End of an era for Friends of Marple Memorial Park
A fine sunny day and an excellent turnout of volunteers marked a changing of the guard for Friends of the Park. This was supposed to be the final task day that Mark and Gill would lead but unfortunately Gill had to be elsewhere due to a family illness and it was left to Mark to handover her trowel and his keys to incoming chairman Malcolm Allan.
Although Gill couldn't be there, it's great that Bob Wilson could, exactly 10 years to the day after he retired as the last fulltime Park Keeper.
Mark was sad to discover that the gents toilets have once again been broken into and trashed inside, an aspect of caring for the park that he certainly won't miss! However, it was great to see the park so busy with families taking part in the Easter Duck Hunt organised by Marple Fest, and the AquaDuck display on the Bowling Green fence organised by Helen Middleton that will remain for a couple of weeks before being transferred back to the local primary schools that have taken part and to Brabyns Care Home.
Tasks carried out today
The group will downsize their activities, at least in the short-term, to focus on core park maintenance of flowerbeds, park benches and the like. That was the focus of today, with main beds edged and weeded, war memorial beds tidied, bench maintenance begun and the band room garden mowed. There was also a litter-pick and weeding of the Boules court was completed too.
New volunteers going forward
The group welcomed two new volunteers today and would be delighted for more members of the community to step-up to help maintain the legacy Mark and Gill have built over 20+ years. There are all kinds of things you could do, not just gardening, although it would be particularly good to find a couple of volunteers who would enjoy taking on the Allotment Beds.