There was a very different feel about our volunteering session this morning. Many of our regular volunteers took the opportunity to take advantage of a Bank Holiday break. However many more volunteers who normally cannot attend on a regular Monday, took the opportunity to join us today. So on a sunny Bank Holiday morning (and it is not very often you can say that!) we had an amazing turnout of 58 enthusiastic volunteers. 

Our volunteers today included lots of young families. This created a lovely busy atmosphere in the park. Picture 1 shows our first 7 young volunteers to arrive, posing on top of the woodchip pile just before they began doing an amazing job of topping up woodchip on the main path to the childrens playground and then spreading a new layer of fresh woodchip all along the woodland trail. By the time of the 11am break for their hot chocolate, the woodchip team had grown in numbers to 12 young children.

Picture 2 shows our 12 young helpers with adult helpers Xin Jiang, Yannong Li, Oliver Chan and Tristan. After our 11am break, Lorna and Luke also joined in this woodchip activity. 

We were also pleased to welcome Bernadette Lomas and her two children and Sam Crowe and her young boys Tom and Nick, who all did a fabulous litter pick throughout the whole park. Picture 3 shows Sam and her children at the start of their volunteering.  

In addition to lots of young helpers we were also pleased to see past volunteers Marie- Claude, Laurent, Dan and Mariela once again being able to join us. Also following her first volunteering session with us last week, Ellie, as a member of the team from Greater Manchester Combined Authority, returned again with fiance Jamie to volunteer with us again.  

Finally it was really pleasing to see Greg back with us again after several weeks of illness. 

Everybody, new and old, was made very welcome. Thank you everyone for all the great work you did today. 

THE NEW BIRCH TREE

Although currently we are really struggling to find spaces for any new trees in the park, we did manage to identify an approriate space near the exit to the Poppy Path for a very special tree today. Although  the tree is a simple birch tree it has been nurtured by Alexander and Sebastian's grand mother Ina tom Dieck who will be returning to Germany shortly. Ina has been one of our volunteers many times in the past. So today was a special day for Dario, Mandy and young Alexander and Sebastian as they planted Ina's tree in the park.

Picture 4 shows Laurent, Niels and Dario holding the tree steady as Alexander and Sebastian guide it to the place where it is to be planted. Thank you all - this was a lovely thing to do.

THE NEW COMPOST BAYS

The installation of the new compost bays has made great progress this week.

Picture 5 shows Geoff with Steve, the contractor, making sure that this precision construction is developing according to plan. Thank you both. 

NEW BENCH

With the new bench planned for delivery this coming week it was important that we completed the work to install the hardstanding today. Thanks to some great work from Murray, Gary, Carl N, and Ben we managed to complete it successfully today. This was an excellent piece of work, guys - thank you.

Picture 6  shows Murray, Gary, Carl N, Niels and Ben all admiring the completed project. We all send our best wishes to Ben who has been doing some fabulous volunteering with us during the last few weeks, whilst between jobs, and is now about to start a new assignment. Good luck in the new job Ben & thank you for all your help! 

ARRIVAL OF NEW VINCAS

During this last week we have purchased and taken delivery of 35 new vinca major variegata. The purchase of these new plants has been a substantial expenditure by the Friends of Didsbury Park but it was felt worthy of the investment as it would make a huge improvement to the look of the flower beds between the roundabout and the place where the old compost bays used to be.

Picture 7 shows some of the team who worked very hard this morning to make sure these expensive plants were carefully planted with lots of fresh water to bed them in. From left to right in the picture are  Laurent, Joyce, Tristan, Diane, Ellie, Jamie and Marie-Claude. Other team members who were involved in planting the new vinca were Christine and Grace. Thank you all for this super job.

We also purchased 10 geranium rozanne but these will have to wait to be planted until next week. Picture 8 shows Tristan wheeling them away so that they can be looked after off site until next week.  

BIRD GARDEN 

It was also great to see that today Tom could also take advantage of the Bank Holiday and volunteer with us all morning. Initially Tom used one of the lawn mowers to tidy up the bottom part of the Poppy Path but after the coffee break moved on to help Dan who took on the enormous task of mowing the Bird Garden. Dan not only started early but was the last volunteer to finish today as he made sure the grass in the Bird Garden was given a thorough mowing. This was a valiant effort Dan - thank you. Tom meanwhile assisted Dan by strimming the edges around the trees, sunken sinks etc in teh Bird Garden. Thank you guys for the huge improvement this has made!

Picture 9 shows Tom on his way to use the strimmer. 

FLOWER BEDS ALONG THE  PATH TO THE WILMSLOW ROAD ENTRANCE

As the spring bulbs start to die back so the remaining discoloured, limp foliage which is left behind looks really untidy.

Picture 10 shows the team of Mariela and Lis who dedicated their time this morning to making a huge improvement to the flower beds alongside the path to the Wilmslow Road gate by tidyig up all this dead and untidy foliage. All this work made a huge improvement. Thank you Mariela and Lis.

ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK  

   - A special thank you to David who gallantly took on the coffee, tea and hot chocolate orders for 58 volunteers without making a mistake!! 

   - It was great to see Greg back volunteering with us again today and especially as he did an amazing job weeding the flower beds alongside the volunteers shelter. Thank you Greg.

   - Thank you also to Pauline who called first thing this morning to collect more free bags for attaching to the rubbish bins around the park. As the weather starts to warm up we are definitely going to need them. 

   - It was great to see Geoff also this morning to check over the next stages of the installation of the new compost bays. Thank you Geoff they are looking great so far!

   - A huge thanks as always to Brenda and David for their unceasing work in tidying up the area around the Gillbrook  Road gate. It makes a big first impression when you enter the park at this gate. Thank you both,

   - Last Monday Phil came to the park to investigate what we needed to enhance our PA system to be able to play background music at our KAVS garden party. I am delighted to report that Phil came back again today and soon had it working successfully. Well done Phil - Thank you.

Thank you once again for your fantastic support.