Friends of Marple Memorial Park Task Days
The Friends hold regular task days in the park on the last Saturday of each month in the winter and the middle and last Saturday from March to November. Everyone is welcome to join in for as long or as short they wish during the specified times. Please note that children and young people under 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
If you are interested becoming a volunteer with us please get in touch and we will add you to our Task Day notifications.
We like to keep a record of what we get up and here are details of past task days.
Task Day and Treasure Hunt 29 April 2017
Today the park hosted the 3rd Annual Treasure Hunt organised in partnership with estate agent Julian Wadden and it was a delight to see so many children and families enjoying the park.
Task day volunteers...
We had a great turnout from local volunteers too, who focused mainly on dead-heading daffodils and weeding and tidying the main flowerbeds, the sensory garden and the war memorial beds. In addition, we began extending the war memorial bed borders and added loads of new plants donated by local residents Les and Jean White.
Work was also done to remove green algae from stonework and benches and the usual litter-pick.
Park users said thank you by dropping money into our collection bucket, this time to the tune of just over £37.
3rd Family Treasure Hunt organised by Julian Wadden
The third Family Treasure Hunt ran from 11am to 2pm and was aimed at 3 to 10 year olds with parents, grandparents or carers assisting as needed. There were two sets of clues, one for ages 3-5 years and the other for 6-10 years. Children hunted for clues to answer questions that would reveal the information needed to open the Treasure Chest for a share of the booty. Everyone who completed the hunt took away a fist full of chocolate gold pieces!
The Treasure Hunt was even busier and better supported than last year, thanks mainly to the hard work of volunteer Di Jackson.
It was a FREE EVENT but there were collection buckets for donations and some fabulous raffle prizes donated by local businesses. The event programme was sponsored by local businesses too.
The event today raised a grand total of £1,450 for the park.
Raffle takings and donations on the day amounted to £435 and when added to the £1,015 in sponsorship from local businesses the event raised a magnificent total of £1,450. Friends of the Park would like to say a huge thank you to Julian Wadden Estate Agents for organising this event with us and the following local businesses for their fantastic support:
Programme Sponsors:
£100 Sponsor: DJS Research. £50 Sponsor: The Rolling Pin. £30 Sponsors: A.C.M. Financial Services Ltd, Angkor Soul Cambodian Cafe, Brabyns Preparatory School, Hatters Arms Public House, HB Printing, Helen Winterson, John Oldham Plastering, Jones Law Partnership, Kathy's Caterpillars Childcare, LSA Technology, Malcolm Shaw & Son Ltd, Marple Co-Op, Marple Drama, Marple Health Shop, Marple Local History Society, Marple Physio, Marple SPAR at Rose Hill, Marple Veterinary Centre, Rhodes and Partners, Ridings Opticians, Roger Fisher Opticians, Rope Race, S Duddy Roofing Contractors & Merchants, Samuel Oldknow Bar, Shop Local Club Card, Torevell Calvert (Accountants), Trek 'n' Travel, Whiting and Mason. £25 Sponsor: The Springfield Hotel.
Raffle Prize Donors: All Things Nice, Chocabean Chocolate Creations, Cloudberry Cafe, Co-Op Travel, Costa Coffee Marple, Duncan & Denise Newsagents, Harmony Decor, Gosling Toymaster, G.R. Yeates Ltd, Littlewoods Butchers, Lower Dale Equestrian Centre / Magpie Cottages, Marple Co-Op, Marple Golf Club, Marple Physio, Nitrotek Ltd, Northern Souls Barber Shop, Ring o' Bells Public House, Ruby Blue Boutique, Samuel Oldknow Bar, Semitone Studios, Sew-In, Marple, Simon Dunn Chocolatier, SVC Lighting and Electrical, Swizzels, Target Fitness, Marple, The Bookshop (Marple) Ltd, The Hound Dog Grooming Spa, Wyevale Garden Centre, Marple.
Thank you to everyone for supporting your local community park!
Task Day 15 April 2017
Great progress on the flowerbeds in all areas of the park during today's Task Day. Although the daffodils are now fading, everything else is springing back into life. We were also pleased to be joined by volunteers from Marple Co-Op again.
We also had a good tidy-up of the bandroom garden, strimming the grass and weeds and pruning wild and ornamental roses.
Once again our collection bucket was a great boon, raising over £56 in plant sales and donations.
Task Day 25 March 2017
A few days of wonderful weather allowed us to get onto the flowerbeds for the first time this year and have a good tidy-up. Aren't the daffodils looking fantastic in the sunshine. As well as tidying up the beds we also planted 500 Snowdrops in the green that were purchased with money recently awarded to us by Stockport Hydro for Bee Friendly plants and shrubs.
We were delighted to be joined on the day by volunteers from Marple Co-Op, who threw themselves enthusiastically into helping us as part of their efforts to get more involved in the community. They were certainly a welcome addition to our team and we hope they enjoyed it enough to come back again. They also brought cakes, biscuits and enough tea bags to keep us going for another 10 years! Thank you Marple Co-Op!
With the great weather park users were out in force and donated a record breaking £48 in our collection bucket. We must be doing something right!
Task Day 25 February 2017
Another very damp task day but at least "Doris" Day was behind us and it brightened up for a while!
We focused on clearing some very stubborn ivy from the Bandroom Cottage walls, transplanted another 7 Photinia (Little Red Robin) shrubs and a climbing rose donated by volunteers.
Other activities included another soggy litter-pick and a great deal more work to tidy up the Reading Circle behind the library, where the crocuses are putting on a great show, soon to be followed by the daffodils.
Task Day 28 January 2017
A very damp Saturday morning saw a hardcore of heroic volunteers brave soaking wet weather to kick-start the 2017 task day year!
Tasks included the planting of 8 Photinia (Little Red Robin) shrubs donated by volunteers, removal of the wreaths from the war memorial and fixing of the latest addition to the WWI Timeline of the railings to Hollins House. Other activities included a soggy litter-pick, a tidy up of the Reading Circle behind the library and fitting of a new wheel to one of our wheelbarrows.
Task Day 31 December 2016
The last task day of 2016 was a chance for fresh air at the end of a festive week and it was great that so many volunteers made the time, especially while there seems to be a lot of colds and flu doing the rounds. We hope those under the weather will be better soon and we'd like to say a very big thanks to everyone who has helped in the park in 2016 - it's been a good year!
On this New Year's Eve task day we focused mainly on planting the last of the bulbs we were given by the council, which included bluebells and snowdrops planted in the woodland areas and 500 hyacinths planted in various beds. We also planted some whips donated by a local resident to fill some gaps in one of the shrub bed borders, carried out maintenance along the canal-side walk and picked up four bags of litter from all corners of the park. Instead of our normal refreshments in the park, at lunchtime we headed to Samuel Oldknow's for an early start to New Year's Eve celebrations and received a warm welcome and free soft drinks. We could certainly get used to this!
Park users placed over £20 in our donation bucket, which means more than £385 has been raised this way in 2016. This money goes into our general park maintenance pot and is a most welcome boost, thank you all!
