Waltham Forest News RSS Feed Send your news, pictures & videos


Communities in Waltham Forest pull together to help the vulnerable throughout the bad weather

4:03pm Wednesday 6th January 2010 in


SEVERE weather conditions have prompted communities to pull together to help grit the pavements and look out for vulnerable neighbours.

With a second bout of snowfall since December and predictions of more freezing temperatures and snowfall to come, neighbours have been displaying their community spirit and are encouraging others to do so.

Concerned members of Walthamstow Village Residents' Association (WVRA) have been calling on their elderly and disabled neighbours who are confined to the home to help with errands and check on their well-being.

WVRA environmental coordinator, Helen Learner, of Beulah Road, Walthamstow, said: “We have got quite a few members of the association looking out for people.

“We have got quite a high proportion of elderly people in the area and this weather hits them the hardest. Younger people might be able to take a fall on the ice, but for them it can be very serious.

“We just do their shopping or make sure their heating is working. We are just being neighbourly really. But if there's anyone we don't know about, please let us know.”

A Leytonstone resident concerned about people with mobility problems slipping on compacted snow is urging residents to get involved by gritting the pavement at the front of their home or business.

Flash Bristow, of Davies Lane, Leytonstone, chair of Waltham Forest Mobility Forum, said: “When the snow becomes compacted and turns to ice, it is dangerous for everyone but even more so for the elderly and disabled. And if you cannot walk or use your wheelchair anywhere, it is terrible.

“We need people to put out grit on the pavements and to use a bit of initiative. The council provide salt in bins around the borough, so I would strongly encourage people to use them and help their neighbours by doing so.”

Waltham Forest Borough Council has provided 89 salt and grit bins around the borough, each of which hold 250kg of salt.

To find out the location of grit boxes, visit www.walthamforest.gov.uk/index/transport/road-highway/highway-maint/winter-maint.htm or call the council on 8496 3000.

Click here to follow the Waltham Forest Guardian on Twitter

Comments(7)

newyear says...
4:59pm Wed 6 Jan 10

Before Techno2 posts another snide comment about the 'Village' may I add that such initiatives are not confined to that area of the borough alone.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

noneofabove says...
10:18am Thu 7 Jan 10

I agree with newyear, although I know nothing about Techno2. When these sudden snowfalls happen I always enjoy myself, I'll drive until I run across stuck cars, help them get moving and carry on. Sometimes I'm on my own but often other people will happily help, once one person shows the way, it's amazing how helpful people can be. We can't always rely on other people, such as the council, to do things for us, sometimes we have to help ourselves and others. Fortunately I carry a spade in my van for work, my wife now has a bag of salt in her car, I must get one for myself.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Techno2 says...
12:16pm Thu 7 Jan 10

newyear wrote:
Before Techno2 posts another snide comment about the 'Village' may I add that such initiatives are not confined to that area of the borough alone.
I have nothing against any part of this lovely city (even the fraction of the former Essex town of Walthamstow which a few deluded people and their estate agents purport to call a 'village') pulling itself together.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Helen, Walthamstow says...
1:02pm Thu 7 Jan 10

Walthamstow Village is probably the only part of Waltham Forest entitled to the name, Techno 2. It was there for hundreds of years before the rest of Walthamstow was developed.

I'd love to know what is at the root of your bitterness against the Village people (of whom I am not one). They work hard as a community to keep their area attractive, which is admirable. Could it be envy that motivates you?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Techno2 says...
6:01pm Thu 7 Jan 10

Helen, Walthamstow wrote:
Walthamstow Village is probably the only part of Waltham Forest entitled to the name, Techno 2. It was there for hundreds of years before the rest of Walthamstow was developed. I'd love to know what is at the root of your bitterness against the Village people (of whom I am not one). They work hard as a community to keep their area attractive, which is admirable. Could it be envy that motivates you?
I have no 'bitterness' or 'envy' against anyone in the 'Village'. I have lived in real villages and have no need to live in a pretend one. And I do know that Walthamstow was once an actual village, but that was centuries ago. It was also once a hamlet in the lands of Countess Judith and before that there would have been a few tubercular lean-tos on the edge of a boggy marsh on the Danish side of the Anglo-Danish Border.

I do enjoy winding some of the people in the Village up, though. A few people there take themselves far too seriously. Too many of them don't see how precious they come across and do not seem to realise that they are not living in Ambridge but are living in a massive modern city in the 21st century. If the place really were a rural eidyllion, a lot of the 'villagers' would be the kinds of people who buy up old barn in the back end of nowhere and then get up in arms about the sound of the birds, let alone the lack of a decent gesso merchant, the smells of slurry dressing and the inability to get broadband.

The idea of the modern 'village' really was invented by the estate agents in Hoe Street, who wanted to ramp up prices and sell property to people without them thinking too much about what the area is really like. As much as some fantasists and marketting people wish it were different, the place is not in fact a very distinct entity from the rest of Walthamstow.

Yes, historically, there once was a village there, but people really have to get over the fact that they have over 220,000 neighbours in their borough and see that things developed from a few centuries back. The place which estate agents pretend is a distinct entity is part of a much larger community which can't be ignored. Hence they have the same trouble with fly-tipping as the rest of us.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

newyear says...
3:20pm Fri 8 Jan 10

You've redeemed yourself in my eyes, Techno2 (on this issue at least). Some of the 'Village people' (lovely image, that) are incredibly precious about it. A friend of mine lives very close to St Mary's church but outside the conservation area and is therefore dismissed by some of the diehard Villagers as 'Village borders'. How's that for postcode snobbery!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

techiebabe says...
7:57pm Fri 8 Jan 10

Getting back on topic(!) can I please encourage people to grit or salt the pavement outside your house, and also outside your neighbours especially if they are elderly or have mobility problems. The council have kept the bins in E11 stocked, and I hope they've done the same elsewhere, but you can always use dishwasher salt, sandpit or builders' sand, or even cat litter will provide some extra grip!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

More Waltham Forest News stories


WALTHAM FOREST: Community spirit alive in severe weather WALTHAM FOREST: Community spirit alive in severe weather

Most popular







Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »

Local Businesses