After a successful inaugural public meeting on 25th November at Trinity Academy, we are now fully constituted with a constitution, proper members and a committee!

Many thanks to the 26 people who attended, with a special mention for Helen Stockham from the Council who not only came but also spoke about the Edinburgh Friends of Parks movement and other Council initiatives.  It was a good, positive meeting, with lots of good suggestions.

Chair:           Alastair Robertson

Secretary:    Janet McArthur

Treasurer:    Graham Buckley

Committee Members

Sandy Logan

Stuart Gardiner

Richard Scott

Liz Nicholson

Yet another good morning, and it was unseasonably warm!  Almost all the leaves have fallen so most effort from the ten diligent volunteers went into clearing the leaves in the top section of the park.  It was, I’m sure, a great relief to the very beleaguered grass, suffering underneath.  Another border of roses has been pruned and even more edges have been trimmed.  We found some lovely maggots just under the leaves and a small flock of fieldfares were feasting on the rowan berries in the park.  More Council help too, with practical help from Ritchie and more rakes from George.  All much appreciated.

Leaves

Maggots

Some of the fieldfares – they’re almost visible

Despite the cold, 13 of us turned up for this morning’s gardening party.  It was a very productive session too.  A bed of giant nettles was transformed into a bed of primulas and pansies, we planted more bedding plants and daffodils in the east border and a couple of rose beds were weeded and had their edges trimmed.   And we found time to redistribute benches across the park.

The Council renovation of the fountain has started too.  It will soon be ready for the first planting.  Many thanks Ritchie.

An hour earlier this was a bed of nettles

Part of the working party

More planting in the east border

Renovating the fountain

Yet another fine morning for our sixth Wednesday gardening session.  We were all pretty buoyed up by the Daily Record coverage and we were even more motivated when we saw the winter bedding planting by the Council.

Winter bedding planted by CEC

There were even some spare primulas for us.  We took the plunge and started on the overgrown border at the south wall.  Some of us started digging while Stan got on with the planting.  The soil was better than we expected and we made good progress.  Better still, there will be some pansies tomorrow! In the meantime, Rob pruned loads of roses, Moyra did sterling work clearing the rest of the east border and Stuart shifted barrow-loads of soil and weeds tidying the edge of the south border.  Things are still on the up!

Our first new planting.  Some Primulas by the south wall

A much tidier east border

Terrific coverage for the Friends of Starbank Park today.  There is a two page spread, with pictures, in the Daily Record’s “Edinburgh Now” magazine.  Have you seen it on http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?PBID=764de512-efce-4c16-a5e8-fb6e146a8453?

We  all had a successful and enjoyable morning at Starbank Park on Wednesday.  Yet again, the weather was ideal for gardening and we took full advantage.  We pruned the roses in two good-sized borders and the border has been cleared of weeds (almost!) and there is now a clear definition of where the border begins and path ends.  It all looks much better!