Bank Holiday Boost Brings 41 Volunteers to Didsbury Park
TODAY
Despite today being a Bank Holiday when some of our regular volunteers were not able to attend the park, and there were no volunteers from business, nevertheless this morning we saw a boost from a different set of volunteers for whom the Bank Holiday gave them a rare opportunity to join in with us.
As a result of this new influx of volunteers, we had a great attendance total of 41 volunteers who all worked hard in the park this morning. This was quite an amazing turnout for a Bank Holiday. Thank you everyone!!
It was also very encouraging to see just how many parents and children participated this morning and really enjoyed the experience. And today we also had the pleasure of welcoming 3 new local volunteers Adam, Leo and Kiwi. Everbody was made welcome.
TODAY - LITTER PICKERS AT THE READY!!
Oh Boy! The park was in a bit of a mess this morning with litter strewn all over the place. Thank goodness for the small army of young volunteers who came to our rescue.
Picture 1 shows Yanghoa, Alexander and Xuran displaying some of the litter they had collected and picture 2 shows Mandy (Alexander's Mum) who had collected almost a full bag on her own. Thanks also to Andrew and Winnie who litter picked whilst accompanied by their dog Brian and to Millie and Mum who swept up the paths around the volunteer's shelter.
Brenda once again made a big improvement to the paths around the Gillbrook Road entrance. A special mention and thank you must go to Gill B today. Despite having a finger in a splint, Gill still turned up today to help out. After a bit of practice, Gill was able to use a litter picker , and so heroically joined in to rid the park of rubbish. Well done Gill and thank you all.
By the end of the morning the park was looking pristine once more.
TODAY - TIME TO CUT SOME GRASS!
As volunteers, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Geoff, who regularly works in the background to maintain and repair some of our more complex mechanical tools.
During the last few weeks Geoff has been trying to bring our temperamental sit-on lawn mower back to working order. Having already undertaken several major repair jobs on it over the last few years, I am afraid it looks like we have reached the point where it cannot be repaired any more. So this morning Geoff very kindly loaned us his own sit on lawn mower so that we could mow the lawned areas around the wild flower meadow.
Picture 3 shows Allan doing a super job as he successfully mowed the whole area. A huge thank you to you both for helping to make this area look great.
TODAY - STEVE LEADS OUR NEW VOLUNTEERS TO IMPROVE THE ROWAN COPSE!
Picture 4 shows Adam, Steve, Leo and Kiwi pausing to have a picture taken as they worked on weeding all the bases of the young trees in the small Rowan copse near Buddy and Lucy.
Led by Steve, our team did a super job and once the trees were weeded they were each given a layer of woodchip as mulch. This made a huge improvement to the look of this area of the park. Thank you all.
TODAY - THE HEAVY GANG CRACK ON WITH A NUMBER OF PROJECTS
It was great to see the heavy gang of Murray, Richard and Carl N getting stuck into a number of repair and maintenance projects today.
Firstly the team did a robust major repair job on the goal nets, on one of the football pitches, before moving on to successfully repair a couple of the broken slats in the circular bench around the giant redwood tree. Thanks to some pre-work by Allan and myself where we had cut out some new curved slats using a newly procured piece of wood and a jig saw. These new slats were then given 3 coats of varnish before being ready to be re-installed today. Thank you to all involved! The bench is now looking fully maintained and functional again. Well done everyone!
After many weeks of meticulous mowing and pitch marking by Gary, we were all delighted today to see the cricket pitch being used by park visitors for a game of cricket. It was a shame Gary was not here to witness it, but as Carl had been left in charge of the pitch in Gary's absence he felt obligated to make sure that the pitch was re-marked again after the game was over.
Picture 5 shows Carl and Richard proudly displaying a successful mix of lining paint ready to be painted onto the pitch. Great work guys - Gary will be proud of you!
TODAY - LOTS OF HORTICULTURAL ACTIVITIES RIGHT ACROSS THE PARK
It was great to see so many horticultural areas being worked on right across the park today. In particular:
A small but experienced and dedicated team of John, Lesley and Anne W worked hard to remove the weeds in the flower bed opposite the rockery. Picture 6 shows Lesley with Anne, pausing for a photograph, which also shows the giant alliums in the flower bed as they start to bloom. Thank you John, Lesley and Anne.
Sandra and Lis can also be seen in the background of picture 6 as they tackle some of the weeds along the Flower Walk. Thank you too.
The early bird prize today goes to Sonia who did a great piece of work weeding the flower beds near Buddy and Lucy. Thank you Sonia.
Picture 7 shows Denise next to the triangular bed where she had been doing some great maintenance work. Thank you Denise.
Picture 8 shows Louise standing in front of the rose bed she had been weeding and feeding. Thank you Louise.
Picture 9 shows Joyce single handedly working on the weeding along the path to the Wilmslow Road gate. Thank you Joyce.
Thank you once again to Tristan for continuing his work from last week and weeding the rockery
At the far side of the park Chris did some tidying and weeding of the flower bed next to the Bird Garden. Thank you Chris.
Whilst in the Bird Garden itself Carl M worked hard, deadheading all the old daffodils and tete-a-tete as well as weeding the main flower bed. Thank you Carl.
TODAY - WOODCHIP FOR THE WOODLAND TRAIL
Picture 10 is a photo of Lorna and young Luke as they worked together to transport one of many wheelbarrows full of woodchip to the children's woodland trail.
This work is important in providing a safe, soft pathway for the small children as they discover all the carved woodland creatures along the trail. Thank you Lorna and Luke for all your hard work today.
TODAY - ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK
A special thank you to Sonia for remembering to de-frost the section of last week's St George's Day cake which she stored in her fridge. Everbody enjoyed a piece at our coffee break today.
A big thank you to Alan for keeping on top of the graffiti problems which have occured this week along the Poppy Path. Alan spent half of the morning today removing grafitti mainly from fencing along the path. Thank you Alan - it is appreciated how quickly you remove this when it occurs.
In addition to organisisng another successful drinks break today, Gill N also doubled up on other duties as she both installled a new FoDP banner at the Sandhurst Road entrance as well as topping up the dog bag dispensers. Thank you Gill.
Thank you once again for your amazing support today.