EVEN MORE AWARDS FOR DIDSBURY PARK!
Last week, was the week when the RHS announced the results of the judging of the Britain in Bloom competitions. On Wednesday they announced the results of the Britain in Bloom, North West, In Your Neighbourhood competition. On Thursday they announced the results of the Britain in Bloom, North West, Small Parks category. We were entered into both competitions.
Amazingly, once again for the third year runnimg we achieved the highest awards in both. We were awarded the "outstanding" classification in the "In Your Neighbourhood" competition and we were awarded the top "Gold" award in the "Small Parks" competition. These are truly amazing results achieved by a superb volunteer team who are supported by an excellent board of trustees and by our colleagues in MCC.
However it does not stop there. We had another surprise this year. Unbenown to us, every year, all the RHS judges from right across the North West of England get together at the end of all the judging and vote for the one organisation who impressed them the most. The winner this year of the NORTH WEST IN BLOOM TROPHY - BEST SMALL NEIGHBOURHOOD AWARD has gone to us the FRIENDS OF DIDSBURY PARK!!!!
In previous years this prestigious trophy has been won by organisations from across the whole of the North West of England including places like Preston, Wigan and last year a team from Blackpool won it! We are delighted and very proud to be the first team ever to win it from Didsbury.
Congratulations to everyone involved with us!
Our volunteer colleagues from right across Didsbury also did well in this year's competitions. In fact we all did so well this year that we have been asked if Didsbury will be prepared to represent the North West region and be entered into the RHS Britain in Bloom National Competition next year.
The splendid cup which goes with the award has been beautifully photographed in picture 1 by Louise in the park today.
TODAY
It was a case of double celebration for our team of 43 volunteers who worked in the sunshine in the park this morning. Alongside the breaking news of our North West in Bloom - Best Small Neighbourhood award, by sheer co-incidence it also happened to be my birthday - so there was plenty of cake for everybody at our break.
Because of the magnitude of our award, I have taken the liberty this week, to choose a selection of photographs from today which simply concentrate on our sharing of this good news among our volunteers at our coffee break:
Picture 2: shows Emma, Allan and Lorna, taking a break from preparing the Poppy Path ready for the Act of Remembrance on Saturday, to pose with the trophy
Picture 3: shows our amazing "unsung hero", Brian from MCC, displaying the trophy and certificate. Brian does a superb job to make sure that our litter bins are emptied daily, which then enables us to show off the flowers etc in a clean and tidy park. Thank you Brian - without your daily litter collection we would not have been able to achieve this award.
Picture 4: shows Carl N and myself getting in on the act!
Picture 5: shows the large team from Brentwood College, capturing the spirit in a team photograph, after having spent the morning cleaning leaves from the park paths. Well done everyone.
Picture 6: shows Gill multi-tasking, managing the birthday cake, curry night list, as well as holding the trophy. Having earlier filled up the dog bag dispensers and tidied up the lecterns by removing information about past events.
Picture 7: shows Wendy, admiring the cup and reading the engraved names of ourselves and previous winners. Wendy had earlier been working with a very large team of, at least a dozen volunteers, who undertook a project to dig up some large shrubs and plants by the Sandhurst Road pedestrian gate in order to undertake serious battle with the embedded ground elder and bindweed. Thank you Wendy.
Picture 8: shows Steve, Harry and Taylan enjoying their coffee break with the cup in the middle of the table. Steve and Taylan did a lot of good work in maintaining the tree bases both on main field and on the wild flower meadow. Chris also helped on the main field. Thank you guys - this work made a huge improvement. Harry meanwhile helped Gareth with the heavy digging by the Sandhurst pedestrian gate. Thank you all. In the background of this picture we can see Jane and Savita who did some sterling work on the Flower Walk - thank you.
Picture 9: shows Savita, Rachel (from Costello Medical) and Denise holding the trophy for the picture. All 3 volunteers did a super job working with Wendy and team at the Sandhurst Road gate - thank you
Picture 10: shows Kevin, Julie and Anne also admiring the cup. Earlier in the morning Kevin had been preparing the wild flower meadow for autumn sowing, Julie had been working with the team at the Sandhurst Road entrance and Anne had been working with Sonia to tidy up the flower bed around Buddy and Lucy. Thank you.
TODAY - OTHER PROJECTS
We made some great progress today with the new flower bed when a team of Louise, Denise, Harry and Taylan, not only planted 20 new large lavender plants in the new flower bed but also introduced a natural willow fence to prevent the dogs from running through it. Clearly there is always a risk in adding something new to the park. So can I ask everyone to be on the alert for any dogs running through the new flower bed and (as happened when we originally planted up the nearby flower bed) please keep a look out for the elderly lady who came into the park and stole some of the plants we planted last time. A huge thank you to Louise, Denise, Harry and Taylan for the way this bed has been transformed.
The team lead by Allan consisting of Sandra, Lorna, Elliot and Anne did some amazing work on the Poppy Path today in preparation for the local Act of Remembrance to be held on Saturday at 11am. Thank you all - you have transformed this area.
Finally, a huge thank you to the team of Jude, Julie, Denise, Anne, Savina, Jane, Gareth, Harry, Rachel, and Wendy who very successfully dug up some large plants in order to remove some nasty ground elder and bind weed before replanting the large plants once again. This was a huge task but the only reliable way to remove these weeds. Thank you everyone.
LOOKING AHEAD - THIS SATURDAY 7TH NOVEMBER - ACT OF REMEMBRANCE
Can you spare 30 minutes on the Poppy Path on this Saturday morning 'lest we forget' the sacrifices made by our ancestors in the two world wars of the last century. It is a very short Act of Remembrance (lasting about 10 - 15 mins) in which we read some emotional WW1 poetry, we lay a new wreath and everybody has the opportunity to sow poppy seeds or plant small crosses around the wreath. Afterwards everyone is invited to the cafe in the park for a complimentary hot drink. It is a lovely, humbling event - PLEASE DO COME AND SUPPORT IT.
LOOKING FURTHER AHEAD - CURRY NIGHT THURSDAY 24TH NOVEMBER
I am delighted to report that our numbers continue to grow for our Curry Night Social on Thursday 24th November. Sonia tells me that we now have over 30 attendees who have booked a place. If you have not been along for a while, no matter how long ago or infrequently, we would still love to welcome you and catch up with how you are. Just let Sonia or myself know as soon as you can.
NEXT MONDAY - TRAINING
Please remember that Roger Morris is booked to provide some power tool training next Monday morning. If you would like to be involved and have not let me know already, will you kindly tell me?
FUTURE POTENTIAL TRAINING? CPR & AED AWARENESS
I have been approached once again to see if we have any interest in a CPR & AED Awareness Course. The last time I mentioned it, there was no take up at all. If we hold it, then it could be on a Monday morning. Please just let me know if you would like to attend?
Thank you once again for your amazing dedication, skill and support which has achieved some well deserved recognition this week.