Weather was very November-ish for our last scheduled task day of 2015, although we may hold an ad-hoc one over the Christmas period if volunteers (and the weather) are are up for it.

Today we focused mainly on cutting back and clearing out the main park flowerbeds and the Garth Road shrub bed. We also did some trimming of the roses in the Bandroom garden and shrubs along the path leading to Station Road, litter picking and planted some donated ferns in the wildlife area behind the library.

Although we forgot our donation bucket this time a lady approached one of our volunteers and handed over £50, insisting that we spend it on our volunteers' Christmas Do! She said she uses the park regularly and has been watching what we do all year and wanted to say thank you. A lovely gesture, that is very much appreciated!

Flowerbeds tidy-up.

Flowerbeds

Flowerbeds tidy-up.

Flowerbeds

Flowerbeds tidy-up.

Flowerbeds

Flowerbeds tidy-up.

Flowerbeds

Flowerbeds tidy-up.

Flowerbeds

Park tidy-up for Remembrance Service helped by Brabyns Prep Pupils

Friends of the Park always put in a big effort just before the Remembrance Sunday Service to try and ensure that the park looks its best but wind and fallen leaves always make this a challenge! This year we had a special two-day clean-up on Friday and Saturday with extra-special help from pupils of Brabyns Preparatory School on the Friday afternoon. We were very impressed with the childrens' hard work and also how the older ones took care and chaperoned the young ones.

On Saturday volunteers continued the battle, focused on the park entrance and the road leading in to the car park. We also tidied around the War Memorial and surrounding flower beds and ensured the park was clear of litter.

Pupils from Brabyns Preparatory School help tidy the park for Remembrance.

Brabyns Prep

Pupils from Brabyns Preparatory School help tidy the park for Remembrance.

Brabyns Prep

Pupils from Brabyns Preparatory School help tidy the park for Remembrance.

Brabyns Prep

Pupils from Brabyns Preparatory School help tidy the park for Remembrance.

Brabyns Prep

Pupils from Brabyns Preparatory School help tidy the park for Remembrance.

Brabyns Prep

Tidying leaves for the Remembrance Service.

Leaves

Tidying leaves for the Remembrance Service.

Leaves

Tidying leaves for the Remembrance Service.

Leaves

Tidying leaves for the Remembrance Service.

Leaves

Leaves to be composted and used in the park.

Leaves

A beautiful autumn day in the park on Saturday planting crocuses and clearing leaves. The leaves were taken to a composting area in the park and we hope that we'll get some great compost from them to feed back into the flowerbeds. The crocuses were donated to us by Marple and Goyt Valley Rotary and were planted in swirls alongside the main pathway. We've looking forward to them bursting into life in the spring.

Planting of crocuses from Marple & Goyt Valley Rotary.

Crocuses

Planting of crocuses from Marple & Goyt Valley Rotary.

Crocuses

Clearing of leaves to our new composting area.

Leaves

Clearing of leaves to our new composting area.

Leaves

What a lovely day in the park!

Park

Another great effort from local volunteers as we look towards the Remembrance Service on Sunday 8 November and try to make sure the park is at its best for this. Paths were weeded and swept, leaves raked and moved to our new leaf composting area and flowerbeds trimmed and tidied. We extended the WWI display on the railings of Hollins house as the first section is now full and replaced the commemorative flag on the pole nearest the building too. We also repaired guttering on the Bowler Hut, as we're fed up of waiting for the council to do it, picked litter and treated benches.

We had a fantastic response from park users today, who left more than £52 in our collection bucket. One person left a note with their donation asking for the money to be put towards the flowerbeds and we can clarify that all money collected in the park during out task days is allocated to our general fund for the plants and tools we need to keep the park looking its best. We feel that people add money to our bucket in response to the work they see us doing and that is what we should use it for.

New flag flying to commemorate WWI.

Flag

Pathways weeded as we get ready for Remembrance.

Pathways

Flowerbeds tidied as we get ready for Remembrance.

Flowerbeds

WWI Display extended after first section is filled.

WWI Display

Pathways weeded as we get ready for Remembrance.

Pathways

Hard working Marple volunteers continued their good work in the park with multiple tasks including hedge and shrub trimming, bulb planting, bench treating, flowerbed maintenance, picking up leaves, litter and dog mess.

It was a glorious day in the park and passersby donated almost £12 in our collection bucket, thank you!

Shrubs need trimming in the Infants Play Area.

Trimming

Our donations bucket in the park.

Donations

Flowerbeds need tidying up.

Flowebeds

Leaves need picking up.

Leaves

Shrubs need trimming.

Trimming

Cuttings need picking up.

Trimming

Autumn is coming.

Autumn

Bulbs need planting.

Bulbs

Benches need treating.

Benches

Paths need sweeping.

Sweeping

Volunteers braved the rain that continued in fits and starts throughout today's session with work on the main flowerbeds, the library bed and toilet bed. A good dose of pruning back was also carried out at the Garth Road shrub bed too. General litter picking and clearing of dog mess from around the War Memorial and flowerbeds was also unfortunately necessary. The park was much quieter than normal due to the weather but visitors still managed to pop more than £5 in our collection bucket.

It was good to note that repair to the edges of the safe surfaces in the Junior Play Area is currently underway and we should soon have that new roundabout we campaigned for earlier in the year.

Pruning at the Garth Road shrub bed.

Garth Road

Pruning at the Garth Road shrub bed.

Garth Road

Volunteers brave the weather in the flowerbeds.

Flowerbeds

Volunteers brave the weather in the flowerbeds.

Flowerbeds

Volunteers brave the weather in the flowerbeds.

Flowerbeds

Our first task day using power tools was another productive day, as we tried out our brand new standard and long-reach petrol-driven hedge trimmers. It's taken a long time to get to this stage but it should make many tasks much easier.

While some played with new toys, others were grafting hard to keep the flowerbeds in great shape. We received lots of wonderful and encouraging comments about them and park users dropped nearly £25 in our donation bucket to show their appreciation. Work on park benches and litter-picking too means that the park is still looking its best thanks to Marple volunteers.

Fantastic comments about the flowerbeds today!

Flowerbeds

Volunteers' hard work is appreciated by the public.

Flowerbeds

Those edges always need doing!

Flowerbeds

There's supposed to be no room for the weeds.

Flowerbeds

Power tools can be used by trained volunteers at last!

Hedge Trim

being able to use power tools makes a big difference.

Hedge Trim

A big tidy-up of the Jubilee Bed has been overdue but it's looked great this year.

Jubilee Bed

Fantastic comments about the flowerbeds today!

Flowerbeds

Fantastic comments about the flowerbeds today!

Flowerbeds

We're continuing to improve the Garth Road Shrub Bed.

Shrub Beds

It's been two years since the Friends Group first offered to venture outside of the park and refurbish the benches on Market Street, Derby Way and other areas of the Town Centre. With the main obstacles of power-tools and risk assessment training finally overcome, we are now at last in a position to be able to do this work whilst covered by the council's insurance.

Trial bench completed

After a prolonged campaign, lobbying the council to help us get into this position, we're delighted to have completed our first trial bench at long last on Sunday 23 August. This is the one on Market Street, near to the NatWest Bank, and we hope that people who see it will agree that it's a huge improvement. You can see the transformation in the photos below:

We forgot to do a "before shot" but this is what it looked like before we started!

Before

Sanding just about complete and ready for preservative.

Sanded

Timber slats treated with preservative and metalwork painted.

Preservative

Bernard applies the finishing touches.

Preservative

All finished and left to dry safely.

Finished

Why do a trial bench?

A productive day as a dozen volunteers beavered away in the park weeding beds and paths, planting new plants and shrubs, treating benches and sculptures, trimming hedges and shrubs and picking up litter and dog mess. Marple Allotment Association were out in force too. We had our donation bucket out and also gave away some tiny potted Christmas trees for kids to grow on. Generous park users contributed over £16 to our gardening fund. It's good to be appreciated, thank you!

Weeding of the Scout Hut flowerbed.

Scout Hut

Trimming edges of borders and features.

Grass

Planting in flowerbeds.

Flowerbeds

Weeding pathways.

Weeding

Trimming shrubs in the Infants Play Area.

Shrubs

Glorious weather for this weekend's task day and mostly all hands to the shrub bed near to the Bowling Green, which we hadn't realised was quite so overgrown! Other tasks included treatment of benches and sculptures, planting in the Garth Road shrub bed, weeding and leveling of the French Boules Court, a few plants added to the flowerbeds, litter picking throughout the park and, frustratingly, picking up quite a lot of dog mess!

It was good to chat with new local councillor Annette Finnie, who was very complimentary about the efforts of our volunteers, and several other park users too. One chap returned after talking to us with a huge bag of copper coins. We've still to count this yet but other members of the public donated nearly £8 in our bucket too.

This week volunteers tackled the woodland behind the library, treatment of benches, tidying of the Garth Road shrub bed, hacking back of ivy on the toilet block, trimming of flowerbed borders, litter picking and repair of a picnic bench in the Infants Play Area. Another good day, thank you folks!

Hacking back and planting in the woodland.

Woodland

Trimming back of ivy on toilet block.

Toilet Ivy

A good tidy-up of the Garth Road shrub bed.

Garth Road

Woodland path looking better.

Woodland

Trimming of borders around the flowerbeds.

Borders

A handful of volunteers worked on the flowerbeds, the cinema shrub bed and weeding the paths around the library today while three others were trained in the use of power-tools by Solutions SK in Brabyns Park. The training will allow us to use small power tools like drills and sanders as well as the larger tools we were trained on. After finishing in the park we did some work on Lock 17, the project we did with Marple Locks Heritage Society several years ago to commemorate the late Gordon Mills.

Working on the flowerbeds.

Flowerbeds

Working on the flowerbeds.

Flowerbeds

Training at Brabyns Park.

Training

Some new planting for Lock 17.

Lock 17

Some new planting for Lock 17.

Lock 17