An amazingly productive New Year's Eve task day! Although it was mostly wet and miserable and not very good for taking photographs we got a huge amount done. Achievements including clearing a bed near to the library ready for sowing wildflower seeds, reducing the gravel in the strip near the library and transplanting it to the Sensory Garden, a big sweep-up of the area in front of the library and refurbishment of the broken notice board on the library wall.

We also cleared the border around the Reading Circle behind the library ready for sowing wildflowers and transplanted the shrubs and plants from there to a number of other places in the park. Finally, we replaced the refurbished slats on the bench (Mac's Bench) that we stripped down last month and it looks absolutely brilliant - as good as new even. Well done everyone!

The Reading Circle border is cleared ready for sowing of wildflower seeds.

Reading Circle

The Reading Circle border is cleared ready for sowing of wildflower seeds.

Reading Circle

This bed was full of Brambles earlier this morning.

Library Bed

Mac's Bench refurbished - doesn't it look good!

Mac's Bench

What a fantastic job Terry made of cleaning up these Oak slats!

Mac's Bench

A quieter turn-out for our last task day of 2011 but we still got a fair bit done. Earlier in the week one of our volunteers had removed all the weeds from the border of the car park near to the library and today we removed the top layer of soil and replaced it with gravel, which we hope will suppress the weeds and keep it looking tidier. We also weeded the pathway to the Sensory Garden and added more gravel and put what we had left around the small memorial in the park where people like to place wooden crosses in memory of their lost relatives. After that we tidied the shrub border near to the Council Offices too.

We also removed the wooden slats from one of the commemorative seats near to the Bowling Green and jet-washed the upstands and paving. The slats will be refurbished in a workshop, treated and replaced as part of our ongoing project to replace or refurbish all of the benches in the park. There will be more about this long term project on the web site in the near future.

Car Park border near to the library is tidied up.

Car Park

Car Park border near to the library is tidied up.

Car Park

Car Park border near to the library is tidied up.

Car Park

Car Park border near to the library is tidied up.

Car Park

Car Park border near to the library is tidied up.

Car Park

New gravel on Sensory Garden.

Sensory

Gravel added to small War Memorial border.

Memorial

Border near to the Council Offices tidied.

Border

Border near to the Council Offices tidied.

Border

Jet-washing of seating area whilst bench removed for refurbishment.

Seat

We decided to hold a special Remembrance weekend Task Day to make sure that the area around the War Memorial was looking its best for the service on Sunday 13th and it's a good job we did as we discovered that the handrails on the memorial had been vandalised overnight. It's hard to find the words to express our contempt for this kind of act but at least we were in a position to do something about it and were able to carry out a temporary repair.

We had another great response from our volunteers at short notice and people attending the Remembrance Service should be able to see the results. As well as removing leaves and hoeing the flower beds we painted a litter bin that had been desperate for a coat of paint and cleared the leaves all the way down the main drive into the park. It was particularly good to have families with children helping out on a beautiful sunny autumn day.

Remembrance Task Day

Remembrance 01

Remembrance Task Day

Remembrance 02

Remembrance Task Day

Remembrance 03

Remembrance Task Day

Remembrance 04

Remembrance Task Day

Remembrance 05

Remembrance Task Day

Remembrance 06

Remembrance Task Day

Remembrance 07

Remembrance Task Day

Remembrance 08

Remembrance Task Day

Remembrance 09

Remembrance Task Day

Remembrance 10

Thank you everyone for your help!

A very good turnout by our local volunteers made for another busy day in Memorial Park.

The ornamental flowerbeds were weeded, trimmed and spring bulbs planted - we've been receiving lots of compliments from park visitors about the ornamental beds, which is very encouraging. The large shrub bed near to the tree sculpture was also given a good tidy-up and and an old concrete bench near to the bowling green was removed in readiness for the installation of a new one that is being donated by a local family.

Micaela enjoyed the fresh air even though she couldn't join in.

Micaela

The ornamental beds receive more attention.

Flowerbeds

Spring bulbs are planted in the flowerbeds.

Flowerbeds

An old concrete bench is removed to make way for a new one.

Bench removed

Shrub beds are tidied.

Shrub beds

It was good to see Micaela enjoying the sunshine and fresh air in the park despite her recent accident but Howie will be sad to learn that I broke my camera this month!

Another successful task day with a lot of work done to the War Memorial beds including removing ornamental grasses that had spread too much and planting of new shrubs and plants kindly donated by Marple Garden Centre.

Preparatory work was also carried out on one of the park benches near to the Junior Play area, the refurbishment of which is being paid for by a local family. Today we stripped off the old slats and cleaned and painted the frame ready for fitting of brand new hardwood slats and a commemorative plaque.

Unfortunately the camera had a flat battery, so just this one panoramic view of work to the War Memorial beds taken by phone.

The Bank Holiday weekend saw a smaller turnout than usual but plenty was achieved with more donated plants being added to the War Memorial Beds, Jet Washing of about half the Infants Play Area fence, re-installation of one of the Acorn Sculptures that had been removed by vandals and removal of a large truck-load of brambles from the Breathe Places Area behind the library. Thanks once again are due to Les and Jean White for donation of the War Memorial plants.

Planting in War Memorial Beds.

Planting

Acorn Sculpture reinstalled.

Acorn

Acorn Sculpture reinstalled.

Reinstalled

Jet washing the Infants Play Area.

Jet Wash

Brambles removed.

Brambles

Glorious sunshine at last allowed us to make the most of the summer weather during a task day in the park. A selection of plants were added to the War Memorial Rockery and copious weeding was carried out in the ornamental beds. Some strawberries and parsley were also added to the Rainbows and Beavers' beds. The plants added today and also a good number provided earlier this month have been donated by local gardeners Les and Jean White and we are very grateful for their generosity.

A final coat of black paint was also added to the Bowling Green building.

Terry puts the final touches to the Bowling Green repaint.

Painting

New plants in the War Memorial Rockeries.

Rockery

The never ending task of weeding!

Weeding

Couch Grass is the enemy!

Weeding

A well earned break in the shade.

Refreshments

A smaller turn-out than we've been getting for a while on this special task day to celebrate National Civic Day and Marple Civic Society's 50th Anniversary. Lost of local groups carried out tasks throughout the Marple area during the morning and then in the afternoon joined Marple Civic Society to celebrate with a picnic lunch and entertainment from Marple's Brass Bands. In the morning we managed to weed the ornamental flowerbeds, which and now getting well established, put another coat of paint on the Bowling Green buildings, tidy the shrub bed near to the Junior Play Area and even do a crown-lift on trees that were swamping the benches near to the Park Keeper's Cottage.

In the afternoon Emily Myers collected a certificate from MP Andrew Stunell to commemorate our participation in National Civic Day. Visit the Marple Website Virtual History Tour for more photos from the Civic Day celebrations.

Weeding is a never ending task!

Flowerbeds

Our adopted beds are flourishing well.

Flowerbeds

A second coast of paint is applied to the Bowling Green buildings.

Painting

Marple Civic Society celebrated their 50th Anniversary in the park. By Arthur Procter.

Civic Day

Friend of Memorial Park Emily Myers receives our certificate from MP Andrew Stunell. By Arthur Procter.

Certificate

AT LAST a large amount of plants had arrived, although still not all of them. However, there were enough to make a good start on planting up of our five adopted flowerbeds and with a very good turnout of volunteers there were plenty of willing hands to share the workload. The council had made good progress on the planting of their own flower beds earlier in the week and the Rainbows and Beavers have also got stuck into theirs so all around things are suddenly looking much better. When the remaining plants are delivered it should not be too hard to get finished and we now just need a decent amount of rain to give everything a good watering in. Well done everyone who worked so hard today!

Planting of the ornamental flowerbeds.

Planting 01

Planting of the ornamental flowerbeds.

Planting 02

Planting of the ornamental flowerbeds.

Planting 03

Planting of the ornamental flowerbeds.

Planting 04

Planting of the ornamental flowerbeds.

Planting 05

Planting of the ornamental flowerbeds.

Planting 06

Planting of the ornamental flowerbeds.

Planting 07

Planting of the ornamental flowerbeds.

Planting 08

Planting of the ornamental flowerbeds.

Planting 09

Planting of the ornamental flowerbeds.

Planting 10

Another good turnout of volunteers enabled us to tackle two main tasks, one was painting of the second bowling green building to match the one we did last year and many hands made light work of this. We also made some repairs to the doors. The second was clearance of weeds from the ornamental beds in preparation for planting. We still don't have all the plants we've ordered for these beds yet but with all the sunshine we've had recently it's perhaps just as well - we need some rain soon! Wooden items including tree sculpture and stocks were treated to another can of preservative and some work was done on the shrub beds too. Well done everyone!

Preparation work begins to the bowling green building.

Sanding

Ornamental beds are cleared of weeds pending planting of shrubs and perennials.

Weeding

You can see how dry the beds are in this close-up - we need some rain!

Weeding

Washed out green goes back to black.

Painting

Finishing touches - that's looking much better!

Painting

Today we were blessed with a fantastic turnout of volunteers, possibly the most we've ever had. Unfortunately the plants and shrubs for the ornamental flowerbeds have not arrived yet so many hands made light work of a major tidy-up of the two large shrub beds nearest to the park entrance. The whole of the grassed area was also raked of twigs and small branches that had fallen from the trees over winter. In the meantime, Patrick used a whole tin of preservative on the carved Infant Play Area sign and the tree sculptures, which all looked much better for his efforts.

After a break for tea, coffee, ice-lollies and cakes the good work continued on the Sensory Garden, which looked much better for some TLC. Altogether a very successful day's work - so a big thank you to all our new volunteers!

Many hands make light work of tidying up the shrub beds.

Shrub Beds 01

Trimming, pruning and hoeing in the shrub beds.

Shrub Beds 02

Clipping and lopping in the shrub beds.

Shrub Beds 03

Amazing how many twigs and small branches have fallen from the trees over winter.

Shrub Beds 04

The edges of the shrub beds are redefined.

Shrub Beds 05

Patrick has made a fantastic job of cleaning and treating the Infants Play Area sign.

Infants Sign

Patrick continues his good work on the tree and grounds sculptures.

Midnight Treat!

A good tidy-up of the Sensory Garden is the next task after tea break!

Sensory 01

The Sensory Garden is looking better for some attention.

Sensory 02

Surplus children are humanely removed from the site for recycling.

Waste Disposal

It was so wet overnight, and still raining in the morning, that expectations were pretty low for a productive day. Thankfully the rain held off and we ended up achieving quite a bit more than first thought. Unfortunately the wet did stop us getting properly stuck into the newly adopted flowerbeds but we did at least manage to redefine the edges of the beds. We also weeded and cleared the edges of the paths along the main entrance and up the drive to the car park. We did some more work on the Park Keeper's cottage garden, repaired a bench and had a good tidy up in the Infants Play Area.

We were also pleased to welcome Joyce, our third new volunteer this year!

Path edging near the entrance. Aren't the crocuses looking great!

Path edging

It was too wet to do much with the beds but we did manage to do a bit of work on them.

Flowerbeds

Drains in the play area were cleared of leaves.

Drains

A good tidy-up in the Infants Play Area.

Tidy up

Micaela is just happy it's not raining!

Micaela

The weather for our first task day of 2011 was very kind, with a cold frost early on but brilliant sunshine soon warmed things up. We were very pleased to welcome two new volunteers, John and Lorraine, who quickly got stuck in to tidying up around the Park Keepers Cottage and round the composting area near to the boundary alongside the canal. There was also time for a general tidy up of the War Memorial beds and a survey of all the park benches was carried out - there's going to be lots to keep us busy in 2011!

A tidy up of the Park Keeper's Cottage Garden was first order of the day.

Cottage Garden

A good clear-up around the compost area near to the canal boundary.

Compost area

Saplings close to the wall of the old canal arm bridge parapet wall are removed.

Canal arm

Tidy up of the War Memorial beds ready for the approaching spring season.

War Memorial

The Friends bask in glorious sunshine while tidying up the Memorial beds.

Sunshine!