Mayor of Islington lends a hand as gardens receive Ground Force-style makeover

The Mayor of Islington, Councillor Richard Greening visited Rotherfield Street in Islington on Monday 29 June, where staff from Rydon, Partners for Improvement in Islington & The Hyde Group volunteered to renovate a series of communal gardens that had fallen into disrepair in a Ground Force-style makeover.

The Mayor was joined by Rydon Maintenance Refurbishment Director Steve Blake, The Hyde Group Chief Executive Elaine Bailey and Partners Managing Director Sharon Pearce who came to join in and see how the residents were benefiting from the hard work.

The gardens comprise a large communal shared garden area and a number of individually assigned gardens, which will now benefit around 70 households nearby. Bringing these outdoor spaces back into use has provided a new place for residents to enjoy and deter problems with anti-social behaviour which had become a problem.

In total over 20 members of staff from the three organisations volunteered to cut down overgrown shrubs, bushes, tame weeds and put up trellis and other fencing in order to give residents an outside space to enjoy.

Rydon subcontractors M&G and Clearway Services also supported the initiative, carrying out the relaying and levelling of the slabs, supplying two tons of topsoil and repairing the benches.

One resident, Miss Thomas from Rotherfield Street said: “I first moved here a few years ago, as a single mum I wanted to use the gardens but it was just a dumping ground that people used to exercise their dogs. A few of us tried to sort it out but it was too big a job for us and we didn’t know where to start. With young children we badly need somewhere safe for them to play and it is fantastic to see the gardens being renovated by everyone today”.

Rydon Maintenance Refurbishment Director Steve Blake commented: “This was a rewarding event to take part in and the end results after everyone’s hard work including Residents is something to be proud of.”

The Mayor of Islington added: “It is fantastic to see everyone pulling together to help out residents who I have no doubt will enjoy the newly renovated space”.

Finally managing director of Partners Sharon Pearce noted: “It was great to see a real partnership in action – Partners residents and Partners staff, Hyde and Rydon staff all working together to make an immediate and lasting difference to some of our resident’s lives. I hope the residents in Rotherfield Street really enjoy using their gardens.”

The team has committed to continue to support the upkeep of the new gardens, including providing mulch for planters and a revisit of volunteers in the autumn to cut back foliage and again in the spring to taken up a section of woodchip and weed-mat and to plant wild flower meadow seed.

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