Objection to second storage of London taxis

A North Weald Bassett parish councillor is calling on the district council to take "immediate enforcement action" against a company which has moved dozens of London taxis onto open land in North Weald without planning permission. GB Taxi Services has submitted a planning application for permission to temporarily store the vehicles which are not required because of the COVID-19 pandemic on land at Chase Farm, off Vicarage Lane, North Weald, until July next year. The applicant has confirmed that vehicles have been moved onto the site since April. It follows a previous application, which is still to be determined by Epping Forest District Council, for more than 200 taxis to be stored at Weald Place Farm, off Duck Lane in Thornwood. Parish councillor Sheila Jackman, speaking at Monday's parish council planning committee meeting which voted to object to the Chase Farm application, said: "I think it's completely unacceptable. We objected to the other one (Weald Place Farm) and I would object most strongly to this one. "It's most unfair on the residents looking out on ranks and ranks of taxis when they had open fields before." She added: "When we had the first application we put it to the district council that we didn't agree and for enforcement action (to be taken). I feel very, very strongly that we object to this on the grounds of overlooking and the green belt." Councillor Anne Grigg said: "They are asking for a temporary time period for a year. I don't want them there at all. We don't think any time should be granted and Epping Forest District Council should take enforcement action immediately." Council chairman Alan Buckley said planning consent should have been obtained for both sites before the taxis were moved onto the land. He said: "They've not got permission, it's all retrospective. My personal view is that we should refuse it as out of hand." Local resident David Sisson told the meeting he could see "a field full of taxis" from his property. He said the first taxis arrived on the Chase Farm site in April, since when many more have been taken onto the land. He expressed concern about potential vandalism. He told councillors: "It's quite a sight, especially as planning permission hasn't been granted for all of them to be here. "We believe they have been moved there from Thornwood because of vandalism. We have already had some of the taxis here vandalised. "If someone was to set fire to one of them, what on earth would happen? It's just frightening."

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Pavement widening in Epping High Street is reported to have helped to make the town centre a more appealing place to visit and shop. Initially introduced to support social distancing during the Covid19 pandemic the changes have brightened up the town centre and made it easier to navigate.

Eight parking spaces were lost by widening the pavements, but none of these were disabled spaces. Epping Forest District Council would like to know your views on the improvements and whether they should stay, or go! Epping Forest District Council is considering applying to Essex County Council to make the changes permanent, and the Town Council has even suggested a designated space should be allocated in the new, wider pavement for a busker! What do you think? Should the wider pavements/planters/ seating go, or stay. Send your comments by 10th September to: Email eppingsaferspaces@eppingforestdc.gov.uk

Tesco give donations to Norway House

Earlier this month, Tesco Epping donated £125 worth of non-perishable food and hygiene products to Norway House in the village. The items were chosen after checking with Norway House what they needed.

On 25 October 1940, 9-year-old Geoff Walton was helping a milkman on his round in Harold Park, now in the north-east of the London Borough of Havering but then on the border of the Borough of Romford and the Urban District of Hornchurch, along the A12. That day the air raid siren sounded: when it ceased they carried on with their round. They turned a corner and saw a plane, a Hurricane Mk.1, with the engine firing erratically and streaming a line of black smoke which crashed on the main road. They raced to the crash site, the first to arrive, but soon a number of men had arrived, including a special constable who took the pilot from the plane. The event proving too much for Geoff, he ran home but he would remember the event for the rest of his life. The fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Britain triggered Geoff to try and find out more about the crash. His initial enquiries revealed that the pilot was 21-year-old Pilot Officer William Blair Pattullo who had been taken to Oldchurch Hospital where he died from his injuries the next day. Having flown from Stapleford Tawney, a satellite aerodrome of North Weald, he was buried at St Andrew’s Church, North Weald Bassett. But then the trail grew cold. At a school reunion at Redden Court School, Harold Wood in 1994, Geoff, a former pupil, met Norman Jennings, a former teacher and they decided to reactivate the search for information about the pilot and his family. The Revd Trevor Thorpe, then Vicar of St Andrew’s, North Weald Bassett, found from the burial records that his parents were Patrick William Pattullo and Jessie Hood Blair Pattullo. Norman and Geoff continued with their search before, eventually, locating William’s sister, Annette “Pat” Pattullo Martin, and her son, William Douglas Martin. The results of Norman’s and Geoff’s endeavours was the publication in 2001 of a 40-page booklet: The Search for One of the Few by Norman Jennings and Geoff Walton (ISBN 0 9528725 1 X). I knew nothing of the above until I attended the funeral of Norman Jennings on 8 October 2013. Norman and I were fellow pupils at the Royal Liberty School, Romford in the same year group. In those pre-internet days it was relatively easy to lose contact with school friends after university and employment came upon us. However, in the 1990s a number of fellow pupils were able to bring together a number of us, through the wonders of email, and we had a number of reunions, although conversations tended to be about school events of long ago rather than of more recent activities. I am, therefore, pleased to have this opportunity to publicize the painstaking work of one of my old friends. That I am currently a Churchwarden of St Andrew’s, North Weald Bassett adds another link to the story. Copies of the booklet are available from me. Please send a cheque for £5 payable to the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund and a C5 SAE to 40 Albany Court, Epping, Essex, CM16 5ED. J. Alan Smith

LETTER Dear Editor, I am hoping that readers of your magazine may be able to assist me. Here is a brief resume of my story. The attached picture was taken somewhere near North Weald in 1954. My father Sergeant William (Bill) Porter is shown in the foreground; he was a member of the 51st Battalion, Essex Home Guard, in South Chingford. He and his fellow soldier are firing Bren guns; you will see the Home Guard shoulder flashes of the two standing officers. The Home Guard was “stood down” in December 1944; it is little known that it was re-formed from 1952 to 1957. I was able to accompany my father to the rifle range and assist in raising and lowering targets in the butts. A great privilege but under the strictest supervision! Current and older Ordnance Survey maps do not show a location for the range. I wrote to the local historical society but never received a reply. I know there were (and are) ranges at North Weald Aerodrome and there is a North Weald based pistol club. Neither of these are likely to be the location I am seeking. As a boy I think I can recall taking a road or track off the main road (probably opposite where the RAF station gatehouse used to be) and seeing the underground train in the distance and, I seem to remember, going under the track to get to the range. I wonder if a small piece in your magazine might request information from local people who know the area to help find out where the range was actually situated? As a North Chingford lad, North Weald (usually via High Beech) was one of my holiday bicycle rides. Older readers of your magazine and former RAF people will remember Lightning jet aircraft briefly used at the airfield; one of which took off so low one day that I fell off my bike! As soon as Covid-19 fully permits I will be coming down to North Weald (I live in Lincolnshire now) but, I hasten to add, not on my bicycle. Kind regards. Trevor Porter

Despite the fact that some children were isolating the show still went ahead. Children from the Dance Factory , which takes place weekly in the Queens Hall, joined Mandy the owner and teacher and put on 2 small displays just for the parents during July. The children wanted to show their families how hard they had worked despite all the disruption to classes. At the same time there was a collection for St. Clare Hospice and raised £25.