Nov/Dec 2021

Contents
Features
SoWo Christmas 16–17
Hotel Uniform Bravo 20
Greening South Woodford22
Cut out for Christmas26–27
DD’s 50th Woodford Diary30–31
Leisure measures 38
Flat-out advice40
Streets apart42
Fanatical about history 46–47
Our green and pleasant land 50–51
Dramatic pause 54
Puzzles & competitions
Sudoku 28
Crossword competition34
Woodford anagram48
Mind-bender puzzles52
Every month
Local news6–8 & 10–13
South Woodford map18–19
Community events59–62 & 64
Community groups66
Useful numbers68
Index of advertisers70
Contact Us
020 8819 0595
Welcome...
This Christmas will be considerably better
than last year. So said the Prime Minister 82
days before the big day. As comparisons go,
it’s up there with the best of the worst; a false
equivalence in anyone’s book. It’s apples and oranges,
honey and butter (for any Welsh readers), grandparents and
machine guns (for any Serbians) or gingerbread and windmills
(for the Polish among us). With Christmas 2020 cancelled for
many families, it’s a low bar to judge this year’s festivities by. No
amount of gingerbread could replace missing grandparents.
But it also strikes me that making any Christmas-on-Christmas
comparison is something of a perverse thing to do. We all hope
(and plan) for a wonderful Christmas each year, but do any of us
keep score? The average Brit can expect around 80 visits from
Santa in their lifetime, so if we are to keep a yuletide best-toworst
ranking, a simple spreadsheet should suffice. Of course,
a robust scoring system will be needed. Points awarded for
quality (or quantity?) of presents. More points for a well-cooked
turkey, bonus points if you finish your sprouts. Christmases with
argument-free family gatherings are likely to score well. ‘Nul
points’ for Christmases that are simply free of any family.
But how to account for changing circumstances? Was Christmas
as a five-year-old, when you got that magnificent bike, better
than Christmas as a 35-year-old when you got socks but watched
your own child get a bike? Would a white Christmas with a dry
turkey outrank a wet Christmas with the perfect dinner? I’m not
sure this festive league table will catch on.
So, let’s just hope for a restriction-free,
family-friendly Christmas. If it’s better
than last year, great, but as I tell my
children, if you’re enjoying yourself,
does it really matter who wins?
Lee Marquis, Editor
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the January/February 2022 edition is 10 December 2021.
info@swvg.co.uk
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The South Woodford Village Gazette is
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