This is Roger Hawkins, who is doing such fantastic volunteering work in Warren Farm. He is there from mid April, through to the end of October, pulling out Goldenrod. Now that the meadow has been cut, Roger is out raking the grass and adding it to the enormous piles of grass on the edge of the meadow.
As this is chalk grassland, it needs to be nutrient thin ground We therefore do not want the grass composting down, but remove it to the side of the meadow.
Please come and say hello to Roger and Mike Constable and encourage your dogs not to bark at them, they are doing an incredible job.
Breaking news.. .Cheam Park has won GOLD for the first time ever in London in Bloom.
Judges were particularly complimentary about the new path, volunteer tree planting and meadowland created in the park.
Cllr Mary Burstow said “I am so pleased that innovations, which I found the funding for and drove through as a Lib Dem Councillor have reaped such a fantastic reward.”
Cheam Park is looking amazing now, but it could be even better. What would you like to see in Cheam Park? Come to the Friends of Cheam Park AGM and let us know your ideas.
The Friends of Cheam Park AGM will be held on Tuesday 26th September 2017 at 7.30pm at Cheam Park Cafe.
This is only open to members of Friends of Cheam Park, but if you are not yet a member, you can join here and attend the meeting.
Warren Farm Meadow has now been mowed, ready for the Autumn.
A monster Thank You to all the Volunteers, who helped pull out canadian goldenrod, as you walked around, walking the dog.
A special Thank You to Roger, Mike Constable and Mike’s dog Dexter, who did so much of the hard work. They were there most days, come rain or sunshine, from mid April.
The difference has been tremendous. Last year “Park run Field” was full of goldenrod, but it is no longer there. Roughly two thirds of Warren Farm has now been cleared of goldenrod
The goldenrod will come back in Parkrun Field, but it will be thinner, less vigorous and much easier to pull.
The trees have now arrived and are ready to be planted in Cheam Park, by the Friends of Cheam Park, but they need your help.
Tree planting tractor Cheam park
Today the men were hard at work, digging holes with the tractor, where we want the trees to go. This will make it much easier on Saturday, when we have to plant the trees.
So now all we need is lots of people power to dig the holes and plant the trees. We have a mixture of rather large trees and some much smaller saplings.
We will be planting trees in Cheam Park from 10:00 on Saturday 26th November, meeting at Cheam Cafe. Please come and help us.
Many thanks to the Nonsuch Voles who completed the drainage and path improvements at the Oak Bridge last week, near the Balancing Pond despite being under attack from horse-flies!
The path up to the bridge should be much drier now and a drainage channel to the main ditch should reduce the amount of water accumulating in the clay soil in this area.
In theory this means the whole area should be less boggy in the winter time.
Thank you Pearson and their intrepid team, who came from Central London for the morning to help pull Golden Rod out of the Meadow in Warren Farm.
The Weather decided it was going to throw everything at us. One minute we had low cloud, then the sun shone brightly and with a Whoosh, in came a rain storm and it bucketed it down.
In spite of all this, the Pearson Team carried on regardless. I was most impressed by how even a sudden rain storm didn’t stop their enthusiasm for the job.
And now for the clarity bit. Pearson are the World’s Largest Education Company and not to be confused with Pearsons, our local bike shop and who are also the Worlds Oldest Bike Shop!!
The Nonsuch Voles were very pleased to receive a generous donation from the Sutton Runners. The funds were raised from a recent race event in Nonsuch Park. The money will be used to purchase hundreds of plants and bulbs which will form the centrepiece display in the Mansion House garden.
Here, the chairman Paul Airey receives a cheque from Sutton Runners race director Lorraine Martin. To say thank you, we presented Lorraine with a wooden ornament made by the Voles.
A huge thank you to Nonsuch Park Run and Sutton Runners for giving up their Saturday Morning to help pull out Canadian Goldenrod from Warren Farm and create beautiful Meadowland. Almost 100 runners came to help.
The runners said how much they enjoy running in Nonsuch and were really keen to help give back to the park in this way.
A massive pile of Goldenrod was created, which has now gone off to the compost heap.
Nonsuch Park, Cheam Park, Warren Farm: News, Events and Information