Although we have finished our online funding and are still waiting for the pledges to be processed, we are still collecting cash donations over the last week, from customers which has amounted to Morrisons (£4) and Home Bargains (£17) totalling £21 from our five home-made collection containers. Once again, many thanks for everyone’s continued brilliant support, it really all helps. Since last week’s fantastic community planting day we have been undertaking some tidying up including edging borders, spreading tons of wood chippings (as weed suppressant), local litter picking. In preparation for stage 2/2 in April we visited the Castle Foundry in Liverpool to discuss plans to construct and install our planned recycling rhinoceros sculpture, including a site visit in the New Year. In a separate capacity as part of WW1 Statue Steering Group, we were also able to view stage 2 of 3 involving an amazing computer laser cut backdrop to the WW1 statue at Maghull North train station, which is planned to be installed in the New Year. I also had the opportunity to discuss another initiative involving the construction of a plinth in Maghull Square to install an annual exhibit, on similar lines to the initiative at St Nicholas’s church near the Strand. As previously mentioned, we are hoping to have the tired looking litter bin on Stafford Moreton Way temporarily removed and painted in wild flower art as part of the overall project. Now, Sefton Council Recycling Department has kindly agreed to support the idea by removing and delivering two local bins. In addition, we are delighted to confirm that Maricourt High School Art Department will undertake the wildflower painting, and Maghull High School Art Department will paint the other bin themed around ‘saving the planet’. It should make the area much more interesting and will provide a lovely opportunity for the children’s work to be recognised and celebrated by the community.

Although we have finished our online funding and are still waiting for the pledges to be processed, we are still collecting cash donations over the last week, from customers which has amounted to Morrisons (£6) and Home Bargains (£12) totalling £18 from our five home-made collection containers. Once again, many thanks for everyone’s continued brilliant support, it really all helps. On Friday (29.11.19), we commenced stage one of two, which was a really inspirational community job, helped by a lovely sunny day. We planted and staked 12 trees and 1500 spring bulbs and involved the Ashworth Hospital Gardeners (Paul, Dave, Chris, and Neil) Jayne Float (Mersey Forest), and schoolchildren from year 6 St Georges and Year 3 Green Park primary schools. Most of the team was photographed by the Champion newspaper photographer for next week’s edition. Many thanks to David McIntosh for his plants and plastic bottle top donations. Thank you to everyone who has contributed in so many ways, towards this first milestone today. It really does feel like a fantastic Christmas present from the community to the community.

A huge thank you to Paul for kindly agreeing to supply all the wood chippings we need for free. Tree Surgery Paul Richards Liverpool Paul Richards Tree Services 07846455697☎️ Free quotations✅

Although we have finished our online funding and are still waiting for the pledges to be processed, we are still collecting cash donations over the last week, from customers which has amounted to Morrisons (£6) and Home Bargains (£16) totalling £22 from our five home-made collection containers. Once again, many thanks for everyone’s continued brilliant support. On Thursday we commenced stage one of two, which involved the Ashworth Hospital Gardeners (our ‘A’ Team) stripping three areas of turf and rotovating the exposed soil in preparation for the planting of trees, bulbs and covering with wood chippings. So next Friday the planting will commence, in National Tree Week, with the support of the Ashworth Hospital Gardeners, Mersey Forest, and schoolchildren from St Georges and Green Park primary schools. Can’t wait and fingers crossed for good weather. We are immensely grateful to the gardeners from Ashworth Hospital for undertaking all this hard work free of charge. They are pictured left to right Phil, Dave, Mark, Chris and Paul.

Although we have finished our online funding and are still waiting for the pledges to be processed, we are still collecting cash donations over the last week, from customers which has amounted to Morrisons (£10) and Home Bargains (£13) totalling £23 from our five home-made collection containers. Once again, many thanks for everyone’s continued brilliant support. We are now preparing for stage one of two which will start in the National tree week at the end of November or beginning of December ( https://www.treecouncil.org.uk/Take-Part/National-Tree-Week ). This week we have continued collecting pledges, ordering materials, and discussed the practicalities with Paul Pruden (Ashworth Hospital Head Gardener). Paul has suggested waiting until the last week of November to find a good day weather-wise to start the work. Litter Bin Art! Our idea of improving the area during the project has extended to painting the tired looking street litter bin with wildflower art. We have just received permission from Sefton Council to do this and now we are exploring who would undertake this on a voluntary basis. If anybody knows of an individual or group who would kindly do this, please get in touch. Lunt Meadows. Brilliant news, captured in the next item below, about the future developments at Lunt Meadows. One of our project objectives is to create signage to promote and direct people to Lunt Meadows, Jubilee and Roughly woods.

Although we have finished our online funding and are currently waiting for the pledges to be processed, we are still collecting cash donations over the last week, from customers which has amounted to Morrisons (£17) and Home Bargains (£12) totalling £29 from our five home-made collection containers. Once again, many thanks for everyone’s continued generous support and the amazing extra £10 note in Morrisons this week. We are now preparing for stage one of two which will start in the National tree week at the end of November or beginning of December ( https://www.treecouncil.org.uk/Take-Part/National-Tree-Week ). This week we have continued collecting pledges, ordering materials, and discussed the practicalities with Paul Pruden (Ashworth Hospital Head Gardener). After all this time, it feels really exciting that we are actually in touching distance of starting. Next week we should definitely know which day we are starting the landscaping and planting for stage one. This stage will involve Ashworth Hospital gardeners rotovating two areas of land either side of Stafford Moreton Way, planting - 1000 bulbs, 11 trees, and 28m of blackthorn hedge. We have liaised with Mersey Forest for our tree order and they are kindly donating the following: 2 Plum, 2 Damson, 2 Morello Cherry, 2 Silver Birch, 1 Rowen, 1 Crabapple, 1 Holly, and the 28 m of hedging. We are still waiting for a tidy up before the project starts, Sefton council has been approached to remove vegetation in the road gullies, and to explore the possibility of painting the litter bin with wildflowers. Finally, we provided some feedback to a Spacehive/Sefton Council business breakfast, last Wednesday, to encourage future business support and engagement, which seemed to go really well, with lots of interest generated. Please see the picture of: Dwayne Johnson (Chief Executive of Sefton Council), two members of the fantastic current crowdfunding project entitled Cherish (www.spacehive.com/cherish), a representative from idverde Community Investment Fund, Frank from the Stafford Moreton Way Wildflower Project, Caitlin from Spacehive, Jayne Vincent (Consultation and Engagement Lead, Commissioning Support & Business Intelligence), Peter Moore (Head of Highways and Public Protection).