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 14 March 2015
Volunteers were so enthusiastic to get back into the park that we decided to squeeze in an extra task day for March.
A really good tidy-up of the shrub bed at the top of the park near where our second silhouette will soon be installed was the first thing tackled. Management of the woodland walk alongside the canal was completed, more bulbs planted and more work to the flowerbeds and the Sensory Garden were also carried out.
Two large gaps were filled in the Beech hedge bordering Station Road and Willow whips were planted with the longer term intention of creating a bird hide along the woodland walk too.
Task Day 28 February 2015
With our January task day being snowed off it seems like an long time since we've been in the park and it was great to get back and do some work. The park is springing back into life with a great display of crocuses and snowdrops.
A real good tidy-up of the shrub beds alongside the driveway into the park was followed by similar treatment for the beds in front of the Scout Hut and alongside the Senior Citizens Hall. The Jubilee Bed in front of the library, the toilet bed and the shrub bed towards the top end of the park were also tackled, as was the wildlife area behind the library.
While this was going on another small team was carrying out some management work to the woodland alongside the canal and another was preparing the goal-post frame at the top end of the park ready for its new silhouette artwork. This will be the same as the one we recently installed at the main entrance. We've been getting great comments from the public about this and we're delighted with the results. We'll be adding a new project page about this in the near future.
Marple Allotment Association were also in attendance tidying up their beds and like us they're looking forward to spring!
Task Day 29 November 2014
A much better day than we were expecting weather-wise and a great turnout from volunteers.
One of the main tasks of the day was planting of bulbs provided by the council. These included Crocuses, Tulips and Alliums, plus a spring surprise as the label was missing from one bag! Plenty more work done on the flowerbeds too, a little bit of painting and some more pruning back along the woodland walk down by the canal.
We also took delivery of some components for a new project that we're very excited about - we'll be telling more soon.
Task Day 08 November 2014
A wet, cold and generally grotty day but with the Remembrance Service tomorrow we wanted to ensure things look the best they can at this time of year and our hardy volunteers certainly achieved that. As well as tidying up the flowerbeds, leaves were raked and swept from the main driveway and Sensory Garden, crocus bulbs were planted and a lot or work was done clearing hundreds of small saplings in the woodland walk. There weren't many people around but thank you to the few park users passing, who donated a total of £5 in our collection bucket.
Task Day 25 October 2014
Not many photos today due to the changeable weather but lots of good work done by a small bunch of volunteers.
The Cinema bed was given a really good tidy-up, the ornamental flowerbeds and War Memorial beds were trimmed, weeded and tidied too and lots of leaves cleared - although you would hardly notice due to the wind constantly bringing more down. More work was done on the tidying of the perimeter footpath too.
With the Remembrance service getting even closer we swapped over the flags - raising the Union Flag on the memorial pole and asked the councillor on surgery duty if the driveway to the park can be cleaned before the Remembrance weekend.
Our Timeline Display commemorating the lives of Marple's WWI fallen on the railings in front of Hollins House is now underway and will be updated over the coming months and years in "real time" as we reach the 100th anniversary of each man's death. We hope that this will help local people understand the devastation of the Great War on the community 100 years ago.
Thank you to park users, who donated over £28 in our collection bucket today.
Task Day 27 September 2014
With Remembrance approaching there was a lot of focus on the ornamental flowerbeds during today's task day. It's really important to us that they look the best they can for the service in November and we only have one more task day before that takes place. We also planted bulbs from Lyme Park at the top end of the Park and did some light crown-lifting to the perimeter footpath alongside the canal, selectively removing branches at eye level to keep them out of walkers' faces.
Returning to Remembrance - our project to commemorate the lives of Marple's WWI fallen with a temporary display using the railings in front of Hollins House was approved by Marple Area Committee on Wednesday. We've cleaned and repainted the railings in preparation for this and we're excited about this new project that will begin towards the end of October.
Thank you to park users, who donated over £26 in our collection bucket.
