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News Interview Feature History Column

FreeMay 2017, No. 26WALTHAM

FOREST ECHO

Your independent community newspaper

Email [email protected] /WalthamForestEchoTweet @WFEcho Visit walthamforestecho.co.uk

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Leyton Orient relegated out of English Football League for first time in club's history

The new leader of Waltham Forest Council outlines her priorities for the borough

Meet the dog owners who help keep the borough hound-happy

Discover more about the impact of the First World War on Waltham Forest

Bobbie Makoni trains with a local sports team competing for national honours

New home for homelessness charity

homelessness charity that was itself search-ing for a new home is celebrating after find-

ing a kitchen where it can cook up to 60 meals a night for local rough sleepers. Christian Kitchen had been des-perately hunting for a new premis-es where it could prepare the three-course meals it cooks for homeless people in Walthamstow every night of the year, a service it has provided for a quarter-of-a-century.

This happened after the charity was given notice to leave the kitchen it had been using the previous four years at Branches homeless hostel in Forest Road, by the end of this month, because Branches now needed its cooking facilities for its own residents. Norman Coe, Christian Kitch-en's chairperson, told the Echo: "Thankfully an offer was made by a local church. Finding a prem-ises that you can use seven days a week is very difficult, so it's a great result. "We still need as much help as possible - there will be costs in-

curred in relocating. We have got one month to get the new kitchen ready for cooking between 50 and 60 meals every night." The new kitchen has been offered by the vicar of St Michael and All Angels Church in Northcote Road, Alex Summers. He said: "I heard they needed a new kitchen and we were just glad we could help. They are round the corner from us, so it seemed obvious. I'm hoping to volunteer myself to help with the cooking!" The meals are dispensed each night by Christian Kitchen vol-unteers from a soup van, parked

up in Mission Grove. A protest against the eviction of the charity by Branches was due to be held on 27th April, after being organised by members of Waltham Forest Trades Council. Tommy Anderson, who regular-ly helps serve food with Chris-tian Kitchen, said: "Long before giving notice, Branches should have worked with the council to provide another kitchen. Just because people are homeless they should still be treated with dignity." A spokesperson for Branches said: "We have recently reviewed our service offer around life skills and have employed a 'life skills worker' to offer added support to residents with valuable skills they need after they leave Branches, such as cooking. This means we now need full use of the Branch-es kitchen, which was being used every day by Christian Kitchen. "This decision was discussed with the chairperson of Christian Kitchen, who has been very un-derstanding of Branches' position. "It was not taken lightly and a number of options were consid-ered, but ultimately the trustees of Branches have a responsibility to make the decision that is best for our residents."A

Christian Kitchen has been serving free meals to local homeless people for 25 years Credit Adjoa Wiredu

Charity that cooks meals for homeless offered new kitchen by local vicarborough bus service has been named by Transport for London as the 'most improved

in London'. Route 55 between Leyton Bakers Arms and Oxford Circus was commended for its reliability. It comes 20 years after the bus service returned to Lea Bridge Road after being axed in 1990. Sarah Buck, of campaign group Save Our Buses, said: "This is great news for passengers using the busy 55 route to pop into town. It has good links through Clerkenwell and Holborn and into Oxford Street. The frequent and reliable service means it's just the ticket for more local trips too."

ouse prices in Wal-tham Forest have fallen at their fastest rate since the finan-

cial crash nearly a decade ago. A drop in the cost of the average home of 2.53 percent in Febru-ary this year, the latest month for which the Land Registry released data, was the biggest drop since October 2008. It comes after average prices in Waltham Forest borough reached a record high in January of £437,000, almost double the average price of £224,000 in the same month five years previously. The annual price rise in the borough remains high at 5.6 percent, and the borough is still the 21st most expensive in London for buying property.

Better buses

Have house prices peaked?

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For more information on Christian Kitchen and to offer support:

Email [email protected] /ChristianKitchenWFTwitter @ChristianKitchnVisit christiankitchen.org

by James Cracknell

2 No. 26 MAY 2017 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO

MAY 2017 – No. 26

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

DesignJonathan Duncan

Project ManagerAnna Merryfield

ContributorsJulia PoynterPallab SarkerRussell HargraveGraham MillingtonBobbie MarkoniJo SealyTeresa ElwesAdam TaylorCathy MacnaughtonKatie Robinson

MembersChris LeminDarrel HunneybellDavid GardinerDavid HamiltonDexter ColesGraham MillingtonJean DugglebyManual Arroyo-KalinMelanie StricklandMichael GrimshawRoland KarthausRos 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]

The Echo began with Big Lottery funding.

COMMENT

FELLOWSHIP IS LIFE

Ready to respondAn introduction from James Cracknell, editor of Waltham Forest Echo

ello and welcome to issue 26 of Wal-tham Forest Echo. Every month at the

moment there seems to be another community organisation in crisis, struggling to survive, and an appeal for local people to help chip in and save it. The good news, however, is that Waltham Forest is a commu-nity that cares, with people who are always quick to respond when others are in trouble. That is thankfully the case with Christian Kitchen, whose appeal for new premises, a large kitchen that can be used once a day to cook enough food for 60 home-less people, has been successful.

Other community organisations, however, remain in limbo. Last month our front page article was about Leyton Orient, and I'm afraid there is more bad news as the club's relegation out of the Football League – after 112 seasons – has now been confirmed. I went to watch the O's play Hartlepool United in April, a game which they won with a spirited display from a bunch of young-sters who have been thrown into the first team with little or no expe-rience. That performance proved that given the chance, this club will survive and, I'm sure, bounce back to where it belongs. It is also heartening to see Orient

fans rally together and raise so much money, nearly £150,000, in such a short space of time. While their battle on the pitch has been lost, for now, there are bigger battles still to be fought off the pitch, including at the High Court next month when they once again face being wound up. Elsewhere in the paper this month there's an interview with Clare Coghill, who is shortly to become the new leader of Waltham Forest Council. To find out what her priorities for the borough are, see Page 5. If you're a dog owner, you'll no doubt enjoying reading Russell Hargrave's feature on Page 7, as he

meets the people who help make the borough a hound-happy place. And on Page 9, read about the sig-nificance of the First World War for Waltham Forest, and why we should never forget the impact it had.

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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

people aware of their rights and empower them through training and peer support. Unite holds a national day of action against sanctions every year on 30th March and a number of our group travelled to Westminster later that day and marched to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) where a roll call of people was read out, including people passed as 'fit for work' by the DWP who died shortly after their work ca-pability assessments, and people

who killed themselves probably because of benefit sanctions. Many people are becoming aware of benefit sanctions because of the Ken Loach film, I, Daniel Blake. People can be sanctioned for arriving late for a job centre meeting, missing an appointment on the day of a relative's funeral, and not applying for jobs when waiting to start a new job. Since 2012 there have been over 60,000 sanctions across east London. The length of sanction can vary from weeks to three years. Once sanc-tioned, a person has no money to live on and foodbanks national-ly reported that last year at least half-a-million people requested help because their benefits had been delayed or stopped. Sanctions have been associat-ed with some suicides and the DWP admitted that one in five deaths of unemployed people they had reviewed had experi-enced sanctions. The Stand Up For Your Rights group fears that more people locally will be at risk from sanctions if Leytonstone Job Centre closes, because they will be travelling further, with an increased risk of being late. The closure will also mean reduced access to services for people with disabilities and young children.

Contrary to the portrayals in the media, unemployed people are not scroungers and spongers. They may have been made redun-dant or become unable to work because of serious physical and mental health problems and many of them find it difficult to obtain work as they get older.

Job centre closure puts more at risk

altham Forest Stand Up For Your Rights held a protest outside

Leytonstone Job Centre on 30th March to oppose its planned clos-ure in 2018 and campaign against government benefit sanctions. The group is comprised of people who use job centres and vol-unteers from the local Unite trade union branch. The aim is to make

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A protest has been held against the government's plan to shut Leytonstone Job Centre

by Julia Poynter

The Waltham Forest Stand Up For Your Rights Group will continue to campaign against the government's cruel sanctions regime – if you would like information:

Email j.poynter2007@ btinternet.com

Julia Poynter (centre) outside Leytonstone Job Centre in Lemna Road Credit Karl Weiss

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Half-a-million people requested help because their benefits had been delayed or stopped

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3No. 26 MAY 2017 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO

NEWSInterview

P . 5The new leader of Waltham Forest Council outlines her priorities for the borough

ocal GP appointments can now be booked on weekends. Waltham Forest Clini-

cal Commissioning Group (CCG) has launched Saturday services at doctors' surgeries in Leytonstone and Chingford between 10am and 4pm, and in Walthamstow 8am-8pm. On Sundays appoint-ments can be booked in Waltham-stow only, at the same times. It follows the launch of an online appointment booking system in the borough this year. Dr Anwar Khan, CCG chairperson, said: "We hope extended weekend hours will help those who cannot make a weekday appointment, or find themselves needing a GP at the weekend."

Walthamstow charity is due to be present-ed with third prize in a global competition

by King Abdullah II of Jordan. PL84U Al-Suffa, an Islamic charity, provides hot meals for the elderly, homeless and people living in deprivation and isolation. An event for World Interfaith Harmony Week in February, held at St Ga-briels Family Centre in Havant Road, also saw the group host a 'pampering service' by teaming up with Haircuts 4 Homeless. The UN-organised interfaith competition awarded a bronze medal to PL84U Al-Suffa and a £5,000 cash prize for its efforts, inviting them to attend a ceremo-ny in Jordan at the end of April.

Weekend doctors

Royal recognition

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ans and supporters of Leyton Orient have now raised nearly £150,000 for a 'regeneration fund'

aimed at saving the crisis-hit foot-ball club. Leyton Orient Fans' Trust is now well over halfway to meeting its £250,000 target for the fund ahead of a court hearing in June that could result

in the club being liquidated. Recent O's games have featured protests by fans, including a pitch invasion at the end of the home victory against Hartlepool United. The result temporarily postponed the club's relegation out of the Football League, but angry fans still pointed at the di-rectors' box and chanted "sack the board", "pay the staff", and

"Becchetti out". Owner Francesco Becchetti has failed to provide any further infor-mation on the state of the club's fi-nances since a High Court wind-ing-up hearing in March was adjourned until 12th June. Rep-resentatives of the club claim £1million will be invested to settle outstanding debts, but the amount is not yet forthcoming. Last month O's staff issued a joint statement appealing for the club's owners to explain why their wages were not being paid on time. A staff statement issued on 19th April said: "We have become in-creasingly concerned by the lack of communication issued by owner Francesco Becchetti and its di-rectors. Having not received our wages for March... a formal griev-ance was raised, though to this date it remains unacknowledged with no indication as to when, or if, we are to be paid." The Professional Footballer's As-sociation directly loaned money to staff to help them get by until they received their wages. A sepa-rate fundraising appeal was also

launched by fans to 'show grati-tude and respect' for staff who continued to work through most of April without being paid. Since Italian businessman Fran-cesco Becchetti bought Leyton Orient three years ago the club has had 11 managers and been relegat-ed twice – a 3-0 defeat to Crewe last month confirming their exit from the Football League.F

Fans' fund for Leyton Orient nears £150,000

Fans protest on the pitch at Brisbane Road following Leyton Orient's match against Hartlepool United in April

Liz Fraser, director at The Limes, said: "We are delighted to have received support from the Na-tional Lottery to bring this idea to life. We have so much faith in this project and it's fantastic to have HLF match our enthusiasm. We are so thrilled and eager for the young people to begin their journey through history and share it with you." Fun Factory will be recorded by young people, with direction from Waltham Forest Oral History Society based at Vestry House, who will be providing tuition on how to collect and store the infor-mation gathered. Participants in the project will also write newsletters and blogs along the way and make a film documenting their journey, aided by a local filmmaker and culmi-nating in a public premiere. Stuart Hobley, head of HLF Lon- don, said: "We all remember those

must-have toys of childhood, but did you ever think about who made the toys? Walthamstow was once home to one of the UK's largest toy firms and the industry employed thousands of local people. Thanks to National Lottery players, this project will engage young people with the area's significant toy-making heritage through a

range of immersive activities and preserve these important memo-ries for future generations."

Young people to unearth local toy heritage

youth centre has won a lottery grant to help research and cele-brate Walthamstow's

toy-making heritage. The Limes Community and Children's Centre in Somers Road, Walthamstow, was awarded £48,500 from the Her-itage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the 'Fun Factory' project that will see young people with learning dis-abilities investigate the heritage of local toy-making factories, such as Wells Brimtoy. Other local organisations will help make the project a reality; Vestry House Museum offering behind the scenes and research op-portunities; Blackhorse Workshop providing woodwork training to help participants create their own toys; and Age UK Waltham Forest introducing older people who can voice and share their memories and experiences.

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Protests as club is relagated from Football League for first time in 112 years

Lottery grant to fund collaboration between community organisations

For further information:

Call 020 8509 8985 Email [email protected] thelimes.org.uk

To donate to the regeneration fund:

Visit gofundme.com/saveorient

To donate to the Leyton Orient staff fund:

Visit gofundme.com/support-for-staff-of-leyton-orient

”

Having not received our wages... a formal grievance was raised

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The Wells Brimtoy factory in Walthamstow Credit Vestry House Museum

Visit walthamforestccg.nhs.uk

x-Warner Estate, a major local arts and heritage project, has launched a new mobile phone app.

The free app provides interactive tours of the three historic Warner Estates in the borough, based on walks given by the Waltham-stow Historical Society and the Leyton and Leytonstone His-torical Society. It features audio guides, video and photographs compiled by local volunteers. The ex-Warner Estate project aims to preserve the social history of the red-brick estates, built at the turn of the 20th Century.

App for Warner

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No. 26 MAY 2017 WALTHAM FOREST ECHO

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Feature

P . 7Meet the dog owners who help keep the borough hound-happyINTERVIEW

Leading the way in Waltham Forest

rowing up in the Black Country on the edge of Birmingham, in a family of lifelong Con-

servative voters, Clare Coghill took a slightly unorthodox route to be-coming leader of a Labour council in east London. Her interest in politics was stoked while living in southern France, where she was frustrated by the apathy that nearly led to a far-right extremist becoming president in 2002, a similar scenario to 2017. "It was important to my political education. I encouraged people to vote, but the election ended up being between Jean-Marie Le Pen and [former president] Jaques Chirac. I realised if you don't stand up for what you believe in, you risk the fascists getting in." Clare was working at a language school in Montpelier, following her degree in English literature at the University of York. After returning to Britain, she admits her arrival in Waltham Forest nearly a decade ago was circumstantial. "People were being displaced from where I'd been living in Tower Hamlets because of property prices, so I moved to Leytonstone," explains Clare, ironically describing a situa-

tion which now afflicts many here. "Then I moved to Leyton, then Walthamstow. They are lovely pl-aces, there are parallels between them, but they are different places with their own identities." Clare now lives in the Wood Street area, and in 2010, after sev-eral years pounding the streets as a Labour activist, was elected councillor for High Street ward on Waltham Forest Council in her first time standing as a candidate. "My close family were all Con-servatives, it was a big deal when I joined Labour. We disagreed, but they still supported me. I think if they lived in my ward they might vote for me, otherwise they'll always be Tory! If you share your parents' convictions that's great, but you should always vote with your own feelings." Clare credits her first election win to "lots of hard work" which enabled her to take a ward that was at the time majority held by Liberal Democrats. "For the longest time I had been talking about the [EMD] cinema not being delivered. I spoke against the UCKG church's plan-ning application twice. We stuck to our guns on the potential of Walthamstow as a cultural and entertainment hub and we have been proven right on that." The council has been led by Chris

Robbins since 2009, but late last year he announced his resigna-tion "to let someone else take the reins". A leadership contest in early January was won by Clare, with support from 75 percent of Labour colleagues. Clare's new job starts on 25th May. She said: "For a while I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring and, if the [Labour] group wanted me, I'd be happy to do it. I had shown I could handle a range of issues, including social care, ed-ucation, planning. "It was hard work which got me here, rather than self promotion. For me it was about showing what you could do rather than talking about what you could do." Clare admits being surprised at Councillor Robbins' sudden depar-ture. "It is always surprising in poli-tics when people go before they are pushed, but Chris was in control of his own destiny and decided to give someone else an opportunity to lead us into the next election. "If we are successful in 2018 it will be on a manifesto everyone is fully behind. There will be a fresh set of policies. I have respect for what Chris achieved but I am my own person and will seek a fresh agenda. Politics is never about standing still, you have to bring fresh ideas. Waltham Forest is changing and we have to be ready

to respond." Clare declines to go into detail about her ideas but states she has three main priorities. The first is young people: "We need to give them access to high-quality edu-cation, apprenticeships, and the sort of jobs they should be able to access living in the greatest city in the world. The standard is superb, but we have to continue to improve and ensure young people know their value and that we are rooting for them." Her second priority is housing: "Housing and growth contin-ue to be hugely important. How do we make sure we are able to provide new housing, whether it is affordable for sale, or social rent? Working with housing asso-ciations is key, and seeing through the regeneration of estates that can be complex and expensive." And her third priority is health: "It's a travesty that there is a gap in life expectancy between west and east London. We need con- tinual improvement in our health services and we need to challenge the Treasury to get the invest-ment we need." Clare then refers to the recent-ly-announced reconstruction of Whipps Cross in Leytonstone, a hospital site that pre-dates the founding of the NHS and is in desperate need of modernisa-tion. Details are yet to be con-firmed, and there are questions over how it can be funded given Barts Health, which runs the hos-pital, is the most indebted NHS trust in the country. "You have to clear out of your mind the problems and just make your case for what residents need. If there is not enough money, that is for them to make their case to me. It is not my responsibility to tell Waltham Forest residents that historic problems are why we can't deliver for them." Returning to housing, I ask Clare how the council can justify demol-ishing social housing estates and building fewer council homes in their place, as is the case at Marlowe Road in Walthamstow and is planned at Montague Road in Leytonstone. She blames cuts to government funding for forcing the council to scale back social housing.

"Previously, estate regeneration was subsidised by government and we could find our own resources, but the Tories have cut funding. We now have a dilemma; do we leave estates to deteriorate or do we act? I don't think we can justify leaving them. It is a difficult decision but we have to find a way to give people decent high-quality homes." On other housing issues, such as the influx of large, high-rise and often unaffordable housing schemes across Waltham Forest over the past five years, which threaten to get taller and denser still, Clare says: "In order to get the most out of these schemes we have to ask developers what they can offer; is it school places, doctors' surgeries, infrastructure? We have to fight our case. I think we have done a good job so far but there is always room for improvement." Another criticism of the council has been its spending on agency fees to pay temporary staff doing jobs left undone follow-ing cut-backs and redundan-cies. The employment of agency workers by the council has qua-drupled in five years. Clare says: "There are temporary staff who work really hard and I don't like there being a hierarchy between them and our permanent staff, but it is something we ought to be vigilant about." As the interview ends, I ask Clare how she feels about taking on such a huge job. "I am both nervous and excited. This is a phe-nomenal borough full of amazing people; the arts, culture, sense of community, and people support-ing one another." She shares her pride at becoming the first female leader of Waltham Forest Council, but adds: "In 1965 the council started and it's taken until now for it to happen – do me a favour!"

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Before becoming council leader this month, Clare Coghill outlines her priorities for the borough

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For me it was about showing what you could do rather than talking about what you could do

“

Clare Coghill is due to be officially sworn in as the new leader of Waltham Forest Council on 25th May

by James Cracknell


FEATURE

Pallab Sarker's album Grey Day is out now.

Visit pallabsarker.com

story; gentrification, trendy pubs and house price rises. But there is something else, something really good. Live music is back in vogue.There have of course always been musicians in Walthamstow. But when I first moved into the area we used to mainly practise in our rented accommodation and gig in central London – Camden, Isling-ton and Tottenham Court Road. Now, as the 'disneyfication' of central London marches on, it seems that zones three and four are now where you can buy the best tickets in town. As a result, Walthamstow’s sing-ers and players have crawled out of their flats and are spinning their web of melodies in every trendy gastro pub. It's amazing what a bit of money can do to an area. New stages, new seats, and a craft beer to wash down the pie and mash (with carrot and crouton salad). Most importantly, a ready au-

scene from a musical takes place in front of me as I sit working on my laptop at the back

of Ye Olde Rose and Crown pub one Monday evening. A string of local musicians start taking to the stage. They're mainly playing

country, but one young guy starts belting out a few bars of jazz swing. He brings the house down – all 20 of us. But remember this is a Monday night. I’ve lived in Walthamstow for 15 years and there's no doubt the place is in flux. We all know the

dience of Londoners is looking to reconnect to something more meaningful than their smart-phones. I get the feeling they're sick of our capital's increasing-ly fake centre and are happy to support the rebirth of London in places such as Walthamstow. I started working on my solo album over a year ago, pushed along by our borough's musicians; I have met some talented and inspired people that deserve to be heard. I remember walking home one night after playing the King William IV pub in Leyton and this mop-haired chap comes running after me to get my number. Earlier that evening he played a string of covers, giving everyone a serious shot of happy times. He was like a court jester with flicks of the head and tricks of the hand – a natural-born en-tertainer. Since then, I've bumped into him at various pubs and he's

Pallab Sarker in Walthamstow Marshes

Singing in the Stow by Pallab Sarker

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even come into the studio to help me with some recordings. Musicians are everywhere if you look carefully. Sometimes, they're just drinking and reading the paper. Like ghosts they're there, slightly out of sight. And like ghosts they could sudden-ly disappear and Walthamstow will never be the same. But right now they're here and we're all better off for it. My album was very much made in Walthamstow – recorded at The Cabin in the Village. I've been very fortunate that the first single Morning in Brixton is getting some atten-tion in the US. I know it's been blessed by Walthamstow. There's no better charm.

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FEATUREHistoryDiscover more about the impact of the First World War on Waltham Forest P . 9

For the love of dogsRussell Hargrave meets the dog owners who help keep the borough hound-happy

ne Saturday evening last year, a dog went missing in Waltham-stow.

Cleo the shitzu, no doubt with a nose for a bit more freedom, jumped out of her front garden, sprinted towards a park down the road, and disappeared. Cleo's owner, in a panic, took to social media. It was starting to get dark, and it would soon get cold as well. Ten minutes had passed since the dog vanished. Could anyone on Twitter or Facebook help? Well, yes, they could. A support network quickly moved into gear, overseen by the com-munity group Waltham Forest 4 Dogs, which was established in 2013 to help make the borough as dog-friendly as possible. Its members knew what they needed to do to get Cleo back home. They shared and retweeted the call for help across the borough (their Facebook group has 2,000 members and their Twitter follow-ing is nearly 1,000). Shortly after that, timelines were flooded with images of Cleo. Alerted to the lost dog, several local people went out and joined

the search in person. Others ch-ecked national websites for re-ports of recently spotted dogs. Still more people used Facebook to track sightings of Cleo and guide those on the ground. About an hour after she had run away, the dog and her extremely relieved owner were reunited. "Dog owners, I think, have a natural sense of community," re-flects Fabien Strawbridge, one of the people who founded Waltham Forest 4 Dogs back in 2013. "So when there's a dog that's missing, suddenly everyone is looking. When there's a dog that needs taking to the vet, we're not short of volunteers." The dedication of some of those volunteers is extraordinary. Shelagh Savage volunteers for the nation-al charity Dog Lost, and regular-ly works with Waltham Forest 4 Dogs. Shelagh has helped reunite lost pets in the area for around six years, and estimates that she has recovered between 30 and 40 dogs in Waltham Forest alone (which is just one of eight London boroughs where she helps out). When Shelagh says she is available any time, she means it. "I go out

on Christmas Day," she tells me. "I don't care what day it is, I will go."Shelagh talks me through how she operates; smaller dogs may just mean searching ten roads close to their home, but bigger breeds "could be five miles away" so she and other volunteers will talk to the owners to get a sense of the dog's habits and drive in two-mile loops around the area. Like a detective, she passes out her card to people she meets, and follows each lead. Once she has tracked the dog down, she says the key thing is not to frighten the missing pup. Shelagh uses food to tempt the dog towards her, and then keeps still so that it does not run again. "I sit on the floor," she tells me, "and it will come to me". "The reward is getting the dog back to the owner," Shelagh says. "It's a real buzz, better than any-thing you can get down the pub. We do it for the love of dogs." This sort of emergency help is the most high-profile work the group carries out. But it is also dedicated to making Waltham Forest a better place to own (and be) a dog. As Fabien puts it, they want to create "a community where we could join

Fabien realised that he and his neighbours would "need to do this in a more official capaci-ty, so as to engage the council properly and represent local dog owners meaningfully". As a result, Waltham Forest 4 Dogs now works on a range of issues. They can advise owners on the best steps if the council's dog wardens get in touch, or if you are issued with a fine. They spend countless hours chasing down the rules and regulations; do the coun-cil's dog team have appropriate training? How often are dogs in the council's care watered, fed and walked? And they try to incentiv-ise the borough's pubs and shops to welcome dogs, too. Any busi-ness which agrees is listed on their website and gets a 'paw-friendly' sticker for its front door, designed by Fabien. "Without this group," Shelagh says, "Waltham Forest would be a sadder place for dogs." Cleo the shitzu would no doubt agree.

Russell with his greyhound, Molly

O

up experiences in order to build a picture of what it is like in the borough to be a dog owner." There is no official record of the number of dogs in the area, but estimates based on nation-al data suggest there may be around 10,000. Like most com-munity groups, Waltham Forest 4 Dogs was established to try and resolve a local problem. In this case it was newly-proposed Dog Control Orders, which Wal-tham Forest Council wanted to roll out in 2012. A handful of dog owners in the borough were worried that the new rules would punish perfectly well-behaved pets, and were baffled by the council's assertion that it had consulted widely on its propos-als. They talked to a wider circle of local owners, groomers and walkers, but couldn't find a single person who had been consult-ed. The group – Fabien, along with Katherine Marshall, Marita Keremezo, Sarah Mooney, and Charlotte Cole – pulled togeth-er a mountain of leaflets and pe-titions. Their formal requests to the council, after much stalling, reached the government's Infor-mation Commissioner's Office. It eventually emerged that, far from a wide consultation, the orders had been designed by just two of-ficials sitting together in a room.

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ocal author and historian Malcolm Doolin wants to set the record straight. He is concerned that many

people's knowledge of the First World War is shaped by the war

poets, by descriptions of the di-sastrous Battle of the Somme and TV programmes such as Blackad-der, which although excellent en-tertainment, should not be seen as factual. Malcolm explains: "There are many myths about the war that are now taken as fact and these

should be challenged. We need to be clear about what actually hap-pened so that we are better pre-pared to stop it happening again." Consequently, on 6th May, Mal-colm is organising a 'First Wor- ld War Open Day' which will take place at Vestry House Museum and St Mary's Church, in Walthamstow

Village. The event is co-sponsored by the museum and the east London branch of the Western Front Asso-ciation and supported by several local historical groups. It promis-es to be both a prestigious and in-formative occasion. A pleasing touch is that visitors will be welcome to view the war memorials within the inspiring St Mary's Church – situated next door to the museum – and then take a moment to reflect on the events of 1914 - 18. Malcolm is thrilled by the inter-est generated. "It has grown and grown with many organisations and individuals keen to take part. It is clear that interest in the 'Great War' remains considerable." Indeed the Walthamstow and Ley- ton area is of some significance in regard to the war. The first Zep-pelin raids on London bombed Leyton and Leytonstone; while Leyton lad Jack Cornwell at age 16 became the third youngest recipi-ent of the Victoria Cross. A perma-nent tribute to Jack was unveiled at Coronation Gardens just last year. Furthermore, one of the men who filmed the ground-breaking doc-umentary Battle of the Somme, John McDowell, worked locally, as did artist Haydn Mackey, whose work hangs in the Imperial War Museum. More recently, at Southwark Theatre, a play called The Greater Game told the story of how the football players of Clapton Orient (now Leyton Orient) vol-unteered to fight as part of the 'footballers battalion'. Neil Pearce, chairperson of the local branch of the Western Front Association, set up the group in 2014 together with his partner Sally, Chris Daughters, and Chris Hunt. Together they have watched the membership grow to 150 and the monthly meetings regularly attract distinguished historians and authors who provide expert knowl-edge on many aspects of the war. They also organise relevant theatre and museum trips and visits to the actual battlefields in France. The group is based at the Wal- thamstow Cricket, Tennis and Squash Club and meets on the third Thursday of every month. It is one of 53 groups nationally which to-gether boast a total membership of around 6,500. Their aim is to per-petuate the memory of those who fought on both sides of the conflict.

The association is fiercely a-polit-ical and rejects the notion that it 'glorifies war'. Neil agrees with Malcolm about the need to challenge the myths and cites one of the groups' recent speakers, Catherine Corns, who wrote Blindfold and Alone, a book telling how 351 soldiers were exe-cuted by their own army during the war. Neil said: "Catherine suggest-ed that many people seem to believe that soldiers accused of desertion were only given a perfunctory trial before being shot. "However, her research shows that only ten percent of the three thou-sand men condemned to death were actually executed and the court marshals were carried out with due process most of the time. There were instances of injustice but these were the exceptions not the rule." For Malcolm this is a good ex- ample of why his work should con-tinue: "It must always be better to know the truth rather than the myth, and this is what our open day is all about." Visitors on 6th May will be able to explore many of the museum's wonderful exhibits and archives and hear from a range of national and local speakers describing how the war affected the local area. First World War experts will be on hand to answer questions and to offer practical advice on tracing ances-tors online, undertaking research and collecting war memorabilia. It will also be possible to have medals 'valued' and listen to music from the period. An added dimension will be off-ered by First World War re-enac-tors who will be dressed in the ap-propriate uniform and will explain and demonstrate what it was like to be a 'Tommy' in the trenches. Members from the Royal British Legion, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Royal Fusiliers will also be contributing on the day.

The unveiling last year of a memorial to Jack Cornwell, a Leyton lad who became one of the youngest people to be awarded the Victoria Cross

Malcolm Doolin, who is organising a 'First World War Open Day' in Walthamstow this month

Lessons still to learn from the First World Warby Graham Millington

L

The First World War Open Day is being held at Vestry House Museum and St Mary's Church,Walthamstow Village, on Saturday 6th May from 10am until 5pm. Admission is free. For more information:

Email malcolm@ astraeducation.com

HISTORYColumnBobbie Makoni trains with a local sports team competing for national honours P . 11


LETTERS

While many of us are lucky enough to have someone to put a smile on our face when times are tough, millions of older people face the ups and downs of life without anyone to turn to. Lone-liness not only has a profound effect on people's day-to-day lives, but also has serious im-plications for their physical and mental health. Lantern Relief teamed up with Age UK Waltham Forest, part of Britain's largest charity working with old people. As part of its own relief efforts, the charitable trust partnered with Age UK to support vulnerable old people in our community. With the generous support of Lantern of Knowledge Muslim Boys School's parents, a charity bake sale was organised to kick-start this campaign. The school-boys then took part in an excit-ing football tournament to raise funds. With a fantastic combined effort from parents, teachers, stu-dents and supporters, Lantern Relief raised an amazing £552.32 for the vital work Age UK are doing for elderly people in Wal-tham Forest.

Emma TozerAge UK Waltham Forest

It was with concern that I read of the problems of Leyton Orient Football Club on the front page of April's edition of Waltham Forest Echo. However, I do wish to take issue with the opening sentence: "Leyton Orient have never been one of London's glamorous foot-ball clubs."

I recall, well, the season of 1962-3, when Leyton Orient were in the First Division (equivalent to the Premier League today). As a child I used to go to watch regularly, especially as Joe Elwood – one of the players – was our football coach at Normanhurst School in Station Road, Chingford!

Peter PleydellRahn Road, Epping

mental campaigners, and we are now suffering the consequences. Three hundred homes were de-stroyed and green spaces obliter-ated, but for what? Increased air pollution, noise pollution and congestion. Years later, and with no-one being held accountable, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has re-cently issued a 'very high pol-lution alert' because of filthy air and highlighted that my borough, Redbridge, has dangerously high levels – 8/10 on the air quality index scale. The irony is infuriating. The government created this problem, but is now warning us of thedangers; namely reduced life ex-pectancy, risk of heart and lung disease, cancer. One local resident recently told me that "this area has never been the same" since the road was built. I am now urging local res-idents get together and campaign to reverse these works - email if you'd like to know more: [email protected].

Daniel CamaraWanstead

number of unaccompanied asylum seekers and migrant families and ensuring we do all we can to help". Other panellists who got a lively discussion going included Lisa Doyle from the Refugee Council, Helen Taylor of WMAG, and local activ-ist Rebecca Tully, who spoke about being a host for Refugees at Home. The event was part of a series of migration-themed screenings and panel discussions and raised £100 for WMAG's drop-in centre that pro-vides free legal advice and support for migrants in the borough. All in all, a fantastic evening of pop-up cinema, and that rare thing; a positive migration news story!

Sarah WalkerWalthamstow Migrants' Action Group

election. I am proud of the UK’s history of providing life-saving aid to the world’s most vulnerable chil-dren. As the first major economy to reach this spending target, the UK has shown how a transparent, independent and accountable ap-proach to aid funding can change the world. It is the right thing to do, and it shows the world that we are bigger than just ourselves. Im-munising millions of children against preventable diseases makes us a bigger Britain. Sup-porting our doctors and nurses to lead the fight against ebola makes us a bigger Britain. Creat-ing jobs and trade opportunities in developing countries makes us a bigger Britain. This election must be an op-portunity for all parties to reaf-firm that commitment. We are big enough to help people both at home and abroad. Let us all call on our future politicians to show their commitment to the most vul-nerable by protecting UK aid.

Gabriel PepperSamira Close, Walthamstow

Mark FosterEpping Way, Chingford

Mikey BacchusBlenheim Road, Walthamstow

Highlighting the devastating effects of loneliness

Leyton Orient, London's glamour club of the 1960s

Dear Waltham Forest Echo


I have noticed that there is an upwards trend in arms dealing between the so-called 'super-powers' and those countries with known human rights abuses. This is a worrying situation. Just recently, multibillions-worth of sales of F-16s to Bahrain and pre-cision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia are on the table from the United States. The real concern is that these weapons then go on to be made available and fall in to the hands of ISIS. A well-known Muslim leader re-ferred to curbing the arms trade as a 'ready-made' instant solution to world disorder. I tend to concur wholeheartedly. Last month, more than 1,000 people attended the National Peace Symposium at the UK's largest mosque, where the same caliph called on effective sanctions to be put on weapons from powerful nations, includ-ing those in Europe, which are fu-elling conflicts in Muslim coun-tries. Is it not time we all heeded this advice?

Adeel AhsanErskine Road, Walthamstow

I am writing 20 years on from the creation of the M11 link road [the A12] which has drasti-cally impacted the quality of life in Leyton, Leytonstone, Wanstead, and surrounding areas. The govern-ment forced through its construc-tion against the will of thousands of protesters and environ-

Arms trade must be curbed

M11 link road's shameful legacy



The Walthamstow Migrants' Act- ion Group (WMAG) were delight-ed when Councillor Grace Williams confirmed that Waltham Forest Council were developing plans to house ten Syrian refugee families. Grace, the cabinet member for children and young people, ex-plained that the council will hon- our its commitment despite the lack of additional funding from central government. She pointed out that the council already sup-ports a large number of unaccom-panied young people, and stressed the vital importance of foster fam-ilies in this process. Speaking at WMAG's recent pop-up film night, Grace said Waltham Forest "had a proud history of welcoming mig-rants" and that the council is com-mitted to "supporting a significant

Thanks to Waltham Forest Council for housing refugeesDear Waltham Forest Echo

Britain keeps its promises, par-ticularly to those most in need. For ten years, our commitment to spend 0.7 percent of our nation-al income on aid has been testa-ment to that, and featured in all the major political party manifes-tos running up to the last general

Vote to keep foreign aidDear Waltham Forest Echo

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Send your letters to the EchoLetters on issues of local importance should be emailed before 17th May for consideration in the June edition of the Echo. 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.


EventsSocial dances with a twist in Chingford and Leyton P . 13COLUMNS

ach Olympics we all con-vince ourselves there is one sport we'd be bril-liant at 'if only I had the

chance to play at school'. My personal favourite has always been handball. Therefore, I was super excited to be welcomed down to Olympia Handball Club at Leyton's Score Centre where I was met by enthusiastic club chairperson Diaraye Diallo. Originally from France, Diaraye started playing handball aged 11, before competing at a regional level. Much to my surprise I was imme-diately thrown into the first team ladies' practice session where I got my first feel of the resin-coated ball. The club consists of five teams; first and second division teams for men and women, plus a junior team comprised of 14-18-year-olds. Most of the club's players are originally from Europe, with strong contingencies of Roma-

hen Chingford- based Mary Rob-ertson followed her daughter in

taking up a floristry course, it opened up a whole new family

nian, Polish, and French. Many are in London to study, and with so many different languages and cultures mixing at the club it makes for entertaining training sessions! The depth of knowledge within Olympia is huge, with a number of ex-professionals involved on the coaching and playing side (there are professional handball leagues across Europe). Both first division teams continuously perform ex-tremely well in national leagues, something Diaraye believes is fundamental to the success of the club as a whole: "While we receive grants for the community aspect of the club, this is getting more com-petitive as more clubs apply, so we rely heavily on marketing and for this to work we need at least some teams that dominate nationally." As well as sponsorship from two local businesses, the club current-ly has four interns from AMOS, a sports management school, who

business venture. Before her daughter Anna was born, Mary used to run a Fair-trade shop based on the impor-tance of ethics in business. Con-templating what her daughter

take on various administrative roles within the club. Diaraye and her team are working hard with governing body England Handball to increase visibility of the sport. While the majority of the British population only gets to watch handball at an Olympic Games, it is in fact the second most popular sport in Europe as a whole. The key to mastering the sport, Diaraye stresses, is co-ordination with the wider group: "This is something I really try to convey to my juniors, I actually teach them different positions from an early age so they can have appreciation for each role on the team." To further discourage individual-istic mentalities, she tells her players not to look at the scoreboard during the game and doesn't allow them to take pictures of the scoresheet. Other than the size of a regula-tion hall (40x20 metres) which is often difficult to find in the UK, I

Anna would do when she com-pleted college, she dreamed up the idea of 'Anna's Fab Fair Flowers' and the business started trading last spring. The florist sells flowers from the Chingford site of local food pro-ducer Organiclea, ensuring the flowers are both local and organic.Mary says: "We sell cut flowers as bouquets tied with Fairtrade ribbon or in a selection of Fair-trade, upcycled or vintage con-tainers. These can be bought at cost-price or returned each week at no cost. "There's a Saturday stall outside the Hornbeam at Bakers Arms and there's the option of local de-liveries too. "My daughter Anna has learning difficulties and suffers from epi-lepsy - she's very unlikely to get a conventional job but I'm hoping that this little family business will suit her really well. "Anna is a very special young lady. Many people with learning difficulties struggle in all sorts

see no reason why schools across the country are not streaming towards the world of handball. Improved athleticism, co-ordina-tion, teamwork and a chance of an Olympic medal mean we should be encouraging more young Brits

of ways, including getting a job. Anna's Fab Fair Flowers aims to buck that trend." Mary has experienced a few chal-lenges with running the business, one of which includes keeping the flowers protected from the el-ements at her stall on a Saturday. However, there have been some great achievements too – her Christmas wreaths proved to be hot sellers over the festive season. Mary feels that her Fairtrade in-stincts are what makes her differ-ent from the competition. "There are lots of lovely flowers for sale and many lovely people selling them too but sadly that's not the whole story. Many of the flowers for sale come from over-seas and there can be problems both in terms of working condi-tions and environmental issues, including air miles. "Anna's Fab Fair Flowers are local and organically grown. I try to ensure that every aspect of the business is ethical." Mary and Anna are focused on

to take up one of the continent's most popular sports.

building their customer base to provide fresh cut flowers to the Waltham Forest community. "We love being involved in an ini-tiative that's both fun and worth-while; having scope to adapt it to meet my family's needs," says Mary. "If I was to give any advice to new entrepreneurs it would be to find a niche in the market where you can make a difference, work hard and follow your dreams! Sus-tainability and ethics need to be our future so make sure you're on the right side."

E

W

Players from both the men's and women's teams of Olympia Handball Club, at the Score Centre in Leyton Credit Sandijs-Skujins-Photographer.com

Mary Robertson with daughter Anna, after whom her business Anna's Fab Fair Flowers is named

For more information on Olympia Handball Club:

Visit olympialondonhandball.co.uk

For more information about Anna's Fab Fair Flowers:

Visit bit.ly/2oU94tS

Do you know a great small business in Waltham Forest with a story to tell?

Email [email protected] walthamforestbusiness.co.uk

The popular sport that Britain forgot

A fair deal for flowers

In her latest column on local sports clubs Bobbie Makoni discovers a handball team competing for national honours

Waltham Forest Business Network's Jo Sealy meets a florist with a passion for fairness


LISTINGS

Next issue listingsSubmit your event 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 is always the 15th of the month prior to the month when the listed event is due to take place.

Upcoming Ongoing

Wonderful Wetlands ExhibitionUntil Saturday 27th MayThe Mill, 7-11 Coppermill Lane E17 7HAIdeas Kitchen

Wednesday 3rd May, 7.30pmMirth, Marvel and Maud, 186 Hoe Street, Walthamstow E17 4QH

Counterpoint art exhibitionFrom 4th May until 28th May; Thur, Fri 2 – 6pm, Sat 11am – 5pm, Sun 12 – 4pm. The Stone Space, 6 Church Lane, Leytonstone E11 1HG

Beginners PilatesFriday 5th May, 1 – 2pmSt Gabriel's Church Hall, Havant Road, Walthamstow E17 3JF

Highams Park Horticultural SocietyTuesday 9th May, 7.30 – 9.30pmWinchester Road Methodist Church Halls, Winchester Road, Highams Park E4 9JP

Marshland MedicineSaturday 13th May, 12 – 2pmWalthamstow Marshes, Coppermill Car Park, Walthamstow E17 7HG

Ukulele WednesdaysWednesdays, 8 – 11pmThe Hare and Hounds, 278 Lea Bridge Road, Leyton E10 7LD

Beginner's 50s Jive ClassSundays, 7.45 – 10pmSinbin at The Plough and Harrow, 419 High Road, Leytonstone E11 4JU

Zumba FitnessTuesdays, 7pmWalthamstow School for Girls, Church Hill E17 9RZ

See works by local artists, learn from historical artefacts and look at swifts overhead. A celebration of the wild-life, history and development of the amazing new Walthamstow Wetlands nature reserve.

Come and celebrate the launch of the Ideas Kitchen; a local community arts funding platform and supper club. Music, food and find out how it works.

Counterpoint – a collaboration between Ivy Panesar and Philipa Day, two local artists unknown to each other before this exhibition, utilises contrast of colour to create contradictory and varied emo-tional reactions. Both artists favour ab-stracts and rely heavily on colour and movement, but there are notable discrep-ancies in their work and method which create a magical disharmony. Welcome to Counterpoint.

Often tired or achey? Want to improve your health in a positive, low impact, manageable way? Want to make lifestyle changes but unsure where to start? Come and try this new pilates class for begin-ners. We will cover the basics and every-one will be encouraged to work at the level that feels right for them. Strength-en, stretch, and relax, and get your body working at it's best.

Our back-to-basics gardening club; inspi-ration, information, stimulation. All ages, all abilities; new, novice, experienced. Prac-tical workshops, plant swaps, garden pho-tography. We also arrange a coach outing, annual flower show and quiz evenings.

Join our monthly guided plant walk to find the joy of wild green spaces and observe how the leaves, buds, flowers, berries, seeds and roots rotate through the year. We will share knowledge of plant recognition, folk-lore and history, traditional and current medicinal uses and responsible ways of harvesting and preparing plant medicines. Please book in advance as places are limited.

A friendly, mixed ability ukulele sing-along and play along hosted by local ukulele group UkuleleE17. The latest songbooks can be downloaded free of charge from ukulelewednesdays.com/songbook

Our classes are for beginners, so no dance background or experience is needed. The classes will run weekly on a drop-in basis. It's a fun way to exercise and enjoy your-self and will give you the confidence to get up and dance the next time you are out!

Wear low tread, supportive trainers, and bring a bottle of water to enjoy this exhil-arating dance fitness class in a low pres-sure atmosphere!

Free entryVisit themill-coppermill.org/ whats-on

Free entryVisit ideaskitchen.org.uk

Free entryEmail [email protected] https://thestonespace.wordpress.com/

£9 entryCall 07399 052 084Email [email protected] truebalance.co.uk

£1.50 per session, £5 membershipCall 020 8531 3178Email [email protected] highamsparkhoriculturalsociety.org.uk

£10 entry, £8 concessionsCall 07784 506 494Email [email protected]

Free entryVisit facebook.com/groups/Ukulelewednesdayswalthamstow

£5 entryCall 0208 493 0303Email [email protected]

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

Sewing WorkshopWednesdays, 12 – 2pmThe Cornerstone, 149 Canterbury Road, Leyton E10 6EH

Fancy making something? We are offer-ing a free two-hour sewing workshop for everyone in the community. No need to book, just come along and learn how to use a sewing machine in a fun environment.

Free entryCall 07894 936 205/0203 826 9600Email [email protected]

Company. no. 8395175 | Charity no. 1154603 | Registered in England

www.healthwatchwalthamforest.co.uk [email protected] 020 3078 9990 07507483288 @Healthwatch_WF @HealthwatchWF

Need help accessing health & social care services in Waltham Forest?

Want to help us improve local services?

‘Speak Out’ to us about your experiences and how you would like to be cared for, and we will ‘Speak Up’ to change health and social care services for the better. We also have a monthly newsletter about local health and social care news, including events, what changes are happening, and how you can HAVE YOUR SAY!

Contact us






Contact us






Contact us

07507 483 288

Want to help improve health & social care services in Waltham Forest?

Join us as a volunteer!Healthwatch ensures local people have a say inwhat happens with health & social care services,and our volunteers play a key role!

Office based work

Patient Experience Panel

Events & Outreach

Projects

Get in touch for more information, or apply through our website!

We provide training to help you develop skills for the role.

020 3078 9990 @Healthwatch_WF

@Healthwatch_WF

Company no. 8395175 | Charity no. 1154603 | Registered in England

www.healthwatchwalthamforest.co.uk

[email protected]


EVENTS

here is a road that runs beside Walthamstow Reservoirs where the gardens run down to

the waters edge. If you have journeyed around the reservoirs fishing or looking for birds you would have seen them - six weatherboard houses built by the local water company for their employees in the 1960s and now the only private residential prop-erties that fall within the reser-voirs' boundary. We live there; a small group of quiet bird-watch-ing ecologists drawn here over the years and now keen to ensure that this extraordinary site is a catalyst for environmental sustainability and community. Although most of the land be-longs to Thames Water and is made up of 15 working reser-voirs, a new nature reserve called Walthamstow Wetlands is being developed with public funds and belongs to us all. The reservoirs are part of our heritage, our nat-ural and cultural commons; a wonderful opportunity to explore our environment and a chance for the community to connect back to the land in order to strength-en and sustain. Last summer we set up an art-ist-in-residence programme invit-ing Deirdre Nelson, a textile artist from Glasgow, to lead a commu-nity engagement programme. The project was called 'Urban Swifts' and in January we ran a pilot study to trial a knitting pattern of a swift ready for a longer resi-dency and exhibition at the wet-lands in September. We were keen to ensure that Walthamstow Wet-lands was rooted in creativity. As

ccording to legendary tennis player Martina Navratilova: "No matter where I go, I can

always make new friends at the bridge table." Bridge is one of the great mind games, played by many well-known people such as the late actor Omar Sharif. Microsoft founder Bill Gates is also a lover of the game. It can be played at home with friends, online, or at a range of different bridge clubs. There are also county, national, and international tournaments and events. Waltham Forest Bridge Club meets every Monday and Thurs-day at the Quaker Meeting House, in Jewel Road, Walthamstow. One of our members, Winnie, says:

artists and makers we knew that when we create something with our hands we engage our hearts, we strengthen our relationship with the environment, and we build our sense of community. Writer and artist Lucy Neal puts it something like this: "We engage in the creative act of imagining a future in which life is sustained." As many non-knitters wanted to be involved, we brought together a small group of artists to form '1000 Swifts Over Walthamstow'. The group is making a swift from any sustainably-sourced or recy-clable material and displaying it at home either outside or in a street-facing window in time for the E17 Art Trail in June. We have heard from schools, community gardens, whole streets, artists and art projects, care homes and day centres, all keen to be involved. You may have already seen window stickers on the houses of res-idents that are participating. The yellow arrow points to the wet-lands. Anyone can get involved and make and display a swift. If you don’t have a street-fac-ing window then we have other venues in Walthamstow that you can use. Your swift will then be entered on to a swift map leading visitors around the flock to the wetlands, and there will be a prize for the person who finds the most swifts on the map.

"It's a very interesting pastime. For widows it's a lifeline to friends and also links with bridge holi-days which means you can travel on your own and have company when you're there. "It takes you to lots of places and you meet interesting people. You can also have pleasant social days with a group of friends." Winne started playing at the club in 1987 and before that played at another club in London where she also still plays. She has been a former chairperson and has rep-resented the club at county level.Tim, another regular at Waltham Forest Bridge Club, started play-ing at the club just over a year ago having previously played social bridge. He says: "Playing at the club has taught my partner and

I how to be more competitive and concentrate more on what we're doing. It's easy to park in nearby streets after 6.30pm and as it's quite a small club you get to know everyone." The club has a host available on Monday evenings so that you can come without a partner and you will still get a game. It'd be great to see you there!

T

A

Walthamstow Primary Academy's contribution to the 1,000 Swifts project

Swift response

This'll do the trickby Cathy Macnaughton

If you would like to join the flock and make a swift you can register before 10th May:

Visit 1000swifts.eventbrite.co.ukFollow #1000Swifts

Stow-a-Thon starts at midday Sunday 30th April and ends midday Monday 1st May. For more information:

Email [email protected] justgiving.com/fundraising/stow-a-thon17Visit crestwf.org.uk

If you are interested finding out more about playing bridge contact Cathy:

Email cathy.macnaughton @yahoo.co.uk

Or contact John Stimson:

Call 07973 880 080

e Olde Rose and Crown pub in Wal- thamstow is hosting 24 hours of free live

music, dubbed 'Stow-a-Thon' for the May bank holiday weekend. The fourth annual event will raise money and awareness for CREST Waltham Forest, which supports people with disability, dementia and mental health issues. As usual the irrepressible Graham Larkbey opens and closes proceed-ings, with local groups Electron-ic17, She17, Walthamstow Folk, Pixie Presents and Waltham For- est Voices taking over parts of the programme. The bill also

features local favourites The Higham Flyers, Sh!ver and The East Lonesome Drifters, with a special appearance by Cowboy Flying Saucer. Catering for all tastes, music is performed by everyone from tal-ented youngsters to ageing rockers, choirs, and singer-songwriters. In addition to such diversity is a ceilidh by Jig17, and Monday morning sees a yoga class accom-panied by a live acoustic electronic performance by More News From Nowhere, and a drum circle put on by DrumaSphere. CREST manager Alan Horne said: "CREST is proud to be part

of this year's Stow-a-Thon, an event that shows off the amazing creative talent and abundant com-munity spirit in Walthamstow. "This can make a real dif-ference to vulnerable people in our borough."

Live music for 24 hoursby Adam Taylor

Teresa Elwes invites people to get creative for nature

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FOOD

Springing into action

pring is most definitely here and so are lots of vibrant seasonal vege-tables. Asparagus, peas,

lettuce, new potatoes, and water-cress to name a few. My favourite springtime recipe has to be pea and mint soup. It is so fresh and flavoursome that I ate an impolite amount of it at my friend's house once. You can make Parmesan crisps to

dip in to the soup for an extra impressive, yet surprisingly sim-ple, dish. Other seasonal springtime fa-vourites include charred lettuce and spring onions with goats cheese; potato, onion and fennel tortilla; asparagus with tomato salsa and crumbled cheese; and watercress pesto (we make this a lot at home because it is so quick, nutritious, and versatile, and the

kids love it). Fruit-wise, rhubarb is also in season and I intend to give it a try! The BBC Good Food website has lots of tasty sounding ideas, in particular rhubarb crumble, rhubarb and ginger syllabub and rhubarb spice cake. Whatever you end up eating, enjoy the spring and please let me know if you have any great recipes to share.

Local food blogger Katie Robinson makes the most out of fresh seasonal ingredients

Pea and mint soup with Parmesan crisps

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Pea and Mint Soup with Parmesan Crisps (serves four)This is fresh and flavoursome and tastes of spring. Allow about 25 minutes' cooking time. You will need a food processor and baking/greaseproof paper.

Ingredients

· 1 tablespoon oil· Large knob of butter· 1 medium potato, diced small· 700g frozen peas· 2 vegetable stock cubes· Large handful mint, roughly chopped· 65g Parmesan, finely grated (or more if you want more crisps!)

Method

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

Email [email protected] @ktlovescookingVisit katielovescooking.com

Heat the oil and butter in a pan and when bubbling add the diced potato. Fry for about ten minutes, stirring regularly, until golden and cooked through.Add the peas then add water so they are only just covered. Simmer for a few minutes, until the peas are tender, then crumble in the stock cubes and stir well.Add the mint then then use a food processor or hand blender to whizz everything together until smooth. If the soup is too thick thengradually add water until you are happy with the consistency.To make the Parmesan crisps, heat the oven at 220 celsius, or gas mark seven. Line a baking tray with baking/greaseproof paper and on to this divide the grated Parmesan into four long strips, in a thin layer.Bake the Parmesan for around five or seven minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and golden. Leave to cool a little, for about five minutes, then while still a little warm carefully peel the crisps off the baking paper (a spatula may help). Cool until firm.Serve the soup in bowls with a Parmesan crisp on the side to dip in!

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