Friends of Memorial Park Task Days in 2012
Here are details of our task days in 2012.
Task Day 24 November 2012
The good news on this task day was that we completed the installation of the second bowling green bench sponsored by Marple Senior Citizens and refurbished by Friends of the Park, which means that all three of the large cast iron benches around the bowling green have now been done. The first of the three having been sponsored by Marple Business Forum earlier in the year.
The bad news is that it has become clear that someone is stealing plants and shrubs from the park that have been donated by the public, or paid for by donations and planted by us. A beautiful new Black Alder, a Sambuca and two small Broom bushes recently planted have been taken from the War Memorial Beds. Hostas have been taken from near the library and a variety of small plants taken from the ornamental beds. We are both saddened and angered by this. It seems to us that the culprit or culprits must be keen gardeners who understand the efforts we are making to improve the park flower beds yet find it acceptable to steal from the community they live in.
If you see anyone working in the flowerbeds who are not wearing the blue uniform of SSK please take a photo of them on your phone. If it's a volunteer from the Friends of the Park they will smile and talk to you. If they are stealing plants they probably won't! Send the photo to us and we will do our best to ensure that they are prosecuted. If you see, or have any information about these thefts, please get in touch with us.
Task Day 10 November 2012
Another fine sunny morning allowed us to have a final tidy-up of the War Memorial and Ornamental flowerbeds ready for tomorrow's Remembrance Day Service. Hope the weather is as nice on Sunday as it was today!
Task Day 27 October 2012
A cold but beautifully sunny day allowed us to get lots of work done, although one of the main jobs of clearing leaves from the ornamental flower beds was a bit of a never-ending task. As well as battling with leaves there was lots of pruning in the beds and planting of winter flowering pansies and other plants donated by the public.
Another bench success story was completed too, with the refurbishment of one of the Co-Op entrance benches that has been sponsored by Costa Coffee. New hardwood slats and a commemorative plaque was fitted, and a big thank you to Costa Coffee for their support. The only trouble is that the other bench next to it that we refurbished with second hand slats now looks a bit shabby, so we are going to try and find a sponsor for that one too.
In addition to these main tasks, the last of the soil was transferred to the Jubilee Bed and some paving slabs were cut for the new commemorative bench that has replaced an old one opposite the Senior Citizens' Hall.
Task Day 29 September 2012
Unfortunately the wet weather prevented us from doing any painting and we may have to finish the Infants Play Area next year now, unless we have some unexpectedly fine weather in October or November. However, we had a very good turnout of volunteers and a great deal of tidying up around the park was achieved, including the removal of brambles, ash tree saplings and ivy from the perimeter wall bordering the canal tow path. Other areas to benefit from our volunteers' efforts were the cinema flower bed and the beds and areas around the council offices.
In addition, on Sunday 30th, while the Jubilee Sculpture was being installed, a lot of work was done on the shrub bed bordering the Senior Citizens' Hall.
Task Day 8 September 2012
More fine weather allowed us to continue making progress on the painting of the Infants Play Area and the end is in sight now if we can just have a couple more sunny days!
Lots of hard work was put into the flowerbed in the car park next to the council offices and this is looking much better.
The bolt holes on a number of recently refurbished benches were plugged and they were also re-treated with preservative. Later some work was also done in the Breathing Places area and to the flowerbed in front of the toilets.
The Diamond Jubilee Flowerbed has re-flowered and was covered in bees - this is looking really good and we are hoping that the sculpture will soon be ready to install.
Tree work in the park has started and one of our favourite trees has had to be removed due to decay and a huge crack. We were concerned about how this area of the park would look when the tree was gone but thankfully it has not been as bad as we were expecting and the views are still great. A large dead chestnut tree is also in the process of being removed.
Task Day 25 August 2012
We fell lucky with the weather again, as the thunderstorms were just starting to kick-off as we packed up to go home.
Another very successful task day saw the two old concrete benches near to the library being refurbished using timber that we had rescued from a couple of similar benches that had been replaced by new ones. We were also able to make some more progress on the painting of the Infants Play Area. Repairs were done to the inner fence around the swings and red paint to three of the four sides in the same area was finished before the downpours began.
A whole lot of work was also done on the War Memorial beds and these really are starting to look good now.
Thank you everyone who helped today!
Task Day 11 August 2012
Great weather again allowed us to make excellent progress on painting the red inner sections of the Infants Play Area fence. Another bench was refurbished and several others given a fresh coat of preservative, some hacking back done in the shrub bed near to the bowling green and hacking back and weeding was done in the ornamental flowerbeds that we adopted last year too.
Several of the volunteers have been receiving positive comments from members of the public while they are working in the park about how good it's looking. It's very encouraging to receive compliments like this so please do take the time to stop and chat when you see us working in the park and tell us what you think.
Task Day 28 July 2012
After teasing us early on the weather turned glorious and we had a very productive day. We were delighted that Bramhall Paving Services, our contractor for the hard landscaping works on the Diamond Jubilee Bed, was at last able to start work after prolonged delays waiting for Planning Permission.
While they were busy in front of the library a small number of volunteers tackled refurbishment of one of the Co-Op benches near to the entrance; weeding of the Sensory Garden bed; treatment of the Sensory Garden bench and the Stocks; maintenance in the Breathing Places wildlife area and more planting in the War Memorial beds. After things dried up a bit we were even able to continue painting the Infants Play Area fence!
Task Day 14 & 15 July 2012
More of a task weekend than a task day! On Saturday we made the most of the good weather by treating benches, clearing the library bed ready for landscape works, weeding ornamental and Memorial beds and treating algae on the War Memorial. On Sunday we then transported to the park and installed the first of two benches near the bowling green whose refurbishment has been sponsored by Marple Senior Citizens and carried out by Friends of the Park. The second bench was then dismantled ready for refurbishment too. A third similar bench was sponsored by Marple Business Forum earlier this year.
Task Day 30 June 2012
Thank goodness for better weather that allowed us to make some more progress on the project to paint the Infants Play Area fence. Still a way to go though! We are doing extremely well with our programme to refurbish the park's benches and three of the oldest ones along the main path through the park were sanded and treated in-situ. The newly refurbished bowling green bench was also treated to another coat of preservative too. Lots of work was done in the woodland area behind the library and more new plants donated by Les and Jean White were planted in the War Memorial beds.
