Friends of Memorial Park Task Days in 2021
Here are details of our task days in 2021.
Task Day 13 December 2021
Installation of Nativity Sculptures on Market Street
It's become a traditional way for Friends of Marple Memorial Park to end the year and it's now an annual task for us to install and remove the Nativity Sculptures in the Town Centre.
We took over the task of storing and managing the sculptures from Churches Together, who were having trouble handling them when stored at All Saints' Church. It's much easier for us to keep them at the park and we can transport them to Market Street without vehicles, so much greener too!
It was great fun to supervise our team of volunteers as they did their community service this morning!
Task Day 23 October 2021
Getting ready for the Ride of Remembrance
On Sunday 24th October the Marple Poppy Appeal Team will launch this year's campaign by commemorating the 100th year of the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. They are doing this with a Ride of Remembrance from Compstall to Memorial Park featuring 100 motorbikes each carrying a large poppy to be added to the Wall of Remembrance in the park.
This promises to be a great spectacle and Friends of the Park spent this task day tidying the flowerbeds and war memorial area in preparation for the event tomorrow. We also planted the last of the shrubs donated to us by a local resident, which led to a great photo of our father and daughter volunteer team, who have done a wonderful job for us over the last year.
Visitors to the park kindly donated over £15 in our collection bucket, thank you!
However, to the lady who came up and told one of our volunteers that you had put £1 in the bucket but you would give more if Friends of the Park disassociated ourselves with the skatepark, we will be passing your money onto the Poppy Appeal. The park is for everyone and we are very proud of our success in building this great facility for the young people of Marple.
Last but not least, as you will see below, our intrepid painter was out and about again, this time with his pot of white paint!
Task Day 9 October 2021
At last we're allowed back in our Mess Room!
The refurbishment of our Mess Room (shared with council operatives) was completed just before the March 2020 lockdown began but we've been unable to use it since then. After conducting a deep clean yesterday afternoon, during this task day we finally managed to fit the new paper towel dispenser and microwave brackets we purchased before the pandemic kicked off. As the room is quite small we used it to brew-up but took our refreshments outside.
Other work included finishing the black paintwork around around Marple Library, litter-picking and the never-ending battle to keep the flowerbeds looking their best. This time we also planted a couple of shrubs donated by a Marple resident and we look forward to seeing how they develop next spring.
Honesty Seeds for Sale
As a little fund-raiser we also sold packs of White Honesty seeds to raise funds for the park. This was inspired by so many people asking us for the name of the plants giving the amazing display of white flowers in the flowerbeds during May and June this year (see below). Along with donations, we raised over £27 for the park.
Task Day 23 September 2021
Town Centre Benches all caught up in time for Food and Drink Festival
We were delighted the weather held yesterday, allowing us to complete re-treatment of the last two benches on Market Street this year. That means we have caught-up with the lost year due to the Covid19 pandemic and all 17 Town Centre Benches have been re-treated by Friends of the Park in time for the 2021 Food and Drink Festival.
Next year we would still like to 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 in the Market Street area that could help us with this please?
Task Day 20 September 2021
Town Centre Benches on the Hollins completed for 2021
The last two benches on the Hollins were sanded and treated on Monday and we've nearly caught up after Covid delays in 2020.
Just two benches left on Market Street, which we hope to manage before the Food and Drink Festival on Saturday if the weather and other commitments allow.
One nice coincidence we learned is that it was the late Marshall Shaw's birthday on the same day we treated his bench.
Task Day 18 September 2021
Lovely to see so many families enjoying a glorious day in the park!
As well as the usual hard work to keep on top of the main flowerbeds as they start to turn, a long overdue session on the second car park shrub bed was tackled. There's a lot more work here for us this winter it seems! A great job was also done on dressing the edges of the pathway between the war memorial and Hollins House.
Our man with a paint brush was on the prowl too, and anything needing a black paint touch-up was dealt with efficiently.
Just over £12 was added to our collection box by park users - thank you!
Task Day 28 August 2021
A busy day in the sunshine for Friends of the Park!
A beautiful day to be working in the park saw a focus on hedges and shrubs, with work around Hollins House, the war memorial beds and the Bandroom garden. Other jobs tackled included cleaning display boards, touch-up painting of the railings in front of the house, much needed watering of Danny Winter's pots and the endless task of keeping the flowerbeds at their best.
We also met with a local lady who has some exciting ideas for a new project in the park and visitors rewarded us with donations totalling over £13 in our collection bucket.
Task Day 7 August 2021
Big effort before the rain set in!
The forecast August downpours were fairly kind to us today, allowing us a couple of hours grace before a good soaking. This enabled us to make good progress on a tidy-up of the main flowerbeds and the war memorial beds. Other tasks included litter-picking, mowing of the band room garden and the 5-a-side goals and treatment of a couple of benches.
Thank you to park visitors for dropping over £22 in our collection bucket.
Task Day 17 July 2021
Mustn't grumble but it really was too hot to work in the park today!
A shortened task day today due to the heat but our volunteers still managed a long list of tasks by midday including: litter-picking; grass-cutting in the bandroom garden; tidying of the Scout Hut bed; planting in the Sensory Garden; edging of flowerbeds; sanding and treating benches; strimming around the 5-a-side goalposts and planting foxgloves in the woodland areas, where we at least found some shade. The allotment team were also in action keeping on top of weeds and edging their plot.
Thank you to park visitors who popped over £8 in our collection bucket.
Have you lost a bicycle?
A local resident found an abandoned bike in bushes (see last photo below) and left it with us for safe keeping. If it is yours please get in touch.
If we don't hear from the owner in a week or two we will recycle it.
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.
