon title in the mixed doubles, Johanna Konta has st-ormed into the world's top ten, and Andy Murray won his second Olympic and Wimbledon titles. For the first time Murray ends the season as the world number one, a feat matched by his older brother Jamie in the men's doubles, as well as by Gordon Reid and Andy Lapthorne in the men's wheelchair open and quad class respectively. But it's not just the profession-als who have made progress this year; here in Walthamstow we have a club making strides of its own. On a wet and windy Sunday morning, I arrived at Waltham-

stow Cricket, Tennis and Squash Club (Walthamstow Sports Club for short!) to meet with tennis committee member Ray Sefton; a 30-year club veteran who heads up the tennis programme. While the club is currently en-joying growing membership and improving facilities, Ray remem-bers more difficult periods: "We've certainly been through tough times but the funding is better now and the club is on much better finan-cial footing." As well as developments in club administration, there is also a com-prehensive tennis programme ac-commodating players of all levels. Team tennis is on the up – the ladies have been promoted from their league for two consecutive seasons. While this is an exciting prospect, Gail Farrow, who has been a member since the 1980s, would like to see even more women playing racket sports. "It'd be great

to see more women take up both tennis and squash," she says. Every Saturday morning there is a group lesson for those with limited tennis experience, but for those who'd rather grasp the basics before joining a group, head coach Zoard is on hand to bring you up to speed. While it may be too late to em-ulate the success of those on the in-ternational stage, tennis is a sport which can be enjoyed by beginners and pros in equal measure. In the new year, why not resolve to dig out the trainers, dust off the old racket and get on the court?

M

The tennis courts in Greenway Avenue used by Walthamstow Sports Club

A digger at Marlowe Road Estate

For more information Walthamstow Sports Club's tennis programme: Email [email protected] Visit walthamstowsportsclub.co.uk

Have an ace new yearIn her regular column on local sports clubs, Bobbie Makoni is on to a winner

by Michelle Edwards

”

Demolition equipment was adorned with a purple smiley face sticker

“


LISTINGS

Upcoming

WE: The Ex-Warner Estate in Waltham Forest Wednesday-Sunday, 10am – 5pmVestry House Museum, Vestry Road, Walthamstow E17

Held At Hucks #009 Sunday 15th January, 2 – 4:30pmHucks, 81 Grove Road, Walthamstow E17 9BU

Stand Up at the Leyton StarThursday 19th January, 8 – 10pmThe Leyton Star, 116 Leyton High Road, Leyton E15 2BX

History Talk: The Battle of ArrasThursday 19th January, 7.30pmWalthamstow Cricket, Tennis and Squash Club, 48 Greenway Avenue, Walthamstow, E17 3QN

DivestivalSaturday 28th January, 3 – 6pmEast London YMCA, 642 Forest Road, Walthamstow E17 3EF

Walthamstow's Vestry House Museum is to host a new exhibition exploring the social significance of Warner prop-erties, built in the borough from the late 19th Century until the mid-20th Century. Curated by artists Lucy Harrison and Katherine Green, WE: The Ex-Warner Estate in Waltham Forest, features pho-tographs, mementos and personal testi-monies of long-term Warner residents. The artists are presenting these alongside rarely seen items from the Warner Estate archive and the Vestry House Museum.

A monthly event that showcases sing-er-songwriters and bands. This month we have Trevor Kaneswaran bringing his soulful Sam Cooke inspired music along-side the gritty tones of local singer song-writer MIRI. Hosted by Marc Oliver.

Bear Jokes presents a Thursday night of top-quality comedy at a pocket-friendly price. This evening's headliner is Nathan Cassidy, with a preview of his 2017 Edin-burgh Festival show. Winner of the Buxton Fringe Show of the Year and rated five stars by Broadway Baby, he's a must-see for any fan of quality laughs. Support comes from some of London's finest up-and-coming acts, arrive by 8pm to see Maddie Campion, Max Fleming, Matt Duwell, Chelsea Hart and Peter Latham in the first half.

The East London Branch of the Western Front Association meets on the third Thurs- day of each month, with an expert on the First World War invited to speak. This month military historian Jeremy Banning will tell the story of the Battle of Arras, the major Allied spring offensive of 1917.

Friends of the Earth Waltham Forest pres-ents Divestival, a celebration of Waltham Forest Council pension fund's recent de-cision to divest from fossil fuels. The de-cision protects fund members' pensions from risky investments and takes a stand against an industry causing climate chaos and endangering our future. Council-lors, campaigners, residents and students will gather at 3pm for a photo outside Waltham Forest Town Hall. We'll then walk to East London YMCA.

Free entryCall 020 8496 4726Email [email protected] exwarnerproject.co.uk

Free entryEmail [email protected] facebook.com/heldathucks

£5 suggested donationVisit facebook.com/bearjokescomedy

£3 donationCall 07956 541 897Email [email protected]

Free entryEmail [email protected]

Ongoing

Waltham Forest Reiki ProjectTuesday 3rd January, 7 – 8.45pmWaltham Forest Community Hub, 18A Orford Road, Walthamstow E17 9LN

Family History QuizTuesday 10th January, 8pmSpruce Hill Baptist Church Hall, Brookscroft Road, Walthamstow E17 4JP

Red Saunders: HiddenWednesday 11th January, 7 – 9pmWilliam Morris Gallery, Forest Road, Walthamstow E17 4PP

Sing at The WO Every Monday, 7.30 – 9pmThe Warrant Officer, 318 Higham Hill Road, Walthamstow E17 5RG

Cycling For HealthEvery Wednesday, 10amChingford Plain, Bury Road, Chingford, E4 7QJ

Supper ClubEvery last SaturdayHornbeam Centre and Café, 458 Hoe Steet, Walthamstow, E17 9AH

Let's Talk about MenopauseEvery third Wednesday of each month, 6 – 8pmSignificant Seams, 131 Wood Street, Walthamstow E17 3LX

Chingford Chess ClubMondays at 7.15pmThe British Legion Club, 67 Hall Lane, Chingford E4 8HW

Zumba Fitness with ChloeTuesdays, 7pmWalthamstow School for Girls, Church Hill, E17 9RZ

Energy and Money Saving TipsEvery first FridayCarlton House, Aylmer Road, Leytonstone E11 3AD, 10am – 12pm

Legs Bums & Tums (LBT)Saturdays, 11:15amYMCA East London 642 Forest Road, Walthamstow E17 3EF

Conversation CaféMondays 11.30am – 1.30pmYMCA East London, Forest Road, Walthamstow E17 3EF

Reiki is a form of healing that works with the 'life-force energy' that flows through all living things. When one's energy is free-flowing without blocks one is in balance both physically, emotion-ally and mentally. Have an open mind, come along and see what we can do for you. These are one-to-one walk-in spots administered by qualified masters. All are welcome.

Quiz on family, local and social history, organised by Waltham Forest Family History Society. We are a small friendly group founded in 1978 to bring together and to encourage people with an interest in family history and genealogy. Don't worry, the quiz will not be too serious!

Join us to celebrate the launch of Hidden, a photographic installation by Red Saun-ders. Red Saunders' epic photographs re-imagine decisive but overlooked events in Britain's struggle for democracy and social justice.

Join our thriving, all ability, communi-ty choir. Absolutely no auditions. Come when you can – casual attendees welcome!

As the leaves turn brown and the dark days and nights creep in, Lee Valley Re-gional Park Authority will be running a series of enjoyable, weekly 'Cycling For Health' bike rides this wintertime, encouraging visitors to get outdoors, get fit and stay healthy on two wheels while enjoying the park. If you don't own a bike, you can hire one with us. Booking required.

Anyone can volunteer to be part of the Supper Club catering team and learn how to plan, cook and serve a pop-up supper club night. The Supper Club is held on the last Saturday of every month and volunteers have to be available to train one evening every week in the run-up to the event.

A monthly get-together (well, lets keep the rhythm!) to share experiences, help- ful knowledge, healing and dealing strat-egies and whatever else of use and fruit comes up. Enjoy some free time in a safe space to talk about the physical and emo-tional shifts that take us from woman to woman! If you're finding there's too much information or not enough per-sonal support, let's see how we can help each other with the unseen challenges facing the menopausal woman. Can we celebrate the change? Bring yourself and your experiences of the journey.

Long-running chess club competing in the North Circular Chess League. Three teams, offering plenty of chance to play.

Wear low tread, supportive trainers and bring a bottle of water to enjoy this ex-hilarating dance fitness class in a low pressure atmosphere.

Leytonstone-based experts in low-en-ergy living with an aim to show every-one how quick and simple it is to create a lifestyle that reduces your living costs and helps you save money. The aim is to look at some simple and effective energy and money saving tips for winter and into 2017.

LBT is a fantastic way to tone your entire body with of course, special attention focused on your legs, glutes and abdom-inal muscles. Combining conditioning and aerobic exercises to reduce fat while shaping and lifting your legs, bum and tum! Bring a bottle of water and wear clothes you're comfortable to move in.

Join us for tea, biccies and happy kiddies. Drop into our weekly coffee morning for a friendly chat, to socialise and meet new people. We have a mini soft play area for the little ones and an opportu-nity to find out about our other activi-ties. All welcome!

Call 07940 579 055Email [email protected]

Free entryCall 020 8530 4755Email [email protected] wffhs.org.uk

FreeBook your place on EventbriteVisit wmgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhi-bitions-43/red-saunders-hidden

Free taster sessionCall 07813 686 980Email [email protected]

Entry £3.50, or £7 to also hire a bike and helmetCall 01992 564 226Visit eppingforestdc.gov.uk/ cyclingforhealth

Free entryVisit hornbeam.org.uk

FreeCall 020 8521 4244Email [email protected]

Free entry for first timersEmail [email protected] northcircularchess.co.uk/chingford.html

£6 drop in – discounts for advance paymentCall 07903 629 636Email [email protected] DanceChloe.com

Free entryVisit itdoesthejob.com

£6 drop in – discount for advance paymentCall 07903 629 636Email [email protected] DanceChloe.com

Free EntryEmail [email protected]

Next issue listingsWaltham Forest Echo has this year formed a new partnership with local events and listings website Walthamstuff. All community listings that appear on this page in future editions will now need to be submitted via the online form available at walthamstuff.com/echo. All listings submitted will then be considered for inclusion both in the Echo and on the Walthamstuff website. The deadline to be considered for the Echo will always be the 15th of the month prior to the month when the listed event is due to take place. Priority is given to free or low-cost events with a community focus.

Jack and the BeanstalkWelsh Church Hall, 881 High Road, Leytonstone E11 1HRFriday 13th January at 8pm, Saturday 14th at 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Friday 20th at 8pm, Saturday 21st at 2.30pm and 7.30pm

Chaos breaks loose in this madcap pan-tomime, where the set doesn't work, the hero has an allergy to custard pies, and some of the actors seem to think they're in a different show altogether.

Tickets £8 (£5 concessions) in advance; £9/£6 on doorCall 020 8504 3872Email [email protected] woodhouseplayers.co.uk


Warm up with this charity fundraiser

Sing with us Which street is most generous?

EVENTS Local food blogger Katie Robinson raids her cupboard for a winter recipe

Food

P . 14

f you're looking for some-thing to do to banish that fa-miliar January malaise and kick-start 2017, then look no

further than Ravenswood for Eat or Heat. The all-day DJ festival – or-ganised by Walthamstow pro-moters Byrd Out in aid of local food bank Eat or Heat, a charity set up to help feed people strug-gling to make ends meet – takes place on Saturday 21st January. It's held across four venues on the Ravenswood Industrial Estate, namely the Wildcard Brewery, God's Own Junkyard, Mother's Ruin Gin Palace, and the new Pillars Brewery. The line-up confirmed so far sees established names, such as drum'n'bass legend Fabio, The Orb's Alex Paterson, and Tom Furse (keyboardist with Mercury nominees The Horrors), rub shoulders with faces from the steadily expanding local music scene such as More News From Nowhere, Kat Richmond (Elec-tronic 17), Wildcard disco favour-ites Eastern Front, and Mark Hart (These Days).

hink you can sing? New to singing? Com- ing back after a break? Why not come along

to the Rose and Crown Singers open evening! I think most members of our singing group would agree with Willie Nelson's view that "singing is some of the best exercise you can get". Formed in 2009, the Rose and Crown Singers is a diverse group of people who come to-gether to sing. We're a mixed bunch, including people of all levels of experience; some who read music, some who do not. We hold no auditions and wel-come all newcomers. Some of our members are

eturning after a high- ly successful run of Oliver last year is Wal- thamstow Communi-

ty Production Group, perform-ing the brilliant Little Shop of Horrors. The group are dedicated to putting on fantastic productions created by and starring volun-teers, relying on funding from the local community. Walthamstow is so lucky to have an amazing range of inde-pendent businesses and the group is now seeing which of E17's unique areas are the most generous in supporting the 2017 production. The most generous area will be immortalised in the play in a street sign, not replacing Skid Row but as a direction to a better, bright-er area! The set this year will see a sign

pointing to either Hoe Street or Wood Street; what better reward is there than to see your 'hood' as part of the arts? The community play takes a lot of money to put on, from set dressing and costumes to heating the beautiful church that will be the backdrop, the production is run as a not-for-profit and relies entirely on donations and funding. However, a donation to the pro-duction will also get your name in front of hundreds of local people. We aim to have around 700 audi-ence members, as well as cast of 100-200 people. A £30 donation gets your name in the programme, £50 gets your name bolder in the programme, £120 gets your logo in the programme, £200 gets a sponsorship call out at the begin-ning of the show and your logo in the programme. Of course you can give more and we will think of ways to thank you properly!

The event follows successful Byrd Out fundraisers in 2016 for Médécins Sans Frontières and Mind and is being supported by local businesses such as Stow Brothers, Sodo, Wynwood Art District, Perky Blenders, and The Vinyl Lab. Entry to all venues will be free, although there will be do-nation buckets at the event. Alter-natively, you can donate online. Byrd Out's Stephen Vitkovitch says: "The event will have a mini-festival vibe, with big names such as The Orb's Alex Paterson in the afternoon to help keep it as child-friendly as possible, then shifting up a gear towards the likes of Fabio in the evening. "Eat or Heat is a great charity to raise money for, meeting a need in the local community, and given it's a small operation, the cash should make a big difference."

completely new to singing in a choir, others having not previ-ously found a group where they felt fully comfortable and some are members of more than one singing group. We have a relaxed atmosphere, can sometimes be slightly chaotic, and could be described as 'quirky', but we aim to produce a good sound and to have fun. We sing a wide range of music; old folk songs, songs from Africa, modern pop, and songs from films and shows. Joni Mitchell, Carole King and Simon and Garfunkel have fea-tured, as well as Leonard Cohen and others to whom we wanted to make tribute. We mostly sing in four-part harmony, and so as not to exclude anyone we avoid most religious music. As a community choir, we

enjoy involvement in commu-nity events, which has involved singing at local children's centres and museums. We have also been involved in larger events, for in-stance for several years we have supported an annual 'Sing For Water' choir, averaging 700-800 singers in groups drawn from all around the country by the charity Water Aid. We are currently holding a re-cruitment drive to expand our group and to welcome new energy and ideas to inform our programme for the next year. Singers are welcome to join us any Wednesday evening from 7.30pm, although our open eve-ning is taking place on 8th Feb-ruary. We make no charge for a first, or taster session, and ask people to pay what they feel able to afford, up to £6.

I

T R

Revelers at Byrd Out's fundraiser for charity Mind last year

by Wendy Wood

by Jenni Regan

by Dan Carney

”

Eat or Heat is a great charity to raise money for, the cash should make a big difference

“

Walthamstow choir seeks new members


FOOD

The convenient cobbler

he term 'convenience' is normally associat-ed with junk food. But I want to talk about

how it doesn't have to be. Frozen peas, tinned beans and frozen fish are actually full of goodness as well as being a triumph for convenience. They avoid us being wasteful as they last a long time, save us money

and make it easy for us to make quick, nutritional meals. Frozen bread can be toasted straight away. Add a tin of baked beans and lunch is sorted. Tinned chickpeas can be roasted as a quick, crunchy snack, thrown into stews or pasta sauces or mixed with feta cheese and parsley for a potato topping. Frozen peas, soya beans and other frozen vegetables

can be ready in minutes and are used, along with baked beans, to full advantage in the lovely winter cobbler recipe below. Fish, which can be transferred from fridge to freezer right up to its 'use by' date, is excellent to have on standby for a fish pie. Canned fruit may not be as nu-tritious as fresh whole fruit, but dried, frozen or unsweetened canned fruit is still good. My latest discovery is micro-waved rice, which I stir fry straight from the packet with other ingre-dients for a really speedy dinner (kedgeree, Indonesian fried rice, or just leftover veg and grated cheese are my favourites). Personally I'd like to thank convenience food for being there when my two children are whining for dinner!

Local food blogger Katie Robinson raids her cupboard for a warming winter recipe

Veggie sausage and bean cobbler

T

Veggie sausage and bean cobblerThis dish, adapted from netmums.com, is wonderfully warming on a winter's day. Allow about 25 minutes preparation plus 40 minutes' cooking time. Serves approximately six people.

Ingredients

· 1 onion, roughly chopped· 6 - 8 sausages (meat or veggie)· 2 cans baked beans· 500g frozen veg (could be anything)· 1 vegetable stock cube· 2 tablespoons of hot water· 1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs· 125g self-raising flour· 75g cheddar cheese· 1 egg, beaten· 1 tablespoon of oil· 60ml milk

Method

i) Preheat the oven to 180°C or gas mark four. Bake the sausages until browned, leave to cool slightly, then chop into bite-sized chunks. Meanwhile fry the onions in a little oil for approximately five minutes, until softened.

ii) In a casserole dish mix the onion with the baked beans, frozen veg and chopped sausages. Crumble in the stock cube, water and dried herbs and mix really well.

iii) To make the cheesy scone topping mix the flour and cheese together in a bowl with a fork. Add the egg, oil and milk and mix again.

iv) Using your hands take out smallish mounds of the mixture and dollop it all over the veg and sausage mixture until fairly evenly covered. The scone topping may be a little sticky so keep a glass of warm water next to you to keep rinsing your fingers.

v) Bake in the oven for 25-40 minutes (depends on your oven!) until the scones have puffed up a bit and gone golden brown. Devour and feel warmed up!

The Echo welcomes article ideas for the paper. Because we are a small team we rely on contributions from people living and working in Waltham Forest – and everyone is free to pitch a story to us. We will discuss your article idea with you before confirming if it is something we’d like to include.

Do you think our media could be different? Could we create our own media together? Waltham Forest Echo is a community news-paper run by and for the community. It is owned by three non-for-profit organisations and gives local people a platform to be heard.

Being a member means you can take a bigger role in shaping our media. You will be invited to discuss the Echo and your name will be printed in the paper. All money received will be invested in the running of Waltham Forest Echo.

Visit walthamforestecho.co.uk/members to find out more and sign up


Become a member of Waltham Forest Echo

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

Email [email protected] katielovescooking.comTwitter @ktlovescooking

Who grows your food?

Organiclea delivers fresh, ultra-local, healthy, organic fruit and veg to pick-up points around Waltham Forest every Wednesday.

Try it out!

organiclea.org.uk/box [email protected]

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No. 22 JANUARY 2017 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO

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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.

No. 22 JANUARY 2017 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO

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P . 3 P . 5 P . 7 P . 9 P . 13 Whipps Cross labelled ...walthamforestecho.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Echo-22.pdf · saw 23-year-old Raiché Mederick presented the award at City