Category: Archive

Thank you to everyone who came along to our volunteer sessions in the Waterloo Seafront Gardens during February.

We had our annual weekend of working the pond in Beach Lawn to keep it clear of overgrown reeds and weeds, with 8 workers on the Saturday afternoon and 10 on the Sunday.  We removed some of the new growth (amazing how much grows and how big the roots can get in just one year!) and invasive weed, along with lots of bricks and rubble that have been thrown in over the years, and cut back the grass and reeds on the two islands.  All the vegetation removed was left on the bank for a couple of weeks so that any wildlife could escape.  I even saw my first newt, swimming in the stream leading down to the pond!  

At our Sunday volunteer session later in the month, we helped Angela from Green Sefton, to load up the debris from the pond into her van and made three trips to their depot at Cambridge Road.  We’ve had many compliments about the work that we’ve done, both on our Facebook page and while we’ve been out and about in the gardens.

We had twelve volunteers at our Saturday session, when we litter picked and did some weeding around the steps in Beach Lawn, five at our Tuesday session when we finished edging around the benches in the centre of Adelaide, and six at our Wednesday session when we completed the edging on the top path in Crescent Garden.  

Our volunteer sessions in March will take place on:

Saturday 9th at 10.30am – in Potter’s Barn.
Tuesday 12th at 9.30am – meeting outside Marine Garden near Waterloo Sunset Cafe.
Sunday 17th at 2pm – See below.
Wednesday 27th at 1.00pm – meeting outside Marine Garden near Waterloo Sunset Cafe.

All equipment, and refreshments, will be provided. 

We are also pleased to partner with Sefton Hearts at 50 and Britain in Bloom’s 60th anniversary to celebrate the place our gardens have in community and friendship. We are hosting a guided walk of the gardens on Sunday 17th March from 2pm to 4pm. We are keen to hear your stories and record these for future generations – washed down with some tea and cake! Meet at 2pm at the South Road entrance of Marine Garden. If you are unable to join, please feel free to reply with your memories and how these gardens have helped your friendships. Our intention is to collate these memories and include them on our public website.

Hope to see you at one of our events this month.

Best wishes,

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

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

We had 16 hardy litter pickers in Adelaide Garden which meant that we were also able to spread out into Crescent Garden, Beach Lawn and the pavements, and a couple of us did some edging around the central bench area too!  We had five at our Tuesday session in Crescent Garden when we continued edging the “top” path, and then four and six at our Sunday and Wednesday sessions when we carried on with edging the central bench area in Adelaide – it was a tad windy, but we weren’t going to be put off, and one more session should see that area completed!

Our BIG project in February is this weekend, Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th at 1.30pm when we will be having our annual tidy up of the pond in Beach Lawn.  We plan to remove some more of the reeds and moss, carrying on our work of the last couple of years, and to try and prevent it getting so solidly overgrown again.  Any work has to be completed by the end of February to limit interference with the wildlife in the pond, so fingers crossed the weather is kind to us!  We will also be working on the stream leading into the pond, again clearing reeds and silted up areas.



Our regular monthly volunteer sessions in February will take place on:

Saturday 10th at 10.30am meeting at Beach Lawn,
Tuesday 13th at 9.30am meeting outside Crescent Garden near the cafe,
Sunday 18th at 2.00pm meeting outside Crescent Garden near the cafe,
Wednesday 28th at 1.00pm meeting outside Crescent Garden near the cafe,

All tools and equipment will be provided, as well as hot drinks and refreshments.

Best wishes,

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Happy New Year to all our supporters and Friends of the Waterloo Seafront Gardens.
 
A big thank you to everyone who came along to help in the Gardens during 2023 – a quick tot up from my record book shows that we had 158 volunteers at our monthly litter picks (1 hour), and 199 at our three regular monthly gardening sessions (usually 2 hours each), which means that we have spent at least 556 hours working in the gardens!  We know that others also spend time gardening and litter picking on their own, so thank you to those people too.
 
Our first volunteer sessions of 2024 will take place on the following dates:
 
Tuesday 9th January – Gardening/Tidy Up at 9.30am meeting outside Waterloo Sunset cafe.
Saturday 13th January – Litter Picking at 10.30am in Adelaide Garden.
Sunday 21st January – Gardening/Tidy Up at 2.00pm meeting outside the cafe.
Wednesday 24th Jan – Gardening/Tidy Up at 1.00pm meeting outside the cafe.
 
All equipment will be provided, as well as refreshments, and please don’t be put off by the “Gardening” title – most of our work is clearing and tidying the pathways and not at all technical!
 
We plan to have another weekend of working on the pond in the Beach Lawn during February – watch out for more details.  At the moment I think waders may be needed rather than wellies!
 
With best wishes for 2024.


 Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who has volunteered in the Waterloo Seafront Gardens during November.  

We had thirteen at our Litter Pick in Marine Garden, which meant we had enough volunteers to spread out into Marine Crescent and the field in front of The Esplanade, and a few of us worked on the rockery, weeding and clearing the steps.

Our Sunday gardening session was cancelled because of rain, but we had five at our Tuesday morning session, and six at the Wednesday afternoon session.  We continued our work re-clearing the path edges that we had worked on earlier in the year.  This time it has only taken 3 sessions to reach the mid-point at the main gates, so hopefully we can complete the other half by the end of January.  And then we start all over again!  This work isn’t technical gardening, but it does make the garden look more cared for and it’s good to be able to see immediately what a difference a couple of hours of work can make.  Please come along and join us – you don’t need to be an expert gardener to make a difference.

Our volunteer sessions in December will take place on the following dates.  

Saturday 9th – Litter Picking at 10.30am in Crescent Garden.
Tuesday 12th – Gardening/Path Clearing at 9.30am meeting near Waterloo Sunset cafe.
Sunday 17th – Gardening/Path Clearing at 2.00pm meeting near Waterloo Sunset cafe.

All equipment is provided, as well as hot drinks and chocolate biscuits (and a Mince Pie option as it’s December!).

We had a successful AGM at the Victoria Hotel in November, and were pleased to be joined by many of our members – thank you to everyone who attended and to all who have supported us over the past year.  Our Annual Report was presented, and we discussed plans for future projects in the Gardens, followed by wine and mince pies.  

With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to all who came along to help in the Waterloo Seafront Gardens during October.

We had 10 volunteers at our Litter Pick in Potter’s Barn, where we also cleaned out and set the fountain running and weeded the raised bed and rose bed.  We’re pleased to see that the new “Waterloo Roses”, purchased with donations made after a Facebook post last year, are growing well and some were still flowering!

We had 14 volunteers at our three regular monthly gardening sessions when we continued to work on the raised central bed in Crescent Garden – weeding and mulching with bark chippings.  The middle of the bed still needs a fair amount of work, but we may leave that until we prune back the vicious Rosa Rugosa in the spring!

Our volunteers sessions during November will take place on:

Saturday 11th Nov – Litter Picking in Marine Garden – meeting at 10.30am.
Tuesday 14th Nov – Gardening – meeting at 9.30am outside Waterloo Sunset café.
Sunday 19th Nov – Gardening – meeting at 2.00pm outside Waterloo Sunset café.
Wednesday 22nd Nov – Gardening – meeting at 1.00pm outside Waterloo Sunset café.

All equipment will be provided as well as hot drinks and chocolate biscuits!

We will be holding our 6th Annual General Meeting of Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens Charity on Thursday, 23 November 2023 starting at 7.30pm at The Victoria Public House, Bath Street, Waterloo.

The meeting Agenda is attached here: AGM Agenda

Please could members confirm attendance by 9th November and, should members wish to propose any resolutions, please send these to the Secretary by email [contact@fowsg.co.uk] by noon on Thursday 9th November 2023. A revised agenda will be issued should resolutions be proposed. 

Best wishes, 

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

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

At our Saturday session in Beach Lawn we had 15 volunteers, when some of us tidied up the rockery and stream and others litter picked, spreading out into the other gardens and along the roadside.  There were 4 at our Tuesday gardening session when we carried on with the monster task of edging the paths in Crescent Garden and sadly our Wednesday session was cancelled because of rain and strong winds.  We put our Sunday gardening session back by a week (exhausted after the Autumn Festival!), when 7 of us worked on the raised bed in Crescent Garden – weeding, planting Armeria and creeping thyme, and putting down bark mulch on the areas we had cleared.

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Thank you to everyone who volunteered in the Waterloo Seafront Gardens during August.  

Sadly, because of the Police cordon around the Marina, we weren’t able to litter pick in the children’s play area, but the 12 who attended instead spread out into Marine and Crescent Gardens and the roadsides.  We had a fine collection of litter filled sacks at the end!

We had 6 at our Tuesday gardening session when we continued to edge pathways in Crescent.  At our Sunday session, the family of our much missed volunteer, Don Stewart, gathered to clear the area around his memorial bench.  After fine weather all day, our Wednesday evening session was cancelled because of heavy rain!

Our BIG event in September is our Autumn Festival on Saturday 16th between 12 – 4.00pm.  As ever, we will be looking for help on the day.  We would be particularly grateful for help setting up in the morning and taking down after 4.00pm.  If you are able to help in any way, please get in touch either by replying to this email or contacting us directly on contact@fowsg.co.uk.

Dates for our September events are:

Litter Pick/Gardening – Beach Lawn, Saturday 9th between 10.30-11.30am
 
Gardening/Litter Pick – Tuesday 12th at 9.30am meeting outside Crescent Garden near the cafe.
 
Gardening/Litter Pick – Sunday 17th at 2.00pm meeting outside Crescent Garden near the cafe.
 
Gardening/Litter Pick – Wednesday 27th at 1.00pm meeting outside Crescent Garden near the cafe.
 
Looking forward to seeing you in September.

Best wishes,

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who has helped in the Waterloo Seafront Gardens during July.

We had 17 at our litter pick in Adelaide Garden, when we were pleased to welcome three new “pickers”.  We were able to spread out to litter pick in the other Gardens, and along the roadside, and a couple of us worked on weeding and tidying the round central bed. 

We had six volunteers at our two gardening sessions when we finally made it to the end of the main top path in Crescent Garden, and have started working on the other paths that link down to the bottom path.  Unfortunately we had to cancel our Wednesday evening session because of the rain.

We were pleased to be joined by 5 members from the Plant Health Agency who came to do a day of volunteer work.  They did an excellent job of weeding and edging two corner beds in Crescent, and also did some more path edging.

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Our volunteer sessions in August will take place on the following dates:
 
Saturday 12th – Litter Picking in the Children’s Play Park meeting at 10.30am near the play area.
Tuesday 8th – Gardening or Litter Picking meeting at 9.30am. 
Sunday 20th – Gardening or Litter Picking meeting at 2.00pm.
Wednesday 23rd – Gardening or Litter Picking at 7.00pm – all meeting at our lock-up next to the cafe.
 
Our Autumn Festival this year will take place on Saturday 16th September in Marine Garden – watch out for more details coming over the next few weeks! 
 
Best wishes,
Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who came along to volunteer in the Waterloo Seafront Gardens during June.

We had 10 at our Litter Pick in Crescent Garden, and 20 at our 3 gardening sessions when we continued to work on clearing the never ending pathways in Crescent Garden.  We have one small section left to complete on the “top” path, and will then start to attack the shorter paths leading down to the one that runs along the “bottom” of the garden.  We also continued to work on weeding the raised central bed and hope to renew some of the herbs that have perished over the winter and then cover the area with wood chip mulch.

We were joined again by a group of ten volunteers from Crown Commercial Services who have done a fantastic job completing the edging of the grass beds in the centre of Crescent Garden.  Two of the volunteers in particular, who had also attended their session in May, were determined to complete all the beds and worked like Trojans to finish the job!  There is still work to do clearing the weeds from the joints in the pathways, but we hope to have another working party later this month who will continue the work started by CCS.

We were thrilled to hear that a local photographer had identified a number of Small Red Eyed Damselfly on the pond in Beach Lawn.  Apparently this is only the third site where they have been found on the Sefton Coast, and we must presume is down to all the hard work we have put into clearing the pond and improving the habitat for wildlife. (Photo courtesy of Pete Kinsella)

Our volunteer events during July will take place on the following dates: 

Litter Picking & Gardening – Saturday 8th July meeting at 10.30am in Adelaide Garden;
Gardening & Litter Picking – Tuesday 11th July meeting at 9.30am outside the lockup next to the Cafe;
Gardening & Litter Picking – Sunday 16th July meeting at 2.00pm at the central bed in Crescent Garden;
Gardening & Litter Picking – Wednesday 26th July meeting at 7.00pm outside the lockup next to the Cafe.

All equipment, and refreshments, will be provided.  Please do come along and join us – most of our work at the moment is litter picking or edging pathways, so no gardening expertise or experience is needed!!

Best Wishes,

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who volunteered in the Waterloo Seafront Gardens during May.

We had 15 volunteers at our litter pick in Marine Garden.  A few of us worked on tidying the rockery and steps, and others litter picked in Marine Garden, along the roadside and the grass area in front of the Esplanade.

At our regular gardening sessions we continued to work in Crescent Garden, with a total of 17 volunteers over the 3 sessions.  It was good to meet and welcome a couple of new volunteers.  

We continued to work on edging the “top” pathway (2 more sessions and we should be finished! On that path at least!!), and we also weeded the central raised bed/ex pond.  There’s still a small area left to complete, but once that’s done, we’ll cover it with a good layer of wood chip in the hope that that will keep the weeds down for a while.

We were also pleased to be joined by two volunteer teams during May: 6 workers from United Utilities who worked on edging and clearing the crazy paving pathway at the bottom on the steps in Marine Garden; and 8 from Commercial Crown Services who worked on edging the grass beds in the centre of Crescent Garden.  Both teams did fantastic work which has really made a difference, as you can see in the photos below, and would have taken our regular volunteers months to complete!  The Team from CCS hope to come back in June to complete work on the other central beds in Crescent.

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Many of our members have also been out litter picking on their own, helping to clear the litter left by visitors during half term, and during this lovely spell of good weather.  Thank you to all those who spend their time trying to keep Waterloo looking good.

Our volunteer sessions this month take place on :

Saturday 10th June, meeting in Crescent Garden at 10.30am
Tuesday 13th June, meeting outside our lockup next to the cafe at 9.30am
Sunday 18th June, meeting in Crescent Garden in the central area at 2.00pm and
Wednesday 28th June, meeting outside our lock up at 7.00pm (summer timing)

As usual, all equipment, and refreshments will be provided.

Best Wishes,

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens