The National Shoreline Clean-up 2013 was hampered by heavy rain last Saturday. So … this Friday, September 27th, at 3:30 PM, you are invited… encouraged … to join other volunteers on the bluff overlooking the Lake near where the Creek enters the Lake, to deal with a Clean Sweep of the  adjacent beach areas. 

Come out and join in, be part of the ongoing beautification of the Parks, the Shoreline and our City  … we’ll supply the gloves and the bags, we need you to supply the energy and enthusiasm!!

The September meeting of the Directors of “The Friends of Walkers Creek … WCNA” is happening Wednesday, September 18, beginning at 7:00 PM at the Grantham Lions Club on Niagara Street. All members and friends are welcome to attend and participate in the Q & A session. Copies of the “Homeowners Stewardship Guide for Walkers Creek” booklet will be available at this meeting.

The agenda is as follows:

1- Welcome

2- Minutes of the September Directors meeting

3- Business arising:
   A- Evaluation of the “Homeowners Stewardship Guide” Launch and TD Tree Planting
     1- Distribution of the Guide to residences adjacent to the parks
     2- Possible application for TD Foundation grant request for signage
     3- Repositioning of some shrubs
   B- Evaluation of the Star Gazing Night
     1- Promotion
     2- Attendance
     3- Does a school curriculum contain astronomy? … if so, could we look at inviting the students to also come by in 2014.
C- WCNA Walks in the Parks:
   1- Schedule: All on Thursday mornings beginning at 10:00 AM
     September 19       Walkers Creek North      Parnell start
    October 13           Walkers Creek South       Parnell start
    October 17          Cindy Drive Park               Cindy Drive start
    October 31          Cherie Road Park             Cindy Drive start
   2- Proposal for 2014:
*     Reduce Walks to three in each season, Spring and Fall, starting as per the 2nd dates used at present.
*     Consider 2 weekend walks each season to include those people who may be otherwise occupied (employed)

4- New Business:
    1- Community Meeting Wednesday October 18th
      * Program: Possible review of the new Zoning Bylaw
     * Invite school officials to attend a meeting to help us look at school involvement in the Parks … volunteering, Geochaching,  
        nature walks, water quality with Mark Green, photography with the Camera Club ………..
  2- Additions to the Directors group … possible suggested source of people; skills wanted
  3- Date for the AGM January 2014

5- Other Business:
1- Q & A with members and friends

6- Next Directors meeting: October 18th combined with Community meeting

7- Adjournment:

REAL Stars in Cindy Drive Park?? Saturday, September 14, beginning at dusk, the Niagara Chapter of the Royal Astronomical Society members make their annual journey to that Walkers Creek Park for a night of star gazing … bring the children … they can play on the very nearby Playground … bring warm sweaters and lawn chairs … and certainly bring your curiosity and questions. The expert members of  Astronomical Society really enjoy introducing folks to the sky above, answering questions for the individuals, willing to suggest equipment you might use to begin or advance in your personal sky watching.

     

A good idea is to bring a flashlight so you can safely follow the paths as the evening winds down and you head back to your car.  Wilcher Drive parking will place you closest to the event site in Cindy Drive Park … Parnell is another good bet and a bit longer walk  into Cindy Drive Park… and Cindy Drive  is an alternative for the person who enjoys an evening stroll. 

  

Come a  bit early and collect your free copy of the fabulous “Homeowners Stewardship Guide to Walkers Creek”. This quality booklet, a cooperative venture by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and the “Friends of Walkers Creek … WCNA”, is a guide to the area, an informative review of good practices in keeping the Creek and Parks healthy and prosperous and the listing of native plants that are home garden friendly ,can be just what you have always wanted since you moved to this area. And while you are at it, see if you can locate some of the 425 trees and shrubs added to the Parks this past Saturday as part of the “TD Friends of the Environment Foundation” grant that was our contribution to the Foundation’s goal of planting one million trees across Canada on that one day!! Only Native species of the Carolinian forest made this extra ordinary planting a major step forward to preserve and support this City and WCNA goal of retaining and encouraging a view forward based on the reality of the past.  And to get a sense of the great volunteer activity last Saturday, check out a previous article on this website that has close to one hundred photos taken during that planting event.