Caledonian Park’s ‘dedicated litter picker’ Colin Gibson

THE Caledonian Park Friends Group celebrated its 25th anniversary with a picnic under the plum trees.

The volunteer group meet on Wednesdays and Sundays at 10am for teas and coffees followed by gardening, litter-picking and general upkeep of their various projects, including a pond, com­munity orchard, flower beds and herb garden.

The group is dedicated to the maintenance and improvement of Islington’s second-largest green space and former cattle market site.

Chair Miriam Ashwell moved to the area 20 years ago and got involved as part of recuperating from a serious illness.

She said: “I thought, how hard can it be? It was so nice to feel useful again, having been stuck at home ill for so long.”

The Friends group has made countless additions to the park – beyond improving wheelchair access in the woodland area and around the clocktower, including building a pond and amphitheatre

She said she had been asked to co-chair the group by the previous chair Sylvia Tunstall and that now leading the group made her feel like something of a “fairy godmother”.

She said: “People come to me with ideas, and we actually get some of them done. Members of the group came with ideas for the woodland where we’ve put in wheelchair-accessible pathways into an area that was previously pretty dodgy. It’s really rewarding knowing that what you’re doing makes a difference to people – it’s really appreciated.”

The Friends group was originally set up as part of a campaign to stop temporary housing being built on park land amid the regeneration of old tenement flats. The campaign was success­ful – the park lost a little ground on the corners but gained the avenue which now leads to the clock­tower from North Road.

It has have made countless additions to the park beyond improving wheelchair access in the woodland area and around the clocktower, including building a pond, amphitheatre, outdoor gym, café, classroom, toilets, pet memorial wall and more. The Friends also lead on organising the annual clocktower festival each August.

Ms Ashwell said the trust the group has built with the council and fulsome support from relevant officers has allowed many of the ambitious projects to materialise, but the volunteers do much of the dirty work.

The Friends group also lead a festival each year at the clocktower

When building the pond three years ago, the Friends dug out much of the earth by hand after surveys detected metal on the site. Although some hoped to find unexploded bombs, the dig only unearthed a few bits of Victorian rubble and a single heel of a kitten heel shoe. Within a day of the pond being filled, dragonflies had begun patrolling the surface, and newts and water boatmen moved in.

The Friends have been a source of support for members during illness, bereavement and other life challenges, including finding pet-sitters.

Gail Timewell, secretary of the group, said: “Between this group and the peripheral groups, I can think of several people whose cats would not have been nearly so well-looked after,” she said.