A Day of Planting, Farewells, and Teamwork in Didsbury Park
TODAY
Once the early morning fog had lifted we had a lovely day for volunteering today. We had a good turnout of 41 volunteers including 10 volunteers from Kellanova (aka Kelloggs), and Angela from AutoTrader. We were also pleased to welcome again Aristhote and his helper Leisha from Clayton College who were returning for the first time after their summer holidays, and we also welcomed Rebecca and her sister who had turned up to help apply preservative to their father's dedicated bench. Everybody was made very welcome.
A SAD GOODBYE TO LIS TODAY
It was the end of an era today - Lis arrived in the park with two boxes of delicious quality chocolate biscuits as a farewell gift to all her volunteer friends. It was surprise to most volunteers when Lis announced , that she had made a life changing decision to move from Didsbury which has been her home for many years, back to her native Cardiff, where many of her family still reside.
We were all sad to say goodbye to Lis, who has been a regular volunteer for as long as many of us can remember. We wish you well in your new home Lis and we do hope you will come and see us again if you are ever in Manchester on a Monday morning! Good Luck - we will not forget you!
LOTS AND LOTS OF CYCLAMEN
We were very lucky at the end of last week when the Trafford Park charity who work with us from time to time, announced that they had received an end of range supply of cyclamen plants from one of the leading UK supermarkets. A huge thanks to Jude and Allan who gave up their time on Saturday morning to come with me and fill up our cars with the cyclamen plants.
So today one of our rewarding tasks was to start planting, some of these lovely plants around the park:
Pictures 1 and 2 show some of the teams, under Jude's direction, planting cyclamen around the bases of the Himalayan Birches on the wild flower meadow. Picture 1 shows Wendy planting cyclamen and picture 2 shows 4 members of the Kellanova team working together to add more colourful plants. After the coffee break these teams were joined by Lucy and moved to the path leading to the Wilmslow Road gates to add even more colourful plants to this long flower bed. Thank you all for making a huge difference to the attractiveness of these two areas
Picture 3 shows the excellent work undertaken by Sonia, Jane and Christine (and John and Lesley MC - not in picture) as they made the flower bed behind Buddy and Lucy sparkle with the beautiful soft colours of the new cyclamen plants. This was a beautiful result - thank you all.
NEW COMPOST BAY REGIME
We took the opportunity today to initiate a better composting regime by displaying a large A3 poster identifying what should and should not be composted.
Thanks must go to Jude for the design of this new poster and to volunteers like Lesley Mc (see picture 4) who adopted the new regime throughout the morning. Thank you.
WORK CONTINUES ON EDGING IMPROVEMENTS
This week we continued the edging improvements we started last week.
Picture 5 shows, Eyzz and Faizan, 2 of the Kellanova volunteers, deepening and then filling in the edges around one of the rose beds. This not only makes the edgings safer but many park visitors are also commenting on how attractive it now looks too. Thank you.
HEAVY GANG PROJECTS
The heavy gang of Murray, Richard, Adrian and Carl N undertook two major projects today. Unfortunately, co-incidentally with the local high schools returning to school, we seem to be suffering some acts of vandalism once again.
During the last week we have had football nets snapped and a picnic bench set on fire. Luckily the heavy gang were able to wire brush the charred sections of the wooden picnic bench, sand and re-varnish the bench top this morning. The recovery work was excellent and PIcture 6 shows the team proudly standing by their refurbishment project. This was a great piece of work - thank you all.
After restoring the picnic bench the heavy gang moved on, after coffee, to upgrade the steps and the surround of the 'owl carving'. The first phase of this project started this morning involved upgrading the gravel around the base of the carving and preparing the walkaround base for a layer of woodchip next week. Picture 7 shows the team of Richard, Carl N and Murray relaxing by the carving before finishing for the day. Well done guys!
ANOTHER IMPORTANT PROJECT - PAINTING THE CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND
I am delighted to report that having been thwarted on many occasions, during this wet summer, from completing the painting of the railings around the children's playground, we have now finally completed it today. Under the direction of Gill B, 2 volunteers from Kellanova and Angela from Autotrader managed to successfully paint the last 6 sections of railings.
Picture 8 shows the team starting the work and having to make sure that the railings were thoroughly dried before they could commence applying the paint. Gill B can be seen in the background carrying some fencing to protect the playground users from the painting work. This was an excellent result - the railings look fantastic - thank you everyone!
ALL DOGGY BAG DISPENSERS ARE NOW FULL AGAIN
Thanks to a very generous donation of a new supply of doggy bags by Allan we were able to refill all the doggy bag dispensers, located at every park gate, today. It was really great to see Grace back volunteering with us once again today. Picture 9 shows Grace, carrying the box containing the refill bags, and Gill N, on their way to top up the dispensers. Thank you both for updating this important facility to enable us to help keep our park really clean.
We also send you Grace, our best wishes for your upcoming scheduled stay in hospital. We all hope it goes well for you!
THE OTHER BIG PROJECT ON THE WILD FLOWER MEADOW
Certainly one of the hardest projects undertaken today was the activity required to cut down the wild flowers on the wild flower meadow. When we undertook this activity last year we attempted to use the sit on mower but unfortunately it was not up to the job and we damaged its engine in the process.
This year we tried a different approach with Allan using his large strimmer and Tristan raking the cut plants so that Allan could continue across the meadow unhindered. The results achieved were amazing, but as picture 10 shows as the heat of the sunny morning started to increase it became hotter and sweatier for Allan to operate within all the protective clothing which had to be worn. This was a phenomenal piece of work Allan and Tristan. Thank you.
ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK
Lesley M did some good work tidying up the garden beds near the volunteer's shelter - thank you Lesley
It was great to see Brenda working with us again today and continuing to make the Gillbrook entrance spotless - thank you Brenda
Aristhote and Leisha did a super litter pick around the park. Thank you
John and Greg also worked on the leaf mound behind the bowls hut - thank you guys.
Greg and Joyce did some great work tidying up the overgrown shrubs along the Wilmslow Road path. - super work, thank you.
With a large team of dedicated volunteers today it was great to see just how much it was possible to achieve - thank you once again for your amazing support.