BRAMBLE BASHING

 At our orchard maintenance sessions, volunteers could see that the scrub behind the orchard (mainly brambles and elder) was spreading too close to some of the orchard trees. This would affect the growth of our fruit trees in time, with brambles competing for soil nutrients.

Cutting back was the only way. We had our team of volunteers but the task was too overwhelming for us with our hand tools alone - secateurs and loppers.
Fortunately Glendale managers agreed. Glendale is the contracting company that manages the park on behalf of Lewisham Council; cutting back was on their schedule as part of Mayow Park green space maintenance tasks.
We were able to plan our volunteer session to tie in with a day when Glendale’s team was able to work on the task – Thursday 2^nd December.

Volunteers at work

Working with hand tools

The nature conservation value for wildlife of the dense hedge of brambles was not forgotten, but this is a public park and there is a need to maximise the grass area available to park users while maintaining spaces for wildlife. Doing this work in winter is probably the safest time.
Our team of volunteers worked with basic hand tools in an area close to the hard standing, while the Glendale team brought a power hedge cutter for the toughest sections. In some parts the brambles were cut back by 3 metres. 

Glendale team get ready

 open space cleared

After cutting back, the area was cleared and the plant matter we had cut was taken away by Glendale for composting.

Cut vegetation removed for composting

That area looks more open and welcoming to park users now.

All photos credit D Budden

Raising the Green Flag in Mayow Park

 On Thursday 2^nd December 2021, Mayow Park’s 2021-22 Green Flag was hoisted near the children’s playground. With thanks to the Glendale team (the contractors who look after the park on behalf of Lewisham Council), the Friends of Mayow Park and other park visitors were able to be present to watch this.

Hoist the flag

Group photo

Flag flying high

Lewisham now has more Green Flag parks and community green spaces than previously, so well done to everyone who put in time and effort.

What does the Green Flag denote?

Many Friends of Parks groups regard the Green Flag award criteria as a minimum standard that all parks should strive for.  Sometimes parks are judged in person by a team of experienced trained judges, with park managers/ contractors and members of the park Friends group present to answer questions. Sometimes a judge visits the park anonymously and without advance warning to check that standards are being met at all times and not only on judging day. 

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 

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

workday session on 5th November

November can be rather unpredictable weather-wise so we were delighted that the forecast was for a dry day with some sunshine.
Friends of Mayow Park(FOMP)  had arranged with Glendale Lewisham (who manage the park) that they would come and do some necessary maintenance work with FOMP volunteers working alongside.
Some Glendale staff worked on planned maintenance work elsewhere around the park making the place look and sound like a hive of activity.
We've been awarded funding for more picnic benches - some at the other side of the park and  some for the picnic area, which is why we were sprucing it up.

Overgrown hedge hides seating

We wanted to tidy up the picnic area, clear away some of the overgrown hedge behind the space, tidy up the picnic benches which we acquired some years ago, clean up the sitting benches beside the overgrown hedge and refurbish the triangular green metal picnic table so it will be available to use for many more years.

Glendale brought equipment to cut back the hedge, water to jet wash the picnic benches, sand paper and paint.
While FOMP volunteers and some Glendale staff worked in the picnic area, others removed an old, battered and untidy noticeboard which had long stopped being useful. It took much effort to dig up the concrete base of that one and we were too busy working capture the effort on camera. They also repaired the other noticeboard facing the children's playground and picnic area.

scraping and sanding old paint and rust

sanded and ready for painting

primed and undercoated

First coat of green paint

Did all this effort make a difference?

The seating is visible

Hedge cleared, picnic bench painted

Paint for the picnic benches

We did one more special thing: Mayow Park, along with quite a few other Lewisham parks, was awarded another Green Flag. Glendale, with Pippa's help,  took down the old flag and put up the new one.

Pippa helps remove old flag 2018/19

Pippa prepares to hoist the new flag 2019/20

And then it was time for a group photo, but some were too busy to join us.

Some of us gathered for a photo opportunity

Thanks go to the Glendale managers and all their maintenance crew for coming along to enable FOMP to work alongside them.

Spruce up the picnic area 5 Nov 2019

FOMP workday session on 5th November 2019: by Pippa

Join FOMP volunteers to work alongside Glendale (the company that manages the park) to spruce up the picnic area adjacent to the children's playground, in readiness for the new tables and signage we should be getting soon with the funding we applied for.

Join us from 10 am to 2pm. Stay for an hour or longer. With the help of Glendale we will be hoisting the Green Flag awarded to the park a few months ago. 

😊👍

orchard on polling day (3rd May 2018)

Work sessions in the Mayow Park orchard have not happened for a while, not since February when we held our winter pruning day. There have been too many days of heavy rain since then; no motivation for Friends of Mayow Park volunteers to get out and do  essential work in the orchard. But polling day promised to be sunny and perhaps even warm so we hastily arranged a work session.
At 10.30 am the first volunteers arrived. We intended to remove weeds round all 18 or our orchard trees, check tree health,  put down some mulch, check the guards and low metal fences round the trees. we were not sure we could do all that in  two hours.
Much of our small pile of mulch had been removed a few days earlier but one determined volunteer was able to sweep what remained into the wheelbarrow and all the trees got some mulch.

COMFREY FOR FRUIT TREES: Some of our trees have comfrey plants growing round them in their tree pits. These plants were intentionally planted a couple of years ago. The thinking is that comfrey, which has deep roots, will bring up nutrients into its leaves. We then cut down the leaves and chop them into the mulch so that the nutrients can feed the tree roots. Some comfrey can be very invasive, but the variety we have, Bocking 14, is non-invasive. If visitors see these large, fluffy-leaved plants they should not be concerned.

valuable volunteers in the orchard

VOLUNTEERS: In addition to our regular volunteers, a dad and his two sons joined us. Their help was much appreciated. Another volunteer came along later and also made a huge difference to the amount we achieved. A total of eight volunteers. We had not publicised this session so we were delighted to have these extra pairs of hands.
At the end of two hours, we had completed all the tasks.

Adding mulch to the tree pit

A happy tree

The orchard is looking lovely with some of the trees in blossom as seen in this photo below:

Cox's Orange Pippin (in foreground) in bloom

The orchard is once again full of Lady's Smock flowers (also known as Cuckoo Flower). These are delicate-looking flowers and rather uncommon in the borough of Lewisham. They prefer damp grassland and our orchard, being on very heavy clay, certainly fits that description. So, by arrangement with Lewisham Greenscene and the park contractors Glendale, the mowing of this area will be delayed until the plants have finished flowering and set seed.

Lady's Smock or Cuckoo Flower in the Mayow Park orchard

Countdown to Apple Day

In the countdown to our Apple Day in Mayow Park, the past two days have seemed a bit chaotic. Yesterday was all about waiting at home to receive the new orchard sign so that it could be installed before Saturday. When it arrived it had to be unpacked, creating a sea of bubble wrap plastic scattered over the corridor floor.
Today, the wait was for heritage apples we had ordered from Brogdale - four different varieties to use for tasting at Apple Day. Luckily they arrived before 9.30am. The apples from Brogdale were specially ordered: you won't be able to find these in your local supermarket.  We will also buy more common varieties for tasting on the day.
Today was already booked as the day that our five bat boxes were being installed.  The bat boxes and the new sign were installed thanks to Steve and Lee from Glendale.

installing the new orchard sign

Job  completed

The Friends of Mayow Park (FOMP) have held evening meetings to finalise arrangements for the day. We plan to set up two gazebos and to have  story telling in the woodland area nearby.We have also planned

• Unveiling the new orchard sign
• Pointers on how to identify apples.
• Apple tasting from a range of varieties.
• Hunt for apple names - search for labelled apple templates hidden in and around the orchard.
• Story telling with a professional story teller

Some more ideas we had for games and activities include apple bobbing and longest apple peel, drawing and poetry writing. Come along and join in.

The event is free and suitable for everyone. It is organised by Friends of Mayow Park. We are always keen to welcome new volunteers to help with events.

The new orchard sign showing all our fruit varieties 

We will not have any of our own apples at our event. Some fell off the trees as part of the natural  'fruit drop' process of thinning out, some because squirrels or birds fancied them  and some were removed by volunteers if they showed signs of brown rot or were too crowded together. All this thinning helps to encourage larger fruits. But that still left  plenty of apples, pears and three quinces, none of which were ripe or ready for picking. Unfortunately all these remaining fruits were removed by people unknown. This is a blow for those volunteers who cared for the trees throughout the spring and summer hoping to share them at our community event. As we had already planned the Apple Day it was decided we would buy in apples - after all they are the stars of the show.
See you there!

A story of a gate pillar

Have you  ever looked at the gate pillars in Mayow Park? There are four entrance gateways to the park but only three with brick pillars.  Some are a piece of Victorian history. But some pillars are replacements. 

Here are pictures of the gate pillars near the cafe. One of the pillars had to be replaced  around 2013 when  major work was being carried out the the pavilion building which now houses the cafe. The second pillar is older.  

Gateway near cafe, left hand pillar (when viewed from within park)

The other pillar near cafe viewed from the street

Take a look at the gateway at the Silverdale entrance. One of the two pillars there looks older than the other. Does anyone know the history?

Silverdale gate pillar [1]

Silverdale gate pillar [2]

There is one entrance with a difference: the park gates opposite De Frene Road. The gates here are attached to a metal post. Does anyone know why there is no brick pillar here? If you do, please share this information.

If you walk to the south-west corner of the park and to the gate pillars at the entrance to Recreation Road you will see that this pair of pillars look slightly wider than at the other two gates. You will see that the pillar on the left (when viewed from within the park) has suffered with time and the elements, its red brickwork crumbling like chalk dust through weathering. Look at the other pillar and you would be correct in assuming it has been repaired and not for the first time.

The most recent repair has just been completed. The damage to this pillar happened on 22^nd July 2016 when a grounds maintenance tractor towing grass mowing blades on a trailer hit the pillar. The vehicle was on its way to mow the grass in the oval sports area but it did not complete its mission on this particular day.

Damage to pillar 22 July 2016
photo Suzanne Thompson

As far as we know, from eye witness accounts, while entering the park the tractor driver had to swerve suddenly to avoid a dog running across his path. As a result the towing unit caught one of the pillars and caused sufficient damage to make the whole structure unsafe. Thanks to one of the Friends of Mayow Park Facebook group who posted this photo minutes after the accident.

Luckily the dog was safe and no-one was hurt.  The gate itself was rescued as was the capstone and much of the pillar was removed to avoid danger to the public.

Managers from Glendale (the company that manages most of the parks in the borough on behalf of Lewisham) ensured that Heras fencing was installed so that the entrance can be locked in the evenings.

Heras fencing in place

Communications between Glendale managers and Friends of Mayow Park followed. We were assured that efforts would be made to seek out the same type of red Victorian bricks or something similar. Progress was made, a source of these bricks was found and it looked like the pillar would be repaired before the end of 2016.

The repair was delayed for  sensible reasons;  major renovation works were about to take place to the tennis courts.  These tennis courts were rather dilapidated with a very poor ground surface. Renovation would mean heavy vehicles carrying building machinery and materials going in and out of the park from the Recreation Road gate. It made sense to delay repairs until building works to the tennis courts were completed. 

And so it was that the rebuild of the pillar was put on hold until April 2017.

10th April 2017 preparing the pillar as work commences

12th April

12th April, work is well underway

Good progress 13th April

18th April

Top course of bricks completed 20th April

At the time of writing, the pillar is almost finished and the gate has been reinstalled. All that is left to complete the work is to top the pillar with the capstone, which has been carefully stored at another park for the duration.

The capstone is extremely heavy and needs a suitable vehicle with lifting gear so we had to wait for the final photo.

The gate looks lovely again. Well done to Glendale for sourcing suitable bricks and to the maintenance crew who took such care in rebuilding it.