HEN is a wonderful residents' association in Tottenham that has taken really good care of the surrounding streets. Our task was to show them even more love!

An actual treasure map!

When we arrived, task owner Matt was ready with a wheelbarrow loaded with everything we needed: rubbish bags, paint and paint brushes. Due to childcare responsibilities he wasn't able to join us but had already sent a map through showing where we were to go: a series of planters made from wood, green metal barrels and blue metal barrels. Dave was excited about the map.

Mutiny!

Very quickly, run leader Sarah was sacked from navigation duty and Dave took over. One by one, we found the planters. Wooden planter first, no need for paint or weeding, but there was a bit of litter to pick up. We found our first blue metal planters under the railway bridge. The planters were still beautiful and had managed to get through summer's heatwaves thanks to careful watering by residents, but the metal planters were starting to develop rust spots. Asan and Yann set to painting them with anti-rust paint. One of the planters had a rubber rim that had been dislodged, so Sarah and Dave slipped it back into place.

Treasure!

Then it was down the alleyway and around the corner to the next set of planters, where there was a surprise in store for Asan: a book he needed for his course! These planters were green so no paint was required due to a shortage of the right shade of green paint, but we gave them a quick tidy and litter pick.

Finally, it was back up and across the main road to paint and tidy a couple more blue planters.

We returned to Matt's with two full bags of rubbish and smiles on our faces.