Friends of Memorial Park Task Days in 2014
Here are details of our task days in 2014.
Task Day 14 June 2014
Main task of the day was to take advantage of the weather and get a fresh coat of paint on the fence surrounding the Infants Play Area swings. We managed to keep the swings open and in use by only blocking one entrance but we'll have to come back and do that next time. We also treated the new picnic bench and did some repairs to a bench near to the entrance.
In addition, other volunteers worked on the shrub bed in front of the Senior Citizens' Hall and continued weeding to keep the ornamental flowerbeds looking their best.
We also had the added luxury of Cllr Shan Alexander coming along to make tea for our thirsty volunteers.
Task Day 31 May 2014
Flying the Flag to Commemorate 10 Years in the Park!
The park is now getting to its best and the flowerbeds are reaping the benefit of all the hard work put into them by the Friends of the Park. Several of our volunteers continued this effort by weeding and pruning the ornamental beds, the war memorial beds and the sensory garden, whilst others worked on the borders of the pathway into the woodland behind the library. Marple Allotment Association were also out in full force and their bed is looking a credit to them.
Earlier this week we installed a plaque on behalf of a lady called Selma Fielding, who has sponsored the flowerbeds with a generous donation that allows us to continue buying, growing-on, feeding, fertilizing and planting more plants in all the flowerbeds. This is a great way to commemorate a loved one or to make a contribution towards the upkeep of the park if you are not in a position to be a hands-on volunteer.
We also installed a second new picnic bench in the Infants Play Area - this was made and delivered to us by local charity David Lewis, who made the other one for us too. We know that the play area is hugely popular and can often be so busy that there is nowhere to sit, so we hope this will be appreciated by the families using it.
We were pleased to be joined in the park by five of Marple's local councillors (with apologies from the sixth) to raise our new flag to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the formation of Friends of Marple Memorial Park. Most of them were there when we first started in 2004 and when we achieved our first Green Flag in 2005. Since the council stopped entering their parks for the Green Flag Award several years ago we thought we'd create our own flag to make use of the pole. Thank you to Arthur Procter for helping with the design of the flag and coming along to take the photos.
We were also pleased that The Marple Plumber came along to fit a new outside tap for us free of charge. This is something we've needed for a while and it was great to get it installed by a qualified plumber at no cost!
Task Day 17 May 2014
Another busy task day for the Friends of the Park. The main task was more planting out and maintenance of the flowerbeds, which are really taking off in the great weather. The Allotment Society and the Beavers tended their bends earlier in the week and theirs are looking good too.
We also helped out The Brass Bands of Marple tidy up around the new Bandroom ready for its official launch with a "Brass in the Park" concert tomorrow. In addition, we treated the majority of benches in the park with a coat of preservative, cleared litter, emptied bins and even carried out some emergency repairs on a drain cover.
Task Day 26 April 2014
It looked like it was going to rain to early on but the sun decided to shine on the righteous and we had another great day of volunteering in the park. Flowerbeds were weeded, hoed and edges trimmed, sculptures treated, litter picked and some more management work in the woodland wildlife area carried out too.
We took delivery of two new works vehicles (green bins), a new commemorative bench was installed in the Infants Play Area and the surface under the bench between the play areas was at last sorted out by a council contractor (after copious nagging).
Task Day 12 April 2014
A great deal of work was achieved by a small band of volunteers on our first routine mid-month task day of 2014. Jobs included a full litter-pick of the park, access road and around the community buildings, repairs to the War Memorial display panel frame, repairs to the door on our tool store and removal of graffiti from the backless bench on the driveway into the park.
Numerous park benches were treated with preservative and Midnight the Owl was given a coating of "Green-Away" to remove algae ready for treating with preservative next time. The biggest job of the day was the thinning-out of an abundance of Cowslip and nettles from the woodland wildlife area behind the library and the planting of a variety of more desirable subjects including Borridge, which is loved by the bees. The photo below captures a busy day in a park that is blooming!
Task Day 29 March 2014
Bob Wilson's last "working day" in Memorial Park
The weather was very kind on Park Keeper Bob Wilson's last official working day in the park. Bob has taken redundancy / early retirement as part of the council cuts. Bob has spent the last 9 years of his 40 years of employment with Stockport Council, and latterly Solutions SK, in Marple Memorial Park and he is one of the key reasons that it has been so well looked after.
It was pleasing that Bob spent his last day working closely with the Friends Group that he has supported so well during virtually our entire existence, and we were delighted to present him with a canvas landscape of the park to remind him of it at home. The really good news though is that Bob plans to return to the park he loves as a volunteer with Friends of the Park.
As far as work in the park, we got a huge amount done including reinstalling the Apple and Pear sculptures and the last of the Acorns removed by vandals. The ornamental beds and war memorial beds were worked on, and also the cinema bed at the front of the park, the sensory garden and shrub beds further into the park, and benches were treated too.
Thank you to Arthur Procter for recording Bob's presentation and the end of an era. As a result of the budget cuts there will no longer be a permanent Park Keeper in Memorial Park and nobody is likely to provide the dedication and care that Bob has given to looking after it over the last 9 years. The need for volunteers to help look after the park it is going to be greater than ever, so if you'd like to help the Friends of the Park rise to the challenges that face us please to come and join in!
Task Day 11 March 2014
"Incredible Edible Marple" Task Day with M.E.S.S.
A special task day was held with Marple Energy Saving Strategy (M.E.S.S.) to kick off their "Incredible Edible Marple" Project by planting 20 Wild Harvest tree saplings provided by the Woodland Trust in the park. These comprised a mix of Hazel, Blackthorn, Crab Apple, Elder and Dog Rose, some of which can be harvested for jams or left to feed the local birds and wildlife.
We also (eventually) reinstalled a picnic bench that had previously been taken out for repair after vandalism - this "small job" turned out to be more difficult than expected due to one of the existing bases being big enough to build a small house on!
Task Day 22 February 2014
A great turnout of volunteers got loads done in the park despite the ground still being too wet to work on the main flowerbeds. Crocuses, Daffodils and Snow Drops are all starting to show and the Park is getting ready to welcome the spring!
Successes included a major revamp of the over-grown shrub bed in from of the Scout Hut with Pyracantha and Holly shrubs. Look out for more planting here soon. There was a good tidy up of the Cinema Bed at the main entrance to the park, to the ones in front and to the side of the Senior Citizens' Hall and we finished off pruning of the Shrub Bed near to Charlies' Bandroom too.
We also started our programme of bench maintenance with the application of Green-Away to many of them and painted the Jubilee Crown, which is in the process of being repaired after vandalism last year. Finally, feed was hoed in around the new War Memorial Beds rose hedge too. A very good effort, well done everyone!
Task Day 25 January 2014
The first task day of 2014 was a fairly quiet start to the year but we were pretty lucky with the weather and got a fair bit done. The park was very wet so we concentrated on areas that we could reach from the paths. The Infants Play Area has a good tidy up, the shrubs and beds around the Council Offices and along the path heading towards the Charles Ingham Bandroom were also given a good prune back. There are lots of bulbs appearing already and we're looking forward to a park in bloom again!
We also had a photo-call with Councillor Iain Roberts, who presented us with a cheque for £200 from the Council's WWI Small Grant Scheme. This grant covers the cost of the red roses that we planted around the War Memorial flowerbeds last year and is the first award of its kind in Stockport for projects that commemorate the 2014-2018 WWI Centenaries. We are very proud to be the first group in the borough top be awarded one of these grants and we are looking forward to the roses that we have planted developing into a Red "Rose Wall" hedge over the next few years that will bloom between June and November.
Task Day 22 January 2014
A special task day was held in the park on Wednesday 22 January when some lads from David Lewis came along with Terry, one of our volunteers who works there. The lads came to help fit bars to several of our ground sculptures that had been pulled out by vandals so that they can be reinstalled in the park and also to fit some brackets to the legs of one of our picnic tables that was vandalised too. They did a great job and left the place much tidier than it was before they came, so thank you lads!
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To read more visit: www.davidlewis.org.uk
