Once again, I would like to express my thanks to Sonia and Allan for managing the volunteer sessions during my absence. This last week, with great assistance from Murray, they both went above and beyond when, on Wednesday, they also did an extra day's volunteering with another large team from Lendlease. The resultant improvement in the park is amazing. Thank you. I would also like to mention that today we welcomed Chris Bird for the first time as a new volunteer. As ever, we were delighted to welcome back Laurent (one of our original Duke of Edinburgh Awards volunteers) for a guest visit. Everybody was made very welcome.

Once again I am very grateful for the super report drafted below by Kevin. Thank you Kevin.

Today

We had another sunny morning in the park after another weekend of heavy rain and flooding. While Brian is away Allan and Sonia had done a great job of setting up the equipment. They also took delivery of 20,000 spring bulbs!

We are also expecting 7,500 winter plants next week. We will be planting these over the next few weeks.

We had a smaller than usual turnout of 21 volunteers as some of our usual members were away or looking after children because of the half-term break. Nevertheless, it was a busy day in the park, and we got a lot of work done.

Wilmslow Road

A large team worked for the morning on removing persistent weeds and generally tidying this bed. They also trimmed the shrubs at the entrance that were encroaching on the pavement and swept up broken glass. This area looked great at the end of the morning and is now ready for planting with bulbs and winter flowers.

Wildflower meadow

We removed the plants that we cut back last week. The area will still need another trim prior to sowing with additional plants for next year. This large task is almost done, and we should complete it in the next couple of weeks.

Heavy gang

This team was reduced in number today. They did a great job clearing the drains around the circular flowerbed. These had become blocked with leaves following the heavy rain over the weekend. The team also put mesh in the drains to stop this happening again.

Buddy and Lucy

Following the removal of the diseased box plants last week. Several volunteers worked to replace the box with euonymus plants that had been delivered earlier in the morning. This was a great improvement, and these will provide more colour around the sculpture.

Other work

Smaller groups worked on clearing the Poppy Path, tidying the Gillbrook Road entrance, and weeding the smaller beds throughout the park.

Grace had also made us some cakes that we all enjoyed over the coffee break. These were very nice, and the plate was soon cleared

TV fame!

Finally, I was watching Boiling Point the TV series on BBC, and it was great to see that one scene was set in the park. This showed the actors walking in the trees behind the shelter. The Park looked great, and it is nice to see that we have a park that can feature in major television series. This is thanks to the support in maintaining our park.