News and Stories ← St James Street Walthamstow

Mission Grove Primary School Visit 27 April – Ninety Year 5 students at Mission Grove Primary School held an exhibition to show case models of what they know about the St James Street HLF Scheme Area and Walthamstow. The exhibition included small scale models of The Mall, EMD Cinema, Town Hall, Walthamstow Central Station, board games based on key landmarks in the area, ideas for how and what they would like to see in the area in terms of leisure, education and play. They also produced and showed a short film of their visit to the area in December last year, and also produced a welcome leaflet. The exhibition was attended by parents, other teachers, School Governors, and year 4 pupils who will be doing a similar work next year.

Update on the shopfront improvements. 39-41 High Street ‘The Golden Cake’ has been completed, with completely new shop front, new shop sign, awning, interior shutters and external pillars. In addition, the brickwork to the upper floors have been cleaned and re-pointed, and the windows repainted. Similar work is ongoing to the International Supermarket and Oxfam buildings, both of which were completed in January 2017 to feature multi-coloured architectural lighting to accentuate the intricate mouldings on the walls.

Work experience scheme – one local resident previously unemployed and one post-grad. As part of the Council’s continued commitment to local labour and employment, 2 work experience opportunities were offered as part of the project for a nine-week period until the end of October 2016. One previously unemployed local resident benefitted from the placement and has subsequently found permanent employment.

Waltham Forest Oral History Workshop were commissioned to interview local people about the history of the St James St area, how the place and people have changed over time. The interviews were completed in February followed by an exhibition at The Mill in March and April 2017. The recorded interviews and photographs will be archived at Vestry House Museum. They are available to anyone who wishes to see them and listen to the recordings. We recommend it, they make for interesting listening!

Local school visits – 5th December 2016. School visit by 5th Form pupils of Mission Grove Primary School, aimed at increasing their interest in and awareness of heritage and conservation. The pupils took part in interactive activities including a ‘treasure hunt’ to locate and identify key building features of architectural and heritage value. The Mill @Coppermill Lane hosted a fun afternoon of activities and mince pies!

Photo Documentation: A local photographer has started documenting the key stages of the project as well as the people involved with and affected by the scheme. So do visit the site again for up to date pictures.