Farewell from Walthamstow Scene. Photo by @PamHutch.

After two years and one month, this is the last post on Walthamstow Scene.

I love that there is so much going on in Walthamstow, and I set the blog up to try to provide a place to find out about local gigs and other cultural events. At the time, I heard a lot about events in the Village area, but I found it much more difficult to find out what was on at, say, The Standard, or around Wood Street. It has been great fun to hear and write about all that’s happening across Walthamstow.

However, I have found it increasingly difficult to keep the site up to date, balancing it with my day job and personal commitments. This is reflected in the fact that I’ve only been able to post on the site six times in the last six months of 2012. It is for that reason that I will not be updating the site any more.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading some of the 219 posts that I’ve written. I have certainly enjoyed writing (most of) them. It would be absurd to try to individually thank all the people who have supported the site over the past two years. Thank you to everyone who contributed a guest post, to everyone who agreed to be interviewed, and to everyone who read a post, tweeted me, or posted on the Facebook page. I really appreciate it.

I’m going to leave the site up for the foreseeable future, as some of the content may still be of interest to others. The Facebook page and Twitter account will cease to be updated.

Some of the posts on my personal blog will no doubt be about Walthamstow. I’ll also be tweeting in a personal capacity at @nickbason.

Through running the site, I have been lucky enough to meet a lot of creative and interesting people here in the area that I call home. I hope to see you all around E17 soon.

Nick x

The Forest Poets are presenting a night of music and poetry at the Rose & Crown on Friday 30 November. The night features performances from a range of poets and artists, and is headlined by singer/songwriter, formerly of the band Hefner, Darren Hayman.

Forest Poets are, as you may suspect, a group of poets who meet regularly in the Rose & Crown and who promote poetry in the Waltham Forest area. They put on regular events and their stanza is open to all. The full line-up for the Rose & Crown gig (at time of writing) is Rob Auton, Anna Skodbo, Abena the Actress, Steve McLean, Simon Miles & Mo Gallaccio, Kate Bentley, Norman Andrew, Michael Shann, with the night finished off by a performance from Darren Hayman.

Darren Hayman

Hayman has recently released ‘The Violence’, an album about the Essex Witch Trials of the 17th century, and which is the third in his Essex Trilogy. NME gave ‘The Violence’ 8/10, proclaiming it as “Beirut/Bon Iver/PJ Harvey brilliant” and Hayman himself as “arguably the greatest twee-folk hero of the past two decades”. It’s good to know that we can still rely on NME to have a potentially definitive list of twee-folk heroes of the past 20 years.

The Forest Poets Music & Poetry night is upstairs at the Rose & Crown on Friday 30 November from 7.30pm. Entry is £7, click here for tickets or buy them on the door. More information is on the Forest Poets Facebook page, and they are on Twitter at @ForestPoets.

What are these changes all about?

The Boundary Commission for England reviews the parliamentary constituency map of England every five years. This year, under the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, they have been tasked with reducing the number of constituencies in England from 533 to 502, and making sure that each constituency has roughly the same number of people who can vote (‘registered electors’) in it. The electoral quota (the number of registered electors in England divided by the number of constituencies) is 76,641, and each constituency should have no more than 5% more or fewer electors than this, i.e. between 72,810 and 80,473 electors. At the 2010 General Election, Walthamstow had 64,625 registered electors, so it was always going to come under the gaze of the Boundary Commission.

The Boundary Commission report for London, which is worth a read if you’re interested in how London’s geographical space can be logically divided electorally, proposes vanishing the Walthamstow constituency, to create a larger Chingford constituency in the north and a larger Leyton constituency in the south. Below is a map of what the new constituencies would look like. Area 15 is Chingford and area 49 is Leyton. The line in red between them is the proposed boundary, running (roughly from left to right) along Forest Road, right at the Lord Palmerston pub, left down Elmsdale Road and Hatherly Road to Hoe Street, back up to Forest Road, then right down Shernhall Street, right again through the Village, to finish up running along Lea Bridge Road. These are existing council ward boundaries, so High Street, Hoe Street and Wood Street wards (and everything south) would be in Leyton, and Higham Hill, William Morris, Chapel End and Hale End & Highams Park wards (and everything north) would be in Chingford.

Would Walthamstow still exist as an area?

There are a lot of people in Walthamstow to whom this matters not a jot. Turnout in UK general elections is around 65%. In the 2010 General Election, turnout in the Walthamstow constituency was 63.34%, which of course means that just under 37% of people eligible to vote did not vote. In 2011, Hansard’s Audit of Political Engagement showed that only 38% of people in the UK could correctly name their MP, down from 44% historically.

To be generous, let’s assume that the Walthamstow electorate is more politically engaged than the average (and I’ve not seen any evidence for this). Even if everyone who voted in the 2010 General Election could actually name their MP, that still leaves around 40% of people on the electoral register who cannot name their MP and/or who did not vote. It’s likely that these people probably also don’t know where the parliamentary constituency boundaries are. If nearly half the people living in Walthamstow don’t know where the boundaries are, their perception of Walthamstow as an area probably isn’t based on those boundaries. (If you’re not sure who your MP is, this might help).

There are plenty of examples in London of areas existing without a corresponding parliamentary constituency. In North West London, Brent is currently divided into two constituencies – Brent Central and Brent North – yet Willesden, Harlesden, Neasden, Wembley and others still exist as areas, they still have tube stations, football teams, they’re marked on maps and so on. Similarly in Islington, the two constituencies of Islington South & Finsbury and Islington North don’t stop Holloway, Angel, Kings Cross and all the other places in Islington existing.

Hoe Street station, c.1870. Photograph from the ‘Walthamstow Then and Now’ website.

How long has Walthamstow existed?

Walthamstow constituency was originally established with the election of the Liberal MP Edward North Buxton in the 1885 General Election. The population of Walthamstow was 22,531 in 1881, increasing to 47,454 by 1891, and the constituency remained until 1918. Between 1918 and 1974, the constituencies of Walthamstow East and Walthamstow West both had a parliamentary member. The existing Walthamstow constituency has existed since 1974.

The lovely photograph on the left is of what was then Hoe Street station in around 1870, 15 years before the Walthamstow constituency was created (and 142 years before they started building a Travelodge next to it). The photograph is from the excellent Walthamstow Then and Now website.

Walthamstow’s identity

I’ve always like the fact that the identity of Walthamstow incorporates the postcode of the area. There are many uses of E17 in businesses and cultural events, and indeed one of the most significant events in the cultural calendar of the area is the E17 Art Trail (not the Walthamstow Art Trail).

I, like perhaps many people of my age and interest, heard of the postcode before I heard of the area, thanks to Tony Mortimer, Brian Harvey, John Hendy and Terry Coldwell. East 17 and Walthamstow existed in my consciousness as an area that a pop band was from. This was reinforced by the image of a greyhound used on the cover of ‘Parklife’ by Blur in 1994. As I grew up, I became aware of Walthamstow Stadium (which is of course in the Chingford parliamentary constituency, although I’m guessing most people associate it with Walthamstow), and that Walthamstow was at the end of the Victoria line. The point is that cultural artifacts have at least as much to do with the identity of an area as parliamentary constituency boundaries do.

Back to the Boundary Commission

Despite all this, I think that the Boundary Commission have got it wrong. Walthamstow is an area with a coherent geography. The North Circular, Epping Forest, Lea Bridge Road and the Lee Valley provide natural boundaries. The four stations in Walthamstow serve people from across the area, and a glance at the E17 Art Trail map shows that a lot of people happily wander around Walthamstow to enjoy what the area has to offer. Such elements of life add up to a common experience, and it is that common experience and interest that needs representation in Parliament.

The Boundary Commission state that the North Circular Road doesn’t “form[s] a significant barrier” (AC79, p.24) between wards, but surely it is a more significant barrier than Elmsdale Road and Hatherly Road, their proposed boundary. They recommend the names Leyton and Chingford for the constituencies as they “describe[s] the main population centre adequately” (AC77 and AC79, p.24), ignoring the fact that Walthamstow is an equal population centre. There were 64,831 electors in Chingford & Woodford Green in 2010 and 63,541 in Leyton & Wanstead. Walthamstow’s 64,625 hardly positions it as a tiny hamlet waiting to be electorally plundered by the metropolises of the surrounding areas.

The Boundary Commission are currently consulting on their proposals, and details of how to respond are below. Once they submit their final proposals, the proposals will have to be voted on in Parliament. The indications are that whatever the proposals are, they will be defeated in Parliament, or at the very least, not enacted until after the 2015 General Election.

Ultimately, a geographical area means something different to each person. As the Situationist Guy Debord stated in his 1961 film ‘Critique of Separation’, “the sectors of a city…are decipherable, but the personal meaning they have for us is incommunicable”. The boundaries may or may not change, but Walthamstow will remain.

For details of how to respond to the Boundary Commission proposals, head over to their website. The consultation closes on 10 December 2012.

After a substantial period of refurbishment, and quite a bit of speculation and expectation, The Bell opened the doors last night for what felt like an opening party.

It was a fun night, with a great atmosphere, probably helped by the fact that a lot of people there knew each other from Twitter. The landlord and bar staff were keen to say hello to people, and it was only when it got really packed that getting served at the bar took a few minutes. The kitchen isn’t open yet, but the bar laid on some free pork pies and sausage rolls, which was a nice touch (I’m not sure if there were vegetarian snacks too). In terms of ale, they had 8 hand pumps, with a few lagers and ciders on tap too. They also had what looked to be a decent wine selection.

It was a good use of the space, lots of tables, and an open fire. There was a pinball machine but no pool table, and a DJ spinning vinyl. There are lots of little details to iron out, but it definitely had the feel of a ‘nice pub in Stoke Newington’. That is not remotely to disparage it, I like nice pubs in Stoke Newington, and I personally don’t think any pubs in Walthamstow offer that, so it’s bringing something new. A worthy mention to the Rose & Crown too, who wished The Bell good luck on their opening night and popped down for a drink, which I thought was a nice gesture.

The opening night was fun. If they were a footballer, the big question would be “aah, but can they do it on a wet Tuesday in January?”. We look forward to seeing how the pub settles into the area over the coming weeks and months. You can keep up with developments on The Bell website and at @Bell_E17. There was also some discussion of the pub on our Facebook page. We look forward to our next visit.

In the nearly two years that I’ve been running this site, I’m not sure any topic has generated as much discussion as that of pubs in Walthamstow. Which one is the best? Isn’t it just a creche on Sundays? What’s the deal with the guy who lives in the corner? And, whisper it…but didn’t they have a cat wedding once? Over the past few weeks, the renovation of three Walthamstow pubs has renewed chatter about the local drinking establishments.

Chequers, The Cock Tavern and The Bell

At the time of writing, Chequers and The Cock Tavern, both on Walthamstow Market, and The Bell at the Bell Junction are all closed for refurbishment. The Cock Tavern looks to be the furthest forward, with a smart lick of paint on the outside, and, peering through the window yesterday, what looks to be a fairly comprehensive gutting of the inside. There is no indication of when it might open again, but with such a comprehensive overhaul, I do wonder if the owners are looking to attract a new crowd to the historic pub.

Chequers has been closed since the end of July, when the owners voluntarily (with some encouragement from the local Police) shut the place down. The sign on the door states that it will be closed “for 3-4 weeks”, although there isn’t much evidence that the refurbishment is underway. There is a rumour that the Antic pub chain have taken it over, which would be interesting. It doesn’t appear on their list of pubs yet, but they do have a good track record, running the White Hart in Stoke Newington, the Red Lion in Leytonstone, and most recently Leyton Technical, the pop-up pub in Leyton library, which was excellent.

Looking at Chequers yesterday, I noticed that the name of the pub has been deliberately obscured on both sides of the sign. Perhaps an indication of a new name to go with the new look and possible new owners? Whatever one thought of the old Chequers and The Cock Tavern, given their proximity to one another, they are major contributors to the night-time economy of the Walthamstow Market and High Street area. There are some lovely cafés and restaurants near the pubs, but I suspect that some E17 residents shy away from that area at night, preferring perhaps the environs of the Village area.

The Bell is arguably the most intriguing redevelopment. It has been taken on by a chap named Andy, who used to be involved with the aforementioned White Hart in Stoke Newington. The Twitter feed at @Bell_E17 gives updates of the redevelopment. On Saturday 25 August they tweeted the picture below of the top of one of the columns inside the pub, which is obscured by a false low ceiling. Unfortunately, the redevelopment has also revealed other problems, which will delay the opening. The latest news from The Bell’s blog is that the opening is likely to be at least four weeks away, and that they will potentially have to open in stages. Walthamstow waits with interest.

Picture of column inside The Bell, tweeted by @Bell_E17

What does this mean for other Walthamstow pubs?

Everyone who lives here probably has their own favourite pub in Walthamstow. A contributor for Londonist recently proclaimed The Nag’s Head as the best pub in Waltham Forest. I’m not sure about that, but it’s fair to say that there are three main pub hubs in Walthamstow – the Nag’s Head/Village/Castle/Queen’s Arms quartet in Walthamstow Village; The Duke’s Head/Flowerpot duo in Wood Street; and the Rose & Crown.

The obvious point about the three refurbishments is that none of them are in Walthamstow Village. I think a lot of people (myself included) wander up to the Village area for a pint mainly because it’s quite nice. However, if Chequers and The Cock Tavern start to draw people in, the pubs in the Village area might have to work a bit harder to attract people in. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

The Rose & Crown is consistent pub and has got a good crowd. The theatre, the comedy and the music nights bring people in, and they seem to be constantly experimenting with different food offerings. I applaud a pub that tries new things.

The Bell, like the Rose & Crown, is a big pub, with ample space for live music and comedy, and with a kitchen area as well. The curiosity factor will probably help to attract some people from the Rose & Crown to The Bell upon opening, but it’s also quite likely that The Bell will attract people from Lloyd Park and Higham Hill, both being areas with a distinct lack of boozers.

The lost pubs of Walthamstow

Are there enough people in Walthamstow to sustain all these new drinking establishments? Who knows, really, but I hope so. There is already a long list of pubs now sadly long gone in Walthamstow, and I don’t want to see any added to that list. It can only be a good thing for the local area if the Market and the, ahem, Bell end of Hoe Street have good quality pubs, hopefully with some entertainment that will encourage people from further afield to travel into E17.

A note on lost pubs – it’s not in Walthamstow, but the Birkbeck Tavern in Leyton is under threat of being turned into flats. There is a petition for Waltham Forest Council to save the pub.

E17 Pub Trail

Lastly, if you’re on Twitter, you might want to follow @E17PubTrail. This is an idea that has sprung up over the past week, of visiting 17 pubs in E17 over a weekend and comparing notes. It is likely to happen when the three refurbishments have been completed, perhaps in November. Follow them for the latest news.

The line-up for The Stow Festival has been announced. The November Five, Moses, Maggie Ronson and Russel Swallow & The Wolf will be joined by a host of others at the four-day music extravaganza.

So far nearly fifty bands and performers have been announced for the festival, which starts on Thursday 20 September. Sixteen venues have already been announced, including the Rose & Crown, the Hornbeam Café, Walthamstow Town Square and Casanova. There is a variety of musical talent on show which should suit most tastes. The November Five are a fearsome live band who will be tearing it up at the Rose & Crown on the Saturday night, ably supported by The Priscillas. Indie heroes Moses will be reunited to top a five-band line-up on the Friday at the Rose & Crown. Down at the Hornbeam Café, Russell Swallow & The Wolf will be performing material from their new album (reviewed right here) on the Friday, while on the Saturday, Maggie Ronson (sister of guitar legend Mick Ronson) will be curating a unique evening of music.

Elsewhere, Steve White & The Protest Family will be punking it up with Belter at the Waltham Forest Social Club on Friday night, the fabulous Emma Scarr will be appearing at the Walthamstow Farmers Market on the Sunday morning, and The Cry Baby perform some dark atmospheric indie at the Rose & Crown on Saturday afternoon.

The festival has added a number of club nights this year. Arubar hosts a dance/electro night on the Friday, with Northern Soul on the Saturday, the Nag’s Head have got a silent disco, and the Victoria are hosting both a Cabaret night and a karaoke night. You can also throw into the mix a screening of Marley (Kevin Macdonald’s 2012 Bob Marley biopic), the ‘A Musical Tour of Walthamstow’ walking tour, Original Army at the Wood Street Indoor Market, and a family afternoon of children’s music at The Mill. The Queen’s Arms, the Duke’s Head, Le Delice, Penny Fielding Gallery & Interiors and The Coppermill are also hosting performances across the weekend. The whole thing is brought to a close on the Sunday night with Songs of Praise at St Mary’s Church, a special ‘all ages’ show with Walthamstow’s best young DJs at Casanova, and Cockney songs from Cosmotheka at the Rose & Crown.

Blimey. You can see the full list of bands and the schedule on the Stow Festival website, along with the latest news of any additions or changes to the line-up. Why not follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook too, while you’re at it. A lot of the shows are free, if they’re not then they are reasonably priced to cover costs, and it should be quite the weekend.

The Stow Festival runs from Thursday 20 – Sunday 23 September.

Tokarska Gallery are holding an exhibition called ‘Age of East17′ as part of the E17 Art Trail 2012. The show features a number of local photographers and runs from Saturday 1 September until Sunday 16 September.

The exhibition features artwork from Carne Griffiths, paintings from Jason Hawkridge, a Mark Burton photography exhibition about the Olympic Torch in Waltham Forest, and paintings from Nadiya Pavliv-Tokarska. The Tokarska Gallery is one of the best permanent galleries in the local area, so it is well worth a visit if you’re exploring the E17 Art Trail (which we will blog about separately).

There is a private view of the exhibition on Sunday 2 September, with drinks and refreshments, and the gallery is open 12-7pm, Wednesday to Sunday each week. Links to each of the contributors are above, and you can find more details on the Tokarska Gallery website. You can also get more information about the E17 Art Trail on their website.

Cheesecloth rockin’ the joint

Cheesecloth are playing a free gig at the Hare and Hounds on Lea Bridge Road on Saturday 30 June. It will be their last show before the Autumn.

Cheesecloth are a covers band who play a selection of 1970s rock, country, reggae and more. They cover bands like Mott the Hoople, Elvis Costello, Cher, and Warren Zevon (who wrote the mighty ‘Carmelita’, a favourite at Stow Scene Towers). A selection of what you might hear can be found on the band’s website.

The Hare and Hounds is at 282 Lea Bridge Road, E10 7LD. It’s opposite B&Q, near Markhouse Road. The gig is free, and the band are playing at around 9pm.

Wriggly Rick, onstage at Wriggly Rhythms

Even the smallest E17ers deserve to rock and roll!

On a Monday morning, Wriggly Rick the Octopus (pictured above) makes his way around assembled children to sing “Hello, hello, it’s good to see you”. They take turns to shake one of his tentacles, give him a stroke, a hug and in some cases an almighty snog! For the next 45 minutes, with their parents and carers, they sing, dance, shake listen and learn through a variety of happy, child friendly songs.

My name is Ailsa and I am a local teacher and a mum to two little girls. I work part time and I have a real passion about the way music helps children learn and grow. I love to see children learn to count, point to parts of their bodies, make animal noises and generally get a continuous thrill when they learn to anticipate what is coming next. Moving on from this, the simple rhyming patterns in children’s songs and nursery rhymes have a direct and profound impact on their progress when they begin reading. The ability to learn or make up a song about something has helped children to learn their times tables, the difference between odd and even numbers, historical facts, spelling patterns…the list goes on.

The current economic climate has seen a reduction in provision of resources for under fives and I feel quite strongly that this is going to have a long term damaging effect on education.

Wriggly Rhythms is my attempt at trying to address this to some extent in my little corner of Walthamstow.

There are currently two groups meeting on a Monday morning. The first takes place in the hall of St Michael’s and All Angels Church on Northcote Road at 9.30am. From there I go up to the Salvation Army on Forest Road and run a second group at 11.00am.

The format is very simple and relaxed. We start with a lively piece of music to listen to and shake something along with. After welcome and wake-up songs, we’ll sing a few songs based around a theme that changes every half term. After this there are some counting songs then a quiet listening moment (not always hugely successful but worth a try!). We finish with familiar and traditional nursery rhymes before Wriggly Rick comes back to sing the ‘Goodbye’ song. [Like an encore? Spot the rock star! - Stow Scene]

I use visual aids to help children remember actions or see the effects when numbers are changed. When one monkey falls off the bed, for example, the children can see the two that are left and begin to make the connection with the numbers. The laminator in my house works over time on a Sunday evening!

It’s not terribly technical and nor is it rocket science but I think the beauty of Wriggly Rhythms for some is the chance to get together and sing with other people. Of course we could all do this at home with our children but there is something special about music in a community – even at a very young age. For others it is the chance to revive old rhymes that have been buried in the past. I hope that as the group grows it will meet the needs of people who are new to English and want to see their children have as great a start as possible when they go to school and learn to read a language other than their mother tongue.

Taking away from the musical side of it, Wriggly Rhythms is a chance to get out of the house for a little while and meet some other people. Being home alone with a small child can get lonely at times. The shortness of the session means it doesn’t eat into the day too much – you could pop into Northcote Road on your way to the market or on your way back from the school run. At the Salvation Army group, you can bring your lunch and hang around and eat it and have a chat at the end of the session.

There are plans to add another day – hopefully a Friday – from September. Anyone wishing to be kept in the loop about this can follow me on twitter (@wrigglyrhythms) or ‘Like’ me on Facebook.

Thank you!

Ailsa Betts runs Wriggly Rhythms in Walthamstow.

Russell Swallow and the Wolf released their debut album, ‘Sunrise Mountain’ on 26 June 2012. The trio have developed and honed their dreamy acoustic sound for the six-track album, which is out now.

Russell Swallow is joined by The Wolf, AKA Jess Kennedy (piano, organ, vocals) and Alison Jones (violin), and it’s fair to say that the band’s sound has moved on significantly since they performed at The Stow Festival last year. These songs came together during a period of time spent on long walks across Walthamstow Marshes in 2011, after Swallow left work to become a full-time musician. He describes this as a very cathartic process, and it’s clear from the record that Russell Swallow is a man with stories he wants to tell.

Russell Swallow and the Wolf: (l-r) Russell Swallow, Alison Jones, Jess Kennedy

The album itself, produced by Gavin Hammond, is a slice of luscious acoustic pop. Opener ‘Christmas Eve’ uses the contrast between Kennedy’s backing vocals and Swallow’s voice well, as does ‘Paper Aeroplanes’, my personal highlight of the album (you can listen to this track below). The musical arrangements elevate what could otherwise be fairly straightforward singer/songwriter pop into something more interesting. The track ‘Sunrise Mountain’ is a case in point – it starts off perfectly pleasantly but really comes to life in the second half of the song, where the violin and backing vocals kick in.

You can download ‘Sunrise Mountain’ from the band’s Bandcamp page. You can also check out their website for videos and links to information about tour dates and the like.