SATURDAY - POPPY PATH ACT OF REMEMBRANCE
Thanks to support from Reverend Mark Hewerdine, Vicar at St James & Emmanuel, Mike Corlett, Chair of Didsbury Civic Society, and Ben the bugler, we held another successful short local Act of Remembrance on the Poppy Path on Saturday, to remember the horrors suffered and sacrifices made by so many people in the wars of the last century.
This humble and poignant act was joined by between 40 and 50 local people, many of whom joined together socially afterwards in the cafe for a complimentary hot drink. Thank you also to Louise and Allan who supported the service. A huge thank you to everyone who participated. Lest we forget!
Picture 1, taken this morning, shows Steve standing by the wreath and crosses planted during the ceremony on Saturday. Both Steve and Allan had just undertaken a quick tidy-up in the area. Thank you both.
TODAY
It was a fresh start this morning, with initial temperatures around 5 degrees, and it proved to be ideal conditions for clearing our latest fall of autumn leaves from the footpaths in the park.
We had a good turnout of 48 volunteers, which included new full-time local volunteer Mike, and Lee from business for the third time. Our teams from Bridge College and Brentwood College were also back in force after their half-term breaks. We also welcomed a special visit from Tristan, who was able to get a day off and join us once again.
Today was also a special training day, undertaken for us by Roger Morris from MCC. Today's students were Harry, Steve, Allan and myself, and we were all trained on the operation of a cordless pole saw. Thank you Roger.
Everyone who joined us today was made very welcome.
TODAY - CELEBRATION PHOTO
Following our receipt of 3 top RHS awards last week, we have produced a beautiful publicity banner, expertly designed by Louise. This particular banner marks the award of the 'Best Small Neighbourhood in the North West of England'.
Picture 2 shows most of today's volunteers proudly assembled behind the new banner. Well done everyone. (Picture courtesy of Tom.)
Picture 3 shows Louise and Denise proudly unfurling the beautiful new banner, with young Poppy and Mum Emma looking on (having just completed a litter pick across the park). Thank you.
This picture was a short break for Louise and Denise, who once again worked hard to tidy up the rose beds. These beds were both looking stunning afterwards, although we are still expecting large falls of leaves during the coming weeks, so our autumn work is still not quite over. Thank you both.
TODAY - SUSTAINED FOCUS ON THE FLOWER WALK
Following last week's huge team effort of weeding and cutting back the flower border at the Sandhurst Road end of the Flower Walk, we decided to continue with the same successful approach today. Here are some photographs of the team in action this morning:
Picture 4 is a one and only attempt at an artistic photo of Sue and Felix in the foreground behind the pampas grass, and Lucy and Jude (hardly visible) in the background. Thank you all. The improvement in this area is really remarkable!
Picture 5 shows Anne, Lesley and Tristan working further along the Flower Walk and removing heaps of weeds, including lots of alkanet. Well done everyone.
A little bit further along the Flower Walk, picture 6 shows Christine and Wendy working in the sunshine, with Gill B (off camera) even further along the Flower Walk.
Finally, picture 7 shows Jane and Denise almost halfway along the Flower Walk. The overall impact of the last two weeks' work on this bottom half of the Flower Walk has just been amazing. Thank you everyone.
TODAY - BLITZ ON THE LEAVES ON THE PATH
It is fair to say that finally the autumn leaves are starting to fall in reasonable quantities now across the park. In fact, so much so, that we set up 3 separate teams to tackle the worst affected areas of the park today:
The team from Brentwood College, helped by Penny, did a super clean-up of the path from the shelter to the roundabout. It is lovely to see how much our new team of students who started in September have become experienced in using brushes, shovels and wheelbarrows. It is a real treat to see how well they are all progressing, and of course they are doing a great job for us too. Well done team!
One of the worst areas for wet leaves on the footpath was on the long path from the main Wilmslow Road gate into the park. I am pleased to say that the 4-man team of Taylan, Harry, the new volunteer Mike, and Chris made a huge improvement by collecting and moving the leaves to the leaf pen. Thank you guys.
Picture 8 shows Lee and Elliott posing for a picture having cleared the leaves from around the roundabout. Thank you all.
TODAY - ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK
Thank you to Gill N for removing all the out-of-date banners from around the park which publicised the Act of Remembrance event which happened on Saturday.
Having mown the cricket pitch, the wildflower meadow and the areas around the rose beds, picture 9 shows Gary undertaking some cleaning of the lawn mower before putting it away for another week. Excellent work Gary!
COMING SOON - CURRY NIGHT THURSDAY 26TH NOVEMBER - SANGAM 7PM
Currently there are 36 of us who have said we will be coming to the Curry Night. This is just a reminder that if you (with or without your partner, all are welcome) would like to come too and have not yet let Sonia or myself know, please let us know as soon as possible.
It is always a great evening!
Thank you once again for your continued amazing support.