Foreword Congratulations to Voluntary Action Islington on fifty years of service to the people of the Borough, and warmest wishes for the next fifty. Islington has a rich culture of voluntary and community activity. We depend on each other in a way that many communities don’t, and VAI coordinates and shepherds and monitors that activity in ways that enhance all our lives. I was very proud to work closely with VAI when I was your MP, and I’m proud now of everything that the organisation does. Well done for the past fifty years. Thank you, and good luck for the future, Chris Smith Lord Smith of Finsbury, Patron of VAI, Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and formerly Islington councillor, MP for Islington South, Cabinet minister and Chair of the Environment Agency This history was compiled by Joe Irvin OBE chair of VAI Trustee Board, with editing by Emma Hutchins (vice chair) in November 2020.