FOMP AGM & General Meeting 25th Jan 2014

So much is happening at the moment that I forgot to post this: 
Friends of Mayow Park AGM this coming Saturday 25th January 2014, 1pm - 1.30pm
The agenda will include a review of the past year and election of FOMP officers.
This will be immediately followed by a General Meeting which should include reports from Lewisham Greenscene and Glendale.
Both the AGM and General Meetings will be held at the bowls club.
 Agendas to follow.

Fallen trees

With the recent storms we've been having, several trees have come down, and the sodden ground has meant they have not been a firmly secured as they would otherwise.  With many others to deal with across the borough, they have not been cleared up as soon as they might have been, but they are now.

And finally, some delicate fungus growing on the top of an older stump:

Progress on the pavilion!

We heard some good news last week from Lewisham officers.

The continuing wet weather adds some uncertainty, but the Council should have finished what it has to do on the pavilion by end March, so toilets will flush and other basic services will be working. From then on the fitting out and timing will depend on the operator chosen.

On this, about 40 expressions of interest were received, and about a dozen came to a recent open day, following which the Council will shortly be putting the opportunity to run a café on the site out to tender. The terms will include commitments to providing health meals, local sourcing, etc.

So I'm still going for the first cappuccino to be frothed sometime this year, but in the meantime, here's how it was looking this morning:

EXTRA PHOTOS from orchard work session

spreading mulch

securing the fence

Some of the team hard at work this morning.

ORCHARD WORK 24 November 2013

Five of us, including the park keeper, weeded, pruned and mulched round 5 of the orchard trees.The two-hour session seemed to fly past and was very enjoyable. Thank you to Sue, Ann, Alona, Ian and Tunde.

Weeding

Collecting wood chips for mulching

There are 6 more trees to prepare for the winter so we are likely to have another session in two or three weeks time.

orchard work morning Sunday 24th Nov 2013

Friends of Mayow Park will have a work session at the community orchard on Sunday 24th November 2013 from 10.30am to 12.30pm.

The orchard is near the tennis courts.

Our tasks will include:

weeding and light pruning

mulching

No experience is necessary, learn new skills,  as we can show you what to do.
Bring a trowel and gardening gloves if you have them although we have some basic tools.
If we have time, there are additional tasks in the herb and fruit beds near the drinking water fountain.
Children can come along with a supervising adult.
By agreement with Glendale, we will have access to the portaloo toilet as well as facilities for making hot drinks. Light refreshments will be available!
See you there.

FoMP meeting 22nd October 2013

It was a very positive FoMP meeting at Dacres Wood Field Centre on 22nd October. Martin Hyde gave an update on Pavilion renovation progress with the news that the shell of the building is almost complete after all the delays due to extensive dry rot. The replacement of the foul sewer, however, will generate a few headaches because of the need for deep excavations.
The bowls club will not be continuing but their site will not go to waste, with proposals to develop sports facilities there, subject to successful funding bids.
We learned that the park has been awarded a Green Flag again but this time with 'secret shopper' judging. 
The orchard has had eight very hard working carers through the spring and summer,  who watered the trees every week from April to early September. Thank you to those people. The next task for the orchard is to lightly prune the trees, weed around the base and put a thick layer of wood chip mulch around to suppress weeds. This should be done before the winter.