A Busy Summer’s Day in Didsbury Park with 62 Volunteers
TODAY
On a warm partially cloudy day we had an excellent turnout of 62 volunteers who undertook some great work right across the park this morning. In addition to our recent new joiners Nico, and Patrick we also had some seasonal summer holiday support from youngsters Luke, Jeremy and Winnie with their respective parents Lorna, Xin and Andrew.
We also had support from Az and his team from NatWeat, Louisa and colleagues from Co-operative Bank, George and Edward from the MCC Homeless Team and Jen from Central Library. Everybody was made very welcome.
We would like to say an especial thank you today to the staff in the park cafe. This morning just as they were about to prepare our hot drinks for our break at 11am, their boiler and their coffee machine both broke. But with amazing resilience they borrowed two kettles and somehow managed to cater for all 62 of us. Thank you to Jo and all her staff who were magnificent under pressure and to Gill for all her help too.
TODAY - REPAINTING THE RAILINGS AROUND THE CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND
We took advantage of the dry weather today to ask the Co-operative Bank team to give the railings around the children's playground a timely clean, and then paint them with a coat of quick drying Hammerite paint.
Picture 1 shows 8 members of the Co-operative Bank team at the painting stage. Using materials funded and supplied by FoDP, the team managed to complete one full side of the children's playground by the end of the morning. Thank you all - this was a great improvement.
TODAY - THE BIRD GARDEN MAKEOVER
Picture 2 shows Fasil (2nd from right) and 8 of the NatWest volunteers, as they stand proudly behind the cypress tree in the Bird Garden, where they had just spent several hours clearing away the old roots from the hedging which had been removed last week.
This area now looks so much more attractive than it did before and it is also much safer as it no longer harbours bottles and other detritus in the hedge. Thank you all - this was a great improvement too.
After coffee the team returned to the Bird Garden and did a super job pruning the perimeter hedge. Thank you.
It was great to see Roger joining us again today and working hard to remove any gaps in the Bird Garden hedge where dogs may have squeezed through. Thank you Roger. Great work!
TODAY - CLEARING LAST WEEK'S GREEN WASTE LEFTOVERS
Unfortunately last week our green waste skip did not arrive and so we had to temporarily store a huge pile of green waste behind the volunteer's shelter. Once today's skip arrived therefore, our first job was to load up last weeks green waste. This job was undertaken by Patrick, Chris and Shasvat.
Picture 3 shows them loading yet another wheelbarrow full of green waste onto an already pretty full skip. Thank you guys - this was a mammoth task very well done.
TODAY - OUR YOUNG VOLUNTEERS
Especial thanks today to our young volunteers who did some great work around the park.
Picture 4 shows Jeremy and dad, Xin, proudly displaying a full bag of rubbish collected across the park. Thanks also to Winnie and Andrew who worked equally as hard and did a great job litter picking too. Luke and Lorna meanwhile did some hard work pushing a full bowser of water to the top end of the park where they gave the newly planted hawthorn some much needed water. Thank you all for this great work.
TODAY - CHAIN FENCE INSTALLATION COMPLETED
Thanks to Murray for organising the purchase and supply of the chain fence accessories, we were able to replace the rather fragile temporary plastic ring fencing with a permanent metal variety today.
Picture 5 shows Adrian at work installing the new fencing while Esme and Richard offer helpful advice! Thank you all. This feature looks great.
TODAY - CLEARING TREE BASES
Picture 6 shows George and Edward proudly admiring the great job they had done tidying up the base of the beautiful magnolia tree near the wild flower meadow.
George and Edward were assisted by Tahir (great to see you back Tahir) who provided the finishing touch by mowing the grass around the bases. This team then went on to do a similar great job on the 3 amelanchier located next to the cafe. Thank you all.
TODAY - EDGING
Jobs to clear the path edges were undertaken by 2 groups today. One group from NatWest did an amazing job around the cobbles at the base of the lectern near the roundabout and the other group, in picture 7, with Denise, did an equally impressive piece of work on the cobbles near the wild flower meadow entrance. Thank you all.
TODAY - PRESERVING BENCHES
Picture 8 shows Sandra midway through applying preservative to one of the benches in the wild flower meadow.
The before and after sides of the bench look amazing. Thank you Sandra. An fantastic job!
TODAY - DOG BAGS REPLENISHMENT
Last week FoDP purchased a new supply of dog bags for the park. So today Grace and Gill N were able to visit all the dog bag dispensers at each of our 5 entrances and fill them up.
Picture 9 shows Grace and Gill on their route around the park. Thank you both - great job!.
TODAY - ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK
There was a lot of work being undertaken by all 62 volunteers across all corners of the park today including the Poppy Path. Here is a summary:
Thanks to Brenda for doing a super job on the Gillbrook Road entrance and once again tidying up all the debris from the self seeded fir tree which dominates and overshadows this entrance. Well done Brenda. Kevin, Richard, Carl N and Nico continued their bug hotels development in the woodlands today.
The rumour is that the roof is now on and that the show house will be ready for viewing and photographing next week - what an incentive to come along to volunteer on a Bank Holiday Monday!!
Well done guys - this is really exciting!Julie, Christine and Lesley spent a lot of dedicated time this morning weeding and pruning the Flower Walk and the flower bed along the path to the Wilmslow Road gate. Both areas need a lot of maintenance but are well worth it. They are looking stunning. Thank you all. Thank you also to Patrick for providing some necessary watering for these wonderful plants.
A huge thanks to the team of Joyce, Gill B, Carl M and Allan who did a super job in tidying up the area around the wreath upon the Poppy Path. Excellent work. Thank you all.Thank you to Sonia who could not make it this morning but made up for it this afternoon when she did a solo watering session on the flowers around Buddy ad Lucy. Thank you Sonia.
In keeping with the current Hundreds cricket competition, Gary once more tended to the cricket pitch this morning by mowing and re-marking it. It is looking splendid at the moment Gary especially as it is such a popular attraction. Thank you!Tristan paid a lot of attention today to pruning the hedging on the inside of hedge bordering Sandhurst Road. Thank you Tristan this made a huge difference. hank you to Denise for once more tending the rose beds. They have been really attractive this year. Thank you Denise.
Thank you also to Tom who worked on tidying up the bottom of the Poppy Path. Tom used the mower to keep the path from overgrowing. Thank you Tom.
NEXT WEEK - BANK HOLIDAY - VOLUNTEERING AS USUAL!!
It is normal practice for us to volunteer every Monday morning no matter what the weather and no matter whether it is a Bank Holiday or not. Next Monday is no exception. Hopefully I will see you in the park on Monday morning - We are not expecting any volunteers from business next week!
THE HISTORY OF DIDSBURY PARK - WHERE DO YOU THINK THIS IS?
Picture 10 is another picture from the archives and although it has the title "Didsbury Park" you have to admit it looks nothing like the park? Where do you think this is?
This is a bit of a teaser and the answer will be provided next week. Thank you once again to Louise for her research and to Manchester Libraries for permission to share the pictures.
Finally, thank you once again for your amazing support.