It’s nice when a grand day out comes straight from the neighbourhood. We’ve had delicious food made from our produce by Vegan Peasant. Our very own brass player, Cath French, has brought along along Regent Community Brass and friends. We’ve had stories from the land: writer Neil Fraser has read from his book Over The Border: The Other East End. We’ve had a cabin-full of local history to delve into. Our volunteers and neighbours have been baking for our tea and cake stall and contributing quiz questions. There’s been a treasure hunt around the garden (enjoyed so much by our young gardeners and visitors that they wanted to do it all again). There’s been portrait drawing by illustrator Fred Apps. And we’ve had a cheery group of Newham Volunteers helping on our stalls.

A big Abbey Gardens thank-you to everyone who’s given time and brought talents, to all of our regular gardeners and behind-the-scenes volunteers who make the space beautiful and productive, a round of applause for our administrator, fundraiser and ideas person Vicki Lewis, who organised the event – and a wave to everyone who came along to enjoy the day.