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 30 June 2021
Two more benches treated on the Hollins and Market Street
We're getting through our Town Centre bench maintenance programme slowly but surely and two more were sanded and treated today.
Thank you to the gent who bought us a cuppa from Gregs and to Danny Winter's mother Caroline, who spotted us and donated £100 for taking care of Danny's bench in the park.
Pavilion Art Project Installation
Monday 28 June 2021: Pavilion Art Project Roundels Installation
It was wonderful for Friends of the Park to work with Tracy, Pete and Rhian from Art Stop today to install the roundel artwork painted by Marple people of all ages during the 2020 lockdown.
We are delighted with the outcome of this project and especially thankful to Tracy McGuinness-Kelly for her hard work, enthusiasm and ability to work in innovative ways to overcome the difficulties imposed by the Covid19 pandemic while complying with government guidelines at all times.
Thanks to everyone who contributed artwork - they are all wonderful but when displayed together become more than the sum of their parts.
Thanks also to the Macnair Trust and Marple Area Committee for your contributions toward the funding for this project, and to all our volunteers who have helped in different ways.
We have a few small jobs to finish things off, then it's hopefully onwards and upwards for Phase II of this project.
Task Day 26 June 2021
An early start for the Pavilion Art Project
We made an early start in the park today for the installation of the Pavilion Art Project boards. This had been waiting for council approval of our special task day to install the roundels with Art Stop CIC, which was approved last week. Look out for more exciting news on this brilliant project very soon!
A little later in the morning we were joined by our regular volunteers, who, after checking for bird nests, completed hedge-trimming at the Bandroom garden, the War Memorial beds and the ramps in front of Hollins House. Other volunteers did maintenance work on the Jubilee bed in front of the library and cleaned and weeded the whole library area, while others litter-picked in the park and treated park benches too. Another busy day for Friends of Marple Memorial Park!
Thank you to park visitors who donated over £19 in our collection bucket.
Task Day 19 June 2021
Wildflower meadow starting to show promise at last
As many will know, creation of our wildflower meadow on the site of the Lock 11 compound was delayed by the Covid19 pandemic. We were all set to sow seed in March 2020 but it didn't happen until the autumn in less than ideal conditions. This year we've been waiting patiently for it to spring into life but it has been very slow to take hold, apart from the self seeded Dock.
Today we decided to get a small team on it at short notice to give the Dock a good bashing before it dispersed seed again. It has made quite a difference and it is actually starting to look like a wildflower meadow at last. Although results of the seed we sowed in autumn still seems to be quite sparse, wildflowers are now starting to show and there are encouraging patches in bloom.
We did sow a huge amount of seed in autumn, including Yellow Rattle of which the is no sign at all. Today we also sowed a load more seed in anticipation of some rain to get them going.
Task Day 15 June 2021
Chipping away at Town Centre bench maintenance
Well not literally, but we are working our way through the retreating of the Marple Town Centre benches, this time completing one on Market Street and another on the Hollins.
We're also starting to think about how we can clean up and repaint the metalwork too and it would be easier if we had access to an outside tap. Is there an owner of a business premises or residence that could help us with this please?
Task Day 12 June 2021
Everything is growing so quickly now and there's lots of work for our volunteers!
Now that we are allowed to use power-tools in the park again we were able to catch-up on maintenance of the bandroom garden by strimming (with our new cordless strimmer) and mowing the grass. Lots more work on the flowerbeds too, which are now filling out nicely thanks to the sunshine.
We also gave shrubs alongside Hollins House a good pruning and others cleared weeds from the park entrance on Stockport Road, which has made a huge improvement.
We also called local councillors and the emergency control room to get the park toilets opened as the were still shut at 10am.
And last but not least, we took delivery of the plywood boards for the Pavilion Art Project, which is very exciting.
Park visitors said thank you by placing over £18 in our collection bucket.
