We just can’t stop winning

Some of the AA’s volunteer gardeners display some of this year’s awards.

We’ve had more than our fair share of Oscar moments this year. Led by the indefatigable Gordon McArthur and garden designer Paul Thompson, the Arlington Association’s work greening the neighbourhood has earned us a long list of awards and prizes.

✿ The Royal Horticultural Society’s It’s Your Neighbourhood awards gave Arlington Square the highest possible rating of Outstanding.

✿ We won a Gold Medal in London in Bloom’s Best Small Parks category. (Meanwhile, Islington received London in Bloom’s Borough of the Year award for the second year running.)

✿ We won first place in Islington in Bloom’s Best Residential Community Garden category.

✿ We were awarded third Best Large Public Garden Square by the London Garden Society (the winner was St James’s Square in Westminster, whose residents include the East India Club, Chatham House, and the London Library).

✿ We were joint winners of the London in Bloom ‘Clean and Green for The Queen Award’ 2016.

✿ We are one of three finalists in Tesco’s Bags of Help community pro ject funding scheme. Bags of Help offers community groups and pro jects in each of Tesco’s 416 UK regions a share of revenue generated from the 5p carrier bag charge.

And to top it all, in the national Green Flag Awards, Arlington Square has been voted one of the top ten best parks in the UK. That’s quite a lot to live up to next year.