The First Purley Bloomers
Saturday 6th November was our first Purley in Bloom (“PIB”) community event, our mission was two-fold 1) tidy up the overgrown are at the back of the United Reform Church (“URC”) in Purley and 2) make a start on the Rotary Field now that PIB has been officially recognised as “Friends of Rotary Field” by Croydon council. Croydon council kindly provided tools and bulk bags and arranged for the removal of the mountain of green waste we created.
A few of us had already done a quick recce at URC and met a delightful man named John who had been trying to keep everything under control. It’s definitely a job for more than 1 person!
We were delighted to have 11 volunteers who split into various groups, some people trimming the ivy on the fence by the public car park, some people uncovering a fence panel that was being destroyed by ivy and undergrowth with some of the more experienced/professional people working on the raised area re-building the fence and removing heavy ivy and deep undergrowth. In addition we removed the ivy on the Pampisford Road side of the fence that was obstructing the pavement, planted some winter pansies and had a litter picker in action who quickly filled a large bag. So much action!
Well earn't tea break
We stopped at 11am for a well-earned cuppa and some homemade lemon drizzle cup cakes and were joined by 3 further volunteers (1 who had walked all the way from Beddington to join us !). John and his twin sister popped in to meet everyone and thank the team for their hard work, the area had been transformed.
After refreshments some of us made our way to the Rotary Field armed with secateurs and quickly removed the basal growth from the trees, cut down self-seeded sycamores and started to tidy the hedges. The ivy on the brick wall by Fennies peeled off as if we were shearing a sheep ….sooooo rewarding. Plumtree then joined the party and planted some crocuses, snowdrops, anemones and bluebells under the trees ready for next spring, can’t wait to see them pop their heads up.
We didn’t get everything done that we wanted so on Monday a volunteer returned and planted some polyanthus whilst another made a start on the overgrown hedge along the Brighton Rd which was being strangled by Old Man’s Beard. The mound of green waste from the weekend was enormous! We have also had a volunteer offer to paint the shabby railings around the Iron Railway site this Saturday, unbelievable !
“Gentleman John” called me on Sunday and was over the moon with what we had done at URC, a huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders. We have a few more bits to do there but it’s certainly looking a lot smarter. Ideally we want to create a “Friends of URC” to do light maintenance and to alert the group when something more substantial needs doing. I was delighted to hear that URC were so impressed that they are considering moving the maintenance contract to one of our Purley based volunteers who we are also getting a quote from to the paint the building on the Rotary field. We won’t recognise the place soon!
For me personally the highlight of Saturday was to see the confidence of the less experienced gardeners grow so quickly, seeing how much they enjoyed the morning and their sense of achievement. I did panic when I saw one volunteer armed with secateurs approaching a man with a beard, was concerned that he might get a quick trim!
We probably don’t have too many weekends of good weather left this year (we have been thoroughly spoilt so far), I would like to finish of the bits and pieces at URC and make more progress on the Rotary field over the next couple of Saturday mornings (also a community litter pick arranged for Saturday 20th), similar to last Saturday (including tea and cake !). We don’t expect people to participate every weekend or for the whole time but please do join us as and when you can.
Both Fennies and ChristChurch schools are keen to participate in community events on the Rotary Field (the delightful pre-school children from Fennies have already helped plant the winter pansies in the 3 large planters), would be great to create a sense of pride and ownership.
Many thanks to all of you who participated in such a successful launch, it couldn’t have gone any better. I hope to see you and others very soon for more successful sessions.
Purley in Bloom is a fantastic enterprise and is making a huge difference in Purley already. Proud to be part of the great team. Thank you Pam for your great leadership and encouragement. Love your first blog!