Task Day in Memorial Park [Last Saturday each month]

[admin]

Task Day 24 September 2022

In many ways yesterday was a normal and productive task day for Friends of the Park volunteers but one tinged with sadness caused by disheartening vandalism to a much-loved mature tree in the park by persons unknown. We clearly share that sadness with young people who use the park and felt compelled to publish a public statement about the criminal damage caused to the white Birch tree near to Lock 11. It's important to us to make sure local people do not think it was Friends of the Park volunteers who carried out this despicable act.

The statement is here: https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/notices/tree-near-to-lock-11.html



In terms of work done, we dismantled the remaining School Gardens bed created by All Saints' School and relocated most of the soil to what will become our new raised allotment bed. We also did a lot of tidy-up to the Reading Circle behind the library and some shrub-tidying at the Bandroom Garden. Later, we went and tidied up the branches left strewn around the woodland by the vandals and created some potential wildlife habitats. It was during this activity that we discovered posters left by young people who have been saddened too.





Read more about our task days this year here: https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/task-days/task-days-2022.html

To learn more about what we do for the park check out our fantastic promotional video created by one of our regular volunteers:

[admin]

Task Day 10 September 2022

Friends of the Park were busy in the park again yesterday, and with hedge trimming at the Band Room a little bit overdue we were delighted with the performance of our new battery-powered hedge cutters purchased with our Stockport CAN Fund Award back in May this year. Volunteers also got stuck into maintenance of the main flowerbeds, which are now starting to turn.

As autumn approaches it's also time to begin dismantling the School Gardens and St. Mary's responded very quickly to our request to remove plants, so theirs was the first to go. All plants are being reused by the schools and we have plans for the backing boards to reappear in the park soon. We are also recycling the timber and sleepers at the allotment bed in front of Hollins House. This follows on from Marple Allotment Association giving up the beds after more than 10 years. So we are planning to give them a boost by creating raised vegetable beds at the rear.





Infants Play Area picnic bench tops

On Friday, following the great work done by AstraZeneca to create hard-standings under the benches, we installed one of the picnic bench top that we've had in our store for a while. The first one is a little town-scape that is perfect for toy vehicles. The second, which should be installed soon, is a bit more educational.

The tops have been funded by our 50-50 Club and we hope that families with young children enjoy them.

Read more about our task days this year here: https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/task-days/task-days-2022.html


 
PS: Wednesday 31st August

I forgot to mention that Friends of the Park were pleased to welcome 21 AstraZeneca employees to Marple Memorial Park as part of a scheme to give back to the community. It was certainly a great benefit for us to receive help with painting of the Infants Play Area fence and pruning of four large shrub beds. The volunteers also tackled a job we'd been planning to do ourselves, which was to create new hard-standings under the two Infants Play Area picnic benches. This was a real bonus as they paid for the materials as well as doing a great job!

[admin]

Lock 17 on Oldknow Gardens

Friends of Marple Memorial Park have strayed outside the park today and had a good tidy-up of Lock 17 on Oldknow Gardens.

Here are some before and after photos. Isn't that better!

[admin]

Task Day 27 August 2022

Yesterday we focused on the Infants Play Area, with a good tidy-up of shrubs and more fence painting. Of course there was work done on the main flowerbeds too, and also at the toilet block, the Reading Circle, on the shrubs around Hollins House and litter picking. We also had a special treat at tea break, with an amazing pork pie and fruit tart from the wonderful Archer's Bakery.

Read more about our task days this year here: https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/task-days/task-days-2022.html
 




To learn more about what we do for the park check out our fantastic promotional video created by one of our regular volunteers:

[admin]

Task Day 16 July 2022

An early start on Saturday due to the forecast heatwave saw most of our volunteers pile onto the main flowerbeds in order that they will look their best next Sunday 24th July, when the Brass Bands of Marple will be playing their Picnic in the Park concert to commemorate the park's 100th birthday.

Other tasks included bench maintenance, Band Room garden maintenance, watering of the new School Gardens, hedge trimming in the Infants Play area and clearing stray brambles along the woodland path in advance of the Family Treasure Hunt next Saturday.

Read more about our task days this year here: https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/task-days/task-days-2022.html
 

[admin]

Marple School Gardens Project Build Days: 11th & 12th July 2022

Friends of Marple Memorial Park have worked with All Saints' and St. Mary's Primary Schools to create two show gardens in the park yesterday and today.

Visitors to the park will be able to chat to some of the children involved at the Family Treasure Hunt on Saturday 23 July:

For more photos and full details visit: https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/park-centenary/marple-school-gardens-project.html

[admin]

Sunday 10 July 2022: Everything ready for planting!

So tempting to show you photos of the fantastic backing boards created by All Saints' and St. Mary's for the Marple School Gardens Project but you're going to have to wait until tomorrow!

The raised beds are going to be planted up by pupils and teachers 10am to 2pm on Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th July when all will be revealed.

https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/park-centenary/marple-school-gardens-project.html

[admin]

30 June 2022: Marple School Gardens Project: Infrastructure Build Day

The Marple School Gardens Project finally got underway publicly today with the building of the raised beds in the park ready for All Saints' and St. Mary's Schools to plant them up during week commencing 11 July. Today it was assembling the sleepers and filling with soil carried out by Friends of the Park. A big thank you to Andy Manc James, our local Dyno-Rod man who helped deliver the sleepers to the park, and to Offerton Sand and Gravel's driver Neil, who made a precision early morning delivery of topsoil for us to avoid problems in the car park.

https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/park-centenary/marple-school-gardens-project.html

[admin]

Task Day 25 June 2022

Our volunteers were all over the place yesterday, with mowing and strimming in the Band Room garden, treating benches, trimming hedge and grass borders, weeding flowerbeds, watering new plants, clearing shrubs obstructing the handrails in front of Hollins House, picking litter and even painting the Infants Play Area fence ready for our School Gardens Project.

The park is looking amazing, thank you to the park visitors who popped almost £18 in our collection bucket and obviously agree.

Read more about our task days this year here: https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/task-days/task-days-2022.html
 




To learn more about what we do for the park check out our fantastic promotional video created by one of our regular volunteers:

[wheels]

It takes so much effort to vandalise. I don't know why they bother.  The answer is to put things right as soon as possible.  So well done to all concerned. 

[admin]

Task Day 11 June 2022

Vandals caused a disappointing start to Friends of Marple Memorial Park task day yesterday! 

We arrived at the park to discover vandalism to the roof of the former Bowling Pavilion and to the Infants Play Area fence yet again. This is the fourth time vandals have deliberately and systematically damaged the fencing around the play area, resulting in costs to the council and Friends of the Park that could have been spent on making improvements.

Fortunately we had come armed with the right tools for another job and were able to replace all the slats that had been kicked off by the time we left the park. If you see anyone doing damage like this again please report to the police.

Of course we did get some positive work done and also popped back this morning to catch-up on a job we didn't do yesterday because we were re-fixing vandalised fence slats!

Read more about our task days this year here: https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/task-days/task-days-2022.html
 

[admin]

Task Day 28 May 2022

We fell lucky with the weather and got a huge amount done in the park today. Tasks included a concerted effort to weed and tidy the War Memorial Beds. The low hedge was trimmed and the border redefined on one side too. We also did a bit of tidying in the Reading Circle, as it is going to be used for Story Time by the library on Monday.

We tried out our new cordless battery powered lawnmower in the Band Room garden and the new strimmer too. These have been purchased along with standard and long reach hedge-cutters with an award we received from the Stockport CAN Fund that has allowed us to remove our dependency on petrol powered tools. We were delighted with the results.

We also put a final coat of paint on the Coronation Bench (after another volunteer did the first coat of the seat last week) and it is now ready for the tree to be decorated as part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Marple Tree Trail. Two of our volunteers also removed the remains of the 3 trees broken by vandals and the stakes that were driven a long way down.

Earlier this week one of our volunteers also finished painting the library steps and repaired a bench that had lost a slat.

Park visitors donated over £22 in our bucket too, thank you!

Read more about our task days this year here: https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/task-days/task-days-2022.html
 

[andrewbowden]

Near where I lived previously the council would - every year - plant some new trees near the station. And every year - without fail - someone would destroy at least one of them.  The next year a replacement would be installed.  And the same thing would happen again.

Those who seek to make things better, I totally get.  But I will never ever understand such people who are happy to destroy.

[admin]

Task Day 14 May 2022

This was our first mid-month Task Day of 2022 and despite a smaller turnout than our end of month ones we got a great deal of work done. Flowerbeds were weeded, lots of work was done in the Band Room Garden and progress was made on maintaining steps and benches. In particular, the back of the Coronation Bench was given a much needed clean-up and repaint. We also planted our recent purchases from Marple Scouts in the Sensory Bed opposite the Scout Hut for them to enjoy.

We were saddened that vandals have seen fit to destroy 3 new trees near to the Infants Play Area. These were planted by the council at our request and we were watering them regularly to ensure they survived the dry weather. It's hard to understand what motivates anyone to attack our efforts to improve and maintain the park.

Better news is that we remembered to put our collection bucket out this time and park visitors rewarded us by depositing almost £22!

Read more about our task days this year here: https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/task-days/task-days-2022.html
 

[admin]

Task Day 30 April 2022

Today's tasks included preparing and seeding the circular bed with wildflowers and doing the same in the borders leading to the Reading Circle behind the library. This is the first time we've done this and we're looking forward to the results. We also worked on the Band Room garden, planted some donated Gunnera, began painting under the former Bowling Pavilion canopy, cleaned up the Toddler's Play Area sign, removed a fallen tree from one of the shrub beds and did lots of watering.

While working on the Reading Circle we were delighted when one of the library staff came out and told us they are planning to use the area for story time as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. We were also pleased to see that replacement of the broken windows on Hollins House is finally underway - it looks so much better!

Read more about our task days this year here: https://www.marplememorialpark.org.uk/task-days/task-days-2022.html
 




To learn more about what we do for the park check out our fantastic promotional video created by one of our regular volunteers: