CURRY NIGHT  SUCCESS - THURSDAY 21ST NOVEMBER

I am delighted to report that 40 of us had a fabulous social evening together on Thursday at the Sangam in Didsbury. We had our own private room and we were made very welcome by the friendly staff, the service was great and the food was delicious. It was a real treat to be able to enjoy the company of so many lovely people, and there was not a hi-vis vest in sight!!

As can be seen in picture 1, the high-spot of the evening had to be Sonia's impromptu birthday cake and fireworks display. What a great night!

Afterwards, the staff at the Sangam asked me if we would give them a review on Tripadvisor. Subsequently I have submitted a review on our behalf but if you would like to complete one of your own then please feel free to do so. 

TODAY

After a week of near zero temperatures, strong winds and lashing rain we were delighted to wake up this morning to blue skies and sunshine. It was a very pleasant morning for all 44 volunteers who worked in the park this morning. Today our volunteers included 6 volunteers from the Co-op Bank, and 4 guest volunteers from the Soroptimist International organisation who came to participate in the planting of the new large Daphne bholua 'Jaqueline Postill' which they had kindly donated to the park.

We also welcomed back our regular litter picking teams of Aristhote and Leesha from Bridge College and our family volunteers Andrew, Winnie and dog named Brian. We also had a visit from our MCC Ranger who came to collect our KAVS (King's Award for Voluntary Service) flag in preparation for it being raised on the flag pole at the Wilmslow Road entrance in the near future. Everybody was made very welcome. 

PLANTING SPRING BULBS  

I am delighted to report that today we continued to make some great progress in planting this years supply of spring bulbs. This year we have received bulbs from both MCC and our partner charity in Trafford Park who supply ex-supermarket bulbs.

From a starting challenge of over 25,000 bulbs we are now down to a remaining stock of our last few thousand bulbs. This is amazing progress and we are hopeful that we can plant these remaining bulbs in the next two weeks before we go on our winter break. 

The main teams planting bulbs today were:

Alongside the red and white chain fence near the roundabout: Here we had a very large team consisting of  Gill B, Tristan, Anne, Denise, Lesley, Wendy, John, Charlie and two volunteers from the Co-op Bank team who created a new large daffodil bulb area inside the red and white chain fence. We are hoping for a large swathe of yellow daffodils here in the spring. Thank you everyone this was a mammoth task.

In the bulb area on the right hand side of the path heading towards the Poppy Path: Picture 2 shows Myra, Jane and Christine, just about to start planting the first sack full of 500 daffodil bulbs in the bulb area. Once the team working on the area alongside the red and white chain fence had completed their planting then Anne, Denise, Lesley, Wendy and the two members of the Co-op team joined Myra, Jane and Christine to make some amazing progress in filling this whole area with daffodil bulbs. Roll on spring when this area should become a real daffodil dell! Thank you everyone. 

In the area near the extended flower bed opposite the rockery: Picture 3 shows Tristan and John having moved on from planting around the red and white chain fence, and having been joined by Greg (in the background) now planting daffodil bulbs in the grass near the extended flower bed. Thank you guys. This was another great piece of planting. 

THE NEW DAPHNE PLANT

First thing this morning Jude and Julie finished off the preparation work on the newly designated area near the Wilmslow Road gate where the Daphne was designated to be planted. After our coffee break we were joined by 4 representatives from the Soroptimist group who helped in its planting.

Picture 4 shows the Soroptimist team at the planting site. Picture 5 shows me bedding in the new plant and picture 6 shows the team of Jude, Lucy, Gary and Adrian continuing to expand the weeded area - and particularly focused on removing any bindweed.

On the left hand side of the picture we can see Ilma starting to carefully plant some new bluebell bulbs. Thank you to everybody who made this planting a successful occasion and a special thank you to Tom for the provision of some chicken wire which we used to give the new plant some protection from animals during the time it was getting established. 

THE "SPECIAL" BENCH RETURNS

Thanks to the work of the heavy gang we were able to anchor the new 'much loved' bench back in place today after it returned from the manufacturers last week.

Picture 7 shows the heavy gang of Richard, Adrian, Carl N, Gary, Steve and Murray posing for a photograph after the the back legs had been anchored in place. This was a great piece of work guys - thank you. 

AND ARE WE FINALLY GETTING TOWARDS THE END OF THE LEAF FALL?

We have collected many bags full of leaves for mulching purposes this year. We had temporarily stored these behind the new compost bays. As these were not a very attractive storage feature we decided today to store them in an out of sight location behind the bowls hut.

Picture 8 shows 4 members of the Co-op team who took on this challenge today. Firstly the team created a tidy area using the old pallets and then moved every bag out of sight whilst its contents continued to rot down. 

Having completed this task the team went on to work on clearing leaves from all the main pathways in the park. They were joined in this task by Gill B and Allan who used the hand held blower to make a huge impact especially along the path to the Wilmslow Road entrance and by Charlie who did a fabulous edging job on the paths once they were cleared. Thank you all. The park looks so much smarter as a result of all the great work you have done today. 

Once again we need to say a huge thank you to Brenda for once more concentrating on tidying up the path around the much used Gillbrook Road entrance. It was a great transformation - thank you Brenda.

THE CHILDREN'S LARGE SLIDE

A huge thank you to Sandra and Alan, who took advantage of the dry conditions today. to give a second coat of 'racing green' paint to the large slide in the children's playground.

Picture 9 shows Sandra hard at work in the sunshine. This large slide just looks better and better and is fast becoming the best looking piece of equipment in the children's playground. Thank you both. This is a fabulous job and is receiving many deserved compliments from the park visitors.

ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK 

•  After having recharged the batteries Alan, helped by Allan, reinstated the wildlife camera in the park today. Thank you both. 

•  Adrian and Gary tidied up the children's steps to the owl carving using wire brushes - thank you 

• Adrian and Gary also replaced some temporary hessian straps with galvanised straps on a small section of newly installed kick fencing near the bowls hut - thank you both again

• Thank you also to the heavy gang members who first thing this morning removed all the fallen branches from the grassed areas in the park and disposed of them. 

CHRISTMAS IS COMING - A REMINDER OF OUR CHRISTMAS DATES

Please do not panic but this is just a reminder that we only have two more volunteering days before Christmas. We will volunteer as usual next week i.e. 2nd December. However the following week we will have our traditional mulled wine and mince pies at our coffee break and then we will finish early for our Christmas break.  We will re-convene in the New Year on Monday 6th January 2025.  

Finally thank you once again for your amazing support.