Volunteers and staff at Mary Stevens Park are appealing for local people to lend a hand.
The plea for more local families, groups and individuals to volunteer follows a successful £2.6m programme of Heritage Lottery Fund improvements at the Stourbridge park.
Litter pickers, gardeners and maintenance workers are all needed to help keep the green space beautiful. Other voluntary roles such as supporting the history project group, wildlife monitoring at the park and collecting data are also available. The park’s gardening group, which meets outside the cafe every Friday at 11am, is recruiting new volunteers to help tend the vegetable garden and orchard.
People can volunteer during the week and at weekends as well as evenings during the summer. Litter pickers are urgently needed to help tidy up the park at weekends. Matt Williams, chief officer for environmental services, said:
“Mary Stevens Park is treasured by people from across the borough and we are lucky to have the dedication of the Friends group and other voluntary groups to help keep it beautiful throughout the year.
"We would also encourage all park users to do their bit by using the bins provided to dispose of litter and cleaning up after their dogs.”
Recent improvements to the park include work to the park gates, war memorial, bandstand and Heath Pool as well as the creation of a new cafe and toilet facilities. A heritage ranger has also been appointed to deliver a programme of activities at the park. Park volunteer Jess Avery, aged 18, has won an award for her volunteer work at the park. She said:
“I volunteered at Mary Stevens Park by monitoring the water quality at Heath Pool as part of my sixth form studies.
“The research experience has helped me to secure an offer for a university place and I also won the Environment category at the Dudley Youth Awards because of it.”
For more information on voluntary opportunities including litter picking equipment people can contact senior park ranger Deborah Merrick by calling 01384 815279 or emailing deborah.merrick@dudley.gov.uk.
