Who will lead our borough by the morning?
Plus: A local children's book about the power of standing on your own two feet
Good morning, Wimblers – I hope that everyone had a lovely bank holiday weekend.
Today is the big day. It’s the local elections. There are 57 seats up for grabs in Merton, and you get to decide who takes control of our borough. Polling stations are open from 7am–10pm (or 9am–5pm if you’re voting at the Civic Centre). Scroll down to get a sense of each party’s manifesto.
This week, I sat down with Ekaterina Botziou Pilalis, a local author who has just released a new children’s book, The Wolf Who Ate Alone. If her name sounds familiar, that’s because she’s also part of the family that runs the Stage Door Steakhouse. Scroll down to read about her life in Wimbledon, why she decided to write a children’s book about individuality and what it means to not follow the crowd.
We’re gearing up for our summer print edition, so please do get in touch if you have any human interest stories that we could feature: zak@thewimble.com.
News snippets 🗞️
🚨 The driver of a car that crashed into a local school has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving after two eight-year-old girls – Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau – were killed. Claire Freemantle has been accused of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and seven counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving following the crash at the Study Prep School in July 2023. It has been indicated by Freemantle’s lawyers that she will plead not guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 16 June.
Freemantle was rearrested and then released in January last year. The current charges come after evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on 17 March this year. Click here to read more.
🗳 Today is the day! Local elections are taking place across the UK today (including in Merton). Residents will have the opportunity to decide whether to stick with our current councillors or take the borough in a new political direction. Labour has held overall control in Merton since 2014 (Ross Garrod has been the council leader since 2022). Currently, the 57-seat council is made up of 30 Labour councillors, 17 Liberal Democrats, seven Conservatives, two Merton Park Ward Residents and one other independent. Voting is never easy, but it’s incredibly important. Click here to read each Merton party’s manifesto to help you decide (if you haven’t already).
Click here for timings and polling stations. The declaration is expected at 5am tomorrow.
The Wimble’s sponsor of the week 💼
Huddle, located in Wimbledon Quarter, is offering Wimble readers a free day of coworking (T&Cs apply). All you have to do is email wimbledon@huddle.co.uk to arrange your free coworking trial (exclusive to Fridays).
Property of the week 🏡
This is a rather lovely detached period property, if you ask me. This five-bedroom home is located just off the desirable Copse Hill and has enough space for the Partridge Family. But how much, I hear you ask. £2.15 million. Sheesh. Looks like most of us will be saving up for a while. Check out more pics here.
The Wimble’s to-do list 🎯
🖌 Sketching workshop on Wimbledon Common: Spend some time outside, observe nature and create some wonderful sketches. What’s not to love? Join local artist Katie Preston as she teaches you some simple ways to realise your sketching potential. This event is suitable for anyone 16+. Tickets are £20 per person and can be bought here.
Where: Wimbledon Museum
When: Friday 8 May, 11.30am–1.30pm
🌳 Forest bathing at Cannizaro Park: No, it’s not what you think. This event is not about having a bath in the forest. Instead, it’s about “bathing” yourself in nature. Join Susanne Meis, founder of Meet in Nature, for a day of woodland immersion. Tickets are £15 per person and can be bought here.
Where: Cannizaro Park
When: Saturday 9 May, 10.30am–12.30pm
🕵️♀️ Do We See What They Saw? Experiencing Paintings in the Past: Contemporary painting is wildly different to what came before — but so is the context we view paintings in. We don’t use magnifying glasses, conceal pictures behind small curtains or hang pictures incredibly high up. How does our experience of looking at works of art today compare to the viewing experience of earlier centuries? This Arts Society Wimbledon lecture, led by Dr Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe, considers the very different conditions in which art was displayed in the past. Tickets are £10 per person (book here). Members go free. Members go free.
Where: The Sacred Heart Church
When: Wednesday 13 May, 8pm
🎤 The Rapping Princess at Polka: We’re promoting this again in case parents missed out on the recommendation last week. The age range for this show is 3–6 years old. Tickets can be bought here. We really are lucky to have Polka on our doorsteps, so please do get yourself along to the theatre as much as you can to support such an amazing and enduring staple of SW19.
Where: Polka Theatre
When: Saturday 16 May – Sunday 21 June
🥳 Family activity day: Spend a day enjoying Cannizaro Park’s pond with water conservation experts from the South East Rivers Trust. There will be lots of pond habitat-focused activities for all of the family to enjoy. This event is free, though booking is required for the pond dipping sessions (click here).
Where: Cannizaro Park
When: Sunday 17 May, 11am–4pm
The Wolf Who Ate Alone: In conversation with local children’s author Ekaterina Botziou Pilalis 🐺
Ekaterina Botziou Pilalis is a local mother of three, a learning support assistant and part of the family that runs the beloved Stage Door Steakhouse restaurant on The Broadway. But she has also been quietly building a body of children’s books and creative work over the past decade, from her Greek mythology chapter book series The Adventures of Omicron to her most recent picture book, The Wolf Who Ate Alone.
The Wolf Who Ate Alone is a simple but profound story about a wolf who chooses to sit alone, not out of loneliness or fear, but because he is content in his own space. It’s a book which was inspired by Ekaterina’s own children, as well as the social dynamics she sees every day while working in schools. This week, I sat down with Ekaterina to talk about the message behind her latest book.
Let’s start with your background. How did you end up in Wimbledon writing children’s books?
I moved to Wimbledon in 2011 after finishing my law degree and taking on a job with an American finance company in Mayfair. I started a blog that same year, and from there my writing started to become a main focus. I wrote for an English Cypriot fashion-lifestyle magazine (my husband’s family is from Cyprus; mine are from Greece), as well as other publications including The Huffington Post and Love Wimbledon, focusing on local businesses and fashion features.
And how did your career as a learning support assistant start?
After having my second child, I decided not to return to work in finance and instead continued with my writing and supporting the family business. My eldest son (11) has dyslexia, and from early on, I became very interested in education at home and what I could do to help him. Schools do all they can to support children with learning difficulties, but it’s very difficult if they don’t have the right resources and proper funding. I did a lot of research into the education system, and, without realising it, I was slowly putting myself on a pathway to working in education.
Although I was writing different books at the time, I was also researching educational materials and different teaching methods online and creating my own interactive toddler learning book. When my youngest child started reception, I decided that I wanted to go back into work outside of the family business. At first, I volunteered at my children’s school in Wimbledon and, after completing a qualification in SEN (special educational needs), began working as a general teaching assistant and then a learning support assistant at a local school. It’s been an incredible experience. I’ve been able to see both sides: the experience of having a child with SEN and the experience of seeing what schools are up against in terms of financial constraints and other mounting pressures.
Do you think your experience as a learning support assistant has informed your latest book, The Wolf Who Ate Alone?
Most definitely, but the book has also come from being a parent. It’s so common for our children to come home and tell us things that have happened at school. Often, I would link what my children told me with the experiences I had as a learning assistant. All children go through phases where they feel included and then excluded by their friends. And I find that the lunch hall is where those experiences and emotions are really exasperated.
The Wolf Who Ate Alone is about self-assurance. It’s about individuality and what it means not to follow the crowd. The story takes place in a lunch hall where the sheep sit together and one wolf sits alone. He’s not sitting alone because he’s lonely but because he’s happy in his own space (and happy in himself). The dynamic changes when another wolf enters the lunch hall, who also sits alone. The story develops without dialogue. I wanted it to be as simple as possible. All it takes is for one of the wolves to stand up for the sheep to sit with them. It’s really based off something I see a lot. Not every child wants to join in in the same way. And sometimes that’s misunderstood. The wolves aren’t isolated; they’re just respecting their individuality. And in the end, the sheep and wolves share a table, not necessarily to talk but to sit wherever they please and to not feel as if there’s this huge unspoken space between them.
The book isn’t about right and wrong or wolves against sheep. It’s about knowing that you don’t have to do what everyone else does in order to fit in. It’s a book about the strength that comes from not conforming. It’s a book designed to speak to children who are looking for guidance.
Ekaterina has had an incredible career and journey so far. If you want to read more about her work, her writing and her projects, head to her website here. To grab a copy of her newest children’s book, The Wolf Who Ate Alone, which she illustrated herself, click here. You can also visit her Instagram for updates and hear her read it aloud here (for free!).
Question of the week 🔍
Last week, I asked you how many water wheels the River Wandle powered in the Victorian era. The answer: 68.
Q: Which of these famous singers was born in Wimbledon?
You’re up to date 👋
Thank you for reading this week’s edition of The Wimble. I hope you enjoyed our interview with Ekaterina. Do visit her website to get your copy of The Wolf Who Ate Alone. Other than that, have a great rest of the week and we’ll see you next Thursday.