Friends of Memorial Park Task Days in 2017
Here are details of our task days in 2017.
Mixed weather didn't stop our volunteers turning out in force today and getting stuck into the Sensory Garden, trimming of borders, maintenance of shrub beds, litter picking, and work to the Bandroom garden. We rounded the day off with a visit to The Samuel Oldknow Bar on Market Street to help them celebration winning the High Peak Camra Pub of the Season award. Tough work but somebody has to do it!
Plenty of generous park users out too, with almost £20 placed in our donations bucket.
A much quieter turnout than usual saw lots of planting in the flowerbeds and shrub beds and lots of watering in of new plants. We also completed the refurbishment of three park benches sponsored by local families and erected some temporary protection for a commemorative plaque where a tree was recently lost.
The park itself was quieter too but we still had just over £10 donated by park users during the day.
Our volunteers have been really busy in the park this week, culminating in today's task day. We've had a big push on the Bee Friendly Project, which is funded by donation of £200 from Stockport Hydro and £300 from Anchorpoint Stockport.
Tasks have included planting of a Bee Friendly hedge around the War Memorial beds with 100 bare-rooted Hawthorn and a dozen Berberis. This took a great deal of work to extend the border and prepare the soil. We also planted 1,000 Snowdrop bulbs in the flowerbeds ready for next spring. Snowdrops are really import for bees, as they are pretty much the first bee friendly thing to show after a long winter. We also planted several new shrubs that are bee friendly too.
Other tasks this week included preparing 3 steel benches rescued from the teen area during construction of the skatepark. These have been blast-cleaned, primed and under-coated for us free of charge by Marple Blasting Service at Wood Farm and are now being painted and stencilled before return to the park for installation. We also cleaned up a set of surplus goalposts donated by the council ready for installation too. These will be fitted in the field behind the Infants and Junior Play areas in the near future.
Work was also done in the Bandroom garden and the shrub beds near the council offices and a park-wide litter-pick done to round things off. Once again park users showed their support for what we do by popping over £42 in our bucket!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
