Sunshine and showers, butterflies and flowers: a lovely morning knee deep (and shoulder deep for some) in the meadows and on the Rose Walk with Jen's mask making session, glitter and of course, our weekly check on the tadpoles.
Please put Sunday June 14th - 12pm onwards - in your diaries. Meet by the Rose Walk for picnic, play and gentle knitting and crochet in preparation for the big Yarn Bomb at the Fair on June 28th. No skill needed as we can teach you the basics, the more experienced can help us cover the trees in wool art! We are also looking for teddies and soft toys who may need new homes for our Fair tombola in aid of the Friends of West Bank Park please contact Lucy King: lucyking.king1@googlemail.com if you have any you can donate. Lastly, we REALLY need some volunteers for the Young Friends craft tent on June 28th from 1pm to 4pm. Even half an hour will be fantastic and you will have great fun - promise! Please contact Jen a s a p on the e mail above (top right).

Woodland soup and worm hunting - all washed down with some magical bubbles and Ruth's incredible cake. A lovely session this week, made all the more memorable with another set of heart-stopping photos from Elly Ross.

How to make Woodland Soup:

Grab a bucket. Fill it with cabbage (leaves) carrots (fir cones), herbs (random weeds), peas (beech nuts) and plenty of gravy. (mud). Add the finest stock (water), stir (a lot), chant, sing, fling it around the woods and spoon it into baking trays. (actual baking trays or old plastic pots). Cook in the oven (on a log) and...enjoy....

Rolling, rolling, rolling, RAW EGGS! Actually they were hard boiled, and decorated, before we sent them down the hill at our Easter Special this week. Any upsets over smashed eggs were quickly alleviated by the discovery you could then eat them...
Huge thanks to Tanya for a lovely session and we're looking forward to Bird Feeder Fun next week with Lucy. A reminder that we need volunteers please for the Young Friends section of this year's West Bank Park Summer Fair. Please contact Tanya if you want to spend an hour or two in the Craft Tents - yarn bombing and Super Heroes are our general themes so far!
Please contact Tanya at: happyheart78@btinternet.com

Another amazing adventure with the wonderful Alex Hunt (http://www.partiesofdistinction.co.uk/). There were crocodiles in trees, treacherous shark-infested rivers and pirates on the prowl...but our brave and fearless Young Friends battled through and managed to find the treasure in the end... We are SO lucky to have Alex running these sessions - which she doesn't charge anything for - so remember, if you are planning a party, who you going to call???!!!!!

Those who went down to the woods on Thursday had a very big surprise indeed. Wonderful Alex (from http://www.partiesofdistinction.co.uk/) had planted cuddly friends all over the park- along with everything else you could need for a picnic - which everyone brought back to base for a Very Special snack time. It was a real treat Alex, thanks so much. I wish we could have you back again..OH WAIT! Guess who is running the group this week! (March 5). See you there!

We have a beautiful record of our fiery February session this week from Young Friend mum and professional photographer, Elly Ross - thank you so much for our treasured photographs Elly. So this week we brought pop up tents (largely ignored) plus popcorn (not ignored at all) and had frosty frolics and lots of fun! We also decided that since we have a bit of money in the kitty we are freezing (!) the usual £1 donation until March. So we are free, as well as frosty! In February. Enough alliteration... already....

We laugh in the face of frost! Who needs warm weather when you've got spiders to make out of beech nuts and pipe cleaners and Phil's spectacular fruit loaves? Thanks to Elly for a lovely session and PLEASE jot Saturday Feb 7th in your diaries. Its our next Park Action Day and we'll be carrying on our gentle clearing work by the pond/wildlife area to help make sure we all have plenty of space to play when spring finally comes along...Meet at 10am by the pond or playground entrance, shared picnic at 12 and all tools provided.