I arrived at Thornhill Square at 7:16 to find Luke, Sebastian and Mehmet with Anna standing by a verdant flowerbed. Luke claims he arrived early at 7:05, but my sources have not verified the claim. Anna had shown the guys a “curry plant” (Helichrysum italicum) whose leaves smell like curry, and I was instructed to rub the leaves myself. Sarah arrived shortly and with all our fingers smelling like curry – though Sarah said it smelled like celeriac - we got on with the tasks assigned to us.

There were a few invasive ash trees in the flowerbed that Anna asked us to get rid of, and some weeding along the edge of a path. Me and Sarah left the guys with the ash trees and went to clear the path. We were joined the guys once they had cleared the trees, and over the course of 45 minutes we filled up an entire wheelbarrow of weeds!

At 8:02 we decided to call it a day. Luke finished the job by pulling up a very large weed that he claimed had taken “hours” to pull up. Sebastien emptied the wheelbarrow into the compost and we were finished for the evening.

Anna announced she was “thrilled” with the job done and I must say even in the dark you could see a difference. She also told us that Thornhill Square Gardens may have recently won Islington in Bloom, but she wasn’t sure as nobody was at the ceremony. Well, my independent research has found that Thornhill Square Association did win “Best Park”. Well done, Anna and team!

https://www.islington.media/news/record-number-of-entries-for-islington-in-bloom-2024-demonstrates-islingtons-love-of-green-spaces