Official playground opening 14-03-2024

14th March 2024 was the day when our children's playground was officially opened by the newly elected Mayor Of Lewisham, Brenda Dacres.

The rebuilt playground had opened to the public just before Christmas 2023 but today was the grand opening. 

It had been a long time coming and those parents who had stuck with this project for over 6 years were very relieved. We had not been able to reach our hoped-for target of £200,000 so some of the sensory activities and some additional equipment did not get included. However, there was delight at the finished result. 

Invitations to attend this event had been sent out from the Mayor's office. 

Some  school council  pupils from Adamsrill Primary School and pupils from Brent Knoll School had been invited to the opening as well as local councillors, council officers from Lewisham's parks department and managers from Glendale.

Kompan is the play equipment  company that had designed, built and installed the equipment. Their rep, Sandra, came along to meet pupils from local schools and to hear their thoughts on the new playground. She gave out 'goodie' bags to the children, containing fruit, a water bottle, Easter eggs and other delights.

Two members of Friends of Mayow Park were invited but only one of us could attend. Sadly our hard-working fund-raising volunteer had to go to work at the last minute. It is thanks to her persistence that this project  finally raised the necessary funds. 

Mayor Brenda Dacres cut the ribbon to officially open the playground, assisted by some of the children. The youngsters then had free time playing on all the equipment. An Easter bunny wandered around making everyone smile. 

Veolia is a waste management company which supports and provides funding towards community projects. They provided nearly half the funding for the playground. So it was a pleasure to meet their rep in his very glamorous hi-vis jacket and to show our appreciation for their funding.

We must mention that the Friends paid for an additional bench for the playground near the swings, a place for parents to sit and keep an eye on their children. 

The Friends had worked hard over the years to ensure this project would happen by keeping in contact with council officers, with Glendale and with the local councillors. The Friends conducted two surveys, one in 2017 to find out if there would be support for a playground improvement campaign and a second survey in 2022 to ensure we were still campaigning with support from parents and children.

This playground could not have been completed without time and effort from the parks department and from Glendale (the parks management company) helping us. There were quite a few meetings along the way. Then came Covid and lockdowns which meant our campaign came to a halt and finally we had to pick up from where we had left off previously. 

Dog Show in Mayow Park - a new first for the Friends of the Park

   We had a wonderful dog show today (Sunday 24th September) in Mayow Park. It was a real community event and the weather held out for us.

Glendale put a proper ‘ring’ up for us (well it was a fenced square but you know what I mean!) - we really appreciated their efficiency in putting it up and taking it down for us on a Sunday.

Pam Mulvaney Brown, who runs the Narvik Dog Training School, came to judge for us with her colleague and friend Kim. They were a fantastic team and chatted to each owner before asking them to walk around the ring.

We had around 60 entries to our five categories with the most popular being ‘Best Behaved’. The dogs in this category had to demonstrate they could run to their owner when called and then sit nicely.

'Best Trick' was really fun with dogs spinning, dancing between legs and playing dead!

I operated a slightly unreliable megaphone but it did the job and sorry if anyone got tired of hearing my voice. As well as announcing the categories, it was important for me to share that it was our first dog show and was to celebrate 30 years of Friends of Mayow Park.

We didn’t know how the timings would work out but actually we ran ahead of time as everything seemed to run smoothly. We made a small profit  - nearly £150 - from the small fee to enter each category and from spectator donations. Thank you everyone.

Every dog who entered got at least a small rosette and some biscuit treats. The 3 winners in each category got a ‘Winner’ rosette and were entered for the 'Best in Show'. A wonderful dog called Cora won the special 'Best in Show' medal.

It really was a fun few hours with many amazing volunteers all wearing the new Friends of Mayow Park tabards which made us look very smart - thank you to Robert Hero for these.

Also thanks to Whites Pet Store who donated some treats and Best in Show prizes. It was a wonderful way to celebrate all our marvellous (and clever!) dogs in the park.

 

Pippa Moss

PS from the editor: 2023 has been a milestone year for Friends of Mayow Park. As Pippa says above, 30 year anniversary of FOMP.

The fledgling group started at a meeting in Sydenham Library in March 1993, with support from Lewisham Council and initially named Mayow Park Users' Group. That seems a long-forgotten time before social media.

Over the years there have been many changes in the park, mostly positive, and the group has grown thanks to the strength and influence and involvement of the local community. Working together with Lewisham Council (the land owners) and Glendale (the park management contractors), a lot has been achieved. May that continue long into the future.

The Dog Show, the ceramic bat hunt (see a previous blog) and the bat walks have been key events for the Friends group during this year. The Dog Show must surely be the highlight of our celebrations, drawing in so many dogs, dog owners and spectators. It was a real joy to see. Ed

Some of the team before the show

Some of the team again - with Pippa 

Cute dogs

Best in Show

Best in Show with runners up

And one more photo as the event is about to start:

Minibeast safari

On Saturday 24^th July 2021 Friends of Mayow Park hosted a bug hunt, led by FOMP’s old friend Iain Boulton. We all met by the Victorian fountain and Iain explained the bug hunt activity. Many people call such creatures ‘bugs’ or ‘creepy crawlies’ or ‘minibeast’. Whatever word you prefer, we were planning to spend one or two hours in the meadow opposite the cafe, hunting for what we could find.

There were 18 of us, including 8 children.

We had all heard about the unpromising weather we should expect on Saturday afternoon but the rain held off and later in the afternoon we saw some sun.

Iain brought with him some sweep nets and a few copies of a Field Studies Council guide* to help us identify these little critters. He gave a demo on how to use a sweep net in the meadow. And we were off in family groups, into the long grass, hunting to see what we could find. The list included

Lots of grasshoppers

A painted wing fly

A ladybird or two

A hoverfly larva

Snails

Woodlice

Some very small flies

This is an interim post as we hope to get drawings from some the children who took part.

7-spot ladybird

green grasshopper

*https://www.field-studies-council.org/shop/publications/garden-bugs-and-beasties/  

June 2021 litter picking fun

 3rd June 2021.  What a great day for our park litter clean-up as part of Tidy Britain’s Great British Spring Clean. Thank you for the love and care shown to Mayow Park. 

Early this morning  ( 8am) some individuals gave their time to collect litter to make the park a more pleasant place to spend time in. This was ahead of our community clean-up.

Then, a few hours later, Friends of Mayow Park volunteers with Glendale and the local Safer Neighbourhood Team held a communal annual litter picking event.

We had 7 children in 3 family groups, FOMP committee members, Glendale’s Fabio, Emanuel, Ainsley and Vieira plus two PCSOs - Andrea and her colleague.  Vieira brought his two children on his day off!

In total we collected NINE bags of rubbish even after the early morning clean-up session.

Thank you to Lisa L and Hannah L for bringing your children to join and help. 

Thank you to Glendale for supplying black bags and  the loan of  litter picker sticks. 

And a very big THANK YOU to B & G Cafe for providing drinks to volunteers after the event.

Some of the rubbish collected

  A few of the wonderful volunteers 

New tree map and leaflet (Oct 2020)

 We, the FOMP committee, have just finished producing a very smart 6 page leaflet with a map of the park on the other side. There was a previous map but it was produced some 20 years ago! We feel really proud of this new map/leaflet which will debut in the next issue of the Sydenham Society News as a pull-out centre spread.

We owe so much to Jody McLeish, who designed the whole thing for us. He knows the park from when he lived here but is now living in Kent. (He also designs the Sydenham Society News.)

Using the map people can find out the names of some of the fantastic trees in Mayow Park. For some tree types there's also further information. I loved learning about the Tulip Tree especially. The map includes images of some of the birds often seen in the park too. 

In the leaflet we've given info on the history, facilities and the FOMP group.

Of course people will have opinions on what it could have included but we do hope readers will learn something new from it and appreciate the work that's gone into producing it (and in Jody's case I'm sure a lot of patience as it took a fair few proofs for us to finally sign it off).

It's been wonderful to see the old out-dated map reproduced looking so smart (with the typos gone!) and the basic text we typed up transformed into smart panels with photos.

We can't wait to see how it now looks printed inside the SydSoc magazine. Only compliments allowed...hours of volunteers' time lovingly went into it! Anyway we are confident you'll want to grab a copy! 

Additional copies will be printed within a few months for distribution to the wider community.

Text: Pippa. Photo: Alona

Keep Mayow Tidy (and follow the regs!)

 Words by Pippa Moss; Photos A Sheridan

Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean, usually held in March, was of course postponed this year – a pandemic arrived! FOMP had planned a litter picking event for it, which we had to cancel. The postponed GB Spring Clean happened in September instead. Friends of Mayow Park couldn’t organise anything big and official with all the social distancing regulations so we just chose a date and gathered six volunteers. It fell under the permitted Lewisham Covid volunteering category of ‘tending and managing habitats’. Our intention was therefore to clear the woodland and grassland habitats within the park of littered items and make them safer for wildlife. We were able to let Glendale (the team that manages the park on behalf of Lewisham Council) and the Safer Neighbourhood Team know the date so they could separately, but on the same date, be in the park too. Glendale helpfully provided bags, picker sticks and took away the litter!

It went very well. Between the 3 groups we collected 24 bags of litter, a random Hoover and a teddy bear as well! We headed into the bushes and woodland areas that we could access so it was a thorough job! Extra point for me for managing to get a sore shoulder from also carrying around a large heavy hand sanitiser bottle in my handbag!

We were all shocked by the amount of wet wipes - they overtook Haribo sweet packets by far this year. These wipes will sit around for years, they don’t decompose and they certainly don’t help the wildlife in the park.      

 I think we all know wet wipes have their uses. I used to pride myself in the baby days of what I could clean up with just one wet wipe - and I always disposed of it responsibly. The fact we probably collected 200 of them shows they are being used excessively and carelessly.

                     

Next litter pick I plan to collect recycling separately - it is rather depressing when it all gets lumped together. It might involve some bag juggling but I think it will be worth it - cans and bottles are a big part of what we collect.

The community has really been enjoying Mayow Park during these last 6 months - we know this space has been really valuable to all of us to escape our homes, which we have spent so much time in. To be honest after all these months of heavy use, the litter pick could have been a much greater challenge - it just shows that most people really are caring for the park. There is also a growing awareness that any bags left neatly tied next to the bins with the best of intention, do in fact end up shredded by foxes. They need to be taken home.

Anyway the great thing is that there are always willing volunteers to help on these litter picks, and anyone who has never used a litter picking stick always states how great they are to use! I’m still trying to find a handbag friendly one... see me soon on Dragon’s Den with my telescopic handbag litter picker invention!

Pippa Moss September 2020

Clearing the fruit area at the Triangle beds by Pippa

It seems the combination of weather events this year (excess rain followed by warm and dry weather) meant our currant and berry bushes were being heavily invaded by long grass, nettles, 'sticky buds' (also known as cleavers, Latin name Galium aparine) and the odd bramble and in fact when we started this clearing project the fruit bushes were really very hidden. 

As people stopped to say hello we explained what they were and many hadn't realised. Anyway it's pretty rewarding pulling up all that stuff (bar nettles, hate those, I always get stung) and gives you a feeling you are 'freeing' the good stuff. 

The currents and raspberries are already fruiting in small form on the plants so there should be a good crop for people to pick a few as they go past. 

The plum and apple trees look better too. The plum fruits suffer from 'pocket plum' and no longer form proper fruits. 

We cleared loads of 'weeds' the first session. A second session was needed to finish that job - by now I was crawling pretty much inside the fruit bushes as you get slightly obsessed with getting every last strand of grass out.

Alona then wheelbarrowed the good-quality compost we'd created in our bin in the park, and we started spreading it around the cleared beds. It looks really great now.

During these sessions I was very distracted by The Triangle looking stunning with Forget-me-nots (Myosotis) but really taken over by the 'sticky buds' so I couldn't resist clearing some of those out.  There's bindweed in there too though that's a big job for next time.

It was great to be back having a 'presence' in the park (Alona and I working at 2m apart was easy). People do always stop to ask questions and we can remind them about FOMP.

We even had our first FOMP Zoom meeting this week so the Friends certainly are still being active despite many of our planned activities having to be cancelled.  At least we got our new benches (from the Greening Fund) put in just before lockdown. Just a reminder that we always are looking for more people to join the small but active FOMP committee!

CLEANUP IN MAYOW PARK

This article was written by Daniella Levene  from CleanUp UK who gave permission for us to post it.

Megan & Paulette

The community event  was organised by Paulette and Megan  at Lewisham Plus  http://plus-services.org/  and supported by Daniella.    

Megan with Lewisham councillors

Most of us litter pick because we are concerned about the environment, but group litter picks have so many benefits aside from the environmental one and you don’t even have to litter pick to take part! You could help sign people in, sort equipment, bake a cake, chat to passers-by, organise, design a poster, make some tea, or just walk around for company because you care and want to be sociable. Last Saturday’s pick in Mayow Park (14^th September) was a great example of how meaningful they can be.

The PLUS pickers had their first successful pick in the summer in Folkstone Gardens and were keen for more. As Rob Agrawal, Head of Service at PLUS said, “Litter picking is such a rewarding thing to do as everybody is able to participate to some extent and the results are obvious and immediate’.

One participant, Megan, enjoyed it so much and wanted to organise one closer to home. With help from her fabulous support worker Paulette, we met Alona, Chair of the Friends of Mayow Park, who was happy to support but at first wasn’t sure if the park needed a clean. Mayow Park on first appearances is very clean and it is well looked after; it has a park keeper (Ainsley) twice a week, an active Friends’ group, and is clearly loved by its many users.

However, like most well used parks, when you start to really look you will see the gleam of plastic, perhaps a bit of straw wrapper taken by the wind, or a plastic bottle deliberately chucked in a bush (out of sight, out of mind), or the thousands of cigarettes (it is estimated that 4.5 trillion cigarettes butts are littered each year), which most smokers aren’t even aware are harmful.

 After our walkabout to check out Mayow Park and see what we could do a date was set. Megan and Paulette contacted their friends, put up posters and with some support from me and Glendale everything was in place for the day, with fingers crossed for sunny skies. Thankfully the weather delivered, and it was beautiful day!

These young people arrived in the park and wanted to help Daniella 

In all 29 people took part, including three wonderful young pickers, as their guardian Jill stated, “They walk through the park on the way to and from school and come every weekend, so it was good to see them having fun while helping the environment and the park they love.”

We were also joined by councillors Susan Wise, John Paschoud and Jacq Paschoud and,from NDTi, Madeline Cooper-Ueki who inspired PLUS to get involved after hearing her talk about social inclusivity, as she surmised about the day, “Communities and friendships are built when we come together to do things that matter in our neighbourhoods. All too often people with learning disabilities are seen as recipients of help from those around them. Megan’s role in making this park cleanup such a success captures how the opposite is the case. Communities benefit most when everyone is included!”

Cllr John Paschoud with young helpers

A total of 10 bags of rubbish was cleared, not the biggest haul but that's not really the point. Every piece collected is one less harming our environment and wildlife AND OF EQUAL IMPORTANCE, those involved are a little bit more connected.

Young helper knows where to find litter

Young helper picks up litter

The PLUS pickers are keen to get involved in more community litter picks. If you'd like to join them or organise one, please get in touch.

LINKS TO WEBSITES OF PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS

CleanupUK:   cleanupuk.org.uk  

                       https://www.facebook.com/TheBeautifulBoroughsProject/

               twitter.com/Cleanup_UK

                      instagram.com/cleanup_uk

Lewisham Plus http://plus-services.org/

Rob Agrawal (Head of Service) PLUS (Providence LINC United Services)

6 Belmont Hill, Lewisham, London, SE13 5BD

 
NDTi https://www.ndti.org.uk  

VALUING FRIENDS OF PARKS groups

FRIENDS OF GROUPS: Valuing the work of Friends of Parks 

This blog post first appeared on the Fields in Trust website 7th July 2019 and was written by David Sharman    http://www.fieldsintrust.org/News/valuing-the-work-of-friends

The photo below from Friends of Mayow Park was not in the original blog.

Friends of Mayow Park in SE London litter pick with local children & SNT (Photo SNT)

We all know that time is precious and we all tend to value our own time highly, but when it comes to parks and green spaces it's unfortunately all too easy to overlook the value of other people's time.

Friends of Parks groups, or "Friends", are local volunteers that have historically supported parks and acted as voluntary community custodians over their use; being fundraisers, influencers, conservationists, managers, and event organisers. They have also acted as the 'eyes and ears' of our parks when they come under threat or they're being mis-managed. Friends of groups are then often the glue that keeps many a park at their best, and the actions taken by these volunteers should be valued highly.

One example of a community coming together in efforts to secure the future of their local park is The Friends of Ashby Bath Grounds  in Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire who, since 2014, have prevented non-recreational buildings being developed at this park. As part of their campaign they created and raised funds for, activities to improve awareness and accessibility of the Grounds within the community so that the space would be seen as a valued asset. This included the creation of a heritage trail with guided walks, an exhibition, a film and book produced about the Grounds, community mosaic workshops, archaeology sessions, and even the writing of a new ballad about the Grounds. Plans for development here have so far been successfully stymied or withdrawn.

We are aware of Friends of groups first forming in 1960s and '70s, but the prominence of Friends really grew in the '90s and early 2000s as a result of a funding crisis seen within public parks. Local people came to the aid of parks when they were in their worst state for years. Unfortunately, in this last decade, we have seen funding to parks again reduced, and due to continued local authority budget and resource cuts, the role of Friends is again becoming increasingly vital to the sustainable future of our parks. Evidence of this can be seen from the more active role Friends of groups are taking in fundraising for park improvements. It was estimated in 2016  that £50m is raised by park Friends of groups each year, which was more than double the amount estimated in 2014. For example, members of the Friends of Grange Park  London raised £100,000, both through grants and crowdfunding within the community, to create a new play area, accessible to all through the installation of equipment suitable for children with disabilities. Grange Park is now also protected with Fields in Trust.

In some cases, Friends have taken on more responsibility around park maintenance and management, in innovative ways. Over the last 18 years the Friends of Lordship Rec in Haringey, London have taken a derelict park, secured over £5m of grant funding, influenced the Council to ensure it is legally protected in perpetuity with Fields in Trust, and improved the entire space by building a new community and eco-hub and making many grounds improvements. Building on the success of partnership-working, the Friends and the Council are committed to an ongoing co-management of the park as a whole. As part of Nesta's Rethinking Parks project, they are also working with other Friends of groups in London and across the country to empower them to take similar action at their parks.

Things like securing funding for the 'extra' bits in a park such as benches, bins or swings, getting more people using the park through events and physical improvements such as fences or planting are clear measures of impact, but how do we value the full contribution Friends make through their time and effort? It turns out that time volunteered is a tricky thing to quantify. Traditionally, volunteering value has been calculated by looking at the cost of replacing the volunteers with paid workers, this is 'the replacement cost model'. One such calculation,  created by surveying park managers across the country, estimated those precious volunteering hours by park Friends of and user groups to be worth £70m each year. It's worth noting that this 2016 figure is again more than double the £30m estimated in 2014.

This is an impressive figure, but it still doesn't really give the full picture. The problem with the replacement cost model is that it doesn't fully capture the many impacts that Friends of groups have at parks, be it the wellbeing that a visitor might get as a result of exploring a Friends-planted garden, the impact Friends-funded facilities might have on a young sports participant, or the many other such associated benefits the presence of a park, cared for by Friends, can create. The Hidden Diamonds report  tried to value some of these hidden impacts when it came to volunteering in sport. The report estimated that each volunteer within sport had an additional impact on the cumulative wellbeing of sports participants to the value of £16,032 per year. The economists that aided in compiling this research, Jump X Symetrica, also undertook our Revaluing Parks and Green Spaces  research. One of the things our study showed was that the Wellbeing Value associated with the frequent use of local parks and green spaces is worth £34.2 billion per year to the entire UK adult population. It's conceivable then that a portion of the health and wellbeing benefits we gain from using parks is attributable to the work of Friends of groups, in a similar way that the Hidden Diamonds report link sports participants' wellbeing to the volunteers involved.

Beyond the increased wellbeing of park visitors, the act of volunteering has further huge societal benefits  [opens PDF] in terms of increased community cohesion, trust and health. On top of that, it's also been shown that it gives the volunteers themselves massive personal wellbeing benefits   from meeting new people, increased employability and skills and giving a sense of purpose. For example, The Friends of Bristol's parks have joined together to form Bristol Parks Forum  and work with the council to run ParkWork, a project offering experience in horticultural work to help-low skilled people in difficult circumstances to create routes to employment. The Forum has also been key partners in the formation of Bristol & Bath Parks Foundation, a charity that raises funds and supports the volunteer work in the parks across the area.

So taking all of this information on board, it's clear that the value of Friends of groups has many layers, both direct and indirect, and when taken all together they represent a massive community asset. You will have noticed that this blog is peppered with examples of the work of such groups. We've been featuring more of them all this week on our website, such as Friends of Newton Park  in Greater Manchester whose determination and mediation over a two-year period were integral to convincing the council that owned the park to protect it for recreation forever with Fields in Trust as a Centenary Field. The Friends first raised this in 2017, in order to commemorate the heritage of the park, originally gifted to the community by Lt. Colonel Newton, a prominent World War I veteran.

These are just a few of the countless examples of the varied contribution that Friends of groups make and real examples like these remain a key way of demonstrating their value. As I said at the start of this piece, their work only grows in importance as our parks face grave challenges when it comes to funding and maintenance, as well as increased threats to their very existence as more green spaces are disposed of. More varied types of park management models are developing, sometimes with formalised agreements in place empowering volunteer groups to drive forward. Whilst this volunteer resource is a big help and, in some cases, vital, continued local authority leadership is much needed and there needs to be support for communities that want to play a more active role in supporting their local parks and green spaces.

It's also worth noting from the figures above that the value of Friends' volunteer hours have increased over the last few years, as has the funding they have secured for parks. Unfortunately, it's also been shown  that the amount of time people volunteer in general is decreasing across the country. Volunteering is becoming more valuable, and sadly it may be getting rarer. Friends of groups are going to be crucial in developing the innovative new ways in which our green spaces survive and thrive and we could all do well to appreciate their time a little more, and perhaps join their ranks. We have partnered with Groundwork to deliver a project, Future Proof Parks, to encourage the next generation of volunteers to do just that. Let's make sure that we value their efforts.

David Sharman is Fields in Trust Development Manager for London and the East of England. He can be contacted by any of the below means.

t: 020 7427 2123
e: david.sharman@fieldsintrust.org

Community table top sale in the bowls green

By Pippa.
What an amazing day! 
Today we had nearly 40 stalls set up on the Bowls Green in Mayow Park and selling all sorts from toys, books and games through to clothes, jewellery, make-up, plants and cakes.
People had to lug their bits from their cars parked outside the park, but it's not too far and people helped each other.

FOMP stall starting to set up. (Image by Pippa)

The stalls looked great in neat rows, thanks to forward planning by Darren A.  We opened at 10 a.m and from that time through to1p.m we had a steady flow of people. Over 200 adults paid the 50p entrance - kids of course were free.
The FOMP stall was selling donations from people and telling visitors what FOMP is and does. I think it definitely raised awareness of who we are just by us hosting it.
The weather was perfect - not too hot for all the setting up but warm enough that lots of people were in the park anyway. In fact there was a school fun run and I made sure I ran over to ask parents 'Please come over after your run'.

More stalls setting up

Throughout the event people asked if we'll have another one -  definitely something for us to think about. It's not a huge money maker for FOMP due to liability insurance costs but it did raise some funds and will certainly consider holding another event.
We thank everyone who supported us to make this happen. We hope everyone had fun as they looked pretty happy, certainly the people who grabbed great bargains!

FLOWERS in the Triangle bed

Photos taken today of the flowering plants in the Triangle bed, a space looked after by Friends of Mayow Park.
Rosemary
Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris)
Forget-me-not (Myosotis)

Great bat walk Friday 13th April 2018

What a terrific turnout to the bat walk with more than 100 people meeting outside the cafe in Mayow Park. Although a cool evening, it was dry and there were some insects flying around, making it more likely we would see bats.
After a reminder of health and safety in the park  at dusk, it was the turn of Dr Boulton to talk bats.  Dr Boulton introduced himself, gave some general information about the bats we might see and explained how to use the bat detectors.
People organised into groups with one bat detector per group and it was time to set off round the park. Some followed Dr Boulton and others  meandered in other directions. Over the next hour, as the evening grew darker and our eyes became accustomed to low light levels, some found it easier to look for flying bats rather than to use the detectors.
By the end of the walk many people had seen bats flying around although it was noted that most of these nocturnal flying mammals tended to fly closer to the back gardens of nearby Bishopsthorpe Road. One explanation put forward for this was that most trees in the park were not yet in leaf after a very long and cold winter while the back gardens, being more sheltered, had more insect-attracting vegetation.
This was a community event organised by Friends of Mayow Park.

BAT WALK coming up in April

The bats of Mayow Park have had to endure a long, cold winter. We hope the weather will warm up in time for our bat walk on 13th April. This is a dusk walk, when the bats should be out hunting for flying insects.

This year park users are celebrating 140 years since the official opening of Mayow Park as a public recreation ground. We are also celebrating 25 years since Friends of Mayow Park (FOMP) was formed; it was originally called Mayow Park Users' Group (MPUG). 

Celebrating Trees on 2nd December

A year ago, in December 2016, Friends of Mayow Park held our first Tree Dressing Day in the community orchard, an opportunity to celebrate how the orchard has developed with the help of so many volunteers. We had such fun then and the committee wanted to hold the event again this year. We were anxious about the weather but after a light drizzle the rain held off for the rest of the morning.

A team of volunteers gathered at the orchard to put up our gazebo, unfurl our banner, check we had enough fabrics, paper, pens, pencils and crayons, wool, ribbons and string plus apple juice, tea, coffee and hot water. Our story teller, Rich Sylvester, arrived and set up his area under the protective branches of a lime tree.

Rich prepares for story telling

By 10am we were ready to welcome visitors.

Visitors welcomed to our gazebo

But why hold this event? Tree Dressing is based on many old customs from all over the world, celebrated at different times of the year.

Tree Dressing Day in England falls on the first weekend of December every year. It was initiated by the charity Common Ground in 1990 and has grown to become a chance for the whole community to gather and celebrate the leafy friends we all have in common. It is also a chance for communities to reflect on the social and cultural history of their local area, and the role that trees have played in shaping that story. 

Trees have provided our sustenance, food, shelter, medicine and the air we breathe. They are part of our history and also our future. Trees have long been celebrated for their spiritual significance. It can be as simple as tying strips of cloth or yarn to a tree. The practice in Japan is to decorate trees with strips of white paper, or tanzaku, bearing wishes or poetry. 

Borrowing from these many traditions, our Tree Dressing included paper leaves for people to write messages or draw pictures to give to the trees, tie coloured strips of fabric (with or without messages) or make objects to hang in the trees.

Dream catcher

Our story teller captured the imagination of young and old with his stories and showed how to make dream catchers to add to the decorative creativity that was transforming our orchard.

creative decorations

More creative decorations

We finished off the morning with rousing winter songs led by our two wonderful singers Lucy and Valerie, and some mulled wine with thanks to Valerie and Robert.

There are so many thank yous: thank you to all those who visited our event, the lovely children and families who joined in the story telling. Thank you to our story teller Rich. Thank you to all the volunteers who contributed so much of their time. 

Celebrating Tree Dressing in our community orchard was a wonderful way to show our appreciation  of trees in our locality and to share tree stories with everyone who joined us.