Waltham Forest Echo June 2015

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HEADWAY IN HOUSING

APPEALS FOR HELPERS

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May/June 2015 Issue

MENTORING SUCCESS

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Ethical fashion goes east Jo Bounds on two innovative start-up family businesses in Chingford and Leytonstone ith ethical fashion high on consumers’ shopping lists, east London designers have been leading the pack.

Former Eastenders actor turned designer, Liam Bergin, along with his brother Elliott, are now proving to be Waltham Forest style pioneers.

The recently-launched Chingford pop-up store, Boom Done (boomdoneshop.com), founded by the 29-year-old and his sibling, might means a new career path, but it’s also helping lead the resurgence of the local high street.

Boom Done recently opened on Old Church Road, selling hand-printed, bespokedesigned T-shirts and sweatshirts, all designed

by London-based artists and printed by hand. The range is also sold on fashion retail website Asos.

Liam learnt the art of screen printing through watching Youtube videos, subsequently making and installing a workshop in his shop by hand. His ethos is to use the digital world to help boost traffic local shopping strips.

“I made a screen printing press for around £20 – it usually costs around £1,000,” he says, adding that the paint is locally sourced and his garments are made on a wind farm in Turkey.

“One of next print designers is Thomas Mitchell, who’s worked as a stylist and set

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The teams behind local fashion brands Mister Kittoe and Boom Done (inset)

designer for Vanity Fair, Selfridges and Stella McCartney,” says Liam.

Using an old-school workshop philosophy in tune with the area’s manufacturing roots, one of Liam’s inspirations are local Waltham Forest cobblers who drop by Boom Done and are set to “teach him how to make shoes”.

In July he’s even setting up his printing press in Leytonstone’s Red Lion pub, printing bespoke clothing designs while customers drink their pints, as part of Leytonstone’s Art Fair.

His pop-up has also attracted other business owners to Chingford – a definite sign his idea to help bring interest back to the high street is paying off.

“There’s an organic café and supermarket opening here soon.

Plus a guy dropped by recently to chat to me about opening a smoothie shop next door.”

He explains that his label combines fast and slow fashion. “If you want to have a bespoke piece of clothing made, head to Boom Done.

People ask me how long it takes to

print their design of choice – it literally takes as long as it takes to wait for a kebab.”

Another family heading up ethical fashion in Waltham Forest are Leytonstone-based brothers TJ (18), Tevin (22) and T’rone (20) Kittoe, founders of online men’s clothing retailer misterkittoe.com.

The trio, all with backgrounds in business, fashion and media, are launching in May, selling brands with an ethical or sustainable message.

The brothers are also making

their vision known to Waltham Forest residents on World Fair Trade Day, asking members of the public on the street to think – and voice – how their clothes are made.

“We’ll have A1-sized cardboard signboards with messages such as, ‘Would you work a 16-hour day for a 90p pay cheque?’ and ‘If we don’t care then who will?’,” says TJ. “We’ll be stopping members of the public, and hopefully raising awareness.”

With Waltham Forest leading the trend for ethical fashion, it’s definitely time to join the green party.

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Waltham Forest Echo

What happens next?

From the editor of Waltham Forest Echo

Welcome to issue five of Waltham Forest Echo. It’s a time of political change at a national level with a Conservative majority government replacing the Coalition.

Here in Waltham Forest, the situation hasn’t changed much, with local Labour MPs Stella Creasy and John Cryer increasing their majorities and Conservative Iain Duncan Smith

losing some votes but still winning by a wide margin. Whatever our views these results, it’s unlikely that any of the more plausible election outcomes would have led to major changes to the situations facing people and community organisations in our area.

For the foreseeable future, the public sector will be doing less to tackle social challenges. This issue features a range of examples of people doing things for themselves: from designers starting their own creative businesses in Chingford and Leytonstone, to residents getting together to build their own homes in Chapel End. We also have a reminder that politics is about more than voting and elections, with a look back at the historical battles over access to Epping Forest – when local people resorted

to mass protests to prevent the Forest being enclosed by landowners.

For the Echo, the newspaper itself is a form of (non-party political) community action. Local charities and social enterprises launched the paper last year because we believe there was a need for a positive, independent community voice.

We’ve had a great first year and over the next year we will be working towards making newspaper fully sustainable and hopefully move towards more regular publication.

We’re really grateful to all our readers and to everyone who’s contributed, advertised and helped with distribution. Please get in touch to let us know what you think of the Echo so far and what you’d like us to cover in future issues.

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News

Tower plans leave residents ‘in dark’

James Cracknell Residents of a council estate planned for redevelopment have demanded a bigger say in their future.

The Fred Wigg and John Walsh towers in Leytonstone are set to undergo a £40million overhaul, but Waltham Forest Council has been criticised for agreeing to sell many of the new homes privately.

Social homes on the estate will be cut by nearly one third, from 234 to 160.

All residents currently living there have been promised a new home in the towers if they want one, but many remain unconvinced and are demanding answers.

On a visit to Fred Wigg tower,

famously used as a missile launch pad by the military during London 2012, residents told the Waltham Forest Echo of their concerns.

Aysha Karim has lived on the estate in Montague Road with his family for 15 years. He said: “The council told me I could stay and move into the new block when it’s built, but we don’t trust them.

“I’ve been to many meetings about it but we are fed up, it’s the same old story, waiting for answers.”

Another resident, law student Jordan Ajayi, said he wanted the council to be open about what lay ahead.

“For this project to succeed we need more dialogue,” Jordan told the Echo.

“They shouldn’t keep us in the

dark. It’s only because we’ve made a fuss that the council have told us anything at all.”

Residents were first asked for their views on a potential redevelopment in early 2014. Asked if they’d rather the towers were refurbished or rebuilt, most said they’d prefer a complete demolition and rebuild. However, the council ruled out this option over cost.

Instead, the council decided to strip the buildings and use the same structures to build bigger, higher quality homes. A third block will be built to house residents who make way for the private homes planned.

Jordan added: “These towers aren’t the best but they are better than many other places, and it’s one of the last places we can rent cheaply around here.

“It’s all very well building nice expensive flats, but we can’t afford them.”

Depending on how many agree to leave the estate, some residents who wish to stay will be “decanted” during the improvement works - likely starting in 2018.

The council is also encouraging people to leave the estate permanently by giving them priority on social homes elsewhere in the borough, when they become available.

A council spokesman explained that the process of talking to residents about what they wanted to do was still ongoing.

He said: “Some residents are chronically overcrowded. A lot of people are desperate to leave and go elsewhere.

“These buildings are 50 years old and need some work. The number of social homes will go down but compared to the number we are building across the borough it is small.

“We are confident we can give everyone a new home who wants one.”

This year the council’s new housing plan set an ambition for 12,000 homes to be built in the borough over the next five years, including 4,000 designated as “affordable” and 2,000 council homes. By the end of next year 431 housing association homes are due to be built.

Waltham Forest’s housing waiting list, at around 16,000, is among the largest in London.

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May / June 2015 Issue

Escaping FGM

From Lego and playschool to heuristic play and the Teletubbies Walthamstow Toy Library celebrates its 40th birthday

Ozel Rowland A local campaigner fighting against female genital mutilation (FGM) has provided a special conference to the Walthamstow housing service in a bid to raise awareness amongst its staff.

Hibo Wardare, a teaching assistant at Mission Grove Primary School, was invited to talk with Ascham Homes staff about the practice, which is also known as female circumcision, and how to identify victims or those who may be at risk. As an FGM survivor, she shared her own harrowing personal experience as a six-year-old child in Somalia and went on to describe the negative psychological effects and long-term health problems FGM has on survivors.

She said: “I believe there are girls out there who are leaving their families because they don’t want to live with them anymore because of what’s happened.

“They are seeking help and for them to go to their local housing and to say they need help, but don’t want to discuss FGM, is huge and so the housing staff really need to understand why these girls are coming to them.”

The mother of seven, who is known for providing the first FGM awareness session to secondary school pupils in the UK at Frederick Bremer School, Walthamstow, in February this year, said that it is essential that housing staff across London receive FGM training in order to create channels of trust with victims and understand the cultural

implications behind the practice.

FGM is usually performed on young girls aged from four to six and is a procedure that intentionally alters or removes female genitalia. It is often done to protect a girls’ chastity but can cause irreparable damage and infertility in adulthood. It is currently still practised by 29 countries and is particularly common across Africa and the Middle East. It is illegal to carry out FGM in the UK or to send children abroad to have the procedure carried out and is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Neighbourhood Manager at Ascham Homes, Raja Khan said: “With Hibo’s help, our staff were able to ask questions that they could never ask about such a barbaric act before and understand the effects and impact it leaves on its victims.

“On the positive, our staff are now able to signpost survivors to organisations such as the Dahlia Project and indeed Hibo and be mindful when assessing anyone coming to housing fleeing violence, or wanting housing away from family members that they could be escaping FGM.” Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, said: “It’s been an honour to work with Hibo over the last few years in promoting and developing her work on tackling FGM and raising awareness across Walthamstow about this practice. I’m pleased to see Ascham Homes taking this up and I hope this will be the start of a range of activities to show how we can all help end violence against women.”

Helen Crockford This is an exciting year for Walthamstow Toy Library, as we celebrate our 40th anniversary – a significant achievement for a local parent- and carer-run charity that receives no central funding.

This milestone is the ideal opportunity for us to reflect on our history and our place in the local community, and reconnect with all those who have made the Toy Library a special place.

The Walthamstow Toy Library is an educational charity providing babies and pre-school children with a vibrant range of activities in a stimulating environment. We believe in the power of learning through play.

Playing nurtures young children’s imagination and inventiveness and is vital to their emotional, social and physical development; essential to a happy childhood and stress-free parenting (almost!).

The Toy Library has been, and continues to be, a haven for young families in the borough: as children play, among the grown-ups, much tea, biscuits and sympathy is shared and friendships are formed. The exhilarating, yet often exhausting, preschool years do not last long, and as consequence members are only involved in the Toy Library for a brief period of their lives.

We work with pre-school educational groups to run exciting

workshops designed to get your children trying something new such as making music, cooking, baby signing, or messy play.

Apart from offering play sessions and companionship – as our name suggests – we loan out a variety of toys and equipment at reasonable rates.

Member families can hire our lovely purpose-built venue for special events such as children’s birthday parties.

In recent years our membership has reached record levels and the Toy Library has flourished, becoming a hub for local families and welcoming newcomers to our borough.

To remain relevant and useful to the community around us, the Toy Library adapts and responds to the needs of local parents and children.

We now partner with the Waltham Forest Branch of National Childbirth Trust (NCT), introducing families to the Toy Library from the very earliest days of parenthood. Our venue also hosts a range of yoga classes.

Our latest venture is running a twins and multiple births group for which we have joined forces with the charity TAMBA (Twins and Multiple Births Association). In the last year the Toy Library’s outdoor spaces have been enhanced with new toys and planting.

We want to explore the Toy Library’s history, as a part of local community life and as an account of early childhood over the last 40 years – from Lego and playschool to

heuristic play and the Teletubbies, we have experienced it all.

The trustees of Walthamstow Toy Library are creating an exciting programme of events for 2015. Our annual May Fair will be the focal point of this celebration; where we will be launching our ‘Friends of ’ scheme.

We are also planning a children’s birthday party at The Blitz Factory in September and a Ceilidh in October (just for the grown-ups!) to celebrate.

We would be delighted to hear from past members, committee, donors and especially former staff and volunteers. We encourage ‘alumni’ to get in touch via the details below and share your memories, photographs and mementos of the Toy Library with us. We look forward to welcoming our members past and present throughout 2015 and beyond.

Joining the Toy Library is easy: just bring your children along to one of our popular sessions, run by experienced play workers and dedicated volunteers. Membership is just £5 per year for each family, and free for those who receive benefits.

Comely Bank Community Clinic, 46 Ravenswood Road, London E17 9LY, 020 8509 3401; e17toylibrarymanager@gmail.com www.walthamstowtoylibrary.org Our May Fair is on 10th May 11am–3pm

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Features

Waltham Forest Echo

Making Headway in housing Sue Wheat mong the many inspiring people doing incredible things in the borough, John Struthers must be somewhere near the top of the list.

A local dad of three from Priory Court between Chingford and Walthamstow, he and his family were living in cramped conditions and desperately needed to move but couldn’t afford to buy. With an estimated 10-year wait to get rehoused he decided the only option was to build a new home himself.

“Ever since my uncle took me to the Ideal Home Show when I was 11 years old I’ve been interested in building my own house,” 47-year-old John explains. “Many years later here I am.”

But this was no ordinary housebuilding project. In 2006 he put an ad in the Waltham Forest Guardian, leafleted homes and libraries, and went round the estates talking to people and asking them to get involved. Twenty people responded and John and others formed the Headway Self Build Group Collective with the help of the Community SelfBuild Agency (CSBA).

For another six years John talked to the Council, housing providers, and contractors to try to realise his dream.

In 2012 discovered an ideal plot of land off Penhryn Avenue in Chapel End – a derelict Warner Estate garage court. “The garages were built for old cars and there was no room to open the doors on newer bigger cars! The land was owned by my landlord – Circle 33 – and I persuaded them to allocate it to us to build 10 houses.”

“The crucial elements were – all the tenants had to be in serious housing need, we would all be involved in the build as much as possible, and we would stay as renters.”

Using a local contractor was also part of John’s vision, and the group chose Leytonstone company Kind and Co, pairing them up with one of the UK’s foremost self-build and ‘eco’ architects, John Broome to design conventional-looking but highly energy efficient properties. Solar PV electricity panels, high-spec insulation in the walls and argon-filled low-e double-glazing were chosen to keep winter bills low.

It took seven years for all the planning applications, plans, transport studies, local consultations, designs and contracts to be agreed and in Dec 2013 the build started of one 2-bed house, seven 3-bed, one 4-bed and one 2-bed house for a wheel chair user.

Kind and Co built the shells of the conventional timber-framed, brickclad two-storey houses, the

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John Struthers and family in their new home

infrastructure and the road. Waltham Forest College provided tailor-made training in basic construction to the self-builders and also provided tutors and apprentices to work on site helping them carry out ‘second fix’ carpentry and decoration.

One of the self-builders, Theresa Philip, a single mother of two, is wearing a hard hat and building clothes when I visit and she shows me around her house with pride. “When John approached me five years ago I’d never heard of self-build. But my children were sharing a bedroom and needed more space and I wanted to do something for myself and show my kids you don’t have to rely on the council or a man – and if there’s an opportunity to do something good you should do it.” Theresa and the other self-builders fitted kitchens, bathrooms, doors, skirting and made

all the finishing touches allowing them to personalise their own houses.

“We had to commit to working 20 hours a week but I worked here 95pm every day from July last year to this March as I’m not in employment.

It’s been an amazing experience.”

On 16 March this year, the 10 families moved in. After nine years of hard work it was “less of a party, more of a big sleep,” explains John.

The project cost £1.3m from beginning to end, meaning each house cost on average £130k for Circle 33. “A housing developer may say they could do it cheaper,” says John. “But this project gave everyone skills they’ll go on to use in in life and jobs, enhanced people’s confidence, has ‘recycled’ their old rented properties into the community and increased the social housing stock.

But most of all, it’s created a strong,

supportive community. In years to come what will our children think?

They’ll think ‘that was amazing’.”

“The families really bonded,” says Nick Cox, Carpentry Lecturer at Waltham Forest College who worked with them. “You can tell the site will be a strong community and selfpolicing as everyone’s invested so much in it.” In fact, Nick was so inspired he wants to work with John on another project for the borough and move in himself.

I suggest to John he was lucky to find this piece of land but he comes back quickly with: “If you define luck as ‘labour under correct knowledge’ then I was lucky - it was seven years of hard graft. “There are many more pockets of land like this scattered around Waltham Forest, he insists, still enthusiastic to do more. But for the time being he’s having a rest with his

kids in their gorgeous new home.

“The kids are buzzing around with big smiles on their faces and the parents say they wake up every morning and can’t believe they’re in somewhere as beautiful as this. There’s so much to be said for having a readymade community. It’s very nice, very nice indeed.”

More info: struthers.jm@gmail.com, www.headwaygardens.org, www.communityselfbuild agency.org.uk Headway Gardens is one of the homes open to the public for Waltham Forest’s Green Open Homes on Saturday 16 May. Booking essential. www.hornbeam.org.uk/greenhomes

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Issue/ One May June–2015 Summer Issue 2014

Appeal for volunteers to improve the lives of lonely older people

Isabel Inman Contact the Elderly, a charity dedicated to tackling loneliness and isolation among older people, is urgently appealing for volunteers living in Waltham Forest to spare a few hours a month to help run its local tea parties – and enjoy a cuppa and a cake themselves!

The charity aims to relieve the acute loneliness of isolated older people, aged 75 and above, who live alone, by organising free monthly

Sunday afternoon tea parties for small groups within local communities – providing a regular and vital friendship link every month. Each older guest is collected from their home by a volunteer driver, and is taken to a volunteer host’s home, where they join a small group for tea, chat and companionship.

Contact the Elderly runs a popular group in Waltham Forest but in order to ensure that it continues to thrive, the charity is making an appeal for more coordinators who would be able to help organise the tea parties and

liaise with the older guests and volunteers to ensure everything runs smoothly every month.

Contact the Elderly’s East London Development Officer, Alison Minney, said: “The charity is committed to offering a lifeline of friendship to the oldest and loneliest people, but our attempts to continue to provide this lifeline for older people in Waltham forest have hit a bit of a stumbling block due to a real shortage of local volunteers to help run the group. The coordinator role only involves a little extra regular commitment each month in addition to the tea party outings which everyone really enjoys!

So I’m calling for anyone who is interested in giving something back to their community to please get in touch with me as soon as possible.”

Waltham Forest residents interested in volunteering for Contact the Elderly can contact Alison Minney , East London Development Officer on 020 8150 3154 or email alison.minney@contact-theelderly.org.uk

Discover Higham Hill Hub

Caramel Quin Higham Hill Hub is an exciting new community space in the heart of Higham Hill. Groups have been using it since September, but the council’s builders were working alongside us for months getting things ship-shape, so 2015 is the year we really open our doors for business.

The Hub is an unusual space, set in the former bowls club on the east side of Higham Hill Park. The club sadly closed its doors shortly after its 90th anniversary due to a shortage of members.

Local charities Waltham Forest Woodcraft Group and the KNI Foundation teamed up with local councillors in the Higham Hill ward to re-open the space and make it available for local groups. We’ve had really positive support from council officers and councillors alike.

Woodcraft volunteers scrubbed the Portakabin to within an inch of its life. KNI installed a sprung floor and floor-to-ceiling mirrors to transform the main hall. Volunteers started work on the garden. Local residents in Higham Hill had a street party and generously donated the proceeds to the Hub. And the Walthamstow Sell or Swap Facebook community donated all sorts of furniture and essentials to help us get up and running.

The space is now very useable.

Facilities include a hall, small kitchen, toilets (including disabled toilet) and a meeting room. The hall includes a sprung floor and a cosy corner with a children’s bookshelf. The building is wheelchair accessible and there is also a large, private lawn.

Groups meeting regularly at Higham Hill Hub include StreetJam street dance for ages 6-16, KNI Foundation bereavement service, Woodcraft Folk groups for ages 4-15, Dao Lu tai chi for over 50s and surgeries for local ward councillors.

The space can also be booked for community groups or private hire (birthday parties, classes, etc) – ring or email us for more info, or come take a look.

What’s next? We’re looking for other local charities and groups who’d like to use the space and get involved in developing it. Always with the aim of working with – and serving the needs of – Higham Hill residents.

We have some exciting plans for the space, both indoors and out. Do pop in during our Art Trail sessions (see below) to meet us, see the space and our plans for it, tell us your thoughts and get involved. We want your ideas on what the Hub could be, as well as volunteers to get stuck in doing gardening, DIY, design, admin and more.

Come and meet us – we’re open for the Art Trail Discover Higham Hill’s new community space, see the plans for the Hub and enjoy work by local artists when we open for E17 Art Trail, Sunday 31st May and Sunday 7th June, 10am–6pm.

On both days we’re hosting We Love Lego, a popular Art Trail event that promises to be great fun for the young and young-at-heart. See some stunning Lego displays and build your own models and minifigs. We’ll supply the bricks, you supply the ideas!

On the 7th we’re also hosting Little Free Library art workshops. Join local artist Kiko Honda-Powell, and Nick Cheshire from the Little Free Library Project, for creative workshops through the day that will help inspire Kiko’s design for a “Little Free Library” for Higham Hill.

Higham Hill Hub, Higham Hill Park, Hecham Close E17 5QT 020 8527 5332 highamhillhub.org.uk facebook.com/highamhillhub

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Features

Waltham Forest Echo

Common cause Daniel Shannon-Hughes on the 19th century battles to preserve access to Epping Forest for local people pring is here and summer is just around the corner.

Waltham Forest residents can count themselves among the luckiest in London to have acres of woodland on their doorstep in the form of Epping Forest.

It seems amazing that within our dense, built-up city, there is such a large and wild green space in which to escape from urban life. It could have been a very different story had Victorian plans to privatise the forest and develop the land been successful.

Epping Forest in the 1860s and 1870s was a battleground between landowner and commoner. Their tussles in the courts, in Parliament and amongst the trees decided the way we use the Forest today.

Archaeological evidence puts the first human settlement in Epping Forest about 10,000 years ago in Mesolithic times. It was the scene of Queen Boadicea’s last stand against the Roman armies. Many hundreds of years later, the Forest was where the highwayman Dick Turpin plied his trade.

Through all of Epping Forest’s history, the woodland has been a resource for common people. Under the Charter of the Forest of 1217, Epping Forest was designated a royal forest. Like so many other woodlands, it was reserved as royal hunting grounds. However, the charter also provided rights, privileges and protection to commoners. The Crown owned the land but, so long as the common man or woman did nothing to harm or hinder the game, for instance putting up fences too high for a deer to jump over, they were guaranteed use of the forest.

Yet, by the 1800s, the status of Epping Forest as common woodland was under threat. Queen Victoria was not interesting in hunting and the Crown began to view the forests as ‘waste land’ ripe for cultivation to help feed the rapidly expanding urban

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population fuelled by the industrial revolution.

Between 1790 and 1850 roughly a third of open space in Epping Forest was fenced off – a process known as ‘enclosure’. Then, in 1860, the Crown sold the forestal rights to the local lords of the manor. The new owners put up more fences to prevent trespassing on their property.

This swift loss of common land sparked a huge outcry. What the Crown, the landowners, and the local authorities had not taken into account was the more modern use of the forest. Every Sunday, freed from the shackles of work, thousands of east Londoners flocked to Epping Forest.

They came from as far away as the

Isle of Dogs, often making the journey on foot.

Epping Forest was their recreation space. Just as for us today, it was a place of pleasure, a place of peace in which to escape the noise and the grime of the city. Local people were not prepared to relinquish their right to the Forest without a fight.

The enclosures in Epping Forest were not isolated incidents. Across London common land was being sold off and closed up to ordinary people.

In response a Commons Preservation Society (CPS) was formed in 1865. It led successful opposition to attempts to enclose Wimbledon Common and to turn Hampstead Heath over to gravel extraction.

The CPS threw its weight behind the campaign to save Epping Forest and east Londoners formed their own local committee in 1866. Large public meetings were attended by thousands of protestors. The Woodford Times reported the speakers remarking on their rights as commoners to the Forest since ‘time immemorial’. One speech reflected the feelings of injustice and double standards by quoting the poem: ‘The law locks up the man or woman Who steals the goose off the common But leaves the greater villain loose Who steals the common from the goose.’

media in support of the campaign. The Daily Telegraph called for ‘the East-end [to] stand to its guns’ and The Daily News raged against ‘the recreation ground of thousands of smoke dried toilers’ being taken away to ‘make rich men richer’.

Pressure was also brought to bear in Parliament. In 1871 the Epping Forest Act created a Royal Commission to investigate the problem of the forest. At the same time the City of London Corporation also began to take an active interest, commencing legal proceedings in defence of common rights throughout the whole forest.

For some of the Epping Forest campaigners, the legal challenges and Royal Commission moved too slowly.

George Burley, an industrialist from Milwall, was one of the most outspoken in calling for action on the ground: ‘It was not only the rich that had rights – the poor had rights also and if the rich put up fences where they had no right to do so, the poor would be justified in pulling them down again.’

Which is exactly what they did.

With peaceful but purposeful demonstrations, hundreds of east Londoners took matters into their own hands; pulling down the fences.

The direct action led by Burley and others proved the public opposition to the enclosures was too strong for the authorities to let them stand. In 1878 the City of London Corporation were appointed Conservators of the Forest with a duty to keep the woodlands open to the public as recreation space. All enclosures of the previous 20 years were declared illegal and opened up once more. What was once a royal playground was now legally reserved for the pleasure of the urban worker as the EppingForest we enjoy today.

National newspapers joined local

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May / June 2015 Issue

“You have changed my boy’s life” Kevin Morrish on mentoring a struggling child through Chance UK

Higher purpose – Chance UK aims to improve the lives of primary school children

“Tom has a difficult home life and as a result has very low self esteem. He finds it very difficult to attempt work in class or on a one-to-one basis” explained a referral made by a Waltham Forest primary school. “He expects to fail, and does not have the confidence to try.” Tom (name changed) is a 9-year-old boy from Walthamstow. This note was written in 2013, before the intervention of charity, Chance UK. It went on to say “There are times when Tom is able to become engaged in a task and sees that he can thrive…Unfortunately the school does not have the resources to give him what he needs…and feel that a mentor would help him to see that he could flourish.”

Chance UK is an early intervention charity aiming to improve the lives of primary school children with behavioural difficulties who may be at risk of developing antisocial or criminal behaviour by mentoring 7–11-year-old children in Waltham Forest. Today the charity works with 30 families per year in the borough. Children are referred to Chance UK because they are displaying challenging behaviour that poses a barrier to their education, social and emotional development.

They may be close to permanent exclusion or already excluded from mainstream education. Once referred

the child is matched with a volunteer mentor who meets with them once a week and takes them out into the community to do positive activities.

This ‘problem free time’ such as arts and crafts, visiting museums, sports or making a scrapbook in the library, is used to give positive feedback to the child, with the aim of raising their self esteem and confidence. The programme is for one year and once completed they celebrate at a graduation ceremony where families, friends and the borough’s mayor gather in the town hall to mark the achievement.

Tom from Walthamstow was mentored by Simon, 38. Simon describes it as an “eye opening” year for him. I asked him how he came to become a mentor with Chance UK. “I guess since my early twenties I felt I wanted to do something for charity but wasn’t sure what. After an internet search I came across Chance UK. I guess it was a combination of wanting to give a little bit back and also taking on the challenge.” Simon was trained, alongside all other potential volunteer mentors in how to work with children in a solutionfocused way. Rather than focussing on

a child’s current problems the mentor is encouraged to notice their strengths and build on these.

“That was the most interesting part of the training for me; learning the specific tools and techniques that you use in conversation with your child, in order to help them realise their potential. It was all about the conversations we had whilst on the sessions, the activities were a fun way of bonding and spending time together, but really it was a setting for the solution focused talk to take place.”

In the beginning, Simon described Tom as very shy and not willing to try anything new, he also noticed early on that when Tom couldn’t do something, or when he thought he couldn’t do something, his difficult behaviours came out. “Reading was a problem for Tom because he lacked confidence. The first few sessions he didn’t show much interest, but this changed as the year went on, and he started to show a curiosity, he wanted to know more about the world.”

“It took some time for us to bond.

I remember about five weeks in we visited a farm, which he didn’t find that interesting, but on the long walk back to the bus stop, there

was a breakthrough, we just bonded.

That was when I felt yes this is really worth doing.”

During the year, the mentor and child set goals together. “One of the goals we set was for Tom to try something new every week. It started off slowly but it got to a point where we he was trying new things unconsciously.”

Chance UK also work with the parents of the children referred to them. They have specially trained parent workers who help the family feel included in the process at the same time as helping them set and work on their own personal goals. The charity also support them to work with other services and have a detailed knowledge of the local community and what is on offer to help families in need. Tom’s parents were very supportive of the mentoring and could see the positive effect it was having on him: “His mum said she was picking him up from school one day and all the other mums had noticed a real change in his behaviour. They all asked where they could get a mentor for their own child!”

“I saw in the beginning a child that was a bit lonely and lacking in

confidence, not quite sure how to find his way in life, but as time went on you could see the changes happening in front of your eyes. You can see how the process brings their inner self out.

They just need that opportunity, they need someone to guide them through it.” Now you have completed the programme, how do you feel? “I feel a real sense of achievement from doing this. You can’t help but feel a little bit proud about what you have done. I have also developed my skills in building a relationship with children.

Which will definitely be useful should I become a father myself.”

Finally I asked Simon what the best thing about it all was. “I guess it’s the knowledge that I’ve made a difference in a child’s life and he is without doubt a different child now to what he was in the beginning.”

At the Graduation ceremony, at Waltham Forest town hall at the end of the year, Tom’s dad turned to Simon and said “Before books were like Kryptonite to him, now he reads all the time. You have changed my boy’s life…”

For more information on Chance UK: www.chanceuk.com @chanceuk www.facebook.com/chanceuk

12

Opinion

Waltham Forest Echo

Speaking up about stammering

Nisar Bostan For the best part of 19 years, I was oblivious to the fact that 1% of adults in the UK stammered. Only my closest friends knew I had a stammer. When I didn’t talk, they would explain that I was “reclusive”, “introspective” or “shy”. To curb my stammering, I would employ breathing techniques, word substitution… or just skip an occasion altogether!

I stammer not because I am nervous, not because I am unsure about what to say, not because I am “stupid”. I stammer because… I stammer. It is the most human aspect of me. It’s my greatest strength and sometimes my greatest weakness. My stammer is as natural and spontaneous as my arms and legs are. It’s just there. Always.

From many lovely people I bump into, I get sympathy. I appreciate their concern but it would help me and the myriad others affected by stammering, if we could substitute the sympathy for empathy, and both challenge and tackle prevalent misconceptions stigmatising this obscure condition.

My light bulb moment came last Christmas when, after a woeful

university presentation, I met a wonderful woman called Mandy Taylor, a trustee for the British Stammering Association (BSA). We met at a pub somewhere (if my mum asks… I drank orange juice!)

Being smart old me I did everything I could to shroud my stammer but she stammered, stammered and stammered some more. I can remember leaving the pub and feeling a funny sense of relief – stammering openly was allowed.

Now, I am an ardent volunteer for the BSA, a charity advocating better awareness and treatment for those who have a stammer. I hop and skip into schools, colleges and universities and put a voice to a face.

There’s a lot of stammering during these presentations!

Through the BSA, I met BSA patron (and Labour politician) Ed Balls at the House of Commons

(who, you’ve guessed it right… stammers himself !), and shadowed Iain Wilkie, a senior partner at Ernst&Young. I am forever indebted to the BSA for presenting me with experiences and opportunities that I would never have imagined possible.

With the help of a few others, I recently started a support group for those who stammer, which meets fortnightly. If you are affected by stammering, please contact the British Stammering Association on 0208983-1003, or alternatively join our closed Facebook group, namely the The British Stammering Association Group. Do not suffer in silence.

Nisar Bostan has lived in Leytonstone all his life. He has attended Jenny Hammond Primary School and local mosques.

Waltham Forest Echo Get involved!

Would you like to get involved in Waltham Forest Echo? We are looking for writers, photographers, artists, poets, advertisers and volunteers. Further details: www.walthamforestecho.co.uk

Still going dutch The trial of road closures in the village area proved hugely controversial for Walthamstow.

Supporter Simon Munk explains what next for the council’s “miniHolland” plans Congestion, pollution, inactivity and related health issues are serious problems for London and every other European city. The answer most cities are going for is more walking and cycling.

In 2014, Transport for London (Tf L) awarded Waltham Forest around £30 million for “radical” schemes to improve cycling and walking in Walthamstow – only two other boroughs (Kingston and Enfield) received similar funding.

The aim of the Walthamstow miniHolland schemes is to give people aged 8-80 the confidence to get on a bike, without having to mix with fastmoving, heavy traffic – either by riding through quiet residential streets or on protected space on main roads, with enough routes to join up all the key destinations people want to get to.

Controversial trial A two-week pilot of the scheme, in October 2014, provoked strong, mostly unjustified, objections from some local people. Some inaccurately blamed the road closures during the trial for gridlock on main roads; others felt the initial focus on Walthamstow Village showed the mini-Holland was all about gentrification – despite the fact that the majority of the improvements will ultimately be carried out in less posh areas.

A few felt that by creating better conditions for people on bikes or closing some roads, the council was going to harm the disabled or elderly, or those that can’t cycle – I’d argue that fewer cars on the roads and quieter streets are good for anyone who genuinely needs to drive.

The most legitimate and commonly-aired grievance was that the council consultation started out rubbish. This was true but it did get better, with the council eventually mounting their largest Highways consultation yet.

What did residents think?

After the Village trial, there was a huge turnout for the consultation, in which more people in the area voted in favour of the scheme than against, and a majority approved of the principles – that discouraging through traffic calms streets, and makes them nicer to cycle and walk through, as well as live on.

Following the consultation, the Village section of the scheme was approved by the Council cabinet in February, with tweaks to fix issues highlighted during the trial (some roads in the village were busier, businesses needed loading concessions etc.). It’s due for completion in July.

What’s next?

Leyton residents have already voted heavily in favour of the first main road scheme – Ruckholt Road – currently being built. Also currently underway are – protected bike tracks on Selbourne Road and a section of Blackhorse Road, and a small section of protected track and pedestrian crossing on Hoe Street.

The council is in the process of consulting with businesses and residents in the other parts of the borough affected by the scheme.

Meanwhile, 10 “bike hangar” giant bread bins for secure, weather-proof bike parking in the street have been installed across the borough (ideal, for instance, for those in upstairs flats).

Each one stores six bikes in about three-quarters of a car-parking space.

Another 20 are due soon. Secure bike parking spaces at borough stations are also still to come.

Whether you want to cycle, can’t or won’t, the mini-Holland schemes represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make Walthamstow a better place. The Waltham Forest Cycling Campaign want people to engage with plans as much as possible – to ensure they work as well as possible for local residents.

Council mini-Holland site www.enjoywalthamforest.co.uk Waltham Forest Cycling Campaign www.wfcycling.org.uk Simon Munk is a volunteer with the Waltham Forest Cycling Campaign and local resident

Features 13 13

May / June 2015 Issue

New research highlights Polish migrants’ contribution to Waltham Forest Esther Freeman A new study launched in April reveals the significant contribution to Waltham Forest by Polish migrants and their children.

Conducted by Share UK, a notfor-profit organisation based in Walthamstow, the study includes interviews with Polish people and people with Polish heritage in Waltham Forest. The families all came to Britain from Poland between 1834 and 2014. Key findings include: • Over 90% of those interviewed said their families wished to assimilate with British society • In almost all cases, second and third generation Polish migrants made a significant contribution to British society, including in teaching, the media and business.

• Of those who came in the most recent migration wave (1989 to

present), 60% couldn’t speak English when they arrived, but quickly become fluent, as did their children.

A recent study by University College London revealed that Eastern European migrants contributed £5bn to the UK public finances between 2000 and 2011.

The study by Share UK argues that the economic contribution of the children of migrants should also be measured or estimated to fully appreciate the contribution of these communities.

Esther Freeman from Share UK said: “Previous studies, and indeed our politicians, don’t take into account the benefit to society that the children of migrants bring. Within our study we interviewed second and third generation migrants, including two

university professors, a journalist and a successful entrepreneur.

“The children of migrants from the current wave of Polish migration, which began in 2004 when Poland entered the EU, are in most cases still quite young. We’ll have to wait to see

what they go on to offer society, but if we look at the patterns from previous waves, the expectation is that they will contribute significantly in one way or another. Let’s not forget, one of the biggest British institutions – Tesco – was started by the son of a Polish migrant; and one of the people recently vying to be our new Prime Minister is the son of a Polish migrant.

You have to ask, would either of these people’s families got into the country with some of the immigration policies being proposed today?”

The study was conducted in Waltham Forest, which has seen a huge swell in Polish migrants over the last 10 years. Currently they make up the second largest migrant group in the borough, and Polish is the third most spoken language after English and Urdu.

The full study, including the in-depth interviews with Polish migrants can be found at www.frompoland.org.uk

NEW POETRY FROM

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The Night Library is indeed a love song to libraries and librarians everywhere. – Penelope Shuttle THE NIGHT LIBRARY / 40pages / £6.99

The writing is always precise and lyrical, and its formal qualities remarkable. A wonderful debut.

– Hannah Lowe DAD’S SLIDESHOW / 40pages / £4.99

www.stonewoodpress.co.uk @stonewoodpress

14

Poetry

Waltham Forest Echo

Editorial

Understanding the collapse of the economy James Trevelyan

For better or worse, the whole general election pantomime is finally over – the photo opportunities, TV debates and campaign posters; the back-biting, the soundbites and the promises, promises. As a ritualised spectacle, it was simultaneously reassuring and depressing – like digging out the tinsel for another office Christmas party.

Poetry’s the art of subversion – of yes, but – the wry aside sounding against the bluster and bombast of electioneering. Poetry points out the Ordinary Joe behind the Emerald City, and calls the Emperor on his new clothes – it’s the natural antidote to spin. It’s been used as a tool for protest, and as a rallying cry, for as long as there’ve been things to be dissatisfied about. We’ve chosen three poems that approach this enterprise differently, but which provide a contrast to – to puncture the chintzy, chintzy cheeriness of the election campaign.

To mark the election, the excellent Emma Press has published Campaign in Poetry, an anthology of political poems. Inside you’ll find poems about political pageantry, cuts to the NHS, the Scottish Referendum and the Pied Piper of Hamelin, among other things. It’s cracking, and can be purchased through the publisher’s website at theemmapress.com. We’ve reprinted two of the poems here – those by Holly Hopkins and James Trevelyan – with permission of the publisher.

greed or somewhere between mindless desire and naivety it’s like when Katie Robbins got off with four boys in one night at the Rugby Club and I didn’t care cos one of them was me yeah it’s a bit like that.

Abigail Parry and Jon Stone

The General Election Holly Hopkins Two bees disturbed my Sunday lie-in.

They rang the doorbell; up close they were surprisingly tall with blow-dried furs and cheaply printed leaflets.

Their mandibles were distracting.

These hives swarm in late spring; if you lift the frames you’ll see cell doors, thin flaps, hanging open.

Empty comb, so dry, held to the light it’s pure bandage.

I watch the rolling news: computer-generated fields predict who’ll get the Wiltshire agro-corn, who’ll win the Savill Garden heathers.

The returning officer climbs into his plague suit and veil.

He’s sprayed dots on leaders’ lapels so they can be distinguished waggling through their speeches with audience bees ranked behind as well as in front of them.

James Trevelyan grew up in the Midlands and lives in London. His poems about British seaside towns and 1980s action movies among other things have been published in a number of magazines and anthologies.

Invisible Ministries: THE MINISTRY OF BORED KINGS Tissy North Because what else exists to attend on those boys who get lost somewhere on the way to becoming white-suited captains and whisky-eyed rangers, rakes, spooks, ravishers, mavericks and corsairs, who find themselves, decades or centuries later, firing full-bore on the already done-down, dreaming themselves under siege from the weak, pinned, chained, muzzled by upstart Lilliputians, having never learned that looking out for others is the better way to serve yourself, seeing instead pickpockets, cheats and sharks in every mechanism that’s not a vending machine or girlfriend dispenser – or presiding chiefly over their own reputation, lowering themselves hopefully into chairs, books, crises and wars on a rope ladder of self-regard, honing exquisitely their blind eye, their soft jab.

The Ministry of Bored Kings exists to sustain the monstrous leather thrones they end up sunk in, to invest in their state of gentle exasperation as they knuckle their own cheeks, their seismic bafflement when faced with wider humanity, as if they were being spoken to by a dog.

Tissy North works as an freelance editor, and is a part-time vegetarian. She can usually be found working in The Market Café.

Holly Hopkins’ debut pamphlet, Soon Every House Will Have One, won the 2014 Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition and was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. She received an Eric Gregory Award in 2011.

NEXT ISSUE: For the next Issue of the Echo, rather than offering a prompt, we’re handing over to the young – we’d like to see poems from residents under the age of sixteen. Poems can be on any subject, and of any length; the deadline for submissions is the 12th of June. We’re looking forward to reading what you send us – as David Bowie pointed out, you’re the start of the coming race, and we’d like to hear what you have to say. – WFEchopoetry@socialspider.com

Listings 15 15

May / June 2015 Issue

Listings Graham Larkbey & the Escape Committee, The Warrant Officer, Higham Hill Road, Walthamstow, E17 – Free.

Sat May 23rd (evening) Walthamstow’s no-nonsense goodtime pub rockers head up the show at the All Hands To The Pumps festival, promoting their latest CD “Not Dead Yet”. graham.larkbey@gmail.com Guided Walk – Wood Street: A Street of Surprises. Sat 6 June, 2pm (meet outside Wood Street Library). No booking required, just turn up – FREE Join this guided walk organised by Walthamstow Historical Society to explore Wood Street which is one of Walthamstow’s oldest shopping streets; its shops once served the wealthy residents who lived near the forest. Wood Street also once had film studios. Today the Street is a mosaic of past and present with a couple of 18th century survivors among Victorian and post WW2 buildings. walthamstowwalks@mz48.myzen. co.uk Pimp Hall Open Day, Big Lunch & DIY Workshops.

11am–5pm, Free, Pimp Hall Nature Reserve, E4 7HR, Come and see the brand new Pimp Hall Community and Learning Centre in the heart of the beautiful Pimp Hall Nature Reserve. Enjoy a big free lunch

and lots of free workshops including how to make a planter from scrap wood, foraging walk, kids arts and crafts, loftinsulation, energy efficiency in the home talk, kids clothes give and take etc. If you are coming from other parts of the borough, join the WF Cycle campaign in their ride to the event. For more details cont: amy@hornbeam.org.uk; hornbeam.org.uk E17 Art Trail Event – Waltham Forest Community Choir: The Story So Far... Mon 8th June 8pm (doors open 7.45pm) – Free. St Mary’s Church, Church End, London, E17 9RJ WFCC celebrates its fifth anniversary by looking how far they’ve come and what they’ve got planned for the future – in song of course! info@singwithus.net 07954740745

Ongoing: Daytime Singing for Parents.

Thurs, 10–11am. St Michaels and All Angels Church Hall, Northcote Road, E17 6PQ The singing is for YOU, but you can bring your baby or toddler along! Learn powerful, uplifting harmonies and songs from all around the world. No experience necessary; just your voice and a will to sing. £5. east17singers@gmail.com www.facebook.com/groups/552 615318170494

Church Lane Market. Sat 16 May, 20 June, 11 July and 15 August, 11am – 4pm A new monthly street market in Leytonstone featuring original handmade arts and crafts, delicious homemade foods, novelty goods and more. Located on Church Lane right in the heart of the busy town centre. Come experience the creative and energetic spirit of the Leytonstone community! More dates to follow! Only £10.00 per table for stall holders. For more details, tel: 07930 694 005 or www.churchlanemarket.weebly.com Sing At The WO-Community Choir. Mon 7.30–9pm. The Warrant Officer, 318 Higham Hill Road, E17 5RG Join our community choir at The Warrant Officer pub. Absolutely no auditions, all abilities welcome.

Raise your voice and lift your spirits as part of an adult choir where you call the tunes.

Inclusive, informal and fun.

Taster session free. £6 per session in advance. £7 pay-asyou-go singattheWO@gmail.com or call Laura on 07813686980

moment are involved in a music project. As we are completely self funding we have fund raising activities. It costs £2 per week and this covers tea,coffee and biscuits, the room rental and trips out. The main objective of the group is to meet old friends, make new ones and have some fun. Interested? Contact Sue Clarke on 07900556230 Beginners Five String Banjo Classes for Adults (Starting in June). Mon at 6.30pm. Studio Office, Quaker Meeting House, 1a Jewel Road, E17 4QU Fancy learning a new instrument?

Professional musician, Dick Smith, teaches five-string Banjo classes in three finger bluegrass style picking. Start from scratch and develop your banjo skills in a relaxed and fun environment. £12 per class, starting 8th June. Book now for the next 7 week course – limited availability! For more information phone 07745 052 525, visit www.banjosmith.co.uk or email info.banjosmith@gmail.com

Coppermill Recycled Teenagers. Tues at 1.30–3.30pm. Millenium House, Southcote Road E17

Beginners Ukulele Classes for Adults (Starting in June) Sat at 12.30pm. Studio Office, Quaker Meeting House, 1a Jewel Road, E17 4QU

We are a group of older people who have guest speakers on a variety of subjects, quizzes, discussions, bingo, lunches together, trips out. We work jointly on projects with a local primary school and at the

Fancy learning a new instrument?

Try the ukulele with an experienced, professional musician in a fun and relaxed environment. Instruments not provided. £10 per class, starting Saturday 13th June.

Waltham Forest Echo May/June 2015

Book now for the next 7 week course – limited availability!

For more information phone 07745 052 525, visit www.banjosmith.co.uk or email info.banjosmith@gmail.com Strung Out Violin Groups for Adults. Intermediates: Thurs 7pm, Early Stages: Tues 7:30pm. Studio Office, Quaker Meeting House, 1a Jewel Road, E17 4QU Got a violin in your attic you want to dust down? Fancy learning a new skill? Our motto is “it’s never too late!” Strung Out is a fun violin group for adult enthusiasts of all levels, with a professional musician. All styles of music welcomed from classical to traditional. Fun is the key ingredient! Classes available for absolute beginners, early stages, easy and intermediates. Classes are limited, so please book in advance. Please ask about daytime classes and private lessons. For more information, and to reserve a place, email: strungout@shapeshifterproductions.com or call 020 7018 2927.

Next issues listings: To have you your event or activity listed in the next issue email the details: Date, Type of Event, Title of Event, Venue/Address, Short description, Time, Cost and Contact Info. to WFEcho@socialspider.com by Monday 15th June.

Highams Park Shop Local Day 11am – 3pm June 6th

Waltham Forest Echo is a bi-monthly community newspaper for the London Borough of Waltham Forest

Organised by The Highams Park Planning Group

20,000 copies of each issue are distributed via shops, community spaces and door to door Editor: David Floyd Deputy Editor: Amy Croome Online Editor: Amina Ahmed Production Editor: Martin Parker

Waltham Forest Echo is published by Social Spider CIC on behalf of WFWellComm CIC, a social enterprise formed by charities and social enterprises based in the borough.

The member organisations of WFWellComm CIC are: Age UK Waltham Forest, Community Transport Waltham Forest, HEET, Learning Disability Experience, Social Spider CIC, Streetlife Radio CIC WFWellComm CIC Management Board: David Floyd (Social Spider CIC), Stanton Lafoucade (Streetlife Radio CIC), Tom Ruxton (HEET), Helen Tredoux (Community Transport Waltham Forest), Ann Weekes (Learning Disability Experience) All articles and many more are can be read on our website

Cross the level crossing to find gems you didn't know were there!

Free samples of food and produce.

Discounts on products and services.

Surprise yourself.

Use them before you lose them!

Afternoon Tea at The Royal Oak Oak Hill Served from 3pm.

d by

Advertising: If your organisation is interested in advertising in Waltham Forest Echo call 020 8521 7956 or WFEcho@socialspider.com or see guidelines on page 2

Support your Local Shops

DJ Live Music Craft Stalls Play Bus Face Painter Balloon Artist Bouncy Castle Merry Go Round Games for all ages A Taste of Highams Park

Supporte

Writers: James Cracknell, Jo Bounds, Deborah Nash, Ozel Rowlands, Will Hatzar, Katie Robinson, Jon Stone, Abigail Parry, Yvonne Overton, Michelle Berry, Hilary Douse, Rasheeqa Ahmed, Sue House, Adam Cranstoun, Dana Littlepage Smith, Lauren Malkin

Waltham Forest Echo, Social Spider CIC, The Mill, 7–11 Coppermill Lane, Walthamstow, London E17 7HA WFEcho@socialspider.com www.walthamforestecho.co.uk Waltham Forest Echo has been funded by The National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund

For the most up to date information search for us on www.facebook.com Highams Park Shop Local Day Sponsored by Ward Forum Funding

Design whisper-cc.com

Features

16

Say it in stitches

By Deborah Nash I always thought basting was something you did to a chicken, but the only thing cooking at Significant Seams’ HQ in Wood Street is an amazing technicolour dream quilt that will soon be hung in St Mary’s Church as part of the E17 Art Trail.

Seamstress Ros is assembling the 70 or so patches for the organisation’s fifth community quilt themed on the changing roles of women. To hold the squares in place, she uses a tacking (basting) stitch to prevent the fabric puckering.

The quilt comprises a hot mix of individual voices and stories and can be appreciated on many levels. I counted an array of stitches – running, satin, cross, blanket and back stitch – and techniques – appliqué, collage, knitting, embroidery, starch resist, puffed out and stuffed patches.

Makers have participated in weeks of classes and workshops and come from across the diverse community that is the borough of Waltham Forest, turning the quilt into something of a feminist flag of thought, image, idea and opinion and responding eloquently to the E17 Art Trail’s focus of storytelling.

Look out for Laimons’ cross stitch patch in scarlet and jet of the mythic Mara, Latvian goddess of birth and death and protector of mothers, represented by ‘the cross of crosses’ (an inverted triangle), or the patch of safety pins spelling the word

‘FREE’ from a member of the LGBT community, or the memorial text paying tribute to pioneer woman sailor, Florence

Arthaud, who died in a helicopter crash in March.

Patchworker Cynthia Wenden says of the making process: “We started by exploring the obvious things that have altered the roles of women like the mechanization of household tasks, birth control and the pill. People have reminisced a lot about what their lives were like as children and how things have

changed and how different life is now.”

Cynthia’s patch depicts a bishop’s mitre in the suffragette colours of purple and green with a female gender symbol on its front. “I knew exactly what I wanted to do straight away because I’m a church goer and there’s been so much in the news about women bishops, it was the first thing I thought of.”

Sheila Aslan machine-sews two patches together representing strong women from the past and present.

“During WWII women had to work hard in the health care industry, and today some women are embracing the new role (or relatively new role) of being the breadwinners while men stay at home to look after the children.”

Meanwhile, in an effort to get her boyfriend to knit alongside her, Karen Mayor persuaded him to pick up the needles and knit a swervy square in blue and yellow.

So many conversations have swirled as the quilt took shape, and so many hours have gone into its creation, take one patch away and the whole loses a fleck of diversity and richness. Go see and enjoy.

The Community Quilt: On display weekends only at St Mary’s Church, Walthamstow, during the E17 Art Trail 30th May – 14th June 2015.

For more information, please contact Catherine West at Significant Seams; tel: 07742 925085 email: catherine@significantseams.org.uk.

Significant Seams, 131 Wood Street, London E17 3LX; www.significantseams.org.uk

My meal challenge The Hornbeam Cafe in Walthamstow isn’t just a delicious place to eat food, it has also started up the Low Cost Living Project, sharing advice and skills about how we as a community can live well for less. I set myself the challenge of cooking a tasty, nutritious, great value recipe using four of the Low Cost Living Project’s top tips on food: eat seasonally, buy some ingredients locally, cook from scratch and plan ahead. The result was a delicious potato, spinach and spring onion crustless quiche – it is both simple and quick to prepare!

Potato, spinach and spring onion crustless quiche

 8–12 portions

The dish provides at least two meals (based on a family of four) and the quiche can be eaten hot or cold, so it is great for picnics.

We had it for dinner with salad and then for lunch in the park the next day. I bought the vegetables (all in season!) and eggs from my local independent shop and the high street market. All the ingredients came to approximately £4 in total. If you use the potato, cheese and eggs as a base you can experiment with what else you add!

400g potatoes, diced (no need to peel unless you want a smoother consistency) 100g spinach, torn up 10 spring onions, finely chopped 200g soft cheese (I use the value one) 4 eggs, lightly beaten 50g cheddar, grated 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (available from supermarkets) Preheat the oven to 190 degrees/gas mark 5. Line a smallish baking tray with greaseproof paper. Gently boil the chopped potatoes for about 10 mins, until tender (but not mushy). Mash well. Stir in the torn spinach and chopped spring onions. In a separate bowl mix the soft cheese with the beaten eggs and then fold in to the mash. Add the cheddar, nutmeg, some salt and pepper and mix well. Spoon the mixture in to the lined baking tray (it will rise slightly during the cooking).

Bake for 35–40 mins until golden at the edges and firm (when you insert a knife it should come out fairly clean). Leave for 5 mins then carefully cut wedges out (you can leave the quiche in the greaseproof paper if you want to eat it cool).

For more information about Hornbeam’s Low Cost Living Project go to www.hornbeam.org.uk Visit my blog www.katielovescooking.com for lots more recipes www.facebook.com/katielovescooking @ktlovescooking.

And if you have any comments, ideas or tips about food in Waltham Forest, I would love to hear from you! katielovescookingE17@gmail.com