Cllr Paul Donovan on the work of volunteers in Wanstead Park

Over recent months, there has been bramble clearance, putting up the skylark enclosure with the City of London Corporation, and encouraging wildflowers around the Exchange Land area of the park. 

The group also educate, raising awareness of the area in the summer, a weekend of activities highlights this.

In some ways, the practical work is building on tradition in the area.

In the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century, unemployed workers were organised to do public works.

The work included establishing the Jubilee, Alexandra and Angel lakes on Wanstead Flats. The workers also helped transform the area into a recreational space, with football pitches and other sporting facilities.

The unemployed workers also put a concrete bottom in the Heronry Lake in the park, as well as desilting the Ornamental Lake.

Cllr Paul Donovan has looked at the history of maintaining our open spaces (Image: Paul Donovan) Slightly further afield on Leyton Flats, they extended Hollow Ponds and helped build a lido nearby.

The work was overseen by local councils, with distress committees directly administering the operations, including pay.

Details of this fascinating period of local history can be found in the excellent booklet, Changing the Face of the Forest-how the unemployed transformed the Wanstead Flats area by Andrew Cole, Mark Gorman and Peter Williams (leytonhistorysociety.org uk).

So, it can be said that the work of the Wren Group and others like the Friends of Wanstead Park and the River Roding Trust are building on an important tradition. 

The unemployed workers’ labour was on a bigger scale, and they were paid.

Today, volunteers mainly do the work out of a love and concern for nature and the local area. All contribute greatly, and long may the work continue and grow.

However, this incredible volunteering work must not be seen as a way for local authorities and those with statutory responsibilities to evade their duties - a bit of cheap labour to save money.

The relationship has to be one of partnership. Individuals and groups are happy to volunteer and work but also expect their voices to be heard by the likes of the City of London Corporation, Redbridge, Newham and Waltham Forest Councils, as well as Thames Water and the Environment Agency.

The work of volunteers must not be seen as a substitute for properly resourcing our open spaces.

At present, the partnerships appear to be developing well. But it is always a fine line between co-operation and exploitation, as no doubt many of those unemployed workers, who did so much to lay the blueprint for the park and flats today, would testify.

So onward with the work, but always in a truly collaborative spirit of working for the common good.

• Paul Donovan is Labour councillor for Wanstead Village ward, Redbridge Council and a blogger (paulfdonovan.blogspot.com).