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 28 September 2019
We almost cancelled today due to the rain but decided to give it a go. A surprising number of volunteers turned up and we managed to get some work done on the war memorial beds, complete a litter-pick and plant four trees donated by a local resident. However, by tea break the rain was very heavy and seemed set-in for the day, so we retired gracefully but very wet! One of our volunteers also spent the morning engaging with visitors to the library about our new 50-50 Club scheme.
Earlier this week we were delighted to unveil the cobbled setts we've had laid in from of Danny Winter's bench. This small project has been funded by Friends of the Park, with a very generous contribution from Danny's family too.
Task Day 14 September 2019
A quieter turn-out due to the Tour of Britain coming through Marple at lunchtime today. What a beautiful day it was for that too! We broke off from our labours to watch it go down Station Road at amazing speed.
Despite the lower numbers today we still managed to do a good amount of work, including resetting some broken and misaligned slabs in front of a bench, litter-picking, planting in the Jubilee Bed in front of the library, weeding on the main flowerbeds and the application of yellow safety paint to the steps at the Bowling Green.
One of our volunteers also spent the morning engaging with park visitors about our new 50-50 Club scheme and we received lots of positive feedback about what we do for the park. Sign-up before the end of the month to be included in the first draw.
Visitors also showed their support by donating just under £20 in our collection bucket.
Town Centre Task Days 10 & 13 September 2019
In 2016 we began a major refurbishment of the benches in Marple Town Centre. We completed the refurbishments in 2019 with the last 3 benches on the Hollins. Every one of them has now been sponsored by a local family or business.
This week we paid our annual visit to maintain and re-treat all the benches to keep them in the best possible condition. Our visit coincided with discussions in the Marple Community Hub Facebook group about "Chat Benches", so we teamed up with The Marple Website and with the support of local shop keepers made one of the benches on Derby Way into the first Marple "Happy to Chat" bench. Read more about this on the Marple Website: https://www.marple.website/chatbench
Marple's first Happy to Chat Bench on Derby Way
Task Day 31 August 2019
Mixed weather with a late downpour that sent us to the pub didn't stop lots of work being achieved today.
We even managed to finish painting the library steps and hopefully it wasn't all washed away! Lots of was work done on the Jubilee Bed in front of the library too and all those annoying weeds were cleared from between the paving slabs and brickwork. In other areas, the Bandroom lawn was mown and the hedge trimmed, litter was picked, self seeded saplings were bashed with the Pullerbear, and there was also work done on the bed behind the Toilet Block and the one in the Infants Play area.
The uncertain weather meant fewer visitors to the park but those who came popped just over £10 in our bucket.
Task Day 17 August 2019
Our volunteers weren't put off by the early showers and enjoyed mainly sunshine with another shower at tea break. This time we were mostly back on the main flowerbeds, where there was lots of work to do thanks to the weather.
We did the usual litter-pick but the park was relatively clear, presumably also thanks to the recent weather. We did more work using our fantastic Pullerbear to remove self-seeded saplings along by the canal this time too. Unfortunately the camera wasn't available to capture this work but there is plenty more to do so we should manage it next time.
With us more visible today and the sun being (mostly) out we had the extra boost of more than £35 donated in our bucket by visitors who love the way we look after the park.
Task Day 27 July 2019
We were hoping to complete painting safety lines on the library steps but the threat of rain put that on hold.
Fortunately we had received a large selection of donated plants via the council, so set our volunteers to planting these. Locations included the shrub bed alongside the path to Station Road, the Bandroom garden and the Reading Circle behind the library. We also trimmed the hedge of the Bandroom and weeded and pruned around the boundary borders.
We also litter-picked and cleaned up the skatepark quarter pipe, where someone appears to have thrown up all down the ramp, and (after reporting it to library staff) cleaned up the remains of a small fire under the library stairs where someone had burned their school text books. Clear indicators that the school holidays have started then.
Although we were not as visible as usual this time, as we only did a small amount of work on the main flowerbeds, enough park visitors found us to donate just over £17 in our bucket.
