DIDSBURY PARK GOES GLOBAL!

DIDSBURY PARK GETS INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

I would like to start off the update tonight by giving a special mention to somebody who works tirelessly behind the scenes for us to make sure our website continues to look amazing. Phil Birchenall is a very clever man and is always exploring the latest IT products and techniques. In particular Phil has been experimenting with some products from a leading company in the AI field called OpenAI. If you watched the Superbowl you may have seen them advertised there. OpenAI have been so impressed with Phil's work that they recently sent a film crew all the way from various parts of the USA to make a video about Phil here in Didsbury. It is a beautiful video and features Didsbury Park a lot.  Here is the video, I am sure you will enjoy it:

After the film crew had finished filming in the park, one of the crew approached Phil and said how lucky he was to live in Didsbury and to have access to Didsbury Park. He then went on to say that that he thought the park was just like "a little corner of Heaven!" Compliments cannot get much better than that - pat yourselves on the back Volunteers!  

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY

Thanks to Louise, we also made the headlines in the Manchester Post this week. If you have not seen it already here is a link:

https://www.flipsnack.com/BD9B78BBDC9/manchester-south-post-february-2025-issue-35/full-view.html

FoDP ABANDONS X

At the trustees meeting on Wednesday last week we made the decision that FoDP no longer wished to be associated with the social media platform X. This was due to a number of reasons but mainly because of its failing popularity and some of the more extreme views being expressed on it. Emma, who manages this platform for us, has noticed that many of our followers are also abandoning this platform. We have therefore, notified all our followers of our decision, closed our account and left this platform with immediate effect. However you will still find us operating on an excellent website and we are still very active and growing following on Facebook and Instagram.  

FoDP MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS FOR 2025

This week, Sonia and Sandra, our membership officers, have sent out membership renewal reminder emails to remind all FoDP members who have not yet paid their membership subscriptions for 2025 that they are now due. As we have almost 200 members this has been a big task. Thank you Sonia and Sandra.  If you have not done so already could you renew your membership please?

DRESS CODE ADVICE FOR VOLUNTEERS (JOKE!) 

On a lighter note, please see the latest FoDP advice on how not to wear an FoDP hi-vis vest in picture 1. Thank you to Hans for spotting this piece of amusing Health and Safety advice. 🤣

TODAY 

Today was cold. As a park visitor from Romiley commented "Didsbury was far colder than Romiley this morning". Despite this cold weather we still welcomed 35 volunteers including two young families who turned out to do some litter picking for us (Andrew and little Winnie and Joanna and young Alexander). They were assisted by our regular visitors from Bridge College, Aristhote and his Job Coach Leesha. We were also delighted to see that students Nancy and Anna from Manchester University returned for a second week, as did Chris and we also welcomed a new volunteer from MCRVIP, Ishwari for the very first time. Everybody was made very welcome.  

TODAY- UNVEILING A PLAQUE FOR DAVID WOODS RIP

Today was quite an emotional day for us all as we unveiled a plaque in the volunteers shelter in memory of David Woods who sadly died in July 2024. Picture 2 shows David's name captured on a plaque symbolising a balloon which has floated away from the main bunch held by the little girl painted on the wall of the volunteers shelter. David's plaque was unveiled today in the presence of Brenda, his widow, and all today's volunteers. RIP David.  

Picture 3 shows Brenda and myself sitting below the the plaque after the unveiling.   

The plaque was installed by Murray and the string was skillfully painted on the wall by Louise. Thank you both.  This is a real tribute to David and it looks great. 

TODAY - A WARM JOB FOR A COLD DAY - WORK ON THE WILMSLOW ROAD PATH

The main project for this morning concentrated on activities along the path from the Wilmslow Road gate. This work included weeding and pruning, adding mulch and then cleaning up the whole path as we went. The first volunteers to arrive this morning started immediately to move wheelbarrows full of mulch from the mature leaf pen behind the bowls hut to the Wilmslow Road path. Picture 4 captures the busy scene as Debbie and Joyce (on left hand side) collect trimmed green waste, Lorna and Kevin in the distance discuss the weeding plan for the front of the park and Anna and Nancy are in the process of distributing the mulch. At its peak the mulch transporting team consisted of Anna, Nancy, Jane, Christine, John, Greg and Ishwari and they all did an amazing job as they transported mulch by wheelbarrow from one side of the park to the other. A superb job team! Thank you.  

Meanwhile pictures 5, 6 and 7,  show some of the other weeders and pruners working in the flower beds. Picture 5 shows Sandra, Carl M and Julie providing supports for a young sapling. Picture 6 shows Ilma in a close up action shot of her pruning.  Picture 7 shows Gary and Carl M working hard to remove some mature overgrown laurel stumps whilst Jude is in the background performing a more delicate weeding operation.  Lucy also worked with is team.  Thank you all this area looks so much better after all your hard work. 

Further down the path, the path cleaning team were at work. Picture 8 shows Tristan with just one small pile of leaves to clean up, having already cleaned up half of the whole path on his own. Thank you Tristan. This was a major udertaking.  After our coffee break Tristan joined the weeding and pruning teams and the work on the rest of the path was completed by Shashvat and Ishwari (see picture 9)    

ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK:

-Denise and Louise gave the rose bed near the volunteers shelter a superb weeding and maintenance. Picture 10 shows both Louise and Denise proudly posing in front of an amazing looking rose bed. Thank you both.

-Experts recommend turning compost every 7 to 8 days in order to bring oxygen into the pile and to speed up the composting process. So once Shashvat had finished on the Wilmslow Road path he returned to the compost bays and gave them a thorough turning. Great work Shashvat - thank you. 

- We have worked really hard to create a stunning feature of the roundabout flower bed this year, with numerous plants being added to it. Unfortunately the wet winter conditions have not helped it to flourish at all and as it has died off  it has  become an area where dogs have run across. There is some debate going on in the horticultural team at the moment as to what to do exactly this year in this area. One of the ideas being suggested is to crate a feature with hoops (similar to features in the Parsonage Gardens) as both a protection and an attractive feature. So today Kevin was experimenting with a few hoops . Please do let us know what you think? 

- Gary did some running repairs on the temporary chain fence earlier this morning - thank you Gary. 

- Brenda did a super job on the paths near the Gillbrook Road entrance. Thank you Brenda.  

- Allan once again worked hard with the blower to clear up many of the remaining leaves on the footpaths around the Bird Garden. The paths looked great afterwards - thanks Allan.

- Lesley also did a super job on the path edgings especially along the path leading to the volunteers shelter. Thank you Lesley. 

 Finally, thank you once again for your amazing support.