LAST WEEK - VANDALISM

Sadly, and annoyingly, on Monday evening last week one of the newly planted amelanchier trees which we had planted earlier in the day, was ripped up by two youths and dragged across the park and dumped on the bowling green. This was spotted first thing on Tuesday morning by Richard. By 11am Richard, Murray and I had re-planted it. This time we also added a metal guard to this and to the other newly planted amelanchier to protect them both.

Thank you to Richard and Murray for such a great response. Fingers crossed that the tree survives.

I am pleased to report that the incident was captured by the DGN CCTV camera and thanks to Jamie's support we are now engaged with GMP in an attempt to identify the culprits.     

THIS WEEK - TODAY

We had a good turnout of 33 volunteers today and everybody enjoyed the sunshine and blue skies which we experienced later in the morning. It was also good to welcome some volunteers back, for the first time,  following the New Year cold snap.  In particular:  Aristote and his job coach Lisa from Bridge College returned for another term; it was good to see Andrew and little Winnie (and Brian the dog) joining us once again for the first time in 2025; and it was great to see that Steve brought along his son Jack for the first time too (see picture 9).

Everybody was made very welcome. 

PLANTING ALL THE PYRACANTHA

Today we took the opportunity to complete the planting of the pyracantha, kindly donated by MCC. So first thing this morning Jane, Sandra, Lesley, Shashvat and Christine loaded the remaining pyracantha plants and transported them to the Wilmslow Road path.

Picture 1 shows Christine, Sandra (with plant in hand), Shashvat and Lesley Mc, posing for a picture before planting along the park fencing. Everybody is hoping that these healthy looking plants will provide a great backdrop / screen between the park and Viceroy Court.  

APPLICATION OF WOODCHIP ALONG THE CHILDREN'S WOODLAND TRAIL

The large team working on conveying woodchip to the children's woodland trail appeared at times to be like an army of ants today, as wave after wave of wheelbarrows moved across the park from the woodchip pile to the woodland trail and back again. The effort was relentless and the results were amazing. They were so busy that it was impossible to capture them all in one photograph.

Picture 2 shows Charlie, Anne and Wendy loading up the woodchip and Picture 3 shows Lesley Mc, Gill B and Anne (again) also loading up. In addition to the volunteers in the photographs Sandra, and Carl M were also heavily involved in this activity. Thank you all - this was a great piece of work 

PRUNING THE ROSES AND MULCHING

Picture 4 shows Julie and Diane (watched by Lesley Ann) busy pruning the roses in one of the rose beds, and picture 5 shows Julie, Lucy, Ilma and Kevin busy pruning the roses in the other rose bed.

Following the planting of the pyracantha, the team of Christine, Jane, and Shashvat joined Lucy and Tristan to provide a constant supply of mulch from the mature leaf pen. The mulch was then carefully laid around the roses in the rose beds such that the upcoming bulbs were not damaged. A thoroughly excellent job all round. Thank you all.

LITTER PICKING RAISES DOG POO CONCERN - DOG WALKERS PLEASE BE ALERT

We had two excellent teams litter picking around the park this morning. One team consisted of Aristote and his job coach Leesha who did an amazing job collecting two large bin bags full of litter. Picture 6 shows Andrew with little Winnie and dog Brian who had the very unpleasant task of clearing more than a dozen pieces of dog poo from the park today. It only takes one single irresponsible dog owner to spoil a beautiful park for the rest of the community.

Can all dog walkers and others please be vigilant.

Didsbury dog owners are very lucky in that there is a large amount of the park allocated to dogs off the lead BUT this is totally dependent upon being responsible and cleaning up after your dogs and not spoiling the park for other users - particularly children. Andrew was very upset that he had to undertake this necessary job which had to be done today due to other park users irresponsibility.  

THE HEAVY GANG START THE FOUNDATIONS FOR A NEW BENCH

Picture 7 shows Gary and Murray proudly standing alongside the foundation work for a new bench which they worked on today with Richard and Carl N. Once the hard standing is complete and the new fencing is in place we are hoping to install a new bench which will enable the elderly and infirm who enter the park via the Wilmslow Road gate to have a resting place along the long path leading into the park.

I know when my elderly Mum used to walk to the park she was desperate for a breather well before she reached the first bench in the park. We are hoping that the installation of a new bench at this point will encourage more elderly and infirm people to be able to come to the park and enjoy its benefits. 

PATH CLEANING

Following last week's storms, the paths around the park have been in need a good clean up. Picture 8 shows Allan coming to the rescue today and doing a superb job along the Flower Walk path. Thank you Allan.

Thank you also to Lesley Ann who did some similar edging work near the volunteer's storage shelter. The park is looking so much smarter following this work.

HEDGE TIDYING

We were delighted to welcome a new volunteer called Jack today. Jack is Steve's son and together they did an amazing job this morning. Picture 9 shows them working together as they prune the large holly hedge next to the DNC.

This was their second job of the morning, having already dug up the roots of a self seeded tree which both Joyce and the MCC arbor team had agreed needed removing.  This corner of the park looks amazing now. Thank you both.

A FEW MORE BULBS

Just when we thought we had planted all the bulbs, Alan turned up this morning with a half full bag of tulips.  

Picture 10 shows Alan proudly displaying the bag of sprouting bulbs. As these bulbs needed to be put in the ground quickly Alan agreed to accept the challenge and planted them up near the children's playground. Watch this space in a few weeks time!! Thank you Alan. 

Thank you once again for your continued amazing support.