El Ashfield
El Ashfield lives in Brockley and has been very generously supporting Street Trees for Living as a tree sponsor and waterer of trees in her street since 2014.
She is an illustrator of children’s books. “This happened after a very wonky pathway of false starts, twists and turns. I ended up at art school and had a chance encounter with comedy writer/playwright Corinne V. Davies. This led to the "Ralph is (not)…" books. You can see details here. [CHECK LINK]
Outside her work, El loves cycling; “I recently rode on a PedalMe cargo-bike taxi, which was brilliant. And a little while ago I did a charity bike-ride through London at night. It was like going back in time. I was able to look around and see all the curves and embellishments of buildings like Selfridges for the very first time. Beautiful! Apart from cycling and trees I also love ponds and frogs - I have two ponds in my little garden and have managed to create them elsewhere too!”
El’s concern for wildlife started as a child. “I grew up in leafy Bucks, rescuing frogs from soon-to-be-demolished ponds – sorry, ponds and frogs again! - dropping sticks into rivers - carefully, of course - and often going on marshy nature walks. As a kid I saw wildlife being destroyed by new housing and roads. Ever since, I have wanted to compensate for that in any way I could.