2025 Kicks Off with Award Success and Community Spirit
2025 IS OFF TO A GREAT START - ANOTHER AWARD!
Happy New Year!
I would like to start the New Year off by thanking everybody who has sent me cards and messages of congratulations since it was announced in the New Year's Honours List that I had been awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to Charity and to the community in Didsbury. This is indeed an honour which I am proud to receive and is the icing on the cake following our teams KIng's Award for Voluntary Service and the Britain in Bloom gold medal award in the small parks category which we received in 2024.
So, with yet another excuse for a celebration, we took the opportunity, at our coffee break today, to mark the occasion with some bubbly and chocolate biscuits. Thank you to Gill N and Grace for organising the party, to Emma for her very kind speech and to everyone present for their kind congratulations.
SINCE WE LAST MET IN DECEMBER - DIDSBURY PARK
The week following our last day of volunteering in December I was informed that the large pyracantha plants which we had ordered via MCC, were ready to be delivered. So we hastily gathered a small contingent of available volunteers (Sonia, Allan and myself) to unload the delivery and plant them in the designated area of the park near where the old compost bays had been. These plants were ordered to give additional protection from burglary via the park, to the houses bordering the park in that area.
When the delivery was delayed by a couple of hours we thought we would take the opportunity to prepare the holes ready for the new plants BUT we had a huge surprise when just below the surface in the flower bed we hit a tarmac drive. When later researching an old map of the park, it became clear that we were trying to dig through a wide path which led to the area of the park which had subsequently been sold off by MCC for housing development. After some discussion we agreed to move to a plan B, which was to landscape this area over the path with sufficient depth of new soil to enable the new plants to take root. This plan has the advantage of 'killing two birds with one stone' as it will enable us to utilise the large stored pile of topsoil which was removed from the second bowling green when we created the wild flower meadow.
So in preparation for transporting this mound of topsoil from one side of the park to the other (an ideal job to keep us warm on a cold January Monday morning!!) we called upon the services of Geoff and his mechanical digger. Consequently before Christmas Geoff came into the park with his mechanical digger and dug over the stored mound of topsoil to make it easier for the digging and manual transportation by hand. (see later). Thank you Geoff for coming to our rescue once again!
SINCE WE LAST MET IN DECEMBER - DIDSBURY PARK AND FLETCHER MOSS GARDENS
The incredible rainfall over the New Year period saw two contrasting pictures between our park and our nearby Fletcher Moss Park Gardens.
Picture 1 shows the disastrous scenes at Fletcher Moss as the River Mersey rose from a normal depth of 0.5 metres at 1800 on 31st December to 3.53 metres by 5:45 am on 1st January. As a result of the River Mersey bursting its banks and the the flood plain gates being opened, the Fletcher Moss Park was extensively flooded. By complete contrast picture 2 shows the New Year scene around the roundabout in Didsbury Park where the new drainage which we introduced in 2023, coped admirably with the heavy rainfall.
I have been in touch with Margaret, Moira and Sarah from the Friends of Fletcher Moss with a message of support after the flooding and they have informed me that they are just waiting until everything has settled down and is safe and then they will organise a clear up. I will keep everybody informed when I hear any more news.
TODAY
It was cold and a bit wet in the park first thing this morning but it gradually improved and at times we actually saw some weak sunshine. Given the conditions it was great to see that we had a good turnout of 28 volunteers. We were pleased to welcome Shashvat, a new volunteer who is taking a gap year from University, and two international volunteers Noah and Millie from Vancouver.
Picture 3 shows Noah and Millie just starting a litter pick with (Grandma) Joyce and Gill B. Everybody was made very welcome.
TODAY - LANDSCAPING AND PLANTING THE PYRACANTHA
We had a large team of Lorna, Diane, Shashvat, Jane, Jude, Lesley, Tristan, Murray, Adrian and Carl N all involved in moving soil, landscaping and preparing the area where we need to plant the pyracantha.
Picture 4 shows (from front to back) Jane, Lesley, Shashvat, Tristan and Diane all busy filling individual wheelbarrows full of new soil, before transporting it in the wheelbarrows across the park to the landscaping area. PIcture 5 shows (from left to right) Carl N, Murray, Diane and Adrian, working on landscaping the area where the pyracantha are to be planted. Both of these activities required a lot of physical activity and certainly kept everybody nice and warm in the cold weather this morning.
By the end of the morning about half of the required soil had been transported and Tristan and I were able to plant the first two of the pyracantha. This was a great piece of work everybody. Thank you.
TODAY - TOPPING UP THE DOG BAG DISPENSERS
As it has been 3 weeks since our last volunteering session, the dog bag dispensers were empty across the park this morning. Thanks to some great work from Gill N and Grace, they were all visited in turn and refilled. Thank you Gill and Grace - this was a timely and necessary job today!
TODAY - MAKING THE PATHS SAFE AND CLEAR
Given the snow and steady rainfall during the last week it was very clear this morning that the water table in the park has risen significantly to the top of all the soak-aways we have installed.
Picture 6 shows Allan, already attired in his wellington boots starting a mammoth task of sweeping all the excess water from the edges of the paths right across the park. By the end of the morning the paths around the park were all safe and looking so much clearer. Meanwhile Brenda was doing the same important job around the Gillbrook Road entrance. Thank you Allan and Brenda - this work has made a huge improvement to the park.
A special exercise was undertaken by Adrian and Carl N today on one of our large grids along the path down to Wilmslow Road which had become blocked. Once cleared this excess water from the path soon disappeared. Thank you guys - this was a huge improvement.
Another area which was given special attention today was around the Sandhurst Road pedestrian entrance. Both Denise and Louise worked hard to make a tremendous improvement to the paths at this entrance. Thank you both.
Denise also returned the garden shears and edgers which she had taken home over Christmas to be repaired, sharpened, and oiled by Geoff. Picture 7 shows Denise holding a couple of the tools which had been returned in tip top condition today. Thank you Denise and Geoff. BTW all these serviced tools can be recognised by a band of blue tape near the handle. Previously serviced tools still have dabs of red ladies make up on them.
TODAY - HORTICULTURAL MAINTENANCE
Given the weather, the season of the year and the rather wet soil, there was not a lot of work that could be done across the park on the flower beds today. However the team of Julie, Lucy, Ilma and Kevin did manage to do some careful tidying up of the flower beds along the Flower Walk. Thank you all. Great work.
SHORT NOTICE - RADIO PROGRAMME TOMORROW MORNING AT 10AM
Please accept my apologies for the very short notice but as a result of everything we have achieved in Didsbury Park I have been invited tomorrow morning to participate in a live local radio show between 10am and 11am on ALLfm. This is available via FM at 96.9, on DAB or via the website at allfm.org. If you are able to tune in you will probably hear me talking (a bit like 'Desert Island Discs') about things in my life and my choice of 7 or 8 pieces of music which are significant to me. I hope it is not too embarrassing an experience! Depending on how it goes I may (or may not) let you know the link to the recording next week! Wish me luck!
Thank you once again for your amazing support.