Another Busy Monday in Didsbury Park: 52 Volunteers, Wildflower Meadow Care and New Skills Training
TODAY
With dry weather again for the second week running, we had another great turnout of 52 volunteers in the park this morning. In addition to our regular volunteers we were also pleased to welcome some special guests too. We welcomed Reverand Tom Burke who organises our Easter Saturday, Easter Egg Hunt (also containing a Park Trail event) for the younger members of our community. Tom brought along the very attractive posters for this years event too (please see picture 1).
Another special guest today was Sue Polshaw, who is our new temporary Park Ranger, and we were pleased to be able to introduce her to many of our volunteers around the park. Picture 2 shows Sue meeting Brenda who was working at the Gillbrook Road entrance. And, as today was our first scheduled day of "power tool training" we also welcomed Roger Morris our expert trainer from MCC who gave the first training lessons to Julie, Lucy, Sue and myself - lots more training is planned for the coming weeks (see below).
We were also pleased to see a returning volunteer from a year ago - Patrick K. We also welcomed our regular volunteering students from Brentwood School and Bridge College and their staff leaders. Thank you to Lis for our treat of biscuits at our coffee break and to Joyce for stepping in and organising the drinks order in Gill's absence. Everybody was made very welcome.
TODAY - WILD FLOWER MEADOW ACTIVITIES
We have been so delighted that the newly opened wild flower meadow is proving to be so popular with our local community. Every time we have had any reasonable weather since the wild flower meadow was opened it has been an incredibly popular spot, particularly for young families enjoying the lawned surround area. Fingers crossed that we shall see some exciting flowers too in a few weeks time although the abundance of the beautiful white flowers in the hawthorn hedging is already a beautiful sight to behold.
Today we had a large team of volunteers working on weeding the areas under the hedges around the wild flower meadow. Our weeding volunteers included Patrick, Patrick K, Chris, Taylan, Gill B and Lorna. In addition, Sandra and Lis did an amazing job, giving one of the picnic benches a coat of preservative.
Picture 3 shows the dedication of Sandra as she made sure that no parts were missed - even under the bench!! Lis meanwhile concentrated on improving the top of the bench. In the left background of the picture we can also see Patrick K weeding in the hedging. A huge thank you to everybody who worked in the wild flower meadow today - this made a big difference!
TODAY - WOODCHIP
Our students and staff from Brentwood School and College were busy once again today transporting lots of woodchip,(for mulch), to the flower beds along the path to Wilmslow Road.
Picture 4 shows a few of the team spreading the woodchip on the flower bed. The team from Brentwood School were also assisted by Lauren and Millie. Picture 5 shows Lauren and Millie returning with an empty barrow (except for Millie) ready to refill it with more woodchip. The woodchip exercise was a great piece of work done by everyone. Thank you.
TODAY - BLOOMING DIDSBURY PARK - WEEDING AND FLOWER BED MAINTENANCE
I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that the park is currently looking stunning with the hundreds of thousands of spring bulbs we have planted coming into flower right across the park.
Picture 6 is so typical of the beautiful, colourful flowers now blooming across the park. In this picture we can see Louise admiring the new crop of beautiful irises dotted among the tete-a-tete in one of the rose beds. A huge thank you to Louise and Denise and all other volunteers who have helped create something really beautiful in this section of the park.
Picture 7 shows our new recruit Anne busy weeding along the path to Wilmslow Road where she worked with Julie, Tristan, and Ilma. Picture 8 shows Jane weeding the Flower Walk for ground elder, where she worked with Lesley and Jude. Thank you all
Especial thanks to Julie and Lucy who were inspired after their power tool training to put their new skills into practice and add significantly to the green waste skip before retiring for the day!
TODAY - WILLOW WHIP WEAVING
Following last week's successful willow fence construction at the roundabout, Kevin moved on today to use his skills to construct a new low willow fence around the flower bed opposite the rockery.
Picture 9 shows Kevin in a beautiful setting, surrounded by daffodils and crocuses, as he applied his skills to the construction of a new low natural fence around this flower bed. Excellent work Kevin - thank you!
TODAY - LOTS OF EARLY MORNING LITTER - SIGNS OF THINGS TO COME?
With some better weather over the weekend, and the park being very well used, we were once again faced this morning with some significant litter problems spread around the park. This unsightly and unhealthy problem can easily be solved by having more appropriate litter bins with lids installed in the park. Some of our unsightly bins have been in place at least since we started volunteering over 11 years ago. It is frustrating that we continue to ask MCC for some decent closed top bins which should not only make the park look smarter but will save a lot of time and effort for us having to do so much clearing up after the weekend.
Luckily today we had three good teams of litter pickers to help out. Our 3 regular teams of Andrew and Winnie, Ben and Emilene, and Sigad and Sheeba made a huge impression on the park and successfully brought it back to a super clean standard. Thank you all. You do an amazing job every Monday morning!
TODAY - FACELIFT FOR THE STOREROOM PROJECT - NEW SHELVING UNITS
I am delighted to report that with the help of Taylan and Mustafa we were able to begin a project today to upgrade the storage facilities in one of our store rooms.
Picture 10 shows Mustafa and Taylan proudly standing beside the first of 4 new shelving units which they had just constructed. This is a great step forward and next week we are planning to install this securely within the store room itself. Excellent work guys - thank you.
TODAY - POWER TOOL TRAINING SESSIONS
It was great to see that on a show of hands at the coffee break this morning there is a lot of interest in being trained in the use of power tools. Due to the potential dangerous nature of these powerful tools Roger the trainer has restricted the number of attendees each session to 4 volunteers. As one of these places was to be taken up by Sue from MCC only 3 of us could actually be trained in the inaugural lesson this morning.
I felt really disappointed that we could not take any more today but please be re-assured that the plan is to make training places available during the coming weeks. Roger is unavailable himself for the next two weeks so the next training session is scheduled for Monday 23rd March. It will be a repeat of todays training. During the next two weeks I will be collecting the names of volunteers who wish to be trained and on which tools. We can then work out an appropriate schedule.
Can I stress that until volunteers have been on the training course for a particular power tool and passed, then they must not use the FoDP power tool. FoDP cannot accept any responsibility if they so do any subsequent damage, or hurt themselves or others. A list of qualified users will be displayed where the tools are to be stored in the store room.
TODAY - PATH CLEANING
Alan and David did an amazing job both with leaf blower and spade to clear away the debris of mud which had overspilled onto some of the paths around the park. This was a hard job to do but the results were superb. Thank you both.
REMINDER ABOUT THE AGM - THIS WEDNESDAY 4TH MARCH AT 7:30PM AT THE DIDSBURY NEIGHBOURHOOD CENTRE IN DIDSBURY PARK
Although this update email is an email directed to volunteers, it is a fact that a lot of members of the Friends of Didsbury who are not volunteers also receive a copy. So for this once I would like to take the liberty of sending the following reminder message just to members of the Friends of Didsbury Park:
The AGM of the Friends of Didsbury Park will take place this Wednesday evening at 7:30 pm in the DNC in the park.
Finally, thank you once again for your amazing support.