A Busy Volunteer Morning in Didsbury Park: From Path Care to Wildflower Meadows
TODAY
Despite today starting off as a typical Mancunian day, overcast and grey, it did not put off any of the 38 volunteers who turned up to do a good mornings work in Didsbury Park. After a number of days of inactivity we also saw the return of the contractors who are doing the work on the railings around the wild flower meadow, which will enable us to open up this area of the park to the public.
We were delighted to welcome new volunteers Holly and Gabby for the first time and Taylan for his second week of volunteering. We were also particularly thrilled to see Debbie returning today too after a long time away. Everybody was made very welcome.
TODAY - LITTER PICKING
The prize for the cutest picture of the day today must go to Millie. Picture 1 shows Mille proudly displaying her bag of litter, which she had collected throughout the park. Well done Millie and huge thanks also to Mum Lauren.
We were also grateful to a litter pick from our experienced team of Sigad and job coach Sheeba from Bridge College. Thank you all. You really made a difference for the better!
TODAY - PATH MAINTENANCE
At this time of year there is constant maintenance required to keep the paths of the park looking clean and safe. Today was no exception. In the background of picture 1, we can see Lesley and Carl M working on the edges of the path leading to the volunteers shelter. Picture 2 shows a close up of Carl as he removes weeds and leaves from the gravel drainage trench. Further along the path, picture 3 shows Holly and Gabby tidying up the path around the roundabout and further still, Brenda did some great tidying at the Gillbrook Road entrance gate. Thank you all.
Picture 4, shows one of our rare pictures of some of our regular special needs students and staff from Brentwood College, Trafford. This picture was taken just before they undertook an amazing job to top up the woodchip on the path to the children's playground. They work so hard and not only enjoy what they do but make everybody feel good around them too. Thank you - you add so much spirit to our team.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the path maintenance activities. This is a really important piece of work at this time of year amd much appreciated by all our visitors to the park.
TODAY - WILD FLOWER MEADOW PROJECT TO OPEN UP TO PUBLIC ACCESS
Unfortunately there has not been much further progress since last week on this project due to the availability of the contractors team and the delay in the delivery of the new railings and pedestrian gates. However today we did move the project forward by working with the contractors team to design and mark out the footpath which will go between the two gates and through the wild flower meadow. The contractors also removed the moss from the tarmac path which will be incorporated into and widen the perimeter path outside the new railings.
Picture 5 taken at the end of last week, shows the dramatic improvement the removal of the high fencing has already made to the look and feel of the wild flower meadow. Onwards and upwards!
Picture 6 shows Gill, Sandra and Anne digging out the turf where the old double gate entrance to the wild flower meadow used to be. Their task was to create a new flower bed, where we can plant new hedging to complete gap created by the old entrance gate. Joyce, Chris and Taylan were also involved in this activity and also in finding other areas of the park where we could use the turf which had been dug out. This was an excellent job alll round, ready for the hedge planting next week. Thank you all.
TODAY - FLOWER BED MAINTENANCE
Enemy weed of the day today was designated to be alkanet, closely followed by bindweed. Initially Jude, Chris, Taylan and Julie worked on its removal at the Sandhurst Road end of the Flower Walk. Later this team were joined by Ilma, Tristan and Lucy as they moved moved their focus to the maintenace of the shrubs along the path to the Wilmslow Road entrance. Picture 7 shows Tristan, Ilma and Julie posing for a picture along the Wilmslow Road path and Picture 8 shows Lucy heading off with a wheelbarrow full of clippings to the green waste skip. The team were also joined by Tom who helped with the more severe pruning. Thank you all. This was really good progress.
The early birds today were Sonia, Sandra, Debbie, Holly and Gabby and they soon set to work on tidying up the flower beds around the Buddy and Lucy carving. This was extremely impressive and the flower beds looked great afterwards. Thank you all.
Thank you also to Denise who worked once again on all the rose beds. These are looking really well cared for. Thank you Denise - great work!
TODAY - ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK
Thank you to Allan for clearing the blocked gutter on the Volunteer's shelter and for using the leaf blower until running out of fuel. Great work Allan.
Thank you also to Lorna for manually removing the worst of the leaves from the grassed areas. This makes an incredible improvement in the dog walkers ability to find any mess their dogs may have inadvertantly left behind.
Gill N not only successfully managed to finally deploy the rest of our remaining stock of coffee time biscuits (a challenge which has been ongoing for several months !) but also managed to update the doggy bag dispensers as well. A fabulous mornings work Gill - thank you!
Finally, in the absense of any heavy gang members, Kevin continued to focus upon the Bug Hotel developments in the woodland area. Thanks Kevin. Great initiative!
REMINDER - ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP OF THE FRIENDS OF DIDSBURY PARK
I am delighted to be able to report that during the last 12 months the membership of the Friends of Didsbury Park has grown faster than it ever has before. A big thank you to Louise for developing a number of successful recruitment campaigns.
The £10 annual membership donation (although many people donate more) provides the support we need to make sure that our volunteers have the tools, materials and equipment to enable us to maintain the park at the highest (RHS gold award) standard throughout the year. The huge level of support we are now receiving from our community for the work we do is truly amazing and we thank you all. It is really appreciated and is a huge boost to volunteer's morale knowing how many people in the community support what we do. A huge thank you to all our members reading this update!
I think it is also very appropriate for me to say a special thank you to Sonia and Sandra our membership officers who work particularly hard, especially at this time of year, when we start a new year and our annual renewal of membership becomes due. They do tell me it really helps reduce their admin if, as more and more people are now doing, standing orders can be set up for membership donations.
Finally, once again, thank you from me, for all your amazing support.