Yes, that’s us!
Greater Manchester has a lot of green spaces and Salford has
its fair share. Many are in need of a little TLC and it has largely fallen to
local residents to take on this task. The Friends of Buile Hill Park
are certainly very active. Just look at their latest news.
And what a cheery place the croquet pavilion was on a cold
dark day before Christmas. Prettily decorated tables, warm drinks, mince pies,
Christmas biscuits and Stollen.
Should we sing inside or out?
“We thought we’d leave that open. It depends on the weather.”
“The rain’s not due until three.”
So, outside it was.
We attracted a small but lovely audience. It was mixture of
those folk had already been getting everything ready in the pavilion and footfall
of dog-walkers, pram-pushers and families out for a Sunday afternoon stroll.
We sang for half an hour, a mixture of well-known carols
that everyone could join in with, some other Christmas songs and one or two
items from our normal repertoire.
Then we all went indoors for more tea and treats. We gave
out song sheets so that everyone could join in with some old favourites like Frosty the Snow Man and Jingle Bell Rock. We were about to finish
but weren’t quite allowed to.
“We’ve had a request,” said Jeff. Of course. We just had to
do it. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Actions
and all.
I noticed one young mum singing with gusto. We chatted afterwards about the joy of
singing. It’s a great pity she’s occupied with a cub pack on a Tuesday.
“That was a lovely cup of tea,” I said to one of the Friends.
“Would you like another?”
I declined but was persuaded to take another slice of the delicious
Stollen.
There was talk as we left of doing it again next year or maybe
even having a picnic in the summer. Why wouldn’t we? We love to sing and we love to support other local
groups.
