orchard winter tree pruning 21st Feb 2020

It is half term and we have a weekday event on Friday 21st February from 10.30 am to 1 pm.
Come and join other volunteers at our orchard winter pruning event at the orchard opposite the tennis courts.
Arrive at 10.30 pm for training.
No previous skills are needed as we will show you what to do including how to check the trees, which branches to prune, how much to prune. We will also mulch  the ground under the trees - a task that children can do with parental help.
 There was a huge amount of rain from Storm Dennis last weekend (15th & 16th February) and the previous weekend from Storm Ciara so the ground is saturated. Please wear clothes that you don't mind getting muddy and waterproof shoes or wellington boots.

Gardening in Triangle bed 3rd Feb 2020

Four people came to tidy up the Triangle herb bed on 3rd February. The tall, dead flower stalks from the lemon balm plants were removed and piles of couch grass raked up.
The oregano plants were also dead-headed
 All dead plant materials was taken homeward destined for domestic  gardening waste recycling bins.
The bed is now almost ready to take new seeds and plants after we add compost.

fun tree dressing event 30th November

With 40 people over the morning - adults and children - we had a great session.
Pippa's tree trail saw families exploring the orchard to find labels with letters to make a sentence.
Messages  to the trees, written on ribbons of fabric or leaf-shaped card, were hung on branches. Refreshments were available, including mulled wine.
The morning ended with singing songs relevant to the event, led by Dave.

Visitors

decorated trees

one decorated tree

singing with Dave

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.

Tree Dressing 30th November

Friends of Mayow Park invite you to our event:

Tree Dressing

A winter celebration
of our orchard

Saturday 30th November

10am – midday

Decorate our trees using items from nature or by writing a message on fabric.

We’ll have some, but please do bring any
fabric or ribbons to hang in the trees.

❖             Refreshments

❖             Winter singalong!

❖             Tree trail for children

MEET AT THE ORCHARD

(near the tennis courts)

  Free event - donations welcome.

For more information or to offer help, email friendsofmayowpark@ymail.com

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. 

😊👍

WONDERFUL APPLE DAY

APPLE DAY SATURDAY 5TH OCTOBER 2019
By Pippa
Apple Day today in Mayow Park was a great success! Considering the rain last year, this was a vast improvement; a mild grey day and the park looking wonderfully autumnal.
We had 10 varieties sliced up for people to try - 8 apples and 2 sneaky pears! 

Photo by PM

Photo by PM

Although we grow eleven apple and three pear varieties in the orchard, most of the varieties were brought in by the FOMP team, either from their gardens or from the shops.
Unfortunately Community Orchards in public spaces often suffer from people outside the community coming in with large bags to strip the trees of all fruits. This year our supportive park users were watchful, helping to ensure that some fruits remained on the trees, to be harvested at the right time and to be shared at our event.
There was plenty of discussion about the quince variety - mixed opinions on that one for sure!

Under our gazebo we had around 8 volunteers at one point, which is brilliant. In total 13 volunteers helped. Dave was on the teas and coffees which was much appreciated. First Max and Kate, then later George and Tessa made a great slicing team. 

Photo by PM

Plenty of families took part in the apple trail and the story telling (Rich Sylvester - always a great hit).  

Photo by PM

Some wonderful colouring got done too by the smaller children - if only  there was an apple variety as bright as their versions!
Plenty of chat around the tables about apples but also the community in general - sharing connections, ideas and clever plans!
People had fun rating the apples and certainly there were some clear leaders - the Cox's Orange Pippin, Russet and Red Delicious were popular.
Visitors said how good it was to see so many British apple varieties to try - more than you would see in a supermarket - we probably all tend to go for the same ones (or the ones our kids like). It raised the question that, with so many varieties of British apples still being grown, why is it hard to find home-grown on the shelves?
The FOMP team deserve to feel very proud that all our planning and preparing resulted in a well-attended and well-appreciated event and a fun community morning in our treasured Mayow Park! Thanks to the community for your donations too which will come back to you in the form of more events.

photo by AS refreshments table

Photo by AS 

Photo by AS

Photo by AS

And finally, popularity ratings for the apple & pear tasting:

By Pippa