Walthamstow Village in Bloom 2017
Contents 1 2 3 4 6 8 10 11 12 14 16 17 18 20 21 22 23 24 26 28
Introduction and History Walthamstow Village in Bloom and its Boundaries Gardening Club Adoption of Planters, Flowerbeds and Floral Displays Bulb Planting New Planting Projects Front Garden and Beautiful Premises Challenges Village Veg, Our Community Allotment Our Green Spaces Our Meadow, Conservation and Biodiversity BEE17 Plant, Seed and Produce Swaps - Spring and Autumn Vestry House Community Garden Pride of Place Crime Prevention Annual Spring Clean and Big Clean Up Calendar of Events Achievements and Recognition Fundraising and Awareness Funding and Support
Introduction and History Walthamstow Village is an ancient nucleus of present day Walthamstow, located in north east London.The Domesday Book records that Walthamstow, at the time of the Norman Conquest, comprised four separate village settlements.The parish at the time was called Wilcumestou, probably Old English for the welcome place. Holy Family Catholic School which abuts Vinegar Alley, recently submitted plans for new building works. Because the site is within an archeological priority area, trial trenching was carried out. Excitingly, this year a complete excavation was made and archeologists uncovered a prehistoric ring ditch and a very large Roman building or group of buildings; probably a large wealthy farmstead. At the Village’s centre are St Mary’s Church, consecrated 900 years ago, and a 15th century timberframed hall house known as The Ancient House. From the 18th century the church common was encroached upon with the erection of the workhouse (now Vestry House Museum), the Squires’ Almhouses and the National School and other notable buildings, many of which will be seen in our tour of Walthamstow Village in Bloom. William Morris was born in Walthamstow in 1834. The family lived locally and attended St Mary’s Church until 1856. The house is now the renowned William Morris Gallery that attracts thousands of visitors many of whom make their way to the Village to eat, shop, be entertained and enjoy the surroundings.
The coming of the railway in 1869 generated a rapid population increase and the railway cutting created a barrier between the old village centre and the Victorian development. With the houses came the shops and by 1877 Orford and Beulah Roads had become the shopping centre of Walthamstow. The relocation of the town hall from Vestry House to Orford Road in 1876 confirmed its status as the centre of Walthamstow. The Village was left intact when the opening of the station at the Central and the relocation of the town hall to Forest Road drew away commercial development. The Village was designated a conservation area by Waltham Forest Council in 1967 and the adjoining Orford Road area designated such in June 1990. In 2003 the WVRA successfully campaigned for Retail Parade Status to be re-granted to Orford Road. In 2015 it became pedestrianised as part of the Mini-Holland scheme and is thriving with many independent shops, restaurants and a Saturday artisan market at the Community Hub. In September the long-awaited refurbishment work on the St Mary’s church bells completed and a celebration held as they were reinstated in the tower. The bells ring out once more to accompany our community gardening evenings. The Village has a very distinct atmosphere with its quaint buildings, alleys and quirky streets, shops, pubs and restaurants and has a superb community spirit. Those living here consider themselves part of a very special area and it has surged in popularity over the last few years, due in part to the Bloom Effect.
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Walthamstow Village in Bloom and its Boundaries In 2003 Walthamstow Village Residents’ Association (WVRA) formed its Environment Committee in response to concerns voiced by residents at Open Meetings. The Village was in a terrible state so we organised the first of our annual spring cleans and started a monthly gardening club and have, over the years, adopted most public spaces and added more events to our calendar. We first entered London in Bloom in 2008/09 and were UK finalists in RHS Britain in Bloom in 2010, 2011 & 2016 achieving silver and silver-gilt awards. We enjoy the structure and support that the Bloom initiative provides year-round.
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Through raising our own funds and securing sponsorship from local businesses, taking advantage of freebies and propagating plants from division and seed. we are fortunate to have plenty of funding; being 100% volunteer-led, it’s the people-power that’s vital to us. Again this year we have been invaluably assisted and supported by Waltham Forest council. WF’s Neighbourhoods’ Officers Paul Tickner and Fred Angove and their colleagues and contractors continue to work in partnership with us. Walthamstow Village in Bloom includes the Walthamstow Village and the Orford Road Conservation Areas and surrounding streets. It encompasses areas of the Hoe Street and Wood Street wards of the London Borough of Waltham Forest.
Gardening Club The Walthamstow Village Residents’ Association’s Gardening Club started in August 2004 to tend the garden on the corner of Eden and Orford Roads (now the Village Square). We maintain all the planters, flowerbeds, tree pits and any public spaces that require attention. We have a core group of stalwarts who turn up every month, come rain or shine. Before each gardening day a reminder email is sent and posted on Facebook. Some volunteers come regularly, others when they are available or want to participate in a certain project. Others go out independently to do a spot of weeding or planting. Those who join in include families with children and people of all ages, abilities and from a variety of backgrounds.
We meet on the first Saturday of every month until May when we add weekly Saturday and Wednesday evenings. We have a year-round list of activities that includes weeding, planting and pruning, litter-picking, re-painting street furniture, clearing and cutting back vegetation from footpaths and tending the Community Meadow. Some volunteers bring their own tools and gloves and others use those that we have amassed. Once a year we ask residents for unwanted tools and John Chambers repairs and sharpens them. We hand out laminated Village weed recognition sheets to aid volunteers. We are supplied with green-waste bags by Waltham Forest that we are allowed to leave by any street bin for collection. Marion Cooper of Holmcroft House generously brings coffee and water to keep us going and made us a lovely party to thank us for our work. It’s a great way to meet neighbours who become great friends, we have lots of laughs and the satisfaction of a good job well done.
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Adoption of Planters, Flowerbeds and Floral Displays Year by year, since 2007, we have adopted 24 planters and flowerbeds, the Village Square, Village Veg Plots, the meadow, Chalmers House Orchard and work on many more.They are funded by the WVRA, Fullers Builders, BEE17, Village SPAR, East London Sausage Company and other sponsors with all maintenance carried out by the Gardening Club.
Walthamstow is the birthplace of William Morris and, with this in mind, we design the planting of our many brick-built planters, tree-pits and beds. All planting is pollinator and wildlife friendly. The planters have been transformed from eyesores, with damaged brickwork, overgrown shrubs blocking sightlines which attracted litter, and provided cover for anti-social activity, to displays that act as gateways to the Village, giving year-round interest in texture, movement and colour and attract beneficial insects including forage for our BEE17 bees. The planter sponsored by Fullers is designed in their livery colours. The perennial plants are hardy and drought-tolerant and we collect seeds, divide the plants and take cuttings so that we can sustain and maintain them. We’ve added summer and spring bulbs and homegrown annuals and biennials to enhance the displays.
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Six residents, who are unable to attend Gardening Club Saturdays, help out by “adopting” planters that they maintain as and when they can. We give them support and a hi-vis jacket, rubbish bags, a map, instructions and our grateful thanks. We have a year-round programme of pruning, deadheading, seed-collecting and weeding and we use no herbicides or pesticides and only organic feed. We divide and take cuttings from established plants. We have a watering programme for new planting with the businesses in Orford Road each adopting a tree-pit and, in times of drought or after new planting, we put out a plea for residents to collect their “grey” water to use on the beds and new trees. WF installed a water supply for us to tap into in Vestry Road Playground. Grove Road residents have a Facebook group to coordinate watering of the meadow beds and orchard trees.
Waltham Forest kindly supplies and maintains the lamppost baskets with summer and winter displays. Their contractor Urbaser, local residents and Petals in Bloom florist frequently give us their surplus plants. In February all the Village beds were fed and mulched with 7.5 tonnes of compost donated by North London Waste Authority and kindly delivered by WF in two heaps in Summit Road.
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Bulb Planting Since 2003 we’ve held a planting event every autumn and many tens of thousands of bulbs have been planted. The Village looks stunning throughout late winter and spring and provides forage for early pollinators. In autumn 2016 we were again awarded bulbs by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association in association with Taylors Bulbs of Spalding for planting in the Chalmers House Community Orchard which included: 50 mixed Iris reticulata 150 mixed tulips 50 mixed hyacinths 750 mixed daffodils/narcissi
Thanks for the snowdrops in Vinegar Alley, they lift my heart every year as I jog by. - Penny Wiles, Facebook
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On 5 November we held an event to plant 5,000 Crocus tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant’ corms in the lawn at Chalmers House on Orford Road. They were purchased for £85 via the RHS Britain in Bloom and Rotary International initiative #Purple4Polio. The purple crocus represents the purple dye used to mark the fingers of children who have been immunised.
What a joy to wander through the Village’s riot of spring colour this morning! - Paul Gasson, Facebook
We also planted the new tree-pits in Orford Road with: 280 x Narcissus triandrus ‘Hawera’ 300 x Muscari armeniacum 300 X Fritillaria meleagris
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New Planting Projects Greening the Grey for Wildlife and Biodiversity Biodiversity is at the top of our agenda and all the planting is pollinator and/or wildlife friendly and drought-tolerant. We have designed the planting to flower in succession to give year-round colour and interest. All in all we have spent around £3,000 on grasses, seeds, perennials, biennials, bulbs and shrubs this year including the meadow (see page 14). Chalmers House Orchard Project (CHOP) Jakob Hartmann instigated and leads the project at the local authority property on Orford Road. Last year an orchard of fruit trees and a flowerbed was planted and this year the area was enhanced by 5,000 Purple for Polio Crocus tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant’ corms and 1,000 mixed bulbs in the flowerbed along the railings from the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association. The CHOP project is improving community cohesion as we all enjoy gardening together, and has made a pleasant garden for the residents who will enjoy fruit in late summer. Orford Road Tree-Pits, Gateway Boxes and Hanging Baskets The tree-pits get very hard wear in our main shopping street and the plants suffered after the pavements were gritted over the winter months. We have accepted that we may need to replant each year and anything that survives is a bonus! They were planted in November with 880 spring bulbs to match those in Vestry Road and replanted with perennials and biennials in spring. The gateway tree boxes were planted with a mix of ivy and perennials. Jakob has arranged sponsorship of new planting and ongoing watering with the local businesses. WF has provided the fixings and contract for 28 new floral baskets to 14 lampposts with changes autumn and spring, watering and feeding at a cost of around £5,000.
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Village Square The Mini-Holland pedestrianisation work almost doubled the size of the Village Square and added two new flower beds that last year we planted prairiestyle to make the square an attractive place to hang out, relax and meet neighbours. This year we have extended prairie planting to enhance the original flowerbeds. We repainted the large wall with paint sponsored by the Village Kitchen restaurant and new benches were installed by Waltham Forest. Gateway planters Despite careful pruning the original lavenders became woody and most were replaced this year. Annuals and perennials have been added to enhance the schemes. WF Community Hub Planters Sponsored by the WVRA, Gerry Clegg from Cherry Close built the new planters from recycled wood and they were filled with compost. We held a sunflower planting session with the Youth Club in May and the young people care for and water them. They are planning to build more planters with the youth leaders using recycled pallets to create a mixed flower and vegetable garden. Holmcroft House 41 new shrubs provided by WF and 23 hollyhocks grown by us.
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Front Garden and Beautiful Premises Challenges We launched the Front Garden & Beautiful Premises Challenges in April and informed all businesses, schools, organisations, religious and community groups within our Bloom boundary. There are categories for front gardens, balconies, window boxes and containers and this year we have two new categories: Greening the Grey for Wildlife, and Most Improved with cash prizes of £100 for first and £50 for second most improved. People can enter their own premises or nominate a favourite frontage. Deadline for entries was Friday 23 June. The Village magazine contains an entry form, information and encouragement and an article supporting the RHS initiative to encourage residents to make the most of their front gardens, forecourts and windowsills to Green the Grey and improve the street scene and environment.
In 2016 we held our awards ceremony at the WVRA AGM on 17 October where, after the formal business, Helen Lerner and Teresa Deacon presented Certificates of Participation to entrants present.
We have circulated details of London in Bloom’s 50th anniversary PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD so residents can nominate their favourite parks, pubs and front gardens to receive a special award. The “best” garden and premises in our Challenges will be put forward into the London in Bloom 50 Favourite Front Gardens competition.
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In the Front Garden category: Best Community Garden – Gerard Clegg and the Cherry Close residents Best Front Garden – Becky Wynn-Griffiths & Sharon Persaud, Maynard Road Best Balcony - Jane Burt, Hayward House Best Containers - Andrew Blount & Rowey Perrett, Wingfield Road Best Hanging Baskets - Benjamin Hills, Beulah Road Neatest Hedge - Dickon Bowles, East Avenue In the Beautiful Premises category: Best Premises – Walthamstow Village Window Gallery Best Hanging Baskets - Monoux Hall & Squires’ Almshouses Best Tended Tree-Pit – Mick Norkett, East London Sausage Company
Village Veg, Our Community Allotment Our community allotment project in Beulah Road continues to thrive with vegetables and herbs being harvested throughout the year. Project leaders and organisers Darryl Abelscroft and Caroline Barton aim to educate and give people confidence to grow-their-own and the whole community can help themselves to fresh produce. In particular, children and young people enjoy getting involved with the planting, labelling and learning about how vegetables grow. We thank Lifeline, WF’s integrated drug and alcohol service, for letting us use their two raised beds and allowing us to install an outside tap. Their service-users are able to help themselves to the produce when they attend sessions and often help with the maintenance. The allotment is planted by volunteers each quarter with seasonal vegetables around a framework of perennial herbs, fruit and vegetables. All the plants are name-labelled and then flagged when ready to harvest. The total worth of getting the project started in 2015 was around £3,000 and is helped and funded by Fullers Builders, the WVRA, North London Waste Authority, Waltham Forest and many volunteers. Fullers Builders have again generously funded the project this year. A rota of seven Weekly Waterers have committed to tending and watering one day a week with the hose hidden in Colin Stinton’s courtyard opposite We join in Waltham Forest’s bi-annual Cultivate festival, the Apple Day held at Vestry House and many residents grow Prima Donna hops for the Walthamstow Beer project that are annually harvested and made into beer by a local micro-brewery. The Community Allotment is a big part of the streetscene and it looks good too!
Before
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Our Green Spaces Being a London Village, every green space is important. The largest is St Mary’s Churchyard spread over three acres in which there are about 1,300 monuments (the oldest dated 1710). There are over 26,000 burials, of which more than 16,000 from the mid-17th century are recorded in the registers. The area adjacent to the Monoux Almshouses is cared for by residents and the remainder by church volunteers. The church has completed a programme of tree maintenance and has a long-grass policy for the north churchyard. Some areas are left uncultivated to encourage wildlife and they are a haven for birds, insects and small mammals. There is a composting area and bird and bat boxes in the many trees. BEE17 has two hives situated in the north churchyard. We and the church do a lot of work to keep Vinegar Alley clean and tidy but leave the native plants and wildflowers to encourage wildlife and to give the path a woodland feel. We have sown thousands of seeds and planted snowdrops, daffodils, English bluebells and primroses so it’s a picture in spring.
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Our Community Meadow attracts bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects. Many of the Mini-Holland road filters are planted with perennial meadow mix mats that we mow twice yearly, weed out invasive species and keep tidy. The deep railway cutting is home to much wildlife and we liaise with (i.e. bang on at) Network Rail to try and keep it as free from litter and graffiti as we can. There is a small enclosed wildlife area in Vestry Road planted with native species with a bug hotel made by local children plus woodpiles, bird boxes and feeders. In winter, after the berries have been eaten we clean out the boxes and put up feeders. Vestry House Museum garden has wildflower and meadow areas.
Our many street trees provide a canopy of green space. We did a survey to identify places for new trees and WF provided and planted 11 trees. Mick Punchard is our WF Tree Preservation & Nature Conservation Officer. We have bought 10 new bird boxes to site in new Village trees.
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Our Meadow, Conservation and Biodiversity We have been promoting the RHS initiative in our magazines, emails, Facebook posts and hand-outs at our Bloom events. Residents are encouraged to plant for wildlife with climbers, hedges, adding water, bird feeders, insect houses and to leave spaces for the hedgehogs in fences. WF Council has a Biodiversity Action Plan, a document identifying the Borough’s approach to biodiversity. The 2015 Scrutiny review assessed the work undertaken by WF to protect and promote biodiversity since 2010 and to progressing work up to 2020.
Our Urban Meadow Our first meadow was sown in 2012 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee and the Year of the Meadow but grasses had invaded as often happens to urban meadows. This winter Waltham Forest stripped the turf and removed the top layer of soil to reduce fertility. We raked it to a fine tilth, allowed weed seeds to germinate and twice weeded it. We divided the area into 102 metre squares with marker spray and weighed 5g of mixed seeds plus silver sand into 102 cups. Residents each sowed a square on 1 April. We used a Euroflor Rainbow Annual mix together with a perennial native meadow mix, both kindly donated. We are hand-weeding rogue plants in tip-toed bare feet. In late summer we will hand-cut it, shake out the seeds and gather the grasses and plants into stooks and cut it very short for winter. Sunflowers On 6 May we held a children’s sunflower planting day in the Vestry Road playground with plants we had grown from seed. Members of Gardening Club helped the children and explained how the flowers attract pollinators and the seed-heads will feed the birds in autumn. We were honoured to be joined by the RHS team taking photos and interviews.
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Wildlife Pond Henry Maynard Primary School are renovating their wildlife pond. We put in a bid for RHS funding and advice although we were not successful. They have a Green Team of pupils from KS2 who learn about and then promote recycling and the environment. They have cleared out the pond and redeveloped the area for wildlife. The pond will be used during science lessons to study the life cycle of the creatures that live in water and around the area. Swift Conservation Opening in autumn 2017, Walthamstow Wetlands a mile away will give visitors free access to the wildlife and industrial heritage of this urban oasis. The Gardening Club organised a preview visit in October. A specially designed tower on the old pump house incorporates 54 swift nest boxes. Many Village residents and Henry Maynard School are displaying their homemade swifts for the 1000 Swifts over Walthamstow project that highlights the plight of the urban swift. We have three nesting sites in roads in the Village. In January we joined in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch weekend. We are lucky to have many local colonies of house-sparrows and give advice regarding hedge planting and hedge cutting at the right times.
Admiring the beautiful meadow... looks glorious! - Penni Grodzicka, Facebook
From 19-30 June we are promoting Friends of the Earth’s Great British Bee Count and the Big Butterfly Count 2017 from Friday 14 July to Sunday 6 August. Lavender Corner (planted by us in 2013) on Vestry Road is alive with pollinators in summer. We planted the car park beds in Berryfield Close with a berry field of 105 trees and shrubs from the Woodland Trust and Cherry Close has also benefited from a free “harvest pack”. The beds are full of wildflower seeds sown in April. We use no herbicides or pesticides on any of our beds. All compost used is peat-free. We re-use or swap our plastic flowerpots and raise seedlings in paper cups.
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BEE17 BEE17 is a community beekeeping project set up by Richard Smith and Helen Lerner in 2013 to support bees and plants and provide an insight into the lives of honey bees and the role that beekeepers play. With the experience gained over the past four years, Richard has expanded BEE17 to four apiary sites including three hives in St Mary’s churchyard. BEE17 honey is sold in the Vestry House Museum, William Morris Gallery and local shops. The two original BEE17 hives, situated in the woodland at the back of Helen’s garden, remain not-for-profit. In 2016/7 we raised nearly £2,000 from honey and handmade honey and wax products at pop-up shops and stalls to benefit our Bloom projects. Residents come on open days to visit the hives and watch inspections.
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Around 45 Walthamstow Wassailers sang to and blessed the hives on 8 January, so we should have a bumper honey harvest! We plan planting to ensure that there are nectar and pollen-rich plants or trees in flower throughout the year; the Village is now an ideal place for bees with its many green spaces, the meadow, street trees, planters and gardens. In The Village magazine, our BEE17 website and Facebook page we ask that everyone buys bulbs, seeds and plants with all pollinating insects in mind and we direct people to the RHS Perfect for Pollinators plant lists. From 19 May and throughout June we promoted Friends of the Earth’s Great British Bee Count.
Plant, Seed and Produce Swaps - Spring and Autumn We held our first Plant and Seed Swap in 2009 to encourage residents to improve their front gardens, window boxes and planters, to grow fruit and vegetables and to raise the profile of our Bloom campaign. Packets of collected seeds, and those awarded by GrowWild are given out and people bring their surplus seeds, plants, pots, produce and gardening equipment to swap. We give out information sheets including the RHS Perfect for Pollinators booklet and advice on increasing biodiversity, making the most of front gardens etc. We answer gardeners’ queries and identify plants. Any plants left find homes in the Village beds. At each swap we run themed children’s gardening workshops that have included meadow planting, making a giant bug hotel, making insect houses, making window boxes from reclaimed wood, growing vegetables, planting sunflowers or hollyhocks. Other stalls at the Plant and Seed Swaps include BEE17 honey, WF Friends of the Earth, the William Morris Gallery stall with their range of Morris gardening accessories and plant stalls run by THUSO, Hornbeam and Museum volunteer gardeners. Our next swap is on Saturday 2 September at the Walthamstow Village Festival.
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Vestry House Community Garden The garden at Vestry House Museum was created with investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This project transformed a bare space into a delightful community garden which takes its inspiration from the fact that the Museum was originally built as a workhouse in the 18th century. The aim is to complement the heritage of Vestry House and to create a space for relaxation, enjoyment and learning for visitors and our local community. The garden is entirely maintained by volunteers. The Volunteer Team The garden flourishes thanks to a fantastic team of around 10 regular garden volunteers. In addition to monthly meetings the team meets fortnightly with more experienced members coaching and mentoring new recruits. Thursdays are also a regular drop-in day. They actively recruit new members and welcome volunteers with all ranges of ability. Their garden volunteers were named Runner-Up in the Best Team category at the London Volunteers in Museums Awards 2015. Sustainability Vestry House Gardeners are committed to ensuring best practice in environmental sustainability by: • Using organic methods and avoiding the use of chemicals.. • Leaving areas untouched to encourage biodiversity. • Planting to attract wildlife. • Using produce from our garden, including vegetables and herbs.
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Garden Layout and Horticulture The planting is inspired by the history of the workhouse garden. The emphasis is on useful plants including fruit, vegetables, culinary and medicinal herbs and dye plants. There is a woodland bed, wild meadow area, a bed planted to attract insects, and a white bed designed to complement the many weddings that take place at the museum. • They aim to provide a mixture of aesthetic and educational interest year round. • To ensure continuity of interest they grow plants with evergreen foliage such as curly kale and ruby chard. They maintain a balance of perennial plants and annuals in addition to vegetable varieties. • The plants and herbs are carefully chosen to offer a multi-sensory learning experience for visitors. • They maintain a balance of cultivated and wild areas to increase the biodiversity and learning potential of the garden.
Interpretation and Education As part of the redevelopment plans,Vestry House Museum are reviewing the interpretation of the garden and opportunities for learning that it presents - for example a family trail for children and leaflets that visitors will be able to take with them around the garden, together with a redesign of our interpretation panels and replacement of those relating to the history of the garden. They continue to provide monthly family activity days which are often influenced by our garden, such as our ‘Spring Blooms’ event this year when families planted seedlings in pots and decorated them, inspired by plants in the garden. Community Use Visitor numbers to the Museum continue to rise due in part, no doubt, to the continuing popularity of the garden as a space for families, adults and school groups to enjoy. Last year they attracted 22,420 visitors, a significant proportion of whom used the garden. The garden is a major factor for people choosing to use the Community Room for events including parties, functions and weddings.
Events Vestry House hosts a number of successful events in the garden each year, working closely with local artists and businesses, for example, Apple Day, a highly popular celebration of everything and anything connected to apples. They regularly host art exhibitions in the garden, particularly during the annual E17 Art Trail. Garden events always prove extremely popular and have previously featured in The Londonist and Time Out magazine, helping to raise the profile of the Museum and garden citywide.
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Pride of Place WF works hand-in-hand with Walthamstow Village in Bloom. Dedicated officer, Paul Tickner does monthly walks around the Village with us to help plan, and to rectify problems. We contact our Neighbourhood Officer Fred Angove for day-to-day problems. WF pledges that every street is cleaned at least once a week. We have weekly collections of general rubbish and green bins of mixed recycling that are taken the MRF site in Edmonton for sorting. We have fortnightly collections of “green” and food waste that goes to the North London Waste Authority Plant for composting. We can request delivery of this compost free of charge for mulching and feeding the beds. WF provides all the lamppost baskets with seasonal displays, watering and feeding. WF provides free collection of up to five items per household of bulky waste annually. WF’s recycling partner, Bright Sparks carry out large item collections of furniture that is in good condition. They collect for free every Wednesday and Saturday. WF’s recycling partner 123 Recycle makes free collections of all electrical items. In 2016 powers were introduced which allow councils to issue Fixed Penalty Notices with a fine of up to £400 to anyone caught in the act of fly-tipping. WF has issued the second highest number of FPNs out of 302 local authorities.
Waltham Forest’s environmental education centre, Suntrap, is celebrating half a century of teaching children, young people and families. These activities support classroom-based learning through practical, real-world experiences.
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A crackdown has been taking place across the borough to prevent shop fronts becoming overrun with advertising stickers that are a form of fly-posting Early morning checks are carried out by the Neighbourhoods team to prevent commercial waste from being dumped; those responsible are issued with a FPN.
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Crime Prevention Walthamstow Village is a quaint area that has many paths and alleys and a large churchyard. On the advice of the Metropolitan Police, the Gardening Club carries out work to “eliminate recesses, blind corners and hiding places” and remove graffiti. This year’s work includes: •
liaising with Lifeline, WF’s integrated drug and alcohol service, situated in Beulah Road. Every day 50 high-dependency service users visit Lifeline and problems sometimes occur, especially begging. WVRA liaises with the service’s managers to try and keep any disruption to a minimum while supporting service users.
• working with the Orford Road Traders’ Association. •
sitting on the Public Spaces WVRA sub- committee to liaise with residents, architects and traffic planners regarding work in the conservation areas.
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working with residents, WF’s Green Spaces and playground equipment specialists, Eibe on the £50,000 improvements to Vestry Road Playground.
• walking around the area monthly with WF Conservation Officers and enforcement teams to point out and solve problems. • •
• painting and cleaning signs and street furniture.
• reporting, and encouraging residents to report, any fly-tipping, lighting defects and street problems to Waltham Forest Direct. • reporting fly-tipping and graffiti on the railway embankments to Network Rail. • cutting back vegetation blocking sightlines, lighting and pathways. • running anti-dog fouling campaigns and having “hot spot” signs stencilled on footpaths. • liaising with property companies to ensure removal of signs within two weeks of let/sale. • attending Ward Forum meetings to ensure residents’ voices are heard. • consulting with WF and attending meetings re planning, transport, environment, rubbish collection, cleansing etc. • holding open meetings and an AGM for residents to voice concerns to relevant parties.
• liaising with, giving talks, hosting walkabouts and advising other community groups: reporting illicit satellite-dish installation, WF Civic Society, Cleveland Perk,West Avenue RA, PVCu window replacement and other Folkestone Road RA, Greenleaf Road RA,William unsuitable additions in the conservation areas Morris & St James Street Big Locals,Wood Street to WF Conservation Officers using Google South Gardening Club and Love South Chingford. Street-View to prove that work falls outside the We also give small grants to help them. four-year rule. Our Hoe Street Safer Neighbourhood Team Inspector working to clean, improve and plant along the Mehmet Ganidagli, PC Philip Antoniades, PC Nabeel verges of Vinegar Alley, Beulah, Barclay and Hassan & PCSO Husein Hassan keep us updated on Maynard paths. crime at Ward Forums and hold crime prevention workshops.
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Annual Spring Clean and Big Clean Up We launched Walthamstow Village in Bloom 2017 on 18 March with our 15th annual clean attended by 50 residents of all ages, abilities and from a wide variety of backgrounds. In 2003 the Walthamstow Village Residents’ Association’s (WVRA) newly formed Environment Committee ran the first spring clean after many complaints from residents concerning litter, graffiti and fly-tipping. In the fortnight before the clean we compile a list of jobs for teams to tackle. We joined the nationwide The Great British Spring Clean event and Waltham Forest council’s seventh borough-wide Spring Clean which was started as a response to our success in the Village.
We formed teams to clear grot-spots and fly-tips, clean up the churchyards, tidy the tops of the railway embankments and to paint street furniture; younger children litter-picked the playgrounds.
The Worshipful the Mayor of Waltham Forest, Cllr Peter Herrington and Mayoress Mrs. Sue Herrington joined us at the start and spurred us on with an inspirational pep talk.
One team revamped the front gardens at Holmcroft House sheltered housing site. With our help, older resident Marion Cooper organised the repainting of Mr. Walter’s gnomes as a tribute after he passed away earlier this year. John Chambers and his team removed dumped items from front gardens and alleys, and the bagged-up waste collected by the teams. This was unloaded by the garages in Maynard Road where it was collected at the end of the day by council contractor Urbaser. We were grateful to be joined by Community Payback who cleared really dirty areas. We laid on a free picnic lunch on Vestry Green for all volunteers. Throughout the event we were treated to a full peal on the newly restored bells at St Mary’s. The Spring Clean is a very satisfying and enjoyable event and has helped instil pride in the area; it gives everyone a chance to work together, meet their neighbours and further improve the Village. In July we’ll hold a similar Big Clean Up to spruce up the area before judging.
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Calendar of Events The first Saturday of every month, come rain or shine, is Gardening Day. Throughout June and July this increases to very Saturday and Wednesday evening. On 2 September 2017 the Walthamstow Village Festival organised by WF Community Hub with WVRA support will attract thousands of people. So far £20,000 has been raised by local businesses and residents, WF and Awards for All. In October the annual Apple Day, will be held in the Vestry House gardens; last year it attracted over 1,500 people. In October we hold our AGM and local Bloom Awards Ceremony with cheese and wine to celebrate. In November it’s the Big Village Bulb Plant. In December our annual carol concert on the Village Square around the Christmas tree attracts hundreds of people who are served free mulled wine and mince pies. Singing is led by Phillip Creasy and accompanied by East London Brass band. We donated £1,000 to help fund St Mary’s Advent(us) project that projected local artists’ work onto the side of the church every day in Advent and was attended by hundreds of residents. In January on Twelfth Night it’s the Walthamstow Wassail and bonfire party at BEE17. In March and July we run Spring Clean and Big Clean Up events.
In March our ever-popular, sell-out, Annual Curry Quiz raised over £1,200. 125 residents enjoyed the quiz written and presented by Neil Underwood with a Village-themed picture round, a home-cooked curry supper made by Shameem Mir and WVRA volunteers and a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses. In April and September we hold a Plant, Seed and Produce Swap with a BEE17 and WVRA membership stall. The E17 Art Trail from 3-18 June has 7000 exhibitors (1-in-15 residents) at 180 venues; many Villagers are displaying homemade swifts to highlight the plight of the urban swift for the #1000Swifts over Walthamstow project in an E17-wide trail. ‘Would I Fib to You?’ is the Wingdolph Roads exhibition following the theme of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths). Displayed high and low at the houses and gardens on Wingfield and Randolph Roads they show how maths, nature and art collide. On 18 June we held our third Village Jumble Trail championed by WVRA committee member Molly Moloney. Households signed up and held yard sales that attracted hundreds of buyers and raised funds for local charities. Through June till September, St Mary’s Musical Hall at the church is hosting a season of live music. There’s so much going on that there’s now no need to leave the Village!
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Achievements and Recognition
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We featured on the RHS stand at Chelsea and for other shows.
The meadow is a thing of great beauty. It took my breath away today. - Daniel Barry, Facebook
• 2009, London in Bloom’s Best Urban Community – silver-gilt • 2010, London in Bloom’s Best Urban Community – silver-gilt • 2010, London in Bloom’s Commendation award to Helen Lerner • 2010, Britain in Bloom – silver-gilt • 2011, London in Bloom’s Best Urban Community – gold • 2011, Britain in Bloom – silver • 2012, London in Bloom’s Best Urban Community – gold • 2012, London in Bloom’s Floral Display award • 2012, London in Bloom’s Christmas Lights award • 2012, London in Bloom’s Front Garden award, Mr & Mrs. Martin of 9 Church Lane • 2014, London in Bloom’s Best London Village – gold • 2015, London in Bloom’s Best London Village – gold • 2015, London in Bloom’s Greener Streets Award • 2016, London in Bloom – gold • 2016, Britain in Bloom – silver-gilt
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Fundraising and Awareness Our main sponsors are Estates 17, Fullers Builders, East London Sausage Company, and BEE17. Local businesses and residents kindly donate money, goods or vouchers for raffles and events. Membership of the WVRA costs £12 per year, per household. Caroline Barton designed a Walthamstow Village in Bloom calendar and a set of Christmas cards and notelets that raised £495. The 2017 Curry Supper Quiz raised £1,272. The WF Community Hub lends their hall free of charge for Open Meetings and the AGM and we support their work with older people’s outings and lunches, and gardening with the youth club. Council contractor Urbaser, Petals in Bloom florist, local garden centres and residents donate surplus plants and we take advantage of national offers of free seeds, bulbs and plants. North London Waste Authority provides us with tonnes of compost that WF delivers. WF Council generously provides our lamppost baskets, including the new double baskets down Orford Road, with winter and summer displays and the watering and feeding of all. WF provides a Christmas tree and lights, and lights around all the lampposts in Orford Road. John Chambers Plumbing and Heating donates £500 for travel and accommodation for attending the LiB and BiB seminars and awards. We apply for grants via our Hoe Street Ward Forum. We receive funding for our carols and have put in a bid to start a gardening club in the flats on Grosvenor Rise East.
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Thank you for all this beauty! - Stavros Karayiannis
Our Bloom events are published in the borough-wide monthly E-List magazine, also sponsored by Estates 17. WVRA has an email list of around 1600 residents and community groups who are sent details of what’s on. MP Stella Creasy advertises our events in her weekly e-newsletter. Sarah Vincent and the Waltham Forest Video Workshop have made a 15 minute film, with £600 funding from the Community Ward Forum, showcasing our work for Walthamstow Village in Bloom for anyone wanting to improve their area. Watch at https://tinyurl.com/walthamstowvideo We give talks, host walkabouts and advise other community groups including the WF Civic Society, Cleveland Perk, West Avenue RA, Folkestone Road RA, Greenleaf Road RA, William Morris & St James Street Big Locals, Wood Street South Gardening Club and Love South Chingford, giving small grants to help them start off, if need. Our notice board on the Village Square is kept up to date with posters and information. We have a Walthamstow Village Residents’ Association website and Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for Walthamstow Village in Bloom, Village Veg, Community Allotment and Walthamstow Village. We have close links with WF Friends of the Earth, WF Civic Society, Walthamstow Historical Society, Organiclea, the Hornbeam Centre, E17 Art Trail and Friends of Wingfield Park. Our busy committee members are also volunteers running cycling clubs, working with St Mary’s Church, with older people, local schools, the WF Community Hub’s Youth Group, the Toy Library, the Saturday Market and many other local projects and charities.
The WVRA produces a full-colour quarterly magazine edited by Daniel Barry and designed by Molly Moloney It’s looking lovely everywhere. that is delivered door-to-door to 2000 properties - Maggie Humphreys, locally. It is generously sponsored Facebook by local estate agents Estates 17.
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Funding and Support •
The Vestry House Museum staff and all the volunteer gardeners for their hard work and for the use of their wonderful premises for hosting the judging days.
• Walthamstow Village Residents’ Association Committee – funding projects and support. • Estates 17 – sponsorship of quarterly Village Magazine & promotion via the E-List. • • •
• Hoe Street Ward Cllrs Saima Mahmud, Mark Rusling, Ahsan Khan and MP Stella Creasy - support and promotion of events. Walthamstow Village in Bloom Committee Helen Lerner, Caroline Barton, Jakob Hartmann, Nick Springett, Darryl Abelscroft, John Chambers, and Teresa Deacon,
Village Veg Committee & Weekly Waterers Darryl Abelscroft, Caroline Barton, Caroline Lennon, Fullers Builders – sponsorship of the planter on Jeffa Thomlinson, Emma Hall, Nicola Hughes, young the junction of Beulah and Grosvenor Rise East Ralph with Sally Weston and/or Mark Tempest. Reserve and sponsorship of the Village Veg allotment waterer: Colin Stinton. project. Village SPAR - sponsorship of new planting in the Village Square. Gardening Club Stalwarts Helen Lerner, Teresa Deacon, John Chambers, Caroline BEE17 – sponsorship, plants and bulbs. Barton, Jakob Hartmann, Colin Stinton, Maggie Humphries, Maggie Jules, Megan Whitear, Jill Truman, East London Sausage Co, The Queen’s Arms, The Daphne Wloch, Nicole Muris, Joss Thomas,Yvonne Village Bakery, Froth & Rind, Pillars Brewery, The Cross,Vanessa Darnborough, Cathy Macnaughton, Village Kitchen, Here on Earth – sponsorship of Douglas Saltmarshe, Nick Springett, Jill Watkins, tree-pits and tree-boxes. Andrew Blount, David Christmas.
Walthamstow Village Residents’ Association Megan Whitear, Helen Lerner, Barry White, John Larking, Shameem Mir, Sue Carter, Daniel Barry, Paul • The staff and committee of the WF Community Gasson, David Baker, Ana Caton, Joga Kabra, Molly Hub. Moloney, Catherine Larmouth. • Petals in Bloom, Number 40 Beulah Road - sponsorship of plants.
• John Chambers Plumbing & Building Services with Jay Wyatt - sponsorship, labour, van, tools. •
Julian Weigall of the RHS, Richard Smith, Daniel Barry, Darryl Abelscroft, Jakob Hartmann, Paul Gasson, Caroline Barton, David Foster, Steven Beck, and Helen Lerner – photographs.
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London Borough of Waltham Forest, Cllr Clyde Loakes, contractors Urbaser and WF Officers Paul Tickner and Fred Angove – equipment, rubbish disposal and green waste collection, floral lamppost baskets, extra cleaning, etc.
• Gerry Clegg, Cherry Close • The Community Payback teams
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And a sincere thanks to all the lovely people of Walthamstow Village who have brought us refreshments especially Marion Cooper, volunteered and donated items and who aren’t mentioned above.
@E17inBloom @VillageVegE17 @E17inBloom @VillageVegE17 walthamstowvillage.net