Friends Of The Hollies

Dear all

We hope this finds you all safe and well and the good news is that at last we have a date for our return to work!!

We will meet up on Saturday 11th September at 10am in the main car park.

As we have been absent for so long there is plenty of work to be done. We’ll be doing a variety of  general clearing work and hopefully the weather will remain dry. 

For any new volunteers – tools are provided and all work is supervised by the head gardener, Frank. We generally work for two hours and if you want to bring any tools of your own you are welcome to do so. Also remember gardening gloves and sturdy footwear.

Refreshments will be provided when we finish.

We’re hoping for a good turn out and look forward to welcoming you all back.

Please bear in mind COVID guidelines and do not attend if you or any of your close contacts have symptoms of the virus.

We also hope to continue meeting up on the second Saturday in the month.

Future dates are:

Saturday October 9th

Saturday November 13th

Saturday December 11th

The Friends of The Hollies have placed a plaque in the Collections Garden commemorating the gift of The Hollies to the City of Leeds in 1921.

Did you know that 1 June 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the gift of The Hollies to Leeds City Council?

It would be great to commemorate this in some way and the current proposal is to create a centenary flower bed in the collections garden in early June, with an appropriate informative notice board. This is more easily planned and prudent since we do not know what might happen in the next couple of months, but maybe there can be a more social occasion as part of the September work morning.

Once again the decision to return to work has been taken out of our hands due to another lockdown.
We will continue to keep you updated and hope to meet up when the weather and the situation improve!!
In the meantime stay safe and well.

Good news at last – we are able to meet up on Saturday 12th December to re-start work in The Hollies.

HOWEVER, this is only open to the volunteers who have completed a risk assessment with Frank and is limited to a group of 6 people. Social distancing must be maintained and we ask that you bring your own gardening tools. We’ll be doing general woodland work and brambling – plenty to keep us all busy.

If you would like to join us next month (Saturday 9th January – regulations permitting) please email us and we’ll organise some more risk assessments.

We must stress that you CANNOT attend on 12th December unless you have completed the risk assessment.Thanks for your understanding and please stay safe!!

Potential future dates in 2021:

Saturday 9th January

Saturday 13th February

Saturday 13th March

Hope you’re keeping well and enjoying the early autumn sunshine.

We have some new guidelines from Leeds City Council regarding volunteers which means we should be able to start helping out again soon. We won’t be able to get together in October but hopefully will re-commence on Saturday November 14th if all goes to plan.

The new guidelines are as follows:

*We can only work in a group of 6 which includes Frank so only 5 additional volunteers per session.

*All volunteers must observe social distancing.

*No refreshments can be served afterwards.

*Anyone with Covid symptoms or who has had contact with someone with Covid symptoms should not attend.

*All volunteers must have a risk assessment with Frank before re-starting.

If you are happy to volunteer under these restrictions please reply by email and we will arrange risk assessments with Frank towards the end of October. If we have more than 5 responses we will rotate on a monthly basis so that everyone gets a chance to participate.

As lockdown measures are (hopefully) relaxed in the future the restrictions should also change.
Thank you for your continued interest and support over the past few months and we look forward to seeing you in the near future

Hope everyone’s keeping safe and well.

Although our services are desperately needed in The Hollies, we unfortunately won’t be back working in September. Leeds Council aren’t letting any volunteers return to work just yet, but as permanent staff are now back we hope it won’t be too long.

We will do another update towards the end of September, and hope to see you all soon.

We hope that you are keeping safe and well.

As restrictions are relaxed we are considering how we can recommence our working sessions while maintaining everyone’s safety. There will be a lot to do once we can start working again, but the next feasible date remains 12th September. We will update you with more details nearer to the time.

We know that many of you will have been in the park during the lockdown, but if you are missing your views of The Hollies there are lots of pictures on http://www.headingleyleeds.com including some fantastic historic ones. If you have any comments or photo’s of your own feel free to share here or on our facebook page.

Thank you for your continued support, and stay safe.

Unfortunately our working sessions are on hold for the foreseeable future.

Following Government guidelines we will not be meeting as our priority is to keep our volunteers as safe and healthy as possible. The session on Saturday 11th April and the plant sale in May are definitely cancelled and it’s unlikely that we’ll be back to normal working in June. As we generally miss July and August the next feasible date will be 12th September.

Please look out for e-mails and facebook posts and we’ll update you as the situation changes. Thank you all for your continued support and stay safe in theses difficult times.

Could we also ask that you keep an eye out for suspicious activity if you regularly walk in The Hollies. A fire was started at the back of one of the portacabins last week causing extensive damage – one of the greenhouses was also targeted and several shrubs were dug up and then discarded. Thank you.

We had a very good attendance last month and managed to do a lot of clearing of drainage ditches and other areas.

There will be similar work at this month’s session on Saturday 14th March meeting at 10am in the Hollies car park. As it’s been so wet it’s important to wear appropriate clothing and footwear.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING SUITABLE GLOVES as we don’t provide them.
A range of tools are available but feel free to bring your own.

Refreshments will be provided as usual when we finish. Hope to see you all there.

Future dates:
Saturday 11th April -10am
Saturday 16th May – 9.30am (annal plant sale)
Saturday 13th June – 10am