TODAY 

We had another fabulous turnout of 54 volunteers in the park this morning. In addition to our regular volunteers we were joined by 5 skilled stonemasons from Stonewest (who were taking a break from working on our new town hall),  5 volunteers from Amey, 2 volunteers from Kroo Bank and Mike, one of our first volunteers from Amazon. Everybody was made very welcome.

SPECIAL OCCASION - A NEW TREE TO COMMEMORATE THE KINGS AWARD FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE  

Thanks to the generosity of MCC, and Will White in particular, we were able to celebrate the planting of a very special new tree in the park this morning. This tree was planted to mark the honour of receiving the Kings Award for Voluntary Service - the MBE for volunteer groups.  The tree is a  Foxglove Tree (Paulownia tomentosa) or sometimes it is known as an Empress Tree. or a Princess Tree (take your pick!!) The tree is fragrant with light lilac- purple flowers in large panicles. Currently there are a number of these stunning trees planted outside Central Library in St Peter's Square.  Picture 1 shows the new tree in position, next to Joyce and David from our tree team, and surrounded by most of our volunteers who witnessed the planting at our coffee break time this morning. This is a great memorable photo!

ANOTHER NEW BENCH FOR THE BENEFIT OF PARK USERS

The "heavy gang" have been working hard during the last few weeks to install a new hard standing on the edge of the main grassed area near the volunteers' shelter. This was successfully finished last week ready for the delivery of a new wooden bench this morning. So today the "heavy gang" unpacked the bench, attached metal anchors and then anchored the bench into concrete.

Picture 2 shows the "heavy gang" members of  Carl N, Adrian, Murray, Gary, and Richard proudly admiring the results of many weeks of work. This is a very interesting bench which some people think is absolutely beautiful and others not so. The sponsors are absolutely thrilled with it and it was extremely popular this afternoon especially with young families. However - time will tell - What do you think of the new bench? 

OUR PRIORITY FOCUS TODAY - TO GET READY FOR THE KAVS GARDEN PARTY ON 24TH JUNE

1   START TO TIDY UP THE DNC GARDEN AREA: 

Following several planning meetings with Jamie from the Didsbury Neighbourhood Centre during the last week, work began in earnest today on the preparations for the KAVS garden party in the DNC garden. A large team of helpers supervised by Sonia began by filling the, newly installed, raised vegetable beds with soil from the excess soil stored behind the bowls hut in the park.. The volunteers aided by Sandra also tided up the hedging both inside and outside the garden.

Picture 3 shows Graham, supported by 2 of our business volunteers from Amey, as he tidies up some of the hedging under Sonia's careful supervision. Thanks everyone - this was a great start.

2    THIS MORNING'S HERO: 

There is no doubt that the prize for the hero of the morning must go to Carl M today for trying to address the key areas where the excessive grass growth is really causing a significant problem. across the park. Following a request from the cafe, Carl started by mowing the grass in the cafe garden, followed by the area between the cafe and the DNC and then moving on to the grass around a number of the flower beds where because of the length of the grass, the edgings of the flower beds were becoming obscured.

Picture 4 shows Carl getting some encouragement from Ilma as he tackles the challenge of the cafe garden. This was a superb piece of work Carl - Thank you!

3   THE LORD LIEUTENANT'S ROUTE THROUGH THE PARK 

The KAVS garden party team have planned the route through the park which the Lord Lieutenant will take as she heads for the DNC garden. Consequently we made a start today on improving the flower beds along the route. Top of the list today were the two rose beds next to the volunteers' shelter, both of which needed a good weeding.

PIcture 5  shows the hard working team of Christine, Aedemar, Grace, Jane and Myra doing a great weeding job on the right hand rose bed. The difference between the look of the flower bed before the work started and the end of the work was truly amazing. Equally as impressive was the work undertaken by Gill B, Joyce and Greg in the left hand rose bed. Thank you all.

4   REPAIRING THE DAMAGED CORNERS OF THE PATHS 

 Throughout the park we do have a major problem with the vehicles driving over the corners of the paths onto the grassed areas and churning these areas into a muddy mess. Consequently when we had the offer of volunteering support from a team of experienced stonemasons with brickie experience today, we jumped at the chance of trying out a remedy to the problem.

Picture 6 shows our team of volunteers from Stonewest who commenced the remedial work (of softening the corner by laying concrete sets) on 2 of the corners along the route to be used by the Lord Lieutenant. This work was progressing well but was not completed today so I am delighted to say that I had a phone call this afternoon to say that the team will come back again next week to finish the work. 

5  INVITATIONS TO THE KAVS GARDEN PARTY

Please keep a look out for the formal invitations to the KAVS Garden Party which we are hoping to issue later this week.

OTHER IMPORTANT VOLUNTEERING ACTIVITIES WHICH WE UNDERTOOK TODAY

COMPOST

Picture 7 shows Brenda, Greg, Kevin and David taking a break from their work to give Greg a hand to push a ton bag of newly delivered compost to its destination at the aruncus flower bed between the rockery and the Gillbrook Road entrance.  

Once the compost was in position David and Brenda returned to working on tidying the Gillbrook Road entrance and Kevin led some of the business volunteers to successfully spread the compost on the nearby beds. Thank you all. Lets hope we now see lots of healthy and abundant plants in this area.  

NEW GERANIUM ROZANNE PLANTS 

Last week we bought 10 geranium rozanne plants but ran out of time to plant them. So this morning Tristan retrieved them from my house where I had nurtured them all week. However before they could be planted in the Flower Walk the flower beds had to be weeded again. So Tristan, Jude, Julie and Ilma set to work to thoroughly prepare the Flower Walk beds and successfully plant all the new plants. This was a great job - thank you.

THE PATH TO THE WILMSLOW ROAD GATE

 A huge thank you to Lis and Wendy today for carrying on last weeks tidying up of the many dead daffs along the path to the Wilmslow Road gate. As a result of this work the path is back again looking much tidier and looking like it is well loved once more.  Thank you Lis and Wendy

THE FLOWER BED NEXT TO THE BIRD GARDEN

Roger did a fantastic job today tackling the weeds, especially chickweed, which had sprouted during the last couple of weeks in the flower bed alongside the Bird Garden.  

Picture 8 shows Roger returning to the green waste skip where he can be seen pointing to the many weeds he has just returned. This was a great job Roger. Thank you.

MAINTENANCE OF THE VOLUNTEERS SHELTER

We were pleased to welcome Tony from MCC today to do some maintenance work on the volunteers shelter.

Picture 9 shows Mike from Amazon, providing the safety ladder support as Tony, on the ladder clears, out the blocked guttering. This was a huge job which was very well done.  Thank you Tony and Mike.

WOODCHIP & LITTER PICKING

After the Bank Holiday break, once again, we were pleased to welcome Aristote and his job coach today. Initially they both added more woodchip to the sports field entrances and then they did a litter pick across the park. Thank you both. It is always a pleasure to see you.

THIS COMING WEEK

FRIDAY 17th MAY

Following requests from Kelloggs and PWC I have arranged an extra volunteering day for this Friday. We are expecting 20+ volunteers from each company. Murray, Allan and I have already volunteered to help organise it and you would be made very welcome too if you would like to join us?

SUNDAY 19TH MAY

Following the invitation from The Dean to attend the Civic Service in Manchester Cathedral on Sunday, I am pleased to report that Sonia, Joyce and Jolivia will be representing FoDP. They will also be attending the City Council reception afterwards in Central Library. Thank you Sonia, Joyce and Jolivia - I hope you enjoy it. 

EARLY NOTIFICATION OF A VERY POPULAR EVENT

SUNDAY 16 JUNE

I am delighted to let you know that the Stars Drama Academy are once again returning to the Bird Garden on Sunday 16th June and this year they are doing a production of 'Alice in the Park'. Advance ticket sales are now open at starsdramaacademy@yahoo.co.uk. The tickets are £6 each. This is a great event for children and is often sold out. 

Finally thank you once again for your amazing support.