Category: News

Thank you to everyone who joined us for litter picking and gardening in October.

We had a good turnout with 25 volunteers in Potter’s Barn.  As well as litter picking, some of us tidied up the flower beds and we also cleaned out the ornamental fountain.

We had 6 and 4 volunteers at our two gardening sessions, when we worked on cutting back some of the overhanging bushes and clearing the path edges in Crescent Garden.

Our litter pick this month will take place in Marine Garden on Saturday 13th November between 10.30am and 11.30am.  Our gardening sessions will be on Tuesday 9th November at 9.30am and Wednesday 24th November at 1.00pm, meeting outside our lockup next to the café.

Our Annual General Meeting is taking place on Thursday 25th November at 7.30pm in the Victoria Pub on Great Georges Road, Waterloo. 

Best wishes,

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to all our volunteers who helped in the Seafront Gardens during September.   We had 16 litter pickers joining us in Beach Lawn, and 5 gardeners at our Tuesday morning session, when we worked on clearing the weeds around some of the benches in Crescent Garden.  Sadly, we had no gardeners at the Wednesday afternoon session (although we did have 2 apologies!)
 
Our litter pick this month will take place on Saturday 9th October in Potter’s Barn, meeting at 10.30am.  Our Gardening sessions will take place on Tuesday 12th October at 9.30am and Wednesday 27th October at 1.00pm, meeting outside our lock-up next to the cafe.
 
We had a surprise, and very large visitor to our gardens early in September, when the Air Ambulance landed in Adelaide Garden. 

Hope to see you in October, 

Best wishes,
 
Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who came along to our volunteer sessions in August.  We had sixteen at our first litter pick, and ten at the second.  Hopefully now that the school holidays are over the litter will be reduced, and we will go back to having just one litter pick a month until next summer.
 
At our gardening sessions we had five volunteers at the Tuesday morning session when we worked on clearing some path edges in Crescent Garden, and three at the Wednesday evening sessions when we worked in the rockery area of Marine Garden.  Now that the nights are starting to draw in, we’ll go back to daytime sessions over autumn/winter.
 
A lot of the work we do in the gardens isn’t strictly “gardening” – so please don’t be put off attending because you’re no expert!  Clearing the path edges and brushing the paths makes a big difference and isn’t skilled work, so please do come along and join us if you have the time.
 
Our Litter Pick in September will take place on Saturday 11th September at 10.30am meeting in Beach Lawn.
 
Gardening sessions will be held on Tuesday 14th September at 9.30am and Wednesday 22nd September at 1.00pm, meeting at our lockup next to the cafe.
 
Finally, on a sad note, one of our long time volunteers, Don Stewart, passed away last month. Don, along with his wife Anthea, was a regular at our routine litter picking and gardening sessions. He would turn out in all weathers to help us, often putting the younger members to shame by his determination.  One of the things Don will be remembered for by the gardening team is his hard work in attending to the surface drains in the Gardens. He could be found in many a gardening session at ground level clearing leaves, weeds, soil and all manner of rubbish from the little drains to keep them clear.  Don will be very much missed by us all and our thoughts and best wishes go out to Anthea and their family.

Best wishes,

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who came along to our volunteer sessions in July.  We had 17 at our litter pick in Adelaide Garden which meant that we could spread out to litter pick the other gardens too, and some of us cleared the weeds from the paving around the main entrance.  It was great to see some new faces too!  At our 2nd litter pick in Crescent Garden we had 6 volunteers.
 
We had 7 volunteer gardeners at our Tuesday session, when we worked on clearing the paving around the main entrance in Crescent Garden.  Sadly, we were defeated by the weather at our Wednesday evening session – although 3 of us turned up and then decided to go home!!
 
Our litter picks this month will take place on Saturday 14th August in the Children’s Play Park, and Saturday 28th August in Crescent Garden, meeting at 10.30am.
 
Our gardening sessions will take place on Tuesday 10th August at 9.30am and Wednesday 25th August at 7.00pm, meeting at our lock-up next to the cafe.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Best wishes,

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Thank you to everyone who came along to our volunteer sessions in June.  As well as our usual litter pick on the 2nd Saturday of the month, we decided to hold an additional litter pick on the 4th Saturday of the month, and were very pleased with the attendance at both, with 22 and 20 attendees respectively.  We will continue with the 2nd monthly litter pick during July and August when they will no doubt be needed, especially if the weather is good!
 
We had 4 and 7 volunteers at our gardening sessions, when we worked on the “new” corner beds in Crescent Garden and also cleared some of the path edges.
 
Clearing the path edges can be very satisfying – instant results, no real gardening skills needed and it really does make a difference to how the gardens look, so please don’t be put off coming along to help out if you don’t have any gardening experience!
 
Our litter picks this month will take place on Saturday 10th July in Adelaide Garden and Saturday 24th in Crescent Garden between 10.30am and 11.30am.  
 
Our gardening sessions will take place on Tuesday 13th July at 9.30am and Wednesday 28th July at 7.00pm, meeting at our lock-up next to the Waterloo Sunset cafe.
 
Reminder that although restrictions are eased the following safety measures are still in operation for all our routine volunteer activities;:

• Refreshments will not be provided.
• Everybody taking part must satisfy themselves that they are eligible and safe to help with litter picking or gardening.
• If you or someone in your household starts to show symptoms of Covid 19, or if you are at high risk of severe symptoms yourself, then you must not attend.

• Equipment will be provided but you must bring your own gloves.  Each person can select a ring and a picker, or gardening tools.  All the equipment will be cleaned/sanitised before being stored in the lock-up.
• Bags will be handed out by someone wearing gloves, and the picker will fix it to their own hoop.
• The prescribed social distancing rules must be observed, both within the group (if a group is working) and anybody else nearby.
• The location to leave filled bags will be announced before the start, and pickers will take their own bags there.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Best wishes,
Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Hi Everyone,

As restrictions have slowly lifted and the weather has got warmer, we have more visitors to our Gardens and the wider Marina.
 
As a result of this, in order to keep the Gardens looking clean, we have decided to have two official litter picking sessions for the summer months.  In these months we will litter pick on the second and fourth Saturday of each month.

The first of these additional sessions will be this Saturday 26th June, from 10:30 until 11:30am, meeting in Crescent Garden. 
 
Reminder that although restrictions are eased the following safety measures are still in operation for all our routine volunteer activities;:

• Refreshments will not be provided.
• Everybody taking part must satisfy themselves that they are eligible and safe to help with litter picking or gardening. 
• If you or someone in your household starts to show symptoms of Covid 19, or if you are at high risk of severe symptoms yourself, then you must not attend.
• Equipment will be provided but you must bring your own gloves.  Each person can select a ring and a picker, or gardening tools.  All the equipment will be cleaned/sanitised before being stored in the lock-up.
• Bags will be handed out by someone wearing gloves, and the picker will fix it to their own hoop. 
• The prescribed social distancing rules must be observed, both within the group (if a group is working) and anybody else nearby.
• The location to leave filled bags will be announced before the start, and pickers will take their own bags there.

Looking forward to seeing you.
Best wishes,
Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Hi Everyone,

Thank you to all who came along to our volunteer sessions in May.  It was great to see 8 hardy volunteers out litter picking in the pouring rain!  We worked in Marine and Crescent Gardens and gathered 5 sacks of litter.  We had 5 gardeners at each of our gardening sessions. We weeded and brushed the rockery steps in Marine Garden, cleared out some of the surface drains and paths in Crescent Garden.  We also have a volunteer who has very kindly restored some of the old benches at Beach Lawn Garden.  Thanks everyone.
 
Our litter pick in June will take place on Saturday 12th June at 10.30am in Crescent Garden.  Our gardening sessions will take place on Tuesday 8th June at 9.30am and Wednesday 23rd June at 7.00pm [please note change to evening time for the summer months], and as usual we will meet at our lock-up next to the Waterloo Sunset cafe.
 
We will also be taking part in the Crosby Coastal Park Litter Blitz on Tuesday 1st June, from 5pm until 8pm. There will be 4 meeting points in total:  Hall Road car park by RNLI hut (free parking after 5pm), Mariners Road beach (free car park), Crescent Garden main entrance (on-road parking) and Waterloo Marina promenade by The Bus Yard pop-up food and drink (Lakeside car parks are free after 5pm)
Hightown Beach Clean Group, Mencap Liverpool Sefton, Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens, the Bus Yard, Surfers Against Sewage and Friends of Crosby Beach, with assistance from Green Sefton, will be taking on the Crosby Coastal Park Clean Up, a mass Post-Bank Holiday blitz of our lovely beaches and coastal parks.
Clean-up sessions will be run from above four locations; COVID safety will be very carefully maintained and group sizes kept to a minimum. Equipment will be available to borrow free of charge between 5pm and 7pm.  All equipment should then be returned to each station for the sessions to finish at 8pm.
In line with COVID restrictions a one- way system for collecting equipment will be in place. Social distancing when queuing is required and your patience appreciated when giving out the equipment.
Bringing your own gloves along on the day should help speed things up a little. Please note hand sanitizer will be available.

On the subject of Covid – a reminder that the following safety measures are still in operation for all our routine volunteer activities;:

• Refreshments will not be provided.
• Everybody taking part must satisfy themselves that they are eligible and safe to help with litter picking or gardening. 
• If you or someone in your household starts to show symptoms of Covid 19, or if you are at high risk of severe symptoms yourself, then you must not attend.
• Equipment will be provided but you must bring your own gloves.  Each person can select a ring and a picker, or gardening tools.  All the equipment will be cleaned/sanitised before being stored in the lock-up.
• Bags will be handed out by someone wearing gloves, and the picker will fix it to their own hoop. 
• The prescribed social distancing rules must be observed, both within the group (if a group is working) and anybody else nearby.
• The location to leave filled bags will be announced before the start, and pickers will take their own bags there.

Looking forward to seeing you in June

Best wishes,

Janet Markland

Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Hi Everyone,
 
It was good to see some of you back in the Gardens in April.  We had a good turnout with 18 volunteers at our litter pick, and 3 and 7 at our gardening sessions.
 
Our litter pick in May will take place in Marine Garden on Saturday 8th May at 10.30am.
 
Our gardening sessions will take place on Tuesday 11th May at 9.30am and Wednesday 26th May at 1.00pm, meeting outside our lock-up next to the Waterloo Sunset Cafe.  
 
Please don’t be put off coming to join in with the “gardening” – no expertise is needed for a lot of the jobs we do, and the paths and grass edges look so much better when they’ve been swept/tidied!
 
We also hope to join in with an extra event in June – a joint “Mass Clean Up” of the Coastal Park and beach from Hightown to Seaforth Docks (including the Gardens).  We’re hoping this will take place on Tuesday 1st June between 6.00pm and 8.00pm and will be a joint event with The Friends of Crosby Beach, Hightown Beach Clean Group, Canal and River Trust and Mencap.  Details will be confirmed nearer the time.

Reminder of the following safety measures still in operation:

• Refreshments will not be provided.

• Everybody taking part must satisfy themselves that they are eligible and safe to help with litter picking or gardening. 

• If you or someone in your household starts to show symptoms of Covid 19, or if you are at high risk of severe symptoms yourself, then you must not attend.

• Equipment will be provided but you must bring your own gloves.  Each person can select a ring and a picker, or gardening tools.  All the equipment will be cleaned/sanitised before being stored in the lock-up.

• Bags will be handed out by someone wearing gloves, and the picker will fix it to their own hoop. 

• The prescribed social distancing rules must be observed, both within the group (if a group is working) and anybody else nearby.

• The location to leave filled bags will be announced before the start, and pickers will take their own bags there.

Looking forward to seeing you in May.

Best wishes,

Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve all been keeping well and have had a good Easter.
 
We’re pleased to hear that we can now restart our litter picking and gardening sessions – following Covid safety rules of course!
 
Our first litter pick of 2021 will take place this Saturday, 10th April in the Children’s Play Park by the marine lake from 10:30 to 11:30am. 
 
Our gardening sessions will be on Tuesday 13th April at 9.30am and Wednesday 28th April at 1.00pm.  As usual, we will meet outside the Waterloo Sunset Cafe.
 

The following safety measures will be taken:

• Refreshments will not be provided.
• Everybody taking part must satisfy themselves that they are eligible and safe to help with litter picking or gardening. 
• If you or someone in your household starts to show symptoms of Covid 19, or if you are at high risk of severe symptoms yourself, then you must not attend.
• Equipment will be provided but you must bring your own gloves.  Each person can select a ring and a picker, or gardening tools.  All the equipment will be cleaned/sanitised before being stored in the lock-up.
• Bags will be handed out by someone wearing gloves, and the picker will fix it to their own hoop. 
• The prescribed social distancing rules must be observed, both within the group (if a group is working) and anybody else nearby.
• The location to leave filled bags will be announced before the start, and pickers will take their own bags there.

 
Looking forward to seeing you all again,

Best wishes,
 
Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens

Happy New Year and welcome to 2021.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered for us over the last year, either as part of our organised events or as individuals.  This really helped to keep our Gardens clean and tidy, especially during the periods we were restricted due to Covid 19.
 
Sadly we are starting this new year with restrictions in place again. Following the recent lockdown announcement we have been advised by Sefton Council to once more cancel all our future activities in the gardens until further notice.  Volunteers are still able to go out as individuals, but groups activities are on hold. 
 
We hope you all keep safe and well, and that it won’t be too long before we’re able to resume our usual volunteering sessions.

Best wishes, 
  
Janet Markland
Friends of Waterloo Seafront Gardens