News: January 2008 Archives

Many of you will remember from last year the early closure of our Victoria Line service as the engineering works to upgrade the line took place. We've now been informed by Transport for London that from Monday 4 February until November the Tube will finish at 10pm Monday-Thursday to enable them to test the new trains on the track.
 
There will be a replacement bus service from Finsbury Park to Blackhorse Road and Walthamstow Central and at present I am informed the Liverpool St - Chingford service will run as usual. You can download a leaflet detailing the closures and also some weekends when the Victoria Line will not run at all here.
 
Both Neil Gerrard and myself are frustrated by this sudden action, despite previous assurances that no such closures were proposed. Neil is also writing to London Underground to ensure that there are no simultaneous closures of the Victoria Line and the Liverpool Street-Chingford overground line. I will update this blog as to their response and any details of further disruption.

The Hornbeam Centre will be hosting a Tree Festival this Saturday 26 January (10am-5pm) to celebrate our local trees. There will be talks, workshops, demonstrations, activities for children, folklore and art, as well as freshly made treats and tree related refreshments!

 

This week Progress, a national Labour think tank, published a pamphlet to which I contributed a short chapter on the role of public participation in public services and political parties. It sets out my belief that both need to work not just for people but with them if they are to be successful in achieving social change.I was asked to write this piece after speaking at an event with the Secretary of State Hazel Blears. There was disagreement on many aspects of the debate between members of the panel as well as the audience so I'm sure readers of this blog may also have different ideas about the relationship the public and government should have with each other - let me know what you think
You can download the pamphlet here.

Walthamstow is a hub of artistic people and not least among our younger generations. Recently, the children of Stoneydown Park Primary School have painted four North London Line railway bridges in High Street ward with huge murals. Artist Linda Hughes worked with children ranging in age from nursery to year 6 on the design and painting with themes including William Morris (Pretoria Ave), Favourite Toys and Beach Scene (Stoneydown Ave), Under The Ocean and Jungle Animals (Ritchings Ave) and Islamic Tile Art (Suffolk Park Road). Money was generously donated by the Community Safety Tactical Joint Action Group to fund the materials, and the Young Offenders Payback team did the heavy work of preparing the surfaces beforehand and applying the anti-graffiti coating afterwards.Local photographer Chi Chan documented the before and after situation and you can see the pictures at Walthamstow' Central Library from 7-21 January 2008. This week I will be visiting this and I hope you can find the time to do so too.

Stoneydown Park Primary School Parent Teacher's Association also has a website detailing their great work in our local community. You can access it here. 

The Hall Farm Curve is a short piece of track, which linked up the Liverpool St - Chingford Line with the Lea Valley Line. This enabled trains to run between Stratford and Chingford. It closed over twenty years ago but since then there has been a long running campaign for the line to be reopened. It would be especially important in the light of the transport needs for the Olympics but there are many positive repercussions to the local economy in getting an easier connection to the Jubilee line, the DLR and Canary Wharf.
 
I'm pleased to report talks have recently started with Network Rail about reopening the line and so connecting Walthamstow with Stratford during the 2010-2015 time period of transport investment. Getting this line reopened, and making the case for the station at Lea Bridge to be reinstated as part of the route too, would be a vital boost to public transport links for Walthamstow. As plans develop I'll keep readers posted.

Amongst its many great contributions to public life, Walthamstow has played a key role in the development of the British film industry. You can learn more about this at the free one-day film festival which is being run by the McGuffins's this Saturday, the 5th January 2008 at the Victoria Bar, 186 Hoe Street (adjacent to the EMD Cinema). This event will also commemorate five years since the closure of the EMD Cinema and celebrate the contributions to film made by the people of Waltham Forest. There will be a quick photocall outside the cinema at 5pm and festival will start at 5.30pm. The bill includes a documentary on the EMD "A Cinema Near You", a look at the role of Walthamstow in the development of the film industry "Hollywood E17"; Alfred Hitchcock's "Number Seventeen", a biopic on William Morris called "News from Nowhere" staring Timothy West and "It was an Accident" a gritty urban black comedy starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton and James Bolam filmed almost entirely on location around Waltham Forest. Further details about this event and the McGuffins group can be found at the McGuffin website: www.mcguffin.info.