A Busy Day of Volunteering in Didsbury Park
TODAY
The sunshine certainly helped to boost the volunteer numbers this morning. The beautiful blue skies and chilly temperatures were ideal conditions for the 39 volunteers working in the park this morning. We were delighted to welcome a team of 5 Manchester University students, along with their organiser Soumya, as well as Chris, a local resident, for the first time and Alasdair a returning volunteer from business. It was also great to see Debbie once again returning after a series of illnesses.
Everybody was made very welcome, and especially, thanks to Alan and Sandra's generosity, we were also treated to some lovely cakes at the break to celebrate Alan's recent birthday. Thank you Sandra and Alan.
Picture 1 shows some of the early volunteers, catching up on news as they wait for the green waste skip's delivery to finish. From left to right are Sandra, Jane, Debbie, Joyce, Kevin, Tristan, Allan, Lorna, Shashvat, Gill N and Alasdair.
Picture 2 shows John wearing his brand new hi-vis vest bearing the King's Award for Voluntary Service logo. John was presented with this new vest today after many weeks of regular volunteering. Well done John!
TODAY - FODP MEMBERSHIP REMINDER
At our coffee / tea break today I took the opportunity to remind all those present that it is now the time of year when the Friends of Didsbury Park annual membership subscriptions become due. This is our main source of income to buy new and replacement tools and equipment for the volunteers. Sandra and Sonia will be sending out reminder emails soon but the more members who can pay promptly does help to cut down on their workload. Thank you in advance if you can help.
TODAY - FRUIT TREE PRUNING IN THE BIRD GARDEN
Following Joyce's attendance at the fruit tree pruning course and the super work previously undertaken on the smaller fruit trees, it was time today to take on the challenge of some of the larger fruit trees in the Bird Garden.
Picture 3 shows Joyce supervising Kevin (with the long handled pruning saw) tackling one of the larger apple trees. Thank you both - this was a great job and fingers crossed for a good crop of fruit later this year.
TODAY - THE BUDDY AND LUCY FLOWER BEDS AND NATURAL HEDGE BUILDING
Picture 4 shows Denise and Greg proudly being pictured alongside the flower beds around Buddy and Lucy after they had been given a great makeover today.
Thank you both - they look amazing! Greg also continued to enhance the natural hedging in the 'wilding area' using the offcuts from the fruit trees in the Bird Garden. Thank you Greg - very enterprising!
ONE OF TODAY'S LARGE PROJECTS
The first of today's large projects involved moving many wheelbarrow loads of mulch from the leaf pens behind the bowls hut to specially selected flower beds around the park. Thanks to Tristan, Shashvat, John, Alasdair and all the Manchester University students we had a continuous convoy of wheel barrows going backward and forward all morning.
Pictures 5 and 6 capture a couple of examples of the rather lush looking mulch being transported firstly to the Flower Walk and then onwards to the path to the Wilmslow Road. Once the wheelbarrows arrived at their designated flower beds there were teams of volunteers who were pruning and tidying up the flower beds and overseeing the distribution of the mulch. Picture 7 shows the combined team of students and Anne, Lucy, Ilma, Alasdair, and Julie in the flower bed near the Wilmslow Road gate. Thank you everyone - this was a great piece of work.
TODAY'S OTHER LARGE PROJECT
The other large project today also involved many wheelbarrows but this time it was woodchip not mulch which was being conveyed from the woodchip pile to the children's woodland trail. In fact so much effort went into this work today that eventually we ran out of woodchip!! The team involved in this mammoth task were Sandra, Debbie, Lorna, Lesley Mc, Carl M, Jane, Anne, and Wendy. Thank you all. The children's woodland trail will be so much safer and so much more attractive as a result of all this fabulous work.
ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK
Picture 8 shows this mornings 'heavy gang' consisting of Carl N, Murray and Gary (also assisted by Lesley M) as they return from the area along the Wilmslow Road path where the new bench is planned to be installed (once funding has been obtained). This is great preparation work everyone. Thank you.
Picture 9 shows Aristhote and his job supervisor Elizabeth as they happily tour the park collecting any litter they can find. Aristhote is becoming amazingly expert at spotting any litter and he does an amazing job around the park. Thank you both.
Picture 10 shows Brenda with her new super light shovel and one of our new wheelbarrows delivered this week full of detritus which she had swept up from around the Gillbrook Road entrance. This was yet another lovely spring clean of this important entrance. Thank you Brenda.
Allan and Alan jointly replaced the batteries in the wildlife camera as part of the trial management programme for this recording equipment. Thank you both.
Allan also used the leaf blower to clean up all the paths around the Bird Garden. They were superbly clean after this work. Thank you Allan
Alan also did some maintenance work and removed the protective cages around the two acers now they have become established. Well done Alan.
And last but not least Steve continued to trim the overgrown parts of the holly hedge which he began last week with son Jack. Thank you Steve.
Thank you once again for your amazing support.