A Bright and Busy Monday in Didsbury Park
TODAY
In complete contrast to last week, we had a totally dry morning today, and we even had an occasional spell of sunshine which created a beautiful backdrop to the colourful abundance of emerging spring bulbs right across the park. Working in the park this morning was a real pleasure, and it was great to see some excellent progress being made by our 40 volunteers in attendance.
We were especially pleased to welcome a new local volunteer Anne for the first time and returning volunteer Patrick, back again after over a year's absence. Following the half term break last week, we were also pleased to see our returning student volunteers from Brentwood School and Bridge College. We were also delighted to see that Murray was able to turn up today without his 'fracture boot' for the first time in weeks. Everybody was made very welcome.
TODAY - BRIEFING AND PREPARATION FOR FUTURE POWER TOOL TRAINING
During the last few years, the introduction of battery operated power tools has become more and more popular in domestic gardening throughout the country. Used in the right way they do make jobs easier and they are not such an environmental threat as their fossil fuel predecessors used to be.
In order to enable us to use these in the park it is very important that anybody using such tools has had the right level of training to ensure that they are used safely both for themselves and others around them. We have therefore made the decison, in agreement with MCC, that in future only those volunteers who have had training will be allowed to use the power tools which we have.
We have agreed with MCC to run a series of training courses during the coming weeks to enable volunteers to be trained in the use of our power tools. Today we had a visit from our MCC trainer, Roger, who familiarised himself with our set up and agreed to begin the first training course next Monday, immediately after our coffee break circa 11:15am. Volunteers who successfully complete the course will receive a certificate, valid for 5 years. We will also maintain a register, to be displayed in the storeroom of volunteers allowed to use which power tools. Roger and I are currently determining the order of training on the tools and we hope to announce this next week.
This should be a great opportunity to pick up a new skill and learn how to safely use some interesting new equipment. The first training course starts next Monday at 11:15 am. Please let me know next Monday if you would like to be part of it.
TODAY - WILLOW HEDGE AND WILDLIFE CAMERA
I am delighted to report that two of our more creative projects moved a big step forward today. PIcture 1 shows Kevin holding a sturdy piece of willow and standing next to Tristan who is holding the Wildlife camera. Kevin worked solidly all morning with Mustafa to create a new willow fence around the roundabout. Picture 2, although not being a good photo, if you look hard enough, it will give you a good idea of the creativeness involved in the completed willow hedge around the roundabout. Great work team!
Many, many thanks must go to Tristan who applied some great technical skills to the wildlife camera as he put it through a maintenance schedule (including reformating the memory card) prior to relocating it in the woodland area this morning. It will be fascinating to see what we capture on the camera in this new location. Well done Tristan. Excellent work!!
TODAY - FLOWER BED MAINTENANCE
We continued to do lots of maintenance work on the flower beds around the park today :
Picture 3 shows Denise proudly standing by the rose bed which she had just weeded and where she had also pruned back the rose bushes ready for a big growth of flowers later this summer. Despite this being mainly a rose bed, Denise has still managed to create a beautiful array of colour at this time of year with the pansies and the tete-a-tete. Well done Denise.
Picture 4 shows Patrick, Chris and Taylan posing in the Wild Flower Meadow next to the hedges where they had been weeding out lots of grass and weeds. This was a great job -thank you. Picture 5 shows the delicate white flowers of the hawthorn hedge around the wild flower meadow just coming into bloom - spring is truly nearly here!!
Meanwhile David, Gary and David worked on tidying up the edging between the wild flower meadow and the lawned picnic area before then sowing some remaining poppy seeds. This was a piece of work which Allan has been working on during the week and which was finished off today. Thank you all. This really looks good now.
Picture 6 shows Lis returning to the green waste skip with a wheel barrow full of weeds from the Flower Walk where the large team of Christine, Jane, Lis , Jude, Julie, Anne, Gill B and Joyce had all been working hard to keep this area under control. Picture 7 is taken in the section where Joyce , Anne and Jude were all working. Picture 8 was taken around the corner where Ilma and Tristan were working near the moss garden and Picture 9 shows Julie and Tom who had been lifting the canopy of the trees at the top of the Wilmslow Road path, so that we could get more light to the flower beds below. Thank you to everyone who participated in this huge task and for all the fabulous improvements we achieved.
TODAY - ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK
A huge thank you to the team from Brentwood School who all worked so hard today to make sure that the path to the Wilmslow Road entrance was swept clean and looked sensational when they had finished. This was a big job. Thank you.
When young Emiline woke up this morning and realised that it was a Monday she insisted that her dad, Ben, brought her to the park immediately to do some litter picking. She obviously really enjoyed it last week! So it was not only great to see them both once again but they also collected an amazing amount of litter from around the park. As also did It Sigad and Sheeba. It did take a few minutes for me to work out why suddenly we seem to have a lot more litter on a Monday morning and then I realised - of course we actually had a lovely warm sunny day on Sunday and the park really was full. Thank you Emiline, Ben, Sigad and Sheeba. Great work.
Picture 10 shows Murray being welcomed by Denise before doing some work on the second set of goalposts which are in storage in the volunteers shelter. Murray was making them ready to be installed on the sports field as soon as possible. Thank you Murray.
Thank you to Brenda, for once again making sure that the paths around the Gillbrook Road entrance looked as clean and welcoming as possible.
Thank you to Allan who took the leaf blower out around the main paths and blew them clear of old leaves. Great job Allan.
Thank you also to our unsung hero Gill N who once again organised all the drinks at break time and in between sorting out the drinks order she also managed to refill all the doggy bag dispensers located at all 5 entrances to the park.
Roger once more concentrated on continuing to replace the smaller patches over the gaps in the hedge around the Bird Garden with the new coverings. This looks so much better and improves the security of this dog free zone too. Thank you Roger.
One of the benefits of having experienced volunteers is that so often they spot for themselves the key jobs which need to be undertaken throughout the park. Today was no exception and was typified by Lesley who spotted that there was some grass growing around the base of the lectern at the roundabout. Lesley just set about clearing all this up and made this area look so much better as a result. A big thank you Lesley.
Finally thank you all once again for your amazing support!