An update from Chair Katy Gardner
Good news. We received a grant towards tree care and tree planting from the Austin Smith foundation. This was held up in council bureaucracy so delayed and in any case we are not planting many more trees as the park has many trees and it is now mainly replacing trees that have failed, and looking after the trees we have. We also received a grant from the Mayoral Neighbourhood Fund for tools and litter pickers and hoops for litter bags which volunteers have requested for ages. Our local councillors Tom Logan and Lucille Harvey have been very supportive in us obtaining these grants.
We will be starting to concrete in the tree 150 marker posts on Sunday 21st November ( after 13 were removed see last email) and we will be volunteering on Dec 5th and Dec 19th. The concrete has cost over £300 which we were not expecting. Happily we still have some funds in our account. BUT you can help. If anyone wants to offset travel miles or give FOPP a lovely Xmas present please go on our website. If you can't help us in the park this is the very best thing you can do this winter. https://friendsofprincesparkl8.org.uk/donate
Some FOPP exec members and regular volunteers met recently to discuss our direction for the next couple of years, as we will not be doing so much tree planting. The group is keen on concentrating on the biodiversity and environmental aspects of the park including providing more information for local people, including tree, bird and wildlife walks, adding to our tree information to include wildlife. We will be having a brainstorming meeting to take this further, hopefully before Xmas. Number will be limited but if you are interested/keen to attend can you email me directly or let me know at:
Covid permitting we hope to have an AGM late Jan/Feb. We hope to have this as a learning event about the park, tree care and biodiversity. We will also be electing /re-electing the Exec. If you have skills and enthusiasm which you feel you can contribute to the Exec in future please let me know at the email above and I am always happy to have a chat. 07810768745
Finally more good news: our 2 recently missing cygnets are in Sefton Park and doing fine. So each park now has 3 cygnets which is lovely. and Ken Horton saw this Mandarin duck in the park (see attached)... might be a first , certainly in recent years.
all the best
Katy G
Chair FOPP