Author: Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who came to volunteer in the Seafront Gardens during January.

We had fourteen at our Litter Pick in Adelaide Garden, which meant that we were also able to spread out into Beach Lawn and Crescent Garden.  Sadly, we had to cancel our Tuesday morning session as the weather was very wet and windy.

On Tuesday 24th January we were pleased to be able to get a mini digger (with operator) into Beach Lawn to work on clearing the worst of the overgrown reeds and bulrushes out of the pond.  Committee members were present during the day to act as stewards, keeping visitors and dogs away from the working area and we were pleased with the amount that was cleared, especially the very deep and difficult area in the middle of the pond that defeated us last year when we were working by hand!  Some areas of rushes etc. have been left in the pond, along with water lilies, iris and marsh marigolds.  All the debris has been left at the pond edge so that wildlife can return to the water.  The debris will be removed by Green Sefton.

At our Wednesday volunteer session the following day, the weather was wet, but four of us removed litter and rubbish from the pond debris.

To continue our work on the Beach Lawn pond, over the weekend of 4th/5th February we plan to have two working parties, both starting at 1.30pm.  There are some areas the digger couldn’t reach because the sloping pond edges meant it couldn’t get close enough, so we would like to clear some more of the reeds by hand, especially in the area around the larger of the islands.  Tools will be provided, but please wear suitable clothing, especially wellies (or waders!).  Hot drinks and chocolate biscuits will also be available!!

Our regular volunteer sessions this month will take place on:

Saturday 11th February at 10.30am – Litter Picking in Beach Lawn;
Tuesday 14th February at 9.30am – meeting at our lock up next to the cafe;
Sunday 19th February at 2.00pm – meeting in Beach Lawn; and
Wednesday 22nd February at 1.00pm – meeting at our lock up next to the cafe.

Gardening and litter picking equipment will be provided, as well as refreshments.

Looking forward to seeing you in February,

Best wishes,

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Happy New Year!  

Our Seafront Gardens volunteer sessions will be starting up again this week and as usual will be on the following days each month:

2nd Tuesday at 9.30am;
2nd Saturday at 10.30am;
3rd Sunday at 2.00pm; and
4th Wednesday at 1.00pm (or 7.00pm in the light summer evenings).

All the sessions will be for gardening and litter picking, and dates and details will be sent out in our monthly bulletins.  

Our January 2023 gardening sessions/litter picks will take place on: 

Tuesday, 10th January at 9.30am, meeting at our lockup next to the Waterloo Sunset cafe; 
Saturday 14th January at 10.30am meeting in Adelaide Garden; 
Sunday 15th January at 2.00pm meeting in Beach Lawn; and
Wednesday 25th January at 1.00pm meeting at our lockup next to the cafe.

As usual, gardening and litter picking equipment, and refreshments, will be provided.  If the weather is terrible we’ll put a cancellation notice on our Facebook page, but one of us will also attend at the meeting point for those who don’t have access to our page.

This month we also plan to do more work on clearing the pond in Beach Lawn.  Weather permitting, we have a mini-digger (and operator) booked for Tuesday 24th January when we hope to remove the worst of the reeds that defeated us (by hand!) last year.  We’ll be keeping the lilies and iris and some of the reeds and bullrushes, but the majority will be removed and left at the pond side for a few days (for any wildlife to escape), before being taken away by Green Sefton.

In February we plan to have a “Work Party Weekend” on either 4/5th or 18/19th to tidy up the pond and do some more work on the stream, but again, this will be dependent on the weather.   

Best wishes,  

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who has come along to help us in the Waterloo Seafront Gardens during 2022.
 
We had 12 volunteers at our November litter pick in Marine Garden, when we were also able to spread out along the roadside, Crescent Garden and the field by the Lakeside Centre.  A few of us also worked on weeding the rockery.
 
At our weekday gardening sessions we had 10 volunteers and continued to work on cutting back the grass along the path edges.  The paths we have completed are looking really good, and we get lots of compliments while we’re working (and on our Facebook posts) – it’s not technical work, so please do come along and join us if you can spare the time.
 
Seven of us continued to work on clearing the stream in Beach Lawn at our Sunday gardening session.  One of our volunteers has been picking away at it daily over the last few weeks and this has also made a real difference.  Most of the smaller ponds in the stream now have clear water in them, rather than being full of reeds, and much of the remaining work will be to clear the mud and roots from amongst the grooves in the rocks, remove some invasive trees and bushes and cut back reeds from around the grass edges of the pond.  We’re in the process of organising a small mechanical digger to come in February to remove more of the reeds and bullrushes from the pond and will be organising another weekend “blitz” once the digger has done its work.  Watch this space for dates!
 
We had a successful AGM on 24th November, and after looking at each of the five Seafront Gardens, came up with lots of suggestions for future projects to work on in.  
 
Our Litter Pick this month will take place on Saturday 10th December between 10.30am and 11.30am in Crescent Garden.  Some of us will be gardening too if you’d rather do that.
 
We will have just one gardening session this month, taking place on Tuesday 13th December at 9.30am, meeting at our lock-up next to the cafe. 
 
With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year,
 
Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Dear Members,

The 5th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation will take place on Thursday 24th November 2022 from 7.30pm at The Victoria Hotel, Great Georges Road, Waterloo

We look forward to welcoming our members to this year’s AGM. Can we also ask, where possible, that members contribute their annual membership fee of £5. Details about this were circulated last week.

Following the formal meeting, members are invited to join us for a mince pie and a glass of wine. To confirm your attendance at this year’s AGM, please email contact@fowsg.co.uk.

All the Trustees are willing to continue in office, but if there are any members who wish to stand as Trustee or on the Committee, please let us know in advance of the meeting by emailing contact@fowsg.co.uk.

Kind Regards,

The Trustees of FoWSG

Thank you to everyone who came along to help us in the Seafront Gardens during October.  

We had 17 volunteers at our litter pick in Potter’s Barn, and 11 volunteers at our three gardening sessions.  We have continued to work on cutting back the grass edging along the paths in Crescent Garden, and have also worked on the rockery in Marine Garden and the stream in Beach Lawn.

Our litter pick this month will take place on Saturday 12th November in Marine Garden between 10.30am and 11.30am.  Gardening sessions will be held on Tuesday 8th November at 9.30am and Wednesday 23rd November at 1.00pm, meeting outside the lock-up next to the cafe.  Our weekend gardening session takes place on Sunday 20th November at 2.00pm in Beach Lawn when we’ll continue to work on clearing the stream.  

Best wishes, 

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who has helped us in the Seafront Gardens during September.

We had a very successful Autumn Festival in Marine Garden.  The weather was kind to us and everyone who attended seemed to have a good afternoon.  Between donations from stall holders, and our own stalls (plants, books, toys, raffle, games and refreshments) we took over £1,300.  All of this money will be put back into projects to help maintain and improve our Seafront Gardens.  Thank you to everyone who helped us on the day.

Our September litter pick in Beach Lawn was attended by 12 volunteers, with most litter picking while a few of us worked on clearing the stream.  We had 4 at our Tuesday gardening session when we worked on clearing some path edges in Crescent Garden, and 7 at our Sunday session in Beach Lawn when we continued to work on clearing the stream.  Unfortunately we had to cancel the Wednesday gardening session as no one from the Committee was available that afternoon. 

We’re gradually getting there with clearing out the stream in Beach Lawn, but we still have a few sections to complete, including the difficult one under the bridge.  Once the thick top layer of reeds and roots has been dug out, there is still mud/soil/roots to be picked out from all the nooks and crannies in the rock formations, which is back breaking and fiddly work!   Over the winter months we hope to clear more of the main pond too, and it was encouraging at our last session to see frogs and young newts. 

Our litter pick this month will take place in Potter’s Barn on Saturday 8th October between 10.30am and 11.30am.  Gardening sessions will be on Tuesday 11th at 9.30am and Wednesday 26th at 1.00pm, meeting at our lock-up next to the cafe, and on Sunday 16th October at 2.00pm meeting at the stream in Beach Lawn. 

Best wishes, 

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who came along to help in the Seafront Gardens during August.  
 
We had 15 litter pickers join us at the Play Park, when we were also able to spread out into Marine and Crescent Gardens, the roadsides and the grassed areas near the Marina. 
 
We also had 15 gardeners at our three sessions, when we worked on the rockery area in Marine Garden and the stream in Beach Lawn.  We’re making good progress in clearing out the reeds and mud from the stream, and in the next month or two should be able to carry on with clearing more of the pond.  After working on the stream, we turned the water on to top up the pond which had dried up considerably after the hot weather.
 
Our volunteers have spent at least 45 hours in August working in the Gardens.               
 
Sadly, as with many other areas, the Seafront Gardens have suffered from vandalism in the last few weeks.  The “World Reimagined” globe sculpture in Marine Garden had to be removed due to damage, and the fire brigade has been called out to the Gardens several times recently.

On a happier note, we will be holding our Autumn Festival on Saturday 17th September between 12pm and 4.00pm in Marine Garden.  There will be children’s games, a bouncy castle, train rides, refreshments and a number of stalls including books, plants and community stalls, plus live music from The Travelling Wannabes.

If you have any children’s books or toys in good condition you would like to donate, please let us know.  Also, if you are available to help on the day you would be more than welcome!  Please let us know if you are able to help set up or take down, or would be able to help run a stall on the day!

Our Litter Pick this month will take place on Saturday 10th September in Beach Lawn between 10.30am and 11.30am.

Our gardening sessions will take place on Tuesday 13th September at 9.30am, Sunday 18th September in Beach Lawn at 2.00pm and Wednesday 28th September at 1.00pm.  The Tuesday and Wednesday sessions will meet at our lock up next to the cafe.

Please do come and join us at one of our events in September, 

Best wishes,

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who has volunteered in the Gardens during July.

We had 11 litter pickers at our first session, 5 at the “extra” summer time session and 13 at our three gardening sessions when we worked on the stream in Beach Lawn, the central beds in Crescent and the rockery in Marine Garden.  Altogether, our volunteers spent more than 34 hours working in the gardens!
 
This month our litter pick will take place in the Children’s Play Park next to the marine lake on Saturday 13th August at 10.30am.   The extra summer time litter pick will take place on Saturday 27th August in Crescent Garden at 10.30am.
 
Our gardening sessions will take place on Tuesday 9th August at 9.30am and Wednesday 24th August at 7.00pm – meeting outside our lock-up next to the cafe.  Our monthly Beach Lawn session will take place on Sunday 21st August at 2pm.
 
We have a Book Sale this Saturday, 6th August between 11.00am and 4.00pm on the paving opposite the Waterloo Sunset cafe.  Do come down and pick up a book or two!  If you have any books you’d like to donate, please do get in touch.  We are especially keen to stock up on children’s books.

On Sunday 21st August we hope to have the Liverpool Network Theatre performing Shakespeare in Marine Garden.  

Hope to see you in the Gardens during August!

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who came along to help in the Seafront Gardens in June.  We had 13 litter pickers in Crescent Garden, and 8 gardeners at both of our weekday sessions when we worked on the rockery in Marine Garden and the raised bed and grass edges on the lawns in centre of Crescent Garden.  
 
Our new motorised trolley has been a great success – it definitely makes moving the heavy grass turfs a lot easier!!  (in some places we found that the grass had grown more than 12 inches out over the paving).

We raised £164 at our June book sale and had hoped to have another one on 2nd July, but after seeing the weather forecasts decided it would be best to cancel.  Hopefully the weather will be kinder to us at a date later in the month.

Our litter picks this month will take place on Saturday 9th July and Saturday 23rd July at 10.30am in Adelaide Garden.  Some of us will be gardening there too if you’d prefer to help with that.

Our week day gardening sessions will be on Tuesday 12th July at 9.30am and Wednesday 27th July at 7.00pm (meeting at our lockup next to the cafe).  Our weekend gardening will be on Sunday 17th July at 2.00pm, meeting in Beach Lawn. 

As the evenings are still light, please note that our Wednesday gardening session has moved to 7.00pm.

Hope to see you soon in the gardens.

Best wishes, 

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Once again, thank you to everyone who has come along to help in the Seafront Gardens during May.  

We had 23 volunteers at our litter pick in Marine Garden and a total of 17 at our 3 gardening sessions – when we worked on clearing weeds around some of the benches in Crescent Garden, weeded two of the corner beds in Crescent Garden and continued our work on clearing out the stream leading to the pond in Beach Lawn.

Twenty staff from Natural England also came along to help us on 23rd May.  They worked on clearing some of the very overgrown grass borders from the pathways in the area around the raised bed in Crescent Garden.  It’s amazing how much work a few younger people can get through!!!   

We lent our litter picking equipment out to the 14th Crosby Rainbows for an evening, when they had a very successful litter pick on the beach and in the sandhills.

We were very pleased last week to become the owners of a new motorised trolley, which will make moving our equipment around a lot easier.   We would like to thank Orsted UK for contributing towards the cost via the Burbo Bank Extension Community Fund and Grantscape.

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In addition to our usual litter picking and gardening sessions, we will be holding a fundraising Book Sale on Saturday 4th June from 10.30am opposite the Waterloo Sunset Cafe.  Do come along to say hello, and to pick up some new books!!

Our Litter Pick this month will take place on Saturday 11th June in Crescent Garden between 10.30am and 11.30am.  Our gardening sessions will be on Sunday 19th June at 2.00pm in Beach Lawn (to continue working on the stream) plus Tuesday 14th June at 9.30am and Wednesday 22nd June at 1.00pm when we will meet at our lock-up next to the cafe.

Best wishes, 
Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens