Friends of Newlands Park

Its been a while since our last newsletter, but the Friends of Newlands Park volunteers have been busy over the past few months so there’s lots of news to share. And its not just our regular gardening volunteers; we are also focusing on the things that, based on our surveys, we know are important to many of the people who visit the park on a regular basis.

You can read the newsletter here, but why not subscribe and get it delivered straight to your inbox so that you don’t miss out on the latest news.

Our new orchard
In March we were offered a choice of four trees for the park and we asked for eating apple trees, as an orchard was one of the suggestions popular with visitors.  A small team of volunteers responded to a last minute call to get the bare root trees into the ground quickly. Although they haven’t had long to establish, we are delighted to report that both species of trees appear to be thriving with leaves and then blossom appearing not long after they were planted, and now there are even some tiny apples. Hopefully we will get our first harvest of apples this autumn! Look out for them near the play park.

New Bird Boxes
A few of our volunteers wanted to attract more small birds to the park. After taking advice from the GCC Countryside Rangers, they decided to make and install a few bird boxes around the park. We hope that they will provide safe homes for many years to come. We will also continue to plant wildlife friendly plants to improve the environment for all.

Help us clear the jungle!
Can you spare a couple of hours on Saturday 20th June, 10 to 12, to help cut back some undergrowth in the maze (beside the pond)? As you can see from the video the faeries made (can you spot them?), its getting a bit tough to navigate and the fairies need our help. Tools, gloves and safety glasses can be provided, or bring your own. Older children are welcome to help, but must be accompanied by an adult. You can just turn up on the day but it it helps our planning if you can let us know if you are coming by signing up to our Facebook event or emailing us at volunteer@friendsofnewlandspark.org

Picnic tables for the park
We are delighted to announce that Friends of Newlands Park have purchased two wheelchair accessible picnic tables, to be installed just off the main avenue, near the tennis courts. This has been made possible by donations from park goers, including a substantial contribution from the Newlands Park Community Tennis Centre. We expect to take delivery of them in mid-July. 

We will need to create a wee task force to help us build a path and foundations for the tables, so if you think you can help, please get in touch via volunteer@friendsofnewlandspark.org 

And finally, an unsolved mystery…

In April we were dismayed to find that our information sign near the pond had disappeared. It couldn’t have gone too far, we thought, as it was rather large. We hunted in the bushes, we dived into the pond but nothing. After a month we accepted that it was gone for good and we decided we would have to order a replacement at a cost of around £350, money we would far rather have spent on other things. Imagine our delight, therefore, when we got a message to say it had been found, hidden in some bushes around half a mile from the park. A practical volunteer quickly replaced it, using a LOT of glue to fix it into place, so hopefully it won’t vanish again!