Ornamental Beds around the Clubhouse

Refurbished bed at the side of the pro shop

A voluntary group of members has been formed to maintain and develop the ornamental beds surrounding the clubhouse and locker/pro shop building.

The reasons are:
1) To relieve the greenstaff of these duties so that they can concentrate their efforts on the golf course, and
2) To progressively develop the beds so that they are easy to maintain but attractive throughout the year (as far as possible).

There are about 16 distinct beds and the initial thrust is to bring all beds into a low maintenance structure by the use of weed suppressant membrane and/or mulch and removing invasive plants. This will enable us to maintain a ‘neat and tidy appearance’ at all times with relative little effort.

Whenever a bed is being completely refurbished we will take the opportunity to plant a variety of shrubs to provide year round interest.
About half of the beds are reasonably satisfactory and only require a small amount of regular maintenance. The other beds required the installation of a membrane and/or mulch and most of this work has been carried out over the last few months.

Within the group we have a design team (Chris Boyes, John Lowis, John and Susan Stubbs and Derek Chadwick), a heavy gang (Jerry Cutler, Mike Heapy, John Lowis, Mike Stanistreet and Derek Chadwick) and a maintenance crew (Dorothy Anderson, Chris Boyes, Peter Broadbent, Sophie Casey, Yvonne Chadwick, Cherry Christie, Jerry Cutler, John Lowis, Elizabeth Shaw, John Stubbs and Derek Chadwick). We are still short of numbers on the heavy gang and the maintenance crew. The maintenance side is suitable for both sexes and can be carried out to suit the individual and in most cases would not take more than about half an hour per month. The club provide all the tools required.

We were granted £1000 by the 200 Club and more than half of this was spent on structuring some of the beds into the low maintenance regime (decorative gravel, compost, stakes etc). Most of the remainder was spent on the shrubs/ perennials which have been planted in various beds but particularly in the bed at the side of the pro shop. A lot of money was spent on this bed as, hopefully it will present an outstanding ‘first impression’ for visitors. We have nearly exhausted the funding but still require many plants.

If you like the work done so far and would like to contribute towards its completion there are several options :

1) Volunteer to join the heavy gang or the maintenance crew.

2) Sponsor any of the plants installed so far which will enable us to buy more plants. Plants purchased so far range from £1.74 to £50. The members name will be included on the permanent label which is being attached to each plant giving the botanical name.

3) Donate suitable shrubs from your own garden. These need to be non-invasive, stand alone, slow growing shrubs which provide one or more points of interest i.e. flowers, leaf colour, shape or form etc. Advice is available from Derek Chadwick

Please contact Derek Chadwick on 0161 928 2512 if you are willing to help with any of the above.