Urban regeneration with ABN Amro at Cleveland Park, Ealing

Cleveland Park lies at the heart of a residential area in Ealing, West London. Rimmed by trees, with attractive planting along its paths and at its centre, its grassy areas nevertheless represent the 'green deserts' so familiar in many urban parks, so-called because they encourage so little biodiversity. On Wednesday 11th February, together ABN Amro and our local partners, Letting Grow, we set about transforming parts of these green deserts into mixed copses of native trees. By some miracle, the relentless rain of 2026 actually stopped for most of the event and there were even some nanoseconds of blue sky and sunshine! The water table was high, the mud was everywhere, but we all ploughed on with enthusiasm, planting 750 trees in three hours, adding woodchips around each for weed prevention and water retention purposes. In time, these copses should become havens of biodiversity, providing valuable ecosystem services such as much-needed shade during the summer and water uptake when it's raining cats and dogs. Thank you ABN Amro for your generous donation of trees, good humour and hard work!!

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