A Rebuilt Bench and 44 Volunteers Hard at Work
POLICE MAKE PROGRESS IN SUMMER VANDALISM INCIDENTS AND GEOFF COMPLETES AN EXCELLENT REBUILD OF THE VANDALISED CIRCULAR BENCH
I have heard from the police that they have identified the members of the gang of teenage youths from Parrswood High who it is alleged were responsible for the wave of vandalism and intimidation we suffered in the park during the summer holidays. The intimidation of the ice cream vendor now seems to have stopped. MCC have now repaired the vandalism damage to the railings around the sports field and MCC have also repaired the vandalism damage to the roof of the volunteers shelter such that it no longer leaks.
You may recall that we also had to remove the large circular bench from the park following several frenzied attacks upon it which left some large sections of it completely smashed. I am delighted to say, that, over the summer, Geoff has undertaken a major repair and rebuild project of the whole bench. Geoff not only managed to reconstruct this huge bench but in doing so he also managed to improve and strengthen it in parts by using real oak replacement sections.
Pictures 1 and 2 record the re-installation of the bench on Tuesday last week. Picture 1 shows Jay (who works for Geoff) finishing off the re-installation and picture 2 shows the bench looking resplendent in the wider setting of the park. A huge thank you to Geoff, Jay and the Greater Manchester Police.
Whilst we are hopeful that this wave of destructive vandalism is now in the past, we think it is too early to drop our guard, and we are still asking everyone to be vigilant and report any sightings of any further vandalism or anti social behaviour as soon as possible.
TODAY
On a beautiful warm sunny morning today, we were delighted to welcome a new local volunteer Anna, and a new student called Brian from Bridge College (at the start of his year long assignment with us) and his job coach Sheeba. We were also joined by 5 business volunteers from BUPA, who were mainly very fit physiotherapists. We were also delighted to see our new team of this year's students from Brentwood College with their accompanying staff for the second time this academic new year. In all we had 44 volunteers working with us throughout the morning. Everybody was made very welcome.
TODAY - A GREAT LITTER PICK
We are still awaiting MCC to put lids on our litter bins and so this morning, once again, we had a lot of litter scattered across the park by the early morning wildlife. So, it was really encouraging to see the enthusiasm generated by the team from Brentwood College as they set about doing a big litter pick sweep of the park. They were also accompanied by Andrew who, as can be seen in picture 3, dramatically captured the litter picking enthusiasm as soon as he entered the park this morning! Thank you to the whole team of litter pickers.
As well as a litter picking Sheeba and Brian took up the new labour-saving brush and shovel tool which takes all the bending out of shovelling. They both did a great job tidying up the path behind the cafe. Thank you both.
TODAY - FLY TIPPING - THE KITCHEN COOKER!
Well it was not there at the weekend, but hidden away at the back of the flower bed behind the cafe this morning we found a fly tipped cooker. Picture 4 shows Murray and Richard posing beside a quite a substantially made old "children's kitchen". Obviously, somebody did not want it any more - but dumping it in the park is not the answer!! Does anybody recognise it?
In addition to retrieving the child's kitchen, Murray and Richard also did a fantastic job this morning, installing new cctv cameras in the volunteers' shelter. Thank you guys - this was a great job! Thank you also to Richard for his weekly repair of the football nets.
TODAY - THE NEW FLOWER BED
One of the most difficult jobs of the day today related to the continued digging of the new flower bed area and the infill of the old area. The bulk of the digging today was undertaken by Gareth and Harry who worked incredibly hard physically. They can be seen in the new flower bed area in picture 5.
The spare soil was then transfered to the old flower bed where it was raked and rolled level by 2 of the BUPA volunteers, ready to be seeded with grass seed. The work on the new flower bed is really making great progress Thank you guys.
TODAY - HORTICULTURAL PROGRESS
We made some great progress today in a very short period of time by focusing a big team on one of our flower beds which had not had a lot of attention recently. Led by Sonia, with advice from Julie, the team of Simone, Sandra, Joyce, Sue, Allan, Felix, Lesley, John and three of the BUPA volunteers worked really hard to weed the large flower bed opposite the rockery. Picture 6 shows Felix, Sonia, Jess from BUPA, Joyce, Allan, Sandra, Sue, Robin, Anna and Leslie all posing for a team photo. This was a great piece of work everyone and it has really made a huge improvement on this flower bed - thank you.
Picture 7 shows Louise and Denise posing in front of one of the rose beds which had not only been given a regular weeding but had also had violas and pansies added this morning to boost the winter colour in the flower beds. Thank you so much - these beds continue to look great. Thank you also to Gary for mowing around them to make them look incredibly smart too!
Picture 8 shows the team of Ilma, Julie and Lucy who were working on the flower beds beside the path to Wilmslow Road. 2 new acers which we have been keeping alive in water for several weeks were added to the moss garden today. Also captured in the picture are Lorna and Anne who had just taken delivery of two brand new wheelbarrows for the team and Jan who looks after the DGN garden and was just passing. Thank you everyone.
It was great to see how Anne and Lorna, did some research into the pyracantha and holly in the flower beds surrounding the DGN before experimenting with some holly cuttings. Great work Anne and Lorna. Thank you.
TODAY - ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK
Taylan and Patrick worked together to firstly trim all the Bird Garden hedges before moving on after our tea break to tidy uplots of tree bases on the main field. Thank you both for working so incredibly hard and productively today.
Gary once again did a tremendous maintenance job on the cricket pitch before offering his services around a lot of the flower beds. Great work Gary!
Thank you to Gill once again, for not only managing the tea break so efficiently but also for updating the notice boards once again.
It was great to see that the privet hedge near the Gillbrook Road entrance was given a thorough tidy up by 2 volunteers from BUPA. It looks so much tidier along there now. Thank you.
Thank you all once again for your amazing support.