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Awesomestow Central

So, a new nickname for Walthamstow seems to be catching on. There I was, sitting in Chilli ’n’ Spice on Hoe St on Friday night waiting for my curry, pondering how awesome the ’Stow is, and it hit me: Awesomestow.

Some marvellous E17ers on Twitter seem to have taken a shine to the phrase, so I thought I’d share it with y’all. I embrace Walthamstow, I love its good bits and I want to make its bad bits better. It truly is Awesomestow.

Music and ale festival in April

A Real Ale Festival with plenty of live bands comes to Walthamstow on Friday 8 April. The festival is an all-day affair with the bands in the evening.

The festival is at the Waltham Forest Sports & Social Club, which is in the Town Hall complex on Forest Road. It’s a nice little pub and I think it’s great that they’re hosting an event such as this. The ale part of the festival features ales and cider from the south coast of the UK.

There is an impressive music line-up, with six bands booked to play. Eastroad, Corporal Machine & The Bombers, Steve White & The Protest Family, Tom Lynch & Andy Green, Sarcastic Fringehead and some regulars from Walthamstow Folk are all set to appear. More details about the bands are on the Facebook event page here.

Festivities kick off at noon, with the music starting at 8pm. Entry is £1 before 8pm, £2 after, with free entry for Club members and CAMRA members. More details can be found here.

Here’s a clip of the headliners Eastroad performing their track ‘Shy’. I think the slightly lo-fi visuals make it look quite an arty video!

Forest Recycling Project

Last week was the first time I’d ever been into the Forest Recycling Project (FRP) on Bakers Avenue, near the Bakers Arms. What a cracking find it was too.

FRP is situated next to the Hornbeam Cafe. On first glance it doesn’t look like much, but the place is massive inside and there are all sorts of items available from there. I popped in to see if they would take a TV cabinet which I didn’t need any more. The people who run it were really helpful and came round to pick up the cabinet there and then.

The project was set up in 1989 and I assume it must have been slightly ahead of its time. Anyway, it’s a great place to either donate some good quality items which can be reused, or to pop in and have a rummage around their store. The website is here. I think it’s a bit of a hidden gem in Walthamstow!

Cheesecloth shows coming up

Fresh from their appearance at the recent Vintage Cabaraoke night, pop rockers Cheesecloth have got a couple of gigs coming up in E17. The Walthamstow-based band play The Standard this Saturday and follow it up at Ye Olde Rose & Crown in April.

Cheesecloth in action

The Standard gig this Saturday, 12 March, is an early slot as the band are supporting Not The Rolling Stones. I’d imagine this means Cheesecloth will be on around 8.30ish. Tickets for The Standard are £9 and available on the door.

The gig at Ye Olde Rose & Crown is on Saturday 2 April. I don’t have many details for that, it is listed on the band’s Myspace site so I’d check back there for further details as they become available. You can find their Myspace site, which has also got a few songs to listen to, here.

New Statesman article on the EMD cinema

Some of you will have already seen this, but in case you missed it, Ryan Gilbey has written a feature about the EMD cinema on the New Statesman culture blog. It’s a personal tribute to the building, and well worth a read. Find it here:

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/cultural-capital/2011/03/cinema-walthamstow-emd-film

London Forest Choir perform Carl Orff

The London Forest Choir, based in Walthamstow, are performing ‘Carmina Burana’ by Carl Orff this Saturday, 12 March. The performance will be at the Chingford Parish Church.

The Choir will be joined by the Southend Girls’ and Boys’ Choir for the performance. The night will also feature ‘The Passing of the Year’ by Jonathan Dove.

Tickets are £12 and there are various concessionary rates available. The performance starts at 7.30pm. More details are available on their website here.

Consultation on regenerating Walthamstow

Waltham Forest Council are currently consulting residents on ideas for how to improve three areas: Walthamstow Town Centre, Wood Street and Blackhorse Lane.

The council has something called a Local Development Framework (LDF) and consulted on this in February. An LDF is basically a plan which is supposed to set out the regeneration and planning strategy for an area over the next 20 years. So, quite important.

Within an LDF, areas which are likely to experience major changes also need an Area Action Plan (AAP). AAPs are now being prepared for Walthamstow Town Centre, Wood Street and Blackhorse Lane. There are separate consultations for each area, and the questions are things like “What do you like about this area?” and “What are your top 3 priorities for the area?”.

All three consultations close on Friday 25 March. The Walthamstow Town Centre form is here, the Wood Street one is here and the Blackhorse Road one is here. As an alternative, you can also email planning.policy@walthamforest.gov.uk with your views, but I’d structure your email along the same lines as the questions in the leaflet.

Planning policy can be quite dry but these might be a good way to influence future council thinking. More detailed technical information on the Waltham Forest LDF can be found on the council website here.

Exhibitions at Beautiful Interiors

St Mary's by Hackenbush and Hackenbush

Beautiful Interiors on Orford Road currently has two exhibitions running in the shop. Hackenbush and Hackenbush are displaying an exhibition entitled “Blueprints of Walthamstow”, which started last week. This is described as “dark, funny and subversive”. More details on this are available on the Beautiful Interiors blog here.

Also on display is “Cranes” by Emma Barrett. Emma is a local artist and her blog can be found here. We went down to visit the shop last week and both works are well worth seeing!

Interview with East London Craft Guerrilla

East London Craft Guerrilla have been running events all over London for the past three years, and hold regular craft nights at Ye Olde Rose & Crown. They can also be spotted at vintage and craft events across E17 and beyond. Debbie, founder of Craft Guerrilla, gave us a rather marvellous interview, which you can read here.

Craft Guerrilla also have an event coming up to celebrate their third birthday! It is on Thursday 10 March, from 8pm at the Rose & Crown. There will be craft packs on offer, and maybe some birthday cake! More details on the 10 March event can be found here.