A Didsbury Park Videogame, Autumn Art and 42 Busy Volunteers
THE DIDSBURY PARK ELECTRONIC GAME
Once again, I have to marvel at the skill and expertise of Phil our AI and IT guru, who manages our website. Phil has created an electronic game based upon his dog (Izzi) chasing around Didsbury Park after pigeons and squirrels. It is just a bit of fun. I can assure you that no animals have suffered in the making of this game! I can also reveal that I am hopeless at it. I have caught no squirrels, and got myself stuck in the wild flower meadow and Bird Garden where, as Izzi the dog, I was not allowed to go!
This game is best played on a laptop / computer rather than on a phone. If you would like to have a go, then please just follow this link or click the image above, and do remember to use the directional arrows on the keyboard to navigate your way around the park.
If like me, you do get stuck in the forbidden areas for dogs, then Phil assures me that the space bar operates as a jump key. Good Luck!
TODAY
Despite one or two short showers, we had a reasonable dry morning, and a good turnout of 42 volunteers in attendance. Our volunteers included Marina, Harinder and Darryl, (new volunteers from last week), and our student helpers and staff from Brentwood College and Bridge College. Everybody was made very welcome. Especial thanks today must go to David (of Travis fame) who kindly donated biscuits for our coffee break and to Chris who returned from his holiday in Cornwall with some traditional Cornish humbugs!
TODAY - ART IN THE PARK
Today got off to a great start with a special presentation made by Millie, one of our youngest volunteers, who turned up with Lauren (her Mum) to present a piece of autumnal art which she had made.
Picture 1 shows Millie proudly handing over her picture to me. Picture 2 shows a close up of her masterpiece, which is made (apart from the wobbly eyes) entirely of objects such as leaves, twigs, tree seeds, and grasses which Millie had collected in the park. Well done Millie! This picture is amazing - thank you!
TODAY - FINISHING THE NEW FLOWER BED
MCC announced earlier this year that they would not be supplying any winter bedding plants to the Didsbury in Bloom teams (which includes us) this autumn. However, they did encourage us to concentrate on asking for perennial plants instead. So, it was somewhat of a surprise that at this week's Didsbury in Bloom meeting, MCC announced that they would not be supplying any perennial plants either. As we have just been in the process of creating a new perennial flower bed ready for the new plants, this has given us a problem.
After some urgent discussions among the team, we have decided that it is important for us to stock the new bed as soon as possible so we will endeavour to invest in plants for this flower bed ourselves.
Today we had a large team working on finishing the infill area around which the newly designed flower bed will flow. Picture 3 shows the team of Daryl, Taylan, Chris, Allan, Felix, Steve, Harry and Harinder putting the finishing touches to the area, just before our coffee break. Thank you guys. This was a big job which you did excellently.
TODAY - ANNUAL DRAINS MAINTENANCE
After our coffee break most of our new flower bed team moved on to a job under Murray and Richard's direction which involved lifting all the drain covers around the roundabout and cleaning them out thoroughly before the leaf fall and winter weather set in.
Picture 4 shows Harry, Taylan, Harinder, Steve and Daryl with wheelbarrows full of the deposits from the drains. The drain covers from the drains can be seen on the floor directly behind them. The guys once again did an excellent maintenance job on cleaning out the drains. Thank you.
TODAY - HORTICULTURAL ACTIVITIES
Our horticultural work today concentrated on 3 main areas of the park.
Picture 5 shows our team of Marina, Gill B, Denise and Sue who were working as hard as possible on removing ground elder from the far end of the Flower Walk near the Sandhurst Road pedestrian exit. After removing as much as possible, the team came to the conclusion that this will require a bigger team and temporary removal of some of the larger shrubs next week in order to clear this area completely of ground elder. Thank you all, and especially for the preparation, for a big assault on this area next week.
Pictures 6 and 7 shows the teams working at weeding and cutting back some of the plants in the flower bed opposite the rockery. Picture 6 shows Sandra, Wendy and Chris. Picture 7 shows Kevin and Jude. This was a great piece of work everyone. The work on this flower bed over the last few weeks has transformed this bed - thank you.
Picture 8 shows Gary doing an amazing job around the park as he mowed all the grass around the flower beds. In this picture he is mowing around the rose beds where Louise did a super job keeping them looking weed free and so attractive. Thank you both
On the other side of the volunteer's shelter Lesley was busy weeding the other flower bed. Thank you Lesley.
TODAY - STORAGE MANAGEMENT
Picture 9 shows Richard and Murray as they are just about to install some coat hooks on the wall of one of the storage rooms. This will make a huge difference to our ability to tidily manage the personal coats and bags belonging to our many visiting volunteers from business. Great work guys.
TODAY - THE LEAVES ARE COMING
We have certainly noticed an increase in the number of leaves on the ground this week, so today the students from Brentwood College set about sweeping and clearing the main path between the volunteer's shelter and the cafe. They did a super job - thank you all.
Please remember the date of SATURDAY 24th OCTOBER BETWEEN 10am and 1pm when we will holding the BIG LEAF CLEAR UP!
TODAY - LITTER PICKING
I would like to say a huge thank you to Andrew who does a fantastic litter picking job for us every week. Andrew is usually one of our first volunteers to arrive in the park every Monday morning and he is a real 'Billy Whizz' as he covers the whole park, thoroughly cleaning up the litter as he goes. You do an amazing job Andrew - thank you!
I would also like to thank Sheeba and Brian who followed up with a litter pick later in the morning. Thank you once again.
TODAY - ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK
Thank you to Kevin for undertaking the preparation work today for the plan to dig out sections of abundant oxide daisies from the wild flower meadow next week.
Thank you to Richard for repairing some of the netting on the goalposts on the sports field
Not only did Gill N manage the coffee break refreshments without a hitch again today but Gill also filled up all the dog bag dispensers - Great work Gill. Thank you.
Finally, on Saturday 7th November, MCC are looking for volunteers to help them with free family-friendly fireworks events at Wythenshwe Park, Platt Fields Park and Heaton Park.If you are interested please let me know and I will send you the details of how to apply.
Thank you once again for your amazing support.