Friends of Memorial Park Task Days in 2024
Here are details of our task days in 2024.
We normally hold them between 10am and 1pm on the last Saturday of each month in the winter and the middle and last Saturday from spring until November:
If you are interested becoming a volunteer with us please get in touch and we will add you to our Task Day notifications.
Volunteers are 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.
Task Day 9 November 2024
Getting ready for Remembrance
The group has held a task day the day before Remembrance Sunday for many years now, and this year was no different. Clearing leaves and ensuring the the war memorial beds and main flowerbeds look the best they can is always the main task, along with cleaning the memorial and clearing leaves throughout the length of Memorial Park Drive.
No photos have been provided from the day except this special one of former Park Keeper Bob Wilson receiving a card and bottle of his favourite tipple from the group for his 70th birthday, which falls on Remembrance Day. Bob was the fulltime Park Keeper in the park when the group was formed until taking retirement in 2014 but has continued to volunteer with us ever since.
Task Day 26 October 2024
Bulb planting season is here!
We have yet again been blessed by the weather and on our task day today, concentrated on planting bulbs - it's the best time to do it. We are grateful for a large free supply from the Council and we added some ourselves. We've planted around the beds and in an area where the frog will be relocated. We've also put some in next to the Covid memorial and along the entrance path off Station Road. All should come up at varying times in spring; we've planted tulips, narcissus, muscari and crocus so there's a good selection of colour.
There were other maintenance jobs to do including cutting back and tidying the beds - always weeding to do too. We also did some edging round the paths. We added some soil to the previous holes in the football pitch and will eventually seed these. Then some surprises happen - we had to mend one of the wheelbarrows but managed that with a nut from Hollins of Marple!
Task Day 12 October 2024
It's now very much Autumn and we are concentrating on all the seasonal tasks
We've planted lots of bulbs in the main beds; tulips, alliums, crocuses, narcissi and others, and have also given the beds a thorough tidy up, deadheading and clearing fallen leaves from shrubs. In an attempt to enhance the Covid memorial, after our small rosemary shrubs didn't survive, we have put in the two well developed large rosemary shrubs from the vegetable plots. Rosemary is the plant that signifies remembrance. Other jobs included tidying the hedge by the band room and moving some more soil from the Jubilee bed before it is lost to the new building. We also offered packets of honesty seeds for a small contribution to our funds, and this has proved popular.
Task Day 28 September 2024
The weather was kind to us today and we got through a lot of work
Apart from the usual weeding, edging and tidying of the flower beds, the team were able to move a tonne of topsoil to fill in the holes in the old football pitch. This will be grassed over in due course so that the area recovers and we can move the posts between the two locations periodically. We did some weeding of the path edges - important at this time of year but it also ensures we can avoid using weedkiller on the park. We also started tidying round the front of Hollins House, mindful the important Remembrance Day service is only 6 weeks away now.
The community group Men In Sheds visited us to see if they can help give a new home to Rose our frog - she and Bud need to move when the work starts on the new hub.
Thanks to those passers by who bought some seeds from us and as always we are really grateful for the donations put in our collecting bucket.
Task Day 14 September 2024
So good to have some better weather to work in the park!
Today's task day was held in beautiful sunshine and a welcome improvement in recent weather. We moved our last plant to relocate it in anticipation of the new Hub development; a very nice golden hop which has flourished on the side of the toilet block. We also planted our first bulbs of the Autumn. As you can see from the photos we cut back the wild flower bed, as this is the right time of year to do so. We also did more maintainance work on the flower beds and borders and we harvested some of the produce from the vegetable beds - some carrots included! There's also lots of weeding to do at present and we made a point of clearing up round the stocks - not that we are expecting them to be used anytime soon.
Task Days 24 & 31 August 2024
Rescue of plants and topsoil before the bulldozers arrive!
Following on from the success of our Task Day on 17th of August, it was decided to keep the momentum going by slotting an extra Task Day into our busy calendar on Saturday 24th, closely followed by our scheduled one on Saturday 31st, the last day of August and of the summer!
On both occasions we had a splendid turn-out of almost twenty volunteers, all eager to keep our park looking its best. Unfortunately the Task Day Leader for both days forgot to take photos on the 24th but, after being soundly reprimanded, was able to provide some record of how hard our members worked on the 31st.
The main focus on both days was to continue relocating plants from the flowerbeds that will be lost during construction of the new Community Hub. As before we had to make space for these plants, largely by removing lots of hostas that have tended to 'take over' several of the flowerbeds near to the War Memorial. We also decided to move good topsoil from the donor beds to 'bulk out' the areas where we are replanting while we wait for a consignment of new topsoil from the Council. Again, it was gratifying to see that the surplus hostas that we left bagged up near the War Memorial with a sign encouraging people to take them were collected by park users to take home for their own gardens. We wish them joy in their new homes!
Other activities included sawing up and disposal of several large branches which had been blown down during the recent storm, weeding and edging of paths and general park maintenance.
Many thanks to our committed and enthusiastic volunteers, who clearly enjoy their labours. While we're pleased to have so many, we always welcome new ones as there's an endless list of jobs to do!
Task Day 17 August 2024
Moving plants ready for Community Hub construction works
We had another successful task day very much focussed on getting ready for the construction work on the Park for the new pool and hub. This means transplanting anything that we want to keep that are in parts of the park that will be affected by the construction work and the new buildings. This is proving to be a big job, not least because we have to create room in other beds. We've done this mainly by taking out hostas that recently have dominated some of the beds as they matured into flowering but are now coming to the end of their best period. We were happy to donate some of them to visitors to the park. The others we left out for taking away by anyone who passed by, and they all went - hopefully to good homes.
Task Day 27 July 2024
Preparations for Jubilee Bed relocation begin
During today's task day we started to move some of the plants we want to save from the Jubilee Flowerbed outside the library. When the new Pool and Hub is built this bed, along with its metal sculpture, will need to be re-sited. We tidied the bed along from the band room ready for some of the plants to be relocated into there.
At this time of year there's always a lot of weeding and edging to be done, and we continued the rolling programme of re-treating the benches with preservative and did the sign over the kiddies playpark too. Our team did their usual maintenance of the allotment fruit and veg area, which is thriving at present.
One of our photos also shows the group relaxing at our break time and enjoying the views across the park.
Benches posts and signs
Task Day 13 July 2024
A task day was held on Saturday 13 July but no report or photos have been provided.
Task Day & Treasure Hunt 29 June 2024
Deputy Mayor finds families treasure Memorial Park and its volunteers!
This week we held the annual Treasure Hunt, with 18 clues round the park for letters which spelt out a mystery word. The reward was chocolate money for those who got it right (or who made a good effort!) We know this is hugely enjoyed by families who attended in their numbers. Thanks to the members of the team who organised this free event and to our generous sponsors Nurture Nursery. Thanks also for the support we had from Sarah and Emma from the Coffee Bean Dream and Kevin from the Carnival Committee.
We were delighted to be joined by the Deputy Mayor of Stockport, Cllr Kerry Waters, who was very impressed by the park, our volunteers efforts and the event itself. We are always grateful for Stockport MBC support in this way.
Meanwhile, we also managed to have a full task day with lots of volunteers as well as those on the Treasure Hunt. We tidied up the bed at the back of the toilet block, and weeded and levelled up a bed on the clinic side of Hollins House, where some soil seems to have been dumped over the months. This bed is now ready for some planting next time. The fruit and veg beds are coming on well and we did some ever needed weeding on our flower beds.
Task Day 21 June 2024
Special task day to create small beds at the COVID Memorial
We recently decided to add a bit of plant life to the COVID memorial in the park. On 21 June 2024 a small group of volunteers put in a few rosemary plants (signifying remembrance) either side of the memorial. It's also worth mentioning that the large H section top capping stone was found to have become loose. This is now in safe storage until it can be properly refixed.
Follow this link to read more about the COVID Commemoration Project.
Task Day 08 June 2024
Mixed weather but we're ready for Marple Carnival!
This weekend's task day was punctuated with showers but also lovely sunshine. We wanted to get the park in good shape for next weekend's Carnival, so we did some weeding and edging on the flower beds, and trimmed some hedges. We also did our normal litter pick and tended the allotment beds, which are now showing some good growth. Some of the slats on the play park fence needed to be replaced too. Meanwhile, we were pleased to see that the Council has repaired the roof of the former Bowling Pavilion after we spotted a damaged ridge tile.
Task Day 25 May 2024
Could it be true that the sun shines on the righteous?
A glorious sunny day for our task day. The recent warm wet weather had meant rapid growth of weeds as well as growth of the flowers and shrubs in the flower beds and the allotment beds. An excellent turnout of volunteers did much hoeing, weeding, edging and careful hedge trimming as well as planting the new bedding plants.
We tidied up the wooded area by cleaning tree trunks, pulling up saplings and doing some pruning. The grass in the band garden was mowed and the area tidied up. Litter picking, clearing round the main park entrance and a major snail hunt within the hostas in the flower beds were other tasks successfully carried out. A really good and enjoyable task day.
