Easter Fun, Storm Clear-Up and Another Brilliant Morning in Didsbury Park
LAST WEEK - TREE DAMAGE IN THE PARK AND THE POPPY PATH
Unfortunately, during last week's stormy weather, the park did not escape completely unscathed. A large branch and tree section fell from a mature tree on the main field and a young tree was uprooted and fell across the bottom end of the Poppy Path. Thanks to some great support from Allan, on Friday, we were both able to cut up and remove the debris from the main field in the park and also cut up and remove the fallen tree which was overhanging the Poppy Path. Great work Allan - Thank you
THIS COMING WEEKEND - EASTER ACTIVITIES
EASTER EGG HUNT: It is traditional for us to hold an Easter Egg Hunt for the young primary school children in the park every year at Easter. This year is no exception. Thanks to the generosity of the Grove Church this is a free event. It is organised by members of Grove Church and supported by the Friends of Didsbury Park. If you do have any young children, or grandchildren please do bring them along on Saturday. I have attached a poster as picture 1 which explains the details of the event and states that it will be open between 10am and 12pm.
We have advertised this event with all the local primary schools and upon Facebook where we have already had over 17,000 views - so my advice would be to arrive early!! Thank you to Reverend Tom Burke from Grove Church for once more initiating this great event - all we need now is some good weather on Saturday morning!
EASTER TRAIL: MCC have also kindly added us to the list of parks in which a picture trail will be run this Easter. You may have already spotted the A4 size pictures dotted about the park. A picture trail crib sheet can be obtained from the cafe. This trail will be suspended and the pictures covered up during the Easter Egg Hunt so as not to cause confusion with the "trail" which is also included annually in the Easter Egg Hunt.
TODAY
Following the unavoidable last-minute cancellation of our volunteers from business this morning, combined with a bitterly cold wind and intermittent ice-cold, wet downpours, we did really well to have an amazing attendance of 37 volunteers in the park this morning. We once again welcomed our SEN students and staff from Brentwood College and Roger Morris from MCC who provided another informative and interesting course on lawn mowers to Joyce, Gary and myself.
Picture 2 is a picture of Gary putting theory into practice as he worked on cutting the grass on the cricket square. Well done Gary and thank you Roger. Thank you also to Geoff and Alan who collected our sit on mower this morning for a thorough maintenance check before we undertake a training course on the sit-on mower after Easter.
The high spot of our morning today was definitely the return of Sonia to the volunteering fold after a 3 months holiday in South Africa. Welcome back Sonia. I hope today was not too big a shock for you! Everybody was made very welcome.
Finally, I must apologise for the fewer than normal numbers of photographs of our volunteers at work today. I was somewhat limited due to my involvement with the training course.
TODAY - ENHANCED SAFETY EQUIPMENT
In line with the new training, we have also enhanced our supply of safety equipment for our volunteers.
Picture 3 shows Julie modelling our latest line in protective goggles and ear protectors. Julie was wearing these for her work today with the hand-held chainsaw following her training course and certificate 2 weeks ago. Well done Julie - thank you.
TODAY - MODIFICATION OF KICK FENCE DESIGN
Following feedback from volunteers and members of the public, our heavy gang of Murray, Richard and Carl N, today worked on the introduction of a design modification to the kick fencing which had been recently installed around the new flower bed near Buddy and Lucy. This was a tricky piece of work which involved some really skilful joinery. Whilst due to the complexity, it was not all completed today, it will be very good when it is finished. Thank you Murray, Richard and Carl.
TODAY - WEEDING AND FLOWER BED MAINTENANCE
Despite the cold weather, Sonia, Jane, Christine and Lesley Mc were quick off the mark this morning to weed the flower beds around our Buddy and Lucy carving. This area looked so much smarter afterwards. Thank you all.
Picture 4 shows Jude and Joyce working on the Sandhurst Road end of the Flower Walk and planning the areas of the Flower Walk which had already been weeded well enough for a dressing of woodchip to be applied. This morning the team from Brentwood College made a great contribution by providing a convoy of woodchip to this area throughout the morning. Picture 5 shows the team having a well deserved break at 11am. Well done everyone!
Thank you to Louise and Denise for weeding and feeding the rose beds this morning. These beds are looking particularly spectacular at the moment. Picture 6 shows Denise about to make her way home for a well deserved cup of tea.
Lesley M did a great tidy up of the flower bed next to the volunteer's shelter. Well done Lesley.
Thank you to Ilma for procuring a new rose plant to bring colour and structure to the flower beds near the Wilmslow Road entrance and to Julie and Lucy for helping to plant it and thank you all for continuing to work on tidying up the weeds in this area. It makes such an improvement! Picture 7 captures the amazing colourful gauntlet of spring flowers which creates such a beautiful uplifting experience as you enter or leave the park by the Wilmslow Road gate.
Talking of spring flowers, picture 8 is another excellent example of the beautiful scene which we have currently in the woodland area of the park. In this picture, one of our new bug hotels nestles peacefully in a sea of stunning yellow daffodils.
TODAY - SOMETIMES THERE ARE LOTS AND LOTS OF SMALL BUT IMPORTANT JOBS TOO
I would like to say a special thank you to the team of Allan, Taylan, Chris and Patrick who today did a myriad of small but important jobs:
Firstly Taylan and Chris called upon Alison on Countess Road to collect a small eucalyptus tree which had been donated to the park. We are currently deciding what to do with this donation as, given our current number of trees, it is almost certainly going to grow to be too big for our park.
Allan reset a loose floor tile in one of the store rooms by cementing it back in place
Allan, Patrick, Chris and Taylan then went to the Poppy Path to collect some green waste and then to dismantle the derelict raised herb garden structure located next to the bridge.
Allan then did a major spring clean of the volunteer's shelter whilst Patrick, Chris and Taylan turned over the contents of the compost bays.Finally picture 9 shows Chris, Taylan and Gary tidying away some of our wheelbarrows at the end of the morning.
A huge thank you to you all because these were all important activities which you did brilliantly.
TODAY - ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK
Other activities which we undertook in the park today included:
Adding another set of posters at each gate to advertise the Easter Egg Hunt. All this poster work was done single handedly by Gill N as well as managing the order for hot drinks at 11am. Thank you Gill. Great work.
We also had a visit this morning from Doreen who was asking about the provision of a new bench in the park. Currently we already have requests for 2 new benches which have been in the pipeline for some time awaiting formal approval from MCC.
Despite the weather our litter picking team of young Emilene and her dad Ben were out early in the park this morning and did a great litter pick right across the park. Thank you both for turning out in such inclement weather.
BANK HOLIDAY REMINDER - EASTER MONDAY IS A NORMAL VOLUNTEERING DAY
Even though next Monday is a Bank Holiday, Allan, Sonia and myself will be in the park and the shelter will be open for volunteering as usual. Please do come along if you can make it.
Thank you all once again for your amazing support.