READY STEADY GROW EVENT JUNE 2009

We had a great day on the 7th June and were delighted to have the heavy horses and dray from Pollok in Maxwell Park with free rides. Thanks to Lorraine and Donna for their help.


Our cafe in the Loggia of the Burgh Halls proved to be a great success and thanks to everyone who provided home baking.

The plant stall was a sell-out with lots of unusual plants. Our thanks to Charles Coyle for his garden advice tips and to all those who kindly donated plants.

We had a fantastic response to our membership drive. It is important to be involved with our park and we are currently in discussion with Land Services regarding future plans and developments. We are all aware that budgets are tight and resources stretched so we aim to help in whatever way we can. If you have any ideas or thoughts please pass them on.

SPRING 2009 NEWSLETTER

We are now approaching the end of March and have been treated to our usual mixture of spring weather. One week we think it is getting warmer and the next we return to our usual mixture of blustery showers and cold winds. Let us hope April will bring some warmer settled days.

Following the AGM in November I have to thank all those who kindly attended, to the Trustees who have agreed to serve for a further term, and to the Burgh Halls for their assistance. I would also welcome our new Trustees and thank them for agreeing to serve. Our thanks go to Anne Mearns, who has stepped down after giving us such great support. She worked tirelessly to hand over a framework to enable future office bearers to provide good governance and we are extremely grateful to her for all that she achieved.

You will be aware of two major changes in the Park. Firstly, the vegetation has had a drastic haircut! This may appear to be somewhat severe but it will fill out and grow again and by lowering the height, greater security has been achieved for those using the pathways.

The pond level has been lowered to enable the debris to be removed and the inlet pipes checked. There was some delay as a new key had to be made but it would appear that the water flowing into the pond is of an acceptable nature. New planting of submerged vegetation will take place shortly as these are essential to oxygenate the water and provide food and habitat for aquatic animals and food for water birds such as coot.

Please don’t feed the wildlife! We would ask that bread and other foodstuffs are not left by the pond or thrown into the water. It encourages additional gulls to the area and in particular the black-backed gulls who kill the ducklings and other young chicks, as they also are tempted to the bread.

Following the successful Ready Steady Grow Event as part of Pride of Polloksheilds last summer, The Friends will be running a similar event this year but on SUNDAY
7TH JUNE. It is hoped to have a plant sale and tearoom in the Loggia of the Burgh Halls and any donations of baking and plants will be most welcome. Please phone
(0141 423 0734) or email friendsofmaxwellpark@hotmail.co.uk if you can help.
The date will be a better time of year for planting so please keep cuttings and any extra plants you may have.

We hope to have organisations related to biodiversity with us again this year and also an opportunity for our younger users to participate.

In the early summer we hope to run an outing to the Scottish Plant Collectors Garden at Pitlochry – a Mecca for plant enthusiasts with species from all over the world and in particular the Himalayas. The garden is built on wooded hillside above the Festival Theatre on 6. 5 acres and consists of a series of gardens illustrating the contribution that a selection of eighteen Scottish plant hunters have made over the centuries. More information regarding date and costs will follow shortly.

If you would like to join us please download the application form and if you would like to help out on the 7th June, please contact 0141 423 0734.

We look forward to a successful year in Maxwell Park!

Sarah Melville

AUTUMN NEWSLETTER

Welcome to our Autumn Newsletter!

As we approach our 2nd AGM on 24th November here is an up-date on our activities during the summer:


READY STEADY GROW EVENT

Firstly, we would like to thank everyone who visited our stalls at the Ready Steady Grow Event at the Burgh Halls Maxwell Park in July. Our thanks go to Jackie and her team who ran a very successful tea and coffee stall and also to those who contributed a wonderful collection of plants and vegetables for the plant table. Also to all of you for supporting us including two of our local councillors-

A big thankyou to Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Centre for giving everyone such good and helpful information about our wildlife. They were most impressed at the level of interest shown by all those that stopped at their stall and we hope we may continue to have a good relationship with them – they have kindly taken in some of the young swans as it is time for them to move on from the pond. Many of you will be aware that all is not well with the water quality and we have been keeping up to date with developments and are assured that the Parks Department are obtaining samples to clarify what is going wrong.

We are also extremely grateful to the Scottish Butterfly and Month Conservation Society. They attended the Ready Steady Grow Event and brought various leaflets and information material. Our thanks go to them for giving up their day to be with us. They have also been extremely helpful in providing us with a list of what to look out for in the park during the coming months. It has been suggested that we could develop a wildlife area to encourage butterflies to visit and we are currently planning the best way to progress this idea.

You may recall that the 27th July was one of the few hot days we experienced during the summer and thanks go to everyone for their support at this event which was part of the first new venture supported through the “Proud of Pollokshields” groups involved in increasing community participation in caring for our precious few greenspaces – and keeping the tradition of the Garden Suburb alive and flourishing!
We would thank the group for allowing us to be part of this successful day and hope that it may continue.

We are currently applying for funding from various bodies so that we can undertake a feasibility study do determine what you would most like to see happen in the park and we keep in touch with other relevant organisations in the district to enable a good dialogue of information to be exchanged.

We are very pleased to welcome Mansoor Bashir as a Trustee. He has kindly taken on the role of Treasurer having finished his current exams during the summer and a welcome back to Lesley Boyd.

We would be pleased to learn more of your views regarding Maxwell Park so do please visit the Forum on the website. Also we are always happy to welcome new members – an application form is available or you may wish to email us at: friendsofmaxwellpark@hotmail.co.uk

2ND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Dear Friend

Our 2nd Annual General Meeting will be held at 6.30 pm in the Stirling Hall of Pollokshields Burgh Hall, Glencairn Drive on the 24th November 2008.

Please support the group and if you know anyone who would like to join us please bring them along. Voting by members will take place for new Trustees and Officers and if you would like a Nomination Form, please email us at: wwww.friendsofmaxwellpark@hotmail.co.uk

I look forward to seeing you on the 24th.

Yours sincerely

Sarah Melville
Chairman.

Swans In Maxwell Park

Courtesy of Ian Mackay

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