New Year’s Resolution: Recruiting More Breakfast Club Members
In 2016 we introduced the concept of the Didsbury Park Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club consists of volunteers who own a litter picker and are regularly in the park between 7am and 9am each day. Not surprisingly most of our Breakfast Club Members have been dog walkers giving their pets their first walk of the day.
Over time, as members have moved house or dogs have sadly deceased we have lost a number of our regular Breakfast Club Members. Also as the park has become cleaner and there is less litter to pick up some members have got out of the habit of bringing their litter pickers every day. Consequently we are now looking to recruit some additional members in order to top up the numbers in the team. Thanks to support from MCC I have now acquired a new supply of litter pickers which I would be happy to give to any new recruits.
So if you think you would fit the bill or know of somebody else who might be interested can you please let me know?
REPORT ON LAST TUESDAY'S LOCAL RADIO INTERVIEW
First of all I would like to thank everyone who has already given me some great feedback about the live broadcast which took place last Tuesday. The broadcast on ALLfm (96.9FM, DAB and online) went out live at 10am last Tuesday morning. The format of the programme was similar to that of 'Desert Island Discs. After some initial discussion about my 'life before Didsbury', the interview then moved on to a discussion about our Friends Group and our volunteering achievements in Didsbury Park. If you did not get a chance to hear it live then please do take the opportunity by clicking ‘play’ below:
You are "Simply the Best"!!
THIS WEEK
It started snowing last Tuesday and with the temperatures hovering around zero degrees the snow has remained in the park more or less all of this week. This has been great fun for the children building snowmen and throwing snowballs. Pictures 1 to 4 capture some of the beautiful scenes in the park.
TODAY
According to the weather forecast it looked like we were going to be amazingly lucky today, as the forecast temperatures indicated that the snow and ice would melt away overnight and we would all be able to work in the park this morning.
However for the first time I can remember, in 10 years of volunteering, it was not to be!! Unfortunately the ground was completely frozen and the paths were too treacherous underfoot to enable us to work safely. So we reluctantly decided that we would have to cancel any volunteering this morning. Picture 5 shows a picture of Sandra, Joyce, Gill B, Diane, Adrian, Julie and Anne looking very sad (🤣) at the thought of spending the rest of the morning in the warmth of the cafe!
Amazingly we still had 25 volunteers who turned up for ready for work this morning, and although officially volunteering was cancelled, some hardy volunteers couldn't help themselves and undertook some of the safer jobs.
Picture 6 shows John, Grace, Christine, Tristan and Shashvat working on the snow covered wild flower meadow where they gently lifted the low canopy on each of the 10 Himalayan birch trees. This was a well timed piece of seasonal pruning which will expose the beautiful white trunks of these trees and make them look even more stunning. Greg then gave a helping hand and used the pruned branches in his work creating a natural hedge. Thank you all - this was a great piece of work.
Elsewhere in the park:
Adrian and Gary re-installed one of the repaired KAVS plaques at the Sandhurst Road pedestrian gate. Thank you both. It is looking good again now.
Allan and Sandra tirelessly worked on clearing the compacted ice on the main path between the Sandhurst Road and Gillbrook Road gates. This was an incredibly difficult and rewarding piece of work, as afterwards, park visitors were able to resume using these paths safely once again. Thank you Sandra and Allan.
Picture 7 shows Gill B and Joyce on a very careful litter pick of any unfrozen litter in the park. Thank you . This was a great job.
GREAT NEWS - THE CHILDREN'S EASTER EGG HUNT WILL BE BACK IN THE EVENTS PROGRAMME THIS YEAR
I am delighted to report some great breaking news for the children and grandchildren in our community. During this last week I have received an email from Tom at the Didsbury Community Church of the Nazarene to say that he and Kirsty will be able to organise an Easter Egg Hunt again this year. This hugely enjoyable family event has always been a 'regular' Easter attraction in the past. It is planned for Easter Saturday - 19th April 2025. Watch this space for more information.
SURPRISE OF THE DAY!
This morning I had arranged to meet Joanne Wakeman (our new MCC South Area Parks Lead) and Caitlin Lockwood (our Ranger) to discuss some issues to be addressed in the park. Imagine my surprise therefore when more and more parks senior personnel kept arriving for the meeting. I was feeling a little outnumbered, as all our volunteers had already gone home, when John Mouncey (MCC Programme and Engagement Lead Manchester Parks), Kylie Ward (MCC Parks Lead) and Councillor Lee-Ann Igbon (MCC Executive Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods) also appeared. Kylie explained that they all wanted to come along to congratulate me and present a bottle of champagne from MCC in recognition of the BEM award I had received in the New Years Honours List - what a generous surprise (and such a pity everyone else had already gone home and I could not share it! 😂🤣) Thank you MCC for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come along to the park today.
Thank you once again for your amazing support.