LAST WEEK - CLIMATE ACTION IN DIDSBURY EAST - DEEDS NOT WORDS

On Wednesday evening we supported the event organised by Cllr Linda Foley at Parrs Wood High School, entitled Climate Action in Didsbury East - Deeds not Words. As well as some very interesting presentations, there were also about 10 displays around the room covering a range of topics such as cleaning up our rivers, Mums for Lungs (concerned that Manchester has the poorest air quality in the UK) , City of Trees, etc etc. Friends of Didsbury Park also had a display stand. On our stand we focussed upon our belief that Didsbury Park is so important for the health and wellbeing of the people of Didsbury that it should be legally committed by MCC to remain as a park for the people of Didsbury for both current and future generations. - We received a lot of support at the event for our cause.

LAST WEEK - DIDSBURY PARK BIG SPRING CLEAN UP 

On Saturday morning we held our annual Spring Clean event and despite the inclement weather (strong cold wind, hail showers, interspersed with bright sunny periods)  we still had a very respectable turnout of about 20 volunteers who spent several hours litter picking throughout the park.

Picture 1 shows a couple of our younger participants Sebastian and Alexander, suitably attired in waterproofs, posing in front of one of our blossoming magnolia trees.  In all, we had 10 bags of litter, which we dutifully handed over to the MCC truck this morning. Considering the weather - this was a great turnout. A huge thank you to everybody who participated!

LAST WEEK - POPPY PATH

Robin continued his work along the Poppy Path during the week last week to the point where the second large skip (delivered thanks to Debs) was completely filled with green waste, and the area was ready for sowing wild flower seeds. John also procured the seeds during the week and is now ready to sow them. However, we postponed the seed sowing today because of the weather, but John hopes to do this soon. Thank you, guys.

Thanks also must go to Tom, who, over the weekend, did a lot of maintenance work on the bottom end of the Poppy Path - clearing back many of the overgrown shrubs and making the path more easily accessible. We could see from how full the skip in the park was this morning that you got through a lot of work.  Thank you Tom - Great job. 

TODAY

With rain forecast for the whole morning, we still had a very credible turnout of 24 volunteers today. Our volunteers included Winnie seen posing in her hi-vis vest in picture 2, her dad Andrew, Aristhote and his job coach Safiya from Bridge College. Everybody was made very welcome.

BIRD GARDEN MAKEOVER

Following a good mowing last week it was time this week to do some further maintenance work on the many fruit trees in the Bird Garden. A team of Tristan, Allan, Kevin, Greg and Peter set about weeding and tidying up the bases around the many fruit trees, sorting out the weeds around the hedgerows and repairing any holes in the hedges themselves.

Pictures 3 & 4 show Peter and Greg respectively working on different trees in the Bird Garden.  Picture 5 shows Allan working on the exterior of the hedges, and picture 6 shows Kevin pioneering a new approach by adopting wicker fencing-type techniques with natural stalks and twigs. It certainly looks like a more natural filler for dog size holes in the fence so we are keen to see just how robust it will be.

Tristan also did an amazing job collecting and distributing the woodchip covering which was needed to finish off the tree bases. The improvement in the Bird Garden was quite remarkable after all this work. Thank you all. 

LET'S MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR MCC TRUCKS AND STOP THE NEED FOR THEM TO DRIVE ACROSS THE BOGGY GRASS EDGES

Following discussions with our MCC colleagues last week we came to the conclusion that we should trial a solution to the problem we have with large ruts being created in the grass as the MCC trucks try and navigate a tight corner of the path near the entrance to the wild flower meadow.

Picture 7 shows the heavy gang team of Murray, Gary, Adrian, Steve and Richard at the stage where they have dug out the area on the corner of the junction to be installed with hard standing. Later in the morning the team pointed in some cobble sets along the new edging and then filled the remaining area with compact sand. Hopefully this will make a huge difference to both the look and safety of this corner for the MCC drivers. Thank you guys - great job - fingers crossed that this solution helps.

PATH FROM WILMSLOW ROAD GATES - MORE WEEDING & TIDYING

As the weather gets a bit warmer and the rain continues almost daily, the weeds on this path are really taking off. So today our team of Julie, Jude, Lorna and Lucy were joined by Kevin and started to take on this challenge. Last week we concentrated on the area near the gate entrance.

This week we started at the other end of the path . Picture 8 shows Julie and Kevin working at the top end of the path and picture 9 show Lucy working on the flower bed opposite the rockery.

ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK

• If we were handing out hero prizes today then one would certainly have gone to Roger who single handedly spent hours sweepig mud off the paths to make the park look as respectable as it could possibly look given the amount of rain we have been having. A huge thanks Roger.

• A huge thanks too must go to Gill N who not only managed the coffee orders as efficiently as ever but also had time to vist every lectern and notice board in the park, remove the posters for last Saturdays Big Spring Clean event and replace them with new posters outlining the upcoming events in the park for 2024. Thank you Gill.  

THE PARK

It is really rewarding to be in the park at the moment, and it is particularly pleasing when so many people say to volunteers how they appreciate all the work that has been done to make it look so beautiful. It is also very exciting to see all the trees coming into blossom at this time of year.

Picture 10 is a lovely picture taken on Saturday of one of our trees, which has been in blossom this week. 

 Thank you once again for your continued amazing support.