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.
The Friends continued work to improve the War Memorial flower beds by adding new topsoil around the rocks placed during the last couple of task days. The site where the locks display had been was also soiled over and the old plants removed from the main flower beds around the stone bird bath in front of the Council Offices.
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A beautiful sunny April day saw the Friends continue their work to improve the War Memorial flower beds. The remainder of the old rockery stones were returned to the beds and the existing shrubs cut back to accommodate them. The stones were arranged under the artistic direction of Community Parks Officer Bob Wilson and to be honest looked pretty good when we'd finished. Next task is to soil up around the stones ready for planting. The Friends also mulched about 50% of the flowerbed near the Sun Dial to keep down the weeds.
A group of the Friends also had a look inside the Park Cottage to get an idea of its size and to think about a possible use for it. The building is structurally sound but has been neglected badly and it is going to cost a lot of money to return it to a usable condition. Funding the cost of this work is currently the biggest stumbling block to overcome.
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A good turnout saw the Friends working in a number of areas. The large flowerbed between the Bowling Green and the Council Offices was mulched with wood chippings to keep the weeds down. The hedge bordering the Bowling Green was cleared of leaves and tidied up and around 50% of the original rockery stones were returned to the flowerbeds surrounding the War Memorial.
In addition, a new notice board was installed by the Parks Team near to the Infants Play Area, so that hopefully the Friends can reach a larger audience with details of their Task Days and other activities.
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A cold wet morning saw the Friends of the Park tackle the borders around the War Memorial, including removal of old bedding plants, weeds, couch grass and Elephant's Ears. The Friends were ably assisted by a group of youngsters under the guidance of the Stockport Youth Offending Team, so light work was made of turning the soil over, digging in fresh compost and tidying and straightening of borders.
The involvement of the Youth Offending Team was a new experience for the Friends of the Park, but it was a positive one and we hope the youngsters will be able to return to assist with the planting up of the borders that they have helped to prepare today. We also hope that they took something from the day too - they certainly seemed surprised that anyone would do this kind of stuff voluntarily!
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The first task day of 2007 saw the Friends and the Parks & Recreation Team levelling off the site of the Tatton Show locks display, which is planned to be moved to Oldknow Gardens alongside lock 13 on Stockport Road. An application for funding to pay for new metal replica lock gates has been submitted to the 'Stockport Fund' by the Friends and we are waiting to learn if this is successful.
In addition, the second interpretation board, this one explaining about the locks and canal, was installed at the entrance to the park near lock 10 and Oldknow's Warehouse. The new board features a map of the locks system based on the one from the Virtual Tour of Marple Locks, a potted history and some rather nice photographs.
The Friends' first Task Day was held in the park on Saturday 22nd May 2004. The objective was to clear the brambles and undergrowth along the dry stone wall bordering the canal and to remove saplings growing out of it. A safety fence was also erected around the sluice near the entrance to the park at lock 10 and bulbs were planted in front of it that should improve the appearance once they grow.
The Task Day was well attended by members of the Friends, a group of youngsters led by local youth group leader Andrea Nylands and several Stockport Council workers from the Parks and Recreations section. As well as helping with the work, the youth group put on a barbeque and ensured that everyone was well fed.
Here are a few photographs taken on the day:
