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New walking group in Hamworthy Park

Have you seen the new walking group that has started up in Hamworthy Park?

Volunteers are meeting every Tuesday (weather permitting) for a walk, talk and coffee (all within COVID restrictions, of course!)

All abilities are welcome. Remember that the paths in Hamworthy park are suitable for all kinds of mobility scooters, wheel chairs  etc – as well as being nice and flat for those who need an easy walk.

So if you or someone you know fancies a walk in the park once a week, pop on down just before 9.30am on a Tuesday morning, near the Park Cafe.

You can get in touch with them by joining their Facebook group.

FOHP think this a great idea and we wish the volunteers and participants every success in this great community initiative – we will support you in every way we can.

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What next for Sid the snake?

You are sure to have come across Sid the snake if you’ve been in the park over the summer months.

He was started by park user Emma as a way for the community to come together during the Covid-19 lockdown. Loads of local people got involved and Sid the snake began to grow stone by stone!

Sadly, some stones went “walkabout” – so many in fact, that we began to wonder what we could do about it.

What next for Sid the snake? 

Sid the snake

It was suggested that Sid could become a permanent feature in the park. So we collected up the remaining stones and asked people to paint up and hand in any final stones. The deadline for these is the end of the October half-term – so there is still time to get painting! We’ve had a great response so far.

The next steps are to varnish the stones so that they last in the weather, and then we can see about permanently installing Sid somewhere in the park. BCP council have said it’s OK, as long as we can agree on a place with them that’s safe for all park users.

So there you have it, Sid the snake should be slithering back into the park later in the year as a reminder of this very, very strange year.

Hissssssssss-tory in the making!

 

 

 

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Promenade repair and replacement

The promenade at Hamworthy Park is in urgent need of refurbishment. First identified for replacement by the Council in 2000, years of low maintenance and patch repairs have left long sections in disrepair.

On 2nd July, 2020, a hole appeared in the surface of the promenade. Council Officers on the scene described a 4/5ft hole under the tarmac caused by a crack in the seawall at beach level – the action of the waves and tides through this crack had undermined the promenade and caused subsidence.

FOHP asks that these concerns finally be taken seriously and a plan put in place for a full refurbishment of the promenade, and for appropriate sea defences at the eastern end of the park.

We have compiled a report outlining the main issues – click here to read (opens pdf)

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The Wednesday volunteers are back!

At last the Wednesday volunteers have been able to get back to some much needed work in the park. (With added social distancing, of course!)
 
The last two Wednesdays we have caught up with the litter and dog picking and made some headway on the Cafe flower bed. But clearing all the weeds has been hard going.
 
It is so long since we had any rain that it has been like trying to push a hoe through concrete. And as the weeds break off rather than pull out once we do get some rain they are all going to grow again.
 
For the moment just don’t look at the front of the flower bed! The wall flowers are over and the remains of the primulars looking a bit sorry for themselve. But as we get things under control these will be replaced with some summer bedding plants.
 

 
The iris have been looking good but are nearly over but for now just cast your eyes over the roses.
 
They are doing exceptionally well particularly so early in the summer and in case you have failed to spot that low down beautiful specimen white rose it is pictured here.
 

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Cancelled events and volunteering

Given the current situation, FOHP are cancelling our events for the foreseeable future, including both fundraising and volunteering events.

This is to protect both our volunteers and the local community.

Events cancelled include the AGM, Easter Egg Hunt and Plant Sale.

We’ll be keeping you updated as normal with all the park and local news – bringing you a bit of normality.

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Wednesday Volunteers – News from the Park

It’s been a mixed bag of Wednesdays over the past month or so, what with the ever changing weather.

Fence painting 

Following our purchase of further supplies of paint, fence painting has resumed on the few panels we are able to complete, but only when we are not too busy with other tasks (and the weather is good!).

Once the council finish pressure washing the remainder of the fence – they did promise to get it done last September when they stopped the volunteers doing it – we hope to organise another weekend volunteer painting session.

Path clearing

It’s been an ongoing job – returning sand to the beach that recent storms had washed into the children’s play area.

Storm damage and erosion

The recent storms have also undermined more areas on the promenade….

And the little ‘Ricky-racky’ bridge has had a tough winter – further erosion has exposed part of the structure, which is rotten.

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Hamworthy in Bloom

You may remember that as well as keeping the park flower beds beautiful, FOHP volunteers take the time to look after various planters and flowerbeds around Hamworthy. Let’s get an update…

Blandford road planters

Despite the recent bad weather, both the flower beds in the park and the Blandford Road planters are displaying a good amount of colour.

Some of the crocus and daffodils are starting to fade in a number of the locations but the hyacinths are in their prime and a few dwarf tulips are starting to appear.

Boots/McColls planter

The one location we have trouble with is the bed outside Boots and McColls.  We find it very difficult to get plants to grow there, we have planted many primulars and bellis but they do not thrive like the ones outside the park cafe. There is a very invasive weed in this bed so if we can deal with that we may have a bit more success.