We were invited by Sean Harkin, the 'NT Gardener in Residence' in Manchester to be part of the Snowdrop planting experience throughout the City Centre to commemorate the centenary of WW1.
Sean had ordered 100,000 snowdrops and had planned to plant them at different City Centre locations throughout the week:
Sat 13/9 - Manchester Cathedral
Sun 14/9 - St John's Gardens (near MOSI)
Mon 15/9 - Parsonage Gardens
Weds 17/9 - Sackville Gardens
Fri 19/9 - Manchester Science Park
Sat 20/9 - The Northern Quarter
Sun 21/9 - Manchester University
We met Sean at 10.45am in time to help set everything up then we were shown how best to plant the snowdrops and asked to encourage anyone walking by to either dig a hole for snowdrops, or place 4 bulbs into a hole, so they were part of the commemoration. There were stickers for the children and booklets '50 things to do ...' to hand out and encourage children to enjoy the outdoors either in their own back garden, on days out with their family or at NT properties.
It was a lovely day, the sun shone for most of it and, as well as 8 MNTVers (including 2 'newbies'), plus Sean and Ellie who are NT staff, there were other volunteers who had heard about the day (either work-of-mouth or via the NT website), and wanted to take part. Most put on high-viz jackets so that the public knew who to speak to.
It was lovely to have a special visit from Scarlett, who used to be a member of MNTV, and her 4 year old son Yao. Scarlett and Yao stayed for about an hour helping to dig holes and plant the bulbs:-)
Although it wasn't one of our usual conservation days, it was really enjoyable and lovely to see most of the people walking through the gardens, becoming involved and taking part in the planting snowdrops experience.
Well done Sean for organising it and inviting us along!
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