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hIS issue sees Walthamstow in the full swing of the E17 Art Trail, which this year celebrates its 10th birthday. It has grown enormously over that time, now boasting the involvement of some 4,000 people! I am delighted that Artillery, the organisers, have chosen the E List to be their media partner and we are pleased to list all the Art Trail events on our website, www.theelist.co.uk, as well as in our brand new free E List App for iPhone and Android. Hope you find both site and app useful as you make your way round the Trail. The scale of the Art Trail guide makes it impossible to relist every event here in the printed magazine, so I have asked Artillery to choose a broad selection for us. Hopefully it will give a taster as to the kind of things you can expect to see and will encourage you to seek out more. In the end the Art Trail is always a good excuse to get out and explore Walthamstow. It’s amazing what you find whether it’s in a studio at the end of someone’s garden, a local master craftsman or discovering talented neighbours on your own street. Have fun!
Even excluding the E17 Art Trail this is a particularly packed edition, including an interview with successful local author, Helen Chandler; a feature on our most magnificent musical collective, Walthamstow Acoustic Massive; and the Mall telling us about their plans for Walthamstow’s only shopping centre. I am also thrilled to have film director, Barry Bliss, write a feature on how some of the formative days of UK film production took place right here in Walthamstow. E17 always seems to have been the home of innovation, and with film it was no different, the UK’s first purpose built film studio was constructed on Wood Street and the UK’s most successful film ever was produced on Hoe Street! Barry is currently campaigning for a fitting memorial to these incredible firsts. Finally it was a real pleasure to interview Nicole Whitelaw for this month’s Local Hero and hear about the incredible Whitefield School. I dedicate the piece to the memory of my brother David, in the hope that he had a teacher like Nicole. My parents had to largely find their own way with an autistic son in the mid-sixties. Nicole talks about how attitudes and approaches to the conditions such as his have changed in recent years, and how this is in no small way down to the work and teaching of places like Walthamstow’s Whitefield School. Paul Lindt, Editor paul@theelist.co.uk
Untitled by Esther Simpson
Esther Simpson Esther was born in Thorpe Coombe Hospital on Forest Road, and although brought up in E18, escaped back to E17 as soon as she was able. She has been taking photographs since digital technology meant not having to do all that tedious mucking about at Boots, and mainly enjoys sharing the peculiarities of people she spots out and about in London.
2014 E17 Art Trail: Inhabit Hibo Wardere “My mother, my daughters” Morning Commute a poem by Jack Houston Walthamstow Acoustic Massive Walthamstow – The English Hollywood The Walthamstow International Film Festival Helen Chandler, Novelist All change at The Mall Wilcumstowe Times: The Goose FarmDrop a click-and-collect farmers’ market Local Heroes: Nicole Whitelaw and the Whitefield School Walthamstow Diary Spotted Walthamstow
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