March 2019
We have been busy of late with on-going chores in the village. Weeding and tidying and planting two new tubs by the notice board in Marford. We have received a grant of £500 from Gresford Community Council which has paid for another two tubs which we have now installed by the fountain at the crossroads. It is hoped that these will improve the appearance of that area, which at the moment is looking less than attractive. We also had a tidy up there and washed down the paving and benches.
The tubs are looking colourful now and are slowly getting established after some harsh treatment by the sun last year. We have planted summer flowering bulbs in them and have added more plants to the large planters by the notice board in Gresford.
JOBS TO DO...
We also intend to stain the planters again and install another water butt to enable watering in the summer.
We have also been busy with Duck food and Bee Houses!
In February local bee-keeper Lloyd Roberts, Community Councillor Beryl Blackmore and Lisa Jones from the Co-Op Community Team visited local primary schools and playgroups, representing IMAGE, to encourage local children to start feeding the ducks healthier food than just bread, and to explain about how they can help bees.
Lloyd, dressed in his ‘Bee Keeping’ suit, explained how important bees and other pollinators are to our environment, and Beryl involved the children in an activity where they chose ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food for ducks. It was great fun in all cases – the children engaged with the presentations and gave some excellent answers. Both they and the adults learnt a great deal. Each child was given a packet of duck food and information on how to feed ducks healthy food.
In early March, we held an event Welcoming Bees and Other Pollinators into Your Garden. This was on a drop-in basis and was very well attended by children and adults alike. Gresford Scouts played a big part in helping get materials ready and assisting younger children in the house-making. As well as being able to make the bee-houses, information was available on the best plants to use in gardens. Everyone who attended took at least one bee-house home and we are looking forward to seeing pictures of the bee houses when they are occupied later in the year. If you have a photo to share with us, please upload to our Facebook page: (https://www.facebook.com/imagegresfordandmarford).
Funding for the ‘Ducks’ project came from Co-Op funding and the Bee-House Workshop was paid for from IMAGE funds.
USEFUL WEBSITES
https://www.rhs.org.uk
Then just search ‘plants for pollinators’ or ‘making a bee hotel’. Good site with lots of information available
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/bees
This site is useful especially for resources. Great ‘family’ material
https://www.foe.cymru/bee-friendly-wales
Friends of the Earth has joined with the Welsh Government to launch a world-first initiative to protect bees and other pollinators in Wales. Bee Friendly (Caru Gwenyn) is a new accreditation scheme where communities, schools, universities, businesses and places of worship can achieve ‘Bee Friendly’ status. The aim is to make Wales the first pollinator-friendly nation in the world! You can also sign up to Bee Friendly to receive information, advice and printed and downloadable resources to help you save our bees.
LOADS MORE INFO HERE
Contact: www.imagegroup.org.uk or 07740941263 or email barbingledene@gmail.com
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Planters and flower beds
This hot summer is providing a huge challenge to IMAGE which has worked hard to improve the environment by planting trees and replacing old planters with new.
These need to be watered and protected. It has not been possible to save some plants and trees from the incessant heat and one shrub by the noticeboard has been attacked by vine weevils.
We simply don't have enough people to cope with the extreme demands of the conditions of this summer.
This has been discussed over the last two or three months and unless we can recruit more active volunteers, we will need to sub-contract the tasks and will need funding via the Community Council to do so. Failing this support, the environment will certainly be less attractive in future.
Can anybody help? We need people willing to plant, weed and water. Please contact our secretary Barbara Watson on barbingledene@gmail.com
This hot summer is providing a huge challenge to IMAGE which has worked hard to improve the environment by planting trees and replacing old planters with new.
These need to be watered and protected. It has not been possible to save some plants and trees from the incessant heat and one shrub by the noticeboard has been attacked by vine weevils.
We simply don't have enough people to cope with the extreme demands of the conditions of this summer.
This has been discussed over the last two or three months and unless we can recruit more active volunteers, we will need to sub-contract the tasks and will need funding via the Community Council to do so. Failing this support, the environment will certainly be less attractive in future.
Can anybody help? We need people willing to plant, weed and water. Please contact our secretary Barbara Watson on barbingledene@gmail.com
THE WINNERS
People's Winner - No. 18 King Harold
Judges Winner - No. 24- King Arthur
Image Winner - No.22 King Canute
Trail Winners:-
0-7 years Joseph Booth
7-10 years Laura Smith
10-16 years Dewi & Soined Endres
Heather Smith
Katie Seager
18+ years Annie Holdsworth
0-7 years Joseph Booth
7-10 years Laura Smith
10-16 years Dewi & Soined Endres
Heather Smith
Katie Seager
18+ years Annie Holdsworth
SCARECROW TRAIL
THE ANSWERS
THE ANSWERS
1. MilKING
2. Future KING - Prince William
3. Queen Victoria
4. KINGler - Pokemon
5. King Henry VIII
6. Burger King
7. QUEENsland
8a King of Rock & Roll - Elvis
8b Lion King
9. Old King Cole
10. King Arthur
11. Queen of the fairies - Titania
24. King Arthur Very very late addition ! And unfortunate duplicate ! But it was good.
12. Queen Bee
13. King Cobra
14. Queen Elsa - Frozen, sadly vandalised the first week, so photo instead.
15. King Kong
16. Queen of the Night
17. KINGfisher
18. King Harold
19. King Prawn
20. The Queen
21. Queen of Sheba
22. King Canute
23. King Potter/Mark King
25 in total on the trail. 39 around the village.
There were loads of correct answer forms, hence 3 winners drawn from the 10-16 age group. A winner was drawn for the adult group too.