Friends of Memorial Park Task Days in 2014
Here are details of our task days in 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.
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.
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.
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.
Unfortunately everything was too wet for painting, so today's efforts focused on work to shrub beds and flowerbeds. There was also some crown lifting to trees in the park, a tidy-up of the wall bordering the canal towpath, cutting back of ivy on the toilet block and a litter-pick throughout the park. It was also good to chat with folk from Compstall who are thinking of setting up a new Friends Group for a small park in their area.
Painting the Infants Play Area fence with NCS Challenge!
Today 13 young people from NCS with The Challenge and their supervisor Lisa joined Friends of the Park to paint the Infants Play Area fence. Thankfully the weather was kind to us, with just a brief shower, and the young people even finished our challenge early allowing them to relax with a few games of French Boules before setting off home.
We'd like to extend a big thank you to the young people who helped us out today with in the region of 42 hours of free labour in the park. We'd also like to thank Sara at The Challenge for contacting us about this and for the £100 contribution towards the painting materials too. Thanks also to park users, who donated just over £11 in our collection bucket while we were there.
A busy day with treatment of benches and preservative applied to Midnight the Tree Sculpture, weeding and clearing of paths, pruning of hedges, litter picking and weeding and pruning to the ornamental flowerbeds too. Marple Allotment Association were also in attendance keeping their bed in good order and engaging with the public.
Thank you to park users, who donated nearly £11 in our collection bucket.
More wonderful weather and great effort from our volunteers ensured lots of work was done in the park today. This included litter picking, treating of benches, continuation of painting to the Infants Play Area, wire-brushing, sanding and painting of the circular Coronation Bench and of course the ongoing battle with the weeds to keep the flowerbeds looking their best.
Thank you to park users, who donated over £21 in our collection bucket.
Thanks to Terry Wood and Gavin Eyquem for the photographs.
Better weather this week allowed us to continue painting the Infants Play Area but due to holidays we had a much smaller number of volunteers than usual. Despite this, as well as painting there was lots of work done on the flowerbeds, which are very demanding this time of year, and lots of park benches given a coat of Summer Tan preservative. Unfortunately hands with paint on and cameras are not a good mix, so not many photos taken this time!
A quick thank you to Play Area users who donated over £12 in our collection bucket.
Unfortunately it was too wet to continue painting the Infants Play Area today, so it was all hands to the flowerbeds in the park. We planted numerous new plants and small shrubs, many of which had been donated by members of the public.
Both our volunteers and Marple Allotment Association were regularly thanked by park users for our efforts and people obviously appreciate what we are doing as we collected over £30 of donations in our bucket!
