It’s finished at last. The new Packington Estate, four years late in completion, was finally officially opened in September, exactly 12 years since work began.

We are pleased to announce we now have a Happy To Chat bench in Arlington Square. The idea came from Allison Owen-Jones in Cardiff, who noticed an elderly man sitting alone on a bench in a busy city centre park, ignored by passers-by.

The annual Angel Canal Festival takes place on Sunday 1 September 11am–5pm.

The newly formed Friends of Union Square Gardens enjoyed their first volunteer gardening day in early March.

This year’s Islington Proms will provide the usual mix of topquality music – and more besides.

Showbiz comes to our local church in December when Richard Curtis and some of the stars of Four Weddings and a Funeral will be filming the 2019 Comic Relief TV appeal at St James’, Prebend Street.

Be proud. Be very proud. It’s official. Arlington Square is now recognised as the Best Small Public Square in London.

We’re no closer to discovering why Arlington Square is so-called (see back issues of The Arlingtonian since about 1976) but while looking at old maps for clues, we’ve discovered an interesting fact.

Troubled cop DI Harry Clayton hurtles out of an Arlington Square house towards the camera, pursued by a barefoot female.

This year’s Islington Proms have a distinctly international flavour.

Our research into why our Square is called Arlington continues. The latest possible clue came from a neighbour who was a pupil at Highbury Hill School for Girls, now Highbury Fields School.

Our gardening plans for spring include planting plenty of snowdrops and mini daffodils in Arlington Square’s rejuvenated circular beds.

It’s awards season – and once again the Arlington Association has a lovely list of reasons to celebrate.

In the last Arlingtonian, we wondered who or what had been burying eggs in our gardens and plant pots.

The 2017 season of Islington Proms kicks off this month with a visit by the acclaimed Hermitage Ensemble from St Petersburg.

Does anyone know why our square is called Arlington? Before our streets were laid out and our houses built, this was a greenfield site.

Only a couple of months ago, the large circular flowerbeds in Arlington Square were a mess – not exactly circular, ragged round the edges and over-full of tired old plants and plenty of vigorous weeds.

The Regent’s Canal is 200 years old this year – or at least, part of it is. The birthday celebrations at Little Venice in August marked the bicentenary of the stretch from Paddington to Camden.

You will have noticed that the AA’s stalwart volunteer gardeners have finally cleared the southeast corner of the perimeter border.

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.