Lark in the Park 18th June 2016

Photo by Carol: Cricketters having a break

Mayow Park is a 5 minute walk from Sydenham Road but it sits within the Lewisham Council ward of Perry Vale and is the main green space for that ward. The Friends of Mayow Park committee were delighted when we learned that our park was to host the Perry Vale Ward assembly 'Lark in the Park' community event.
It was planned over a few months by Councillors and council officers who contacted various community groups and associations as well as Brown and Green Cafe in Mayow Park.
On 18th June the weather was overcast but generally dry making it ideal for this great event. Cars and larger vehicles were driven into the park at 5mph, lights flashing, and then driven out again according to the regulations, in order to set up. People were unloading banners, chairs, equipment, food, gazebos,  games and piling up a whole host of equipment onto tables to prepare eye-catching displays.
The Perry Vale ward officers and councillors had a small marquee located between the tennis courts and bowls green, by the middle path.
The old bowls green hosted taster sessions for those interested in croquet. However, the grass is cut as amenity grass these days since the demise of the bowls club and I gather that means the grass is too long to play a decent game of croquet.

Photo by Carol: Try playing croquet when you are being pulled away by a toddler!

 Friends of Mayow Park set up a table next to our gardening space, by the raspberry bushes and under the holly tree. It was a good opportunity for us to publicise who we are and what we do as not all visitors were aware that Mayow Park has a Friends group. Some people signed up to go on our mailing list and to be kept informed about meetings and events. We had tree leaf identification sheets available for those who wanted to check out some of our park trees plus information on our orchard.

Photo by Carol. Two of the FOMP committee - Robert holding Harry his dog and Alona sitting  

Here is a list of some of the other organisations that contributed to the day and their activities:

Arthouse	Make a protest workshop - Use creative  resources to make a placard to protest about what is really important to you. With your creations you can Join a parade at the end of the day.
Lewisham Homes	Information stall - to promote Lewisham Homes services
Metropolitan Police	Free Bike security Marking and crime prevention advice & leaflets
Forest Hill Society	Information stall - working to make Forest Hill an even better place to live.
Economic Development team (Fairtrade)	Fair Trade Quiz and samples of Fairtrade projects to try.
Lewisham Police / Police Cadets	Crime prevention stall, general assistance with set up and stewarding
Brent Knoll School	Yr 10 Enterprise Group. Handmade gifts and crafts by pupils
Mike Mad for Fitness	Demonstration of Outdoor gym equipment.  Also volunteer first aider
Let's Talk about Dogs	Let's talk about dogs - engagement with local people on their attitudes to dogs.
Young Lewisham Project	A stall selling recycled/upcycled items made by our young people. Also a Dr Bike service so people can have their bikes repaired.
Sydenham Tennis Club	2 Tennis coaches and croquet club members to run activity tasters
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home & PDSA	Dog microchipping, pet health checks, dog law and outreach
L&Q	Information Stall - help and advice with all aspects of housing
Fusion - The Bridge Leisure Centre	Afterburn and Box Aerobics (Boxercise)
Fusion - Afterburn Academy	Afterburn - (Looking good on the beach!)
Bubble and Bounce	Soft play area
Tumshies	Face painters X 2 - sponsored by Lewisham Homes and L&Q
Teatro Vivo - Usherettes	Usherettes - handing out information, engagement with public
Brown and Green	Provided prize for cake decorating activity
FHBS - Cake decorating	Cake decorating masterclass, and FHS Young Producers Present: “The Big Mix Up” Cookbook-let
Dacres TRA	Committee member attended to engage with public
Forest Hill Womens Institute	Information stall and cakes for sale

The Caribbean Mix cricket team were playing a match on the centre field during the afternoon for those who wanted to sit and relax.

Photo by Carol: Caribbean Mix CC

Photo by Carol: tennis coaching at the tennis courts

Photo by Carol: Dr Bike  in the shadow of one of our ancient oaks 

It was a wonderfully busy day with many people enjoying the activities on offer, chatting, chasing toddlers, eating, smiling.  At 4pm the day of festivities came to an end and stallholders packed up. Many stayed to help  the Lewisham team to load equipment back onto the van.
A number of people commented that his event had felt like a village fete.
For next year I would like to suggest community music and dancing during the afternoon to reflect our multi-ethnic and multi-cultural community: we could have any combination of: Morris dancing and  folk music from around the British Isles, music and dance from the Middle East, the Far East, Mediterranean countries, India, Bangladesh, the Caribbean, the African continent, the Americas, Eastern Europe, Asia and Australasia.

Workday at the Triangle on 21st July 2016

Would it be too hot and humid to work in the Triangle garden? That was the question being asked the day before,after one of a series of very hot (over 30 degrees C) and humid days.

Would we have enough volunteers to make a significant impact on the overgrown plant beds?
The rainy weather in May and June, coupled with warmth, had seen a small amount of bindweed turn into a strangling mass of long thin strings winding round our herbs. The herbs had also grown and were falling across the woodchip path throughout the plant bed, hiding the path.

Herb bed looks more like a nature reserve

Hard to know where to begin!

As for the adjacent fruit bed, that too was overgrown. The raspberries were doing very well much to the joy of passers-by who grazed the fruit but the grass had grown so that it was impossible to see the stepping logs and the patch with primroses and blueberries was only visible if you knew it was there. Pulling away the long grass exposed this patch.

Grass removed to expose the blueberries and primroses

The woodland style wood chip bed that meanders behind the hedgerow and in front of the dawn redwood tree to the water fountain was bare and needed a deep layer of fresh wood chips, while the path edge logs were rolling away and needed to be bedded in.  The tree stump 'den' opposite the raspberry bed was shouting for a bit of a trim too.

Tree stump den opposite the raspberry bushes

It turned out to be a reasonable day, hot but not scorching,  with clouds and a light breeze. By 11am the Nature's Gym volunteers, and leaders Jess and Judith, had arrived. Before long the volunteers had done their warm-up exercises, tools were given out and work started. In total, and including Mayow Park volunteers, there were 13 people. 

Working hard at our tasks

Tasks were chosen and everyone got on with the hard work of making the beds look  cared for. We all worked so hard that the time flew but luckily someone realised that we had gone beyond the normal tea time/ lunch break.  Without further ado, hot water flasks came out of the van; tea-bags, coffee, milk and biscuits too. And everyone took a well-deserved breather.

Lunch break on the grass, in the shade of a tree, in front of the cafe

After lunch we all carried on with our tasks. And, as before, we lost track of time. The path by the dawn redwood tree looked better for a good layer of fresh wood chips laid along its length.

Wood chip path by the dawn redwood tree

It was almost time to stop. Two of the volunteers would not give up until they had finished laying wood chip mulch along the path through the herb bed.

The Nature's Gym volunteers were determined to complete the job

We cleared up all the green waste and piled it up ready for the Glendale grounds maintenance team to collect to take to a garden waste recycling centre.

When all was finished, Judith and Jess were finally able to pose for the camera knowing that a huge amount of clearing and tidying had been achieved and that the work of their volunteers was really valued by the Friends of Mayow Park.

It was time to look at the garden and note the cardoon plants, with their purple flowers just emerging atop the tall stem structures. Other park users were also admiring these grand architectural plants and noting the bumble bees flitting between the flowers. 

Cardoon flowers looking beautiful

There is still more work to do as the bindweed has also colonised parts we did not manage to clear. So a call to park users for another workday is on the horizon. 

Thank you to all the Nature's Gym folk who turned up and worked so hard to help.

June 2016 Mayow Park tree walk part 2

A month ago I started writing  about the Friends of Mayow Park family-friendly tree walk, which took place on 5th June and which included measuring tree height, tree girth and bark rubbings of a few trees.
I'll now try to complete that post
We moved on from the row of silver birch trees, past the former bowls green. Immediately on the right is a good example of an ancient oak that has been pollarded. Trees with a number of trunks above head height are called pollards.  Pollarding involves cutting branches off to encourage growth of new trunks above head height and was a common form of woodland management. The cuts, and therefore new shoot growth, were above the reach of grazing livestock belonging to commoners. This particular pollard had four trunks at about 10 feet high but one had to be removed around 5 or 6 years ago for safety. Seen below is the same tree from different sides. It has three trunks although you can only see two in the photos.

Pollarded ancient oak between bowls green and tennis courts

Mike, with help from some children, measured the girth of this pollard at 5.2 metres, which we estimated as around 300 years old.

hornbeam seed pods

Bark rubbing of hornbeam

Our next stop was the hornbeam. Although hornbeams are indicator trees for ancient woodland, this is a young tree that would have been intentionally planted.

hornbeam leaves

 Hornbeam leaves and seed pods are quite distinctive.

the beautiful hornbeam opposite the orchard

 Before moving on we looked briefly at the orchard, opposite the tennis courts. The orchard now contains 18 fruit trees, all heritage varieties, which were planted in 2012 and 2016 with the support of the Urban Orchard Project.

Mayow Park Community Orchard

Our next stop was the number 1 favourite tree in the park for many children . . . the climbing tree. Quercus Ilex or holm oak is easy to spot, not far from the Recreation Road gates. It is an evergreen oak that sheds its leaves throughout the year and casts such a shadow around it that no plants grow underneath. I recently met an adult in his forties who, as a child, loved climbing that tree. So it has really stood the test of time.

the best climbing tree in the whole park

Heading back across the park we briefly stopped by a row of oaks that clearly look like they were intentionally planted as boundary oaks, to mark field or property boundaries.

Boundary oaks in Mayow Park early spring 2016

We headed across the oval field to the tree we think must be the oldest oak in the park. It stands near the fountain and is another pollard. Its girth was 5.4 metres,  measured at a height of 1.3 metres from the ground. Could this tree really be around 340 years old? I'd welcome measurements of other oaks and age calculations from other people.

within sight of Victorian fountain

girth 5.4 metres

Could this be the oldest tree in the park?