Before Tidy

Before the Tidy Ups

In the run-up to Remembrance Sunday (10th Nov 2024) a few of us noticed how sad our memorials –  the Sefton Road Cenotaph and the Memorial Garden – had become. Time and weather had taken its toll on both with little maintenance. A lot of people thought it was a good idea to get on to the council to clean it up and in addition organise a community effort to fundraise to buy a few plants for the British Legion garden, tidy it up and give it some TLC. A local fundraiser started (link here) and amazingly raised £448 in three days. This allowed us to get plants and materials which a team of volunteers planted and otherwise smartened up the garden on the 27th October. The remainder is being spent as described under \”Post-Tidy\”. 

A set of pictures were taken \”pre-tidy\” of both sites and they are below. 

 

The Cenotaph: Overgrown, Mossy, Dirty

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The Legion Memorial Garden: in need of TLC

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Organising the maintenance jobs list

The pictures below formed the job list of the volunteers at Orrell Road on Sunday 27 Oct  who were Becky Williams, Carole Craven, Chris Doyle, Gary and Mo Walker-Miller, Dave Flooks, Eileen Simpson, Ian Smith, Alan Deledgerstclaire, Jack Colbert, Eddy Griffin and Janet Chorley (anyone missed?). The following pictures were a snapshot of state of the garden as it was on Tuesday 24 Oct. Some work has already been done by this date (by Ian plus Becky, Deb and Leon from Litherland Allotment Association). Many thanks for all this. The captions below were just notes against various jobs that needed doing. Its was not a strict list, the idea was we just got stuck in and tidied it up the best we could. The kind public donations allowed us to buy plants and materials in and have a pot for maintaining the garden next year.

The The d

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PIC1 – to clarify we will NOT be touching the benches as – these are privately donated by families. We should try and put out a question to the families would they like them varnished later in the year, but this of course is a choice.

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PIC2 – You can see the work done by Ian raking out and filling in all those ugly gaps between the pavement stones. I will be bringing my power washer and a long hose so we can clean them as well. I will do some of this power washing but we can take turns as well!

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PIC3 – you can see the difference between done and undone gaps here, the grouting smartens them up a lot.

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PIC4 – We have a slight design problem – making decisions about where to put decorative stones, you can see here that there once pebbles next to the paths. For now, we had better leave it as is. However over the year a gardener can advise whether we are best levelling the lawn to be flush to the paving or re-establish the decorative stones border. Not a job for Sunday though.

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PIC5 – You can see more of that border problem here. Again not for Sunday. Over the year we will improve the look the lawn – it needs some care (weed/feed) and edging to make any edge well-defined. This ask is really for the gardener who will take over the garden maintenance/improvement.

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PIC6 – More of the same, this looks a mess because the edges are inconsistent and not level. Personally I think reinstatement of edge stones will look better here but we need advice from a designer.

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PIC7 – Mo has mentioned the need to manage the bushes, personally I hope they can be saved because we need green on that side, and a gardener could perhaps trim them?

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PIC8 – Last one on inconsistent borders – for the future maintenance gardener.

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PIC9 – I did notice the Union Jack could do with a wash, perhaps this will be done anyway before the 10th Nov?

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PIC10 – Ian has got a plan in for walls SOS such as the copings. He has even been up to the building site up Orrell Road. They are clearly not in good shape so running repairs are the best that can be done.

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PIC11 – I know this is not core memorial but its pretty ugly having these bits and pieces hanging round the site (and even the moss). I\’ll be bringing some moss control. It goes without saying that we should bag up the loose leaves. There may be an additional job of taking them to the tip but you need a car for that. I will take some and will bring a couple of rolls of large bin bags.

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PIC12 – This one is also \”for the right time of year\” not now. The potted plants need refreshing probably within bigger pots. For the maintenance gardener.

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PIC13 – Again bordering on outside the memorial, but we don\’t want to be leaving any bin bags on site, sop plan is remove all rubbish.

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PIC14 – This is behind the main memorial stone. Its appropriate that they are all removed from site now ready for the new ones on the 10th Nov.

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PIC15 – This stretch along the back wall (not the bit closer than teh path but the bit next to the fence) is the part of the garden we want some plants even a bit of colour ready for the 10th November. Becky, our expert from the Litherland Allotment Association has advised that most of the \”colour\” should be placed along this wall and the other equivalent side as that the side most people will look at. I\’ve had a lot of problems trying to get plants (long stories, have tried) and need help. Teh main thing is something is in for Nov 10th.

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PIC16 – This illustrates the confusion over borders and why the current garden looks so unkempt and untidy. The maintenance gardener will I\’m sure suggest a better solution to the decorative stone borders as at the moment this is neither one thing or another.

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PIC17 – This is plonked in the lawn, its probably a nice plant but the surrounding bed is not well defined. So maybe it is a job to bring along something to trace a circle around it and dig it out so it looks neat? The shape of the bed looks a mess at the moment.

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PIC18 – This is the equivalent plant on the other side of the path. A simple circular bed would make it look a lot better, I can get some edging.

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PIC19 – This rose is typical of a number of plants around the garden – help! Don\’t know what to do re pruning and shaping so they grow back better. Some expert will know and thus should sort them, if they need replacing or we need more, just itemise.

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PIC20 – The lawn is full of spot weeds that need pulling or treating. I\’ll bring a weed puller.

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PIC21 – More of earlier, we can bag up.

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PIC22 – Again a bit of a stretch whether its in our scope – the gates do need some TLC and I\’m sure a lick of black and gold paint would benefit the look of the garden. Mo should this be on our list?

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PIC23 – The main stone cleaning wil follow the advice of GraveCare Liverpool who kindly put their name down. They have done some wonderful stone restorations see their website. As discussed on CRN, the stone repair or replacement is a much bigger community issue for 2025 – we will take all advice on this. The pink pots should now be replaced I think with new plants.

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PIC24 – More of the same, it looks like it will flower lovely at some point, but needs some care.

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PIC25 – Thankfully Ian has the wall job in hand. He had 20 years in the building trade and also served in the army so we are in good hands.

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PIC26 – I will get all of the grime off with a power wash Sunday but then again Ian has said he is going to paint the flag pole. A job certainly needing doing and will improve the appearance of the garden.

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PIC27 – Once the decision on border design is taken (we need an adult for that – in other words someone with garden or memorial design experience like GraveCare Liverpool) they will advise on whether we replace or supplement the existing pebbles and whether that membrane coming through needs re-laying.