TODAY 

We had another good turnout of 40 volunteers enjoying the sunshine in Didsbury Park this morning. Our volunteers included Michael and colleagues from WSP, Phil and colleagues from Element and Diane from NatWest. We were also pleased to welcome appearances from Aristote and his job coach and Joanna & young Alexander. Everybody was made welcome.

Much of our work today consisted of re-instatement work following the Didsbury Festival which occurred in the park last Saturday, or preparation work for this coming Sunday's production of Alice in the Park being held in the Bird Garden or work in preparation for the visit of the Lord Lieutenant to the garden party on Monday 24th June. There was lots to do.  

PREPARATION FOR THE CHILDREN'S PRODUCTION OF 'ALICE IN THE PARK' ON SUNDAY 16TH JUNE

On Saturday at the Didsbury Festival we were delighted to be able, once again, to open the Wild Flower Meadow to the public. With some great support from Allan, Sonia, Dan and Sandra we were open throughout the festival. Thank you! We also took the opportunity to promote next week's performance of Alice in the Park to all our large number of visitors. I am delighted to report that we were also supported by the celebrities from  the forthcoming production.  Picture 1 shows the lovely picture of Alice, The Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit in the Wild Flower Meadow. 

Allan led a large team of volunteers from business this morning to make sure the hedging around the Bird Garden looked at its best by strimming the edges and trimming the hedges. The team was also supported by Peter (see picture 2) who did an amazing job mowing the grass to lawn standard in the Bird Garden. Thank you all. An excellent piece of work!

THE GRAND OPENING OF THE NEW COMPOST BAYS 

Thanks to some amazing work from Geoff, the keys to the new compost bays have now been handed over to us. I am pleased to say that we took full advantage of this situation early on Saturday before the festival procession arrived. Dan did a super job trimming back the hedges around the wild flower meadow, Allan strimmed the edges, Sonia sorted out the newly delivered plants and I mowed the grass. As a consequence we generated a large amount of compostible green waste. Picture 3 shows Dan and Sonia tipping the first wheelbarrow full of green waste into Bay 1. Thanks everyone - great work! 

We followed up Saturday's work today when Aristote and his job coach added a layer of woodchip into Bay 1 and gave the contents of the compost bay a good mixing. Thank you.  

REINSTATEMENT OF THE PARK AFTER THE FESTIVAL

One of our first jobs this morning was the re-installation of a set of goal posts to the football pitch which we had already re-seeded. Picture 4 shows Steve, Murray, Michael and Phil removing one of the goals from the volunteer's shelter ready to be carried back to the sports field.

This job was not quite as straightforward as we had hoped because one of the sunken receiving foundation pipes had been damaged. However I am pleased to report that the heavy gang including Adrian and Carl N were able overcome this problem and by the end of the morning the football pitch had been successfully re-instated and was back in operation ready for the local primary schools to finish today! Thank you all. The children will be delighted.    

PREPARATION FOR THE LORD LIEUTENANT'S GARDEN PARTY VISIT ON MONDAY 24TH JUNE

There is no doubt that there is a lot of work going into making the park look its best for the visit of the Lord Lieutenant on 24th June. 

The team of Joyce, Carl M, Serena  and Aedemar did a fantastic repainting job on the gates of the park where the Lord Lieutenant will arrive. This repainting has made an incredible difference to the smartness of this entrance. A super job! Thank you. 

Picture 5 shows the team of Christine, Debbie, Diane, Sonia, Tristan and Myra posing for a picture next to the newly maintained and preserved Buddy and Lucy (thanks to Allan, Niels and myself). Today's team  not only added more plants to the flower bed behind Buddy and Lucy but they also did a super job tidying the surrounding path. They also then went on to prepare an area ready for further planting next week. Excellent work everyone! Thank you.

Once having walked past Buddy and Lucy the Lord Lieutenant's route will take her past a number of other flower beds which we also worked on today. Picture 6 shows Lorna (with Diane) transforming the flower bed next to the volunteer's shelter and picture 7 shows Leslie showing us the great piece of weeding and edging which she carried. Thank you both this was excellent work. 

Further along the route, picture 8 shows  Phil, Gary and Murray installing two final new posts to complete the new chain fencing which can be seen in the background. This is looking so much smarter now and hopefully will encourage visitors to use the existing paths to the cafe rather than create muddy shortcuts across the grassed areas. We live in hope! Thank you guys this was a great job.   

ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK

• Jamie is still awaiting the arrival of the new marquee for the garden party which was promised for last week - we are not quite at the panicking stage just yet

• It was great to see Brenda this morning and we all send David our best wishes for an improvement in his current ill health.

• A big thank you to Joanna and young Alexander for a thorough litter pick in the park this morning

• Thank you to Lucy for continuing weeding the flower beds

• Kevin led a large team of volunteers from business to finish off the hedge trimming in the wild flower meadow first thing this morning. This whole area looks so much better as a result. Thank you all.  

PLANS FOR THE COMING WEEK

-TOMORROW: Sonia, Brenda, Sandra, Allan and I will be attending the ceremony, on behalf of FoDP, to formally receive the KIng's Award for Voluntary Service

-WEDNESDAY: We have an additional volunteering day in the park when up to 40 volunteers from the Co-op will be joining us to work in the park. If you would like to join us, your help will be gratefully appreciated. 

-SUNDAY: Stars Drama Academy performing Alice in the Park in the Bird Garden.    

P.S. DIDSBURY PARK VOLUNTEER WINS AT THE DIDSBURY FESTIVAL

Finally picture 9 shows the winner of the dog show event at the Didsbury Festival. Oscar's owner Nuala had the creative idea of entering her dog Oscar dressed up as a Didsbury Park Volunteer and with accompanying wheel barrow.  How could he fail to lose when performing on home soil!! 

Thank you once again for your amazing support.