The last weeks have been exceptionally busy for us and our plantings for 2012 currently stand at over 5000, mostly natives. Our Tuesday working bees have been well attended and on average some 20 people meet weekly at the nursery.
Lola Silcock Park.
We have continued to plant here, in new areas and also thickening the plantings in older areas. One Sunday session with a team of senior students from St.Peters School resulted in over 600 plants going into a mulched area in 3 hours. In total so far this winter we have planted 1 750 grasses, flaxes, native shrubs and speciment trees here. We have erected a memorial stone and plaque to Lola Silcock in the kowhai grove which her great-grand-children planted back in January. The cost of this was over $700 but it was covered by donations from the Silcock family and from Dr. George Marshall, and we thank Wailkato Stonecraft and Greenscape Contemporary Landscape Products for their discounts.
The whole park is now looking a picture, with the Lions picnic table installed and an acknowledgement plaque to go on it shortly. Weed control is an issue and involves considerable work for those members physically capable of carrying the equipment.
We thank the Parks and Reserves staff of the Waipa District Council for their support, and for keeping the area mown and tidy. Council contractors and others put autumn leaves there for spreading as mulch by teams from the Corrections Department.
Cambridge Primary School.
We are delighted that Cambridge Primary School will use Lola Silcock Park as part of their cross-country event each year now that their grounds have been joined to it by the new playing field they have put in on their Education Department land. We supplied plants and expertise for a planting session there with senior students and some staff. Funds for the development of this playground were provided by the Waikato River Clean-up Trust as it is on the riverbank. Headmaster Mike Pettit, his staff and students made an initial planting, and on Arbor Day another 420 plants were added before rain stopped play.
Lake Te Ko Utu.
Brian Mayo has been beavering away with the invaluable assistance of Corrections Department teams on the Flow Form and the Guide Hall bank. Considerable work has been done to enrich the soil and to stabliise the area and make it more readily accessible. Over 200 plants have been located there, with kawakawa, five finger, ferns, konini and nikau beside the Flow Form and some 50 deciduous azaleas on the bank below the Guide Hall. They will make a picture in spring and early summer.
The Meadow Walk.
We have commenced planting the River Garden end of this project and a group of International Baccalaureate students from St. Peters School have given us magnificent help. Some 1 300 plants have been planted in two sessions and are doing well despite the unexpected incursion of cattle. Over the winter we will continue planting here with the 5 000 plants held in our nursery for the project.
We are using carpet for weed control to lessen the use of sprays. Fencing of the top of the scarp has been completed and preparation of the track will be under way soon, weather permitting.
We are grateful to the Waikato River Clean-up Trust for their financing of this project, which is the biggest we have undertaken in our 21-year history. The Council's Parks and Reserves staff, and especially Robert Sinclair have been giving us invaluable support and advice.
To celebrate their 50th anniversary, the Cambridge Lions have given us $1 000 for heritage fruit trees which will be planted along the track as a food forest.
BMX track.
We have donated another 100 plants to support the landscaping of this project.
Marae.
We donated and delivered 56 native plants to assist the marae committee in a landscaping project.
Nursery work.
Some 6 000 small native plants have been acquired from Annton's Nurseries this autumn, and they have been re-potted for use in the Meadow Walk next winter. We have been ploughing through 8 cubic metres of Dalton's potting mix and our nursery currently looks very professional. We have been assisted regularly by Cambridge High Scool students and by Corrections Department teams in this very large labour-intensive operation.
Funding and grants.
In the last two months we have received much-appreciated funding from Fonterra, Guardian Trust, Cambridge Lions, Hewitt Foundation, Union Parish, the Silcock family and Dr. George Marshall.
Don Willoughby
Chairman.
August 2012.
