A record Christmas

Our annual Christmas Fair in the Square seems a long time ago now, but it’s worth recalling the event to celebrate the record amount of money we raised for charities.

It didn’t snow, but it didn’t quite rain either. Santa and his helpful elves, Arl and Tonia, arrived safely from Lapland, our charity buckets overflowed and everyone was in hearty seasonal voice, which may account for the mulled wine running out before the finale. In all, generous Arlingtonians raised a record total of £1,000 to share between our chosen charities, Shelter from the Storm and St Joseph’s Hospice.

A letter of thanks from Anita Brien, St Joseph’s Community Fundraiser, pointed out: ‘Your £500 donation could pay for 17 hours of nursing care on our wards, or 11 sessions of counselling for a bereaved family trying to cope through the Christmas holidays, or could allow our community nurses to visit five patients in the comfort of their own homes. Please pass on my best wishes and my thanks once again to everyone involved.’

A year of donations

In all the Arlington Association donated a total of £2,800 to five local good causes in 2015. (In addition, our local gardeners raised £2,100 for the National Garden Scheme’s nursing and caring charities.)

Our policy is, whenever possible, to support small local charities where our donation can really make a difference. If you know of a good cause in Islington that might benefit from the generosity of Arlingtonians, let us know by an email to arlingtonassociation@hotmail.co.uk.

Our regular community events also raise money to support our ongoing voluntary work greening the neighbourhood.

As always, our grateful thanks go to the hardworking friends and neighbours who so generously offer their time, muscle and skills, and to the local businesses who support our work.