A REMINDER ABOUT NEXT WEEK  - BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY

One of the challenges which faces us as a Monday volunteer group is that every so often our volunteering day clashes with a Bank Holiday. But I hope everybody agrees that this also a great opportunity for our volunteers with school children, our volunteers who are now employed and volunteers with working partners, to be able to make volunteering a great family occasion and for everybody to turn up - We will be open for business as usual so please do come along next Monday

THIS WEEK

Today we had another great turnout of 44 volunteers and we got through a huge amount of work. We were delighted to welcome three new local volunteers. Christine and Jane (my regular 'body pump' buddies from the gym) came along for the first time today and Jane also brought along Mino (originally from the Ukraine). We also welcomed Alison from Didsbury in Bloom and 8 business volunteers from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and once again it was great to see Charlie returning to work with us again even though she has changed her business employer she still came back to help us. Everybody was made very welcome.  

BIG PROJECT - EMPTYING THE PLANTERS IN THE VILLAGE

We work very closely throughout the year with the Didsbury in Bloom team. Each year we offer to help clear the 29 planters in the village and this year was no exception. So today was the designated day when we provided a team of 7 volunteers to go out into the highways and byways of Didsbury Village, under Alison's expert guidance, to remove the winter bedding plants, ready for re-planting with summer bedding plants in a few weeks time. The team were also tasked with saving any healthy plants wherever possible for replanting in Didsbury Park. The team did exceptionally well this year and saved 5 wheelbarrows full of healthy plants. Picture 1 shows  Alison with 4 of our volunteers from Greater Manchester Combined Authority with 2 wheelbarrows full of healthy plants and bulbs. Thank you all. 

Meanwhile, whilst the planters were being emptied in Didsbury Village, another team was busy in Didsbury Park clearing and weeding an area designated as the new home for the healthy plants. Picture 2 shows Wendy, Joyce, Carl M, Tristan and Jude busy preparing the area near the old compost bays. Julie D and Gill B were also helping but were out of shot. Thank you

Picture 3 shows Tristan, Joyce, Kevin, Gill B, Carl M and 2 of the business volunteers posing for a picture having finished all the replanting in this area. Thank you all.

Picture 4 shows Ilma and Lucy adding some of the recovered healthy winter bedding plants into the rose beds near the volunteer's shelter. Thank you both.

Overall the planter clearing and replanting in the park was an amazing piece of work this morning - A huge thank you to everybody who took part! 

THE POPPY PATH CONTAINS MORE THAN POPPIES

When we first created the Poppy Path in 2017 we sowed nearly 3 million poppy seeds and the new path was very aptly named. In recent years we do still have a large stock of poppies appearing on the path but we have also added some more diverse plants too.

Picture 5 taken today is a stunning example of the many diverse plants now found upon the Poppy Path these days. Picture 6 shows the small team of Ben and Mike who worked with John upon the the Poppy Path today. This picture shows the area, in front of the wreaths, which had been weeded and re-sown with a new mixture of wild flower seeds. Fingers crossed for a full bloom this summer! Thank you John, Ben and Mike. This was a superb morning's work. 

THE ENTRANCE TO THE BIRD GARDEN HAS A FACELIFT

Picture 7 shows the enthusiastic team of Christine, Lorna, Mino, Jane and Allan as they transformed the entrance to the Bird Garden.

The hedges were beautifully pruned and the paving weeded in a way which made the whole area look more attractive, clean and cared for. Thank you all - this was a huge improvement.

THE HEAVY GANG PROGRESS THE  HARDSTANDING FOR THE NEW BENCH

With the delivery of the compact gravel earlier this week, and the new bench expected any day now, the pressure was on the heavy gang of Adrian, Richard, Gary, Carl N and Murray today to make significant progress on the installation of the 'hard standing' for the new bench.  As expected the team rose to the challenge - 3 out of the 4 edging sides were concreted in and a fine layer of compact gravel was laid successfully. The hardstanding is expected to be finished next week.

Picture 8 shows the team of Murray, Gary, Adrian and Richard posing for a picture at the end of the morning. Thank you guys - great work! 

ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK

     - Tom has been doing some amazing work on the engineering of the new wild life camera. Thank you Tom.

     - It was great to see Brenda and David hard at work on tidying up the Gillbrook Road entrance today. This was a super result once again. Thank you.

     - Phil came along today to check out the PA system for the KAVS garden party. More work to follow. Thank you Phil.

     - Picture 9 shows Charlie and Aedemar giving the repaired football pitch an even more intense raking to make sure the pitch is as level as possible. The results of this intense raking and leveling made a huge improvement and Charlie and Aedemar finished it off wtth a light reseeding. Thank you Charlie and Aedemar - this was a great result

     - We also welcomed Aristote from Clayton College and his job coach once again today and I am delighted to report that Aristote managed exceptionally well as he undertook some woodchip spreading at the muddy entrances to the sports field. Everybody was pleased with this progress.

     - Peter dedicated his morning to mowing the grassed area around Buddy and Lucy. Picture 10 shows Peter pausing for a moment for a photograph before returning to the task of making a fabulous improvement to this whole area. Thank you Peter. 

     - As part of our continuous programme of improving the park, Julie D has been spearheading a move for us to procure some more special plants for key areas of the park. The first of these arrived today in the form of a large very healthy looking Rhododendron Silver Edge. Julie both delivered it and then planted it strategically at the Wilmslow Road entrance. Watch this space! There is more to come - Thank you Julie.

     - Similarly this week Kevin obtained a supply of new large ferns from Maggies. These were also brought to the park and planted this morning. Thank you Kevin - these are a great addition. 

     - Finally last but not least we must not forget our litter pickers. Joe was first to arrive this morning as he had run out of litter bags and he was soon followed by Andrew and our youngest volunteer Winnie. Thank you all for keeping the park so clean - it is really appreciated!

It has been a really productive day! Thank you once again for your amazing support.