Friends of St. James' Park

24/09/2026

Gardening Report for last week 16th September 2026 🌳

The gardening team was formed of 9 volunteers and it was also really encouraging to welcome a new person to the team. From the council, Matt and Ben were trimming the yew hedges and Paul was clearing paths and trimmings : a busy day! We did a lot of weeding of the main beds at the front and in preparation for leaf mulch spreading. Paths were swept and cleared and a lot of litter was picked. Some new kindly donated propagated hebes and euonymus were planted filling gaps where some had failed, some milk thistle and achillea were moved, and new plantings watered. Besides all of this, the leaf mulch area was repaired thanks to our own fix-it man, and with slabs gifted from other local projects including Shirley Mens Shed. The cedar tree on the St James Road bank is now upright again with some new support, again thanks to the fix-it sense within the team.
It was a warm sunshiney day, with nice clouds over the re-greened field and many plants are looking a whole lot happier since the rain has been seeping down into the soil to their roots. Some such as Penstemon and the Crinum Lily are having another go at flowering.
To round off a lovely session we enjoyed some special cake shared to celebrate a golden anniversary. Thank you! And Congratulations to our main plant propagator and personal restocker of perennials for plant diversity in the park.

From your Friends of St James Park Gardeners 💚







Southampton City Council
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14/09/2026

🌳 TREASURER WANTED! 💚

Friends of St James’ Park are looking for a volunteer Treasurer!

You don’t need to be a qualified account. Just good with numbers and willing to give 2-3 hours of time a month.

If you think you can help make a real difference to our park & community, get in touch for an informal chat with Susan Kinch or Cath Dixon today 💚

10/09/2026

Gardening Report for 9th September 2026.

Six of us met to form this week's gardening team.

Sadly we arrived at the park to find another 3 of our containers full of plants had been stolen. We are grateful for community awareness over these thefts so please keep an eye out and do let us know if you spot the containers somewhere, thank you so much. In the meantime the brilliant gazanias (pictured) remain for us all to enjoy.
The team continued with the seasonal and weekly tasks. Debris was cleared from paths and steps, litter picked, mulch spread and various pruning and weeding done. The paving around the community room was weeded, a kindly gifted heebee was planted and watered, a self seeded wild plum tree was pruned, buddleias trimmed, dead wood cut from shrubs and the rest of the major leaf mould bin was emptied and the leaf mould spread across beds as mulch to suppress weeds, and protect and add structure to the soil.
Helianthus are revived with the rain, as are dahlias. The sedums are turning pink, their flowers' nectar attracting insects - and the tea trolly/ wheelbarrow topped up with treats for the workers.
It was sad by the end of our session to see that litter had come back so quickly; abandoned snack wrappers just left on the bench. Keeping the park nice for all takes the community, not just us few! So gratitude to our team and all who help keep the park nice for everyone.

Your Friends of St James Park Team








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Southampton City Council

04/09/2026

2nd September 2026

A sad Gardening Report this week 😞 but we pushed on through 💪

10 of us met to form this week's gardening team, we were very happy to be joined by 2 members of staff from the council.

It was a bad week for us as some of the planters full of plants had been stolen and part of our composting area destroyed. We counted the damage, searched for planters and cleared up the hazardous mess of smashed paving slabs in the play area beyond the tennis courts, and wooden structure smashed and strewn about. This was obviously very disappointing and disheartening after the care, cost and volunteer time in planting and nurturing those 4 stolen containers of plants and the work involved in constructing that compost area last autumn. While some of us were involved with this, other members of the team were dealing with other depressing aspects of the park; the litter and the dog poo... sometimes it is understandable to question why we bother.

The good news was the rain ! - although it's not great fun having a wet tea time without a lot of shelter. The other good news was Penny's cake, that did cheer us up!
Besides all this there was useful work done of weeding and spreading last year's leaf mulch, some pruning of the rambling rose as it has nowhere to ramble, and some clearing of steps and paths. Meanwhile Matt and Paul made great progress on trimming the long yew hedges.
With gratitude to the gardening team as always for their perseverance despite the odds and for bothering and caring about the park for the community's sake.






Southampton City Council

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04/09/2026

‼️IMPORTANT - DOG OWNERS‼️

Please read an update below posted by our local vets.

Be cautious when walking your dogs in the local area. Dogs have become unwell after being in both the green over by the church on St James Road and St James Park.

19/08/2026

💚Help us to make a difference💚

The gardeners would love to invite anyone who’d like to join us for some litter picking at the park today! 🌿🧤

📅 Today – Wednesday 19th August
⏰ 1pm
📍 Meet by the container, next to the tennis courts

Please bring your own gloves if you can.

This will be part of our normal weekly gardening meet, so pop along, lend a hand and help us keep St James Park looking lovely. 💚

Everyone is welcome, even if you’ve never joined us before!

Hope to see you there! 🌳💚

fans

18/08/2026

Gardening report for last week.

The morning watering crew was 4 strong and in the afternoon, a team 8 of us gathered.

Thanks to the morning waterers, some plants in the park have a bit more chance of surviving. It is good to water early before the hot sun causes our watering efforts to evaporate.

Unfortunately the park was looking pretty disrespected with litter and our volunteers picked up at least 7 buckets full during the session.

The gardeners would like to invite any who would like to join us tomorrow (Wednesday 19th August) to help pick litter please, same time same place: Weds 1pm at the container. Hope to see you there!

This week we were fortunate to have three people on the case and while litter picking, two of our volunteers almost went to litter pick some white fluff - a little lost dog hiding in the shade under the hedge - thankfully ultimately helping to reunite dog and owner. (spot the dog in the picture! would you have seen it?)
The team were otherwise busy with clearing paths and steps, dead heading, reigning in brambles and cutting back some creeping thistle and dock from the St James side bank - as well as watering as needed...
Amongst the thistles were grasshoppers galore and these insects (pictured) could be a dock bug (perhaps you can help identify!?).
The main colour in the park is now the beautiful planters by the tennis courts, as well as the odd drought tolerant species such as the Helichrysum pictured - with thanks to the volunteers for their vision and foresight 🙂

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12/08/2026

A dog has been found at St James Park. We believe someone was at the park looking for it earlier. It’s by the tennis courts on the right hand side as you walk up to the field. It’s been offered some water but won’t come out from under the bush. The cafe have rung the RSPCA.

07/08/2026

We are delighted to be supporting these sessions.

Spaces will go fast and are pre booked only, follow the link to get your session booked! 💚

🚲🌟 Learn to Ride – Summer Holidays Fun! 🌟🚲

FREE Learn to Ride sessions incoming for this August at St.James' Park, Shirley Tuesday 18th, where we'll be helping kids build confidence and skills. ✅

Big thanks to Friends of St. James' Park for supporting us to run these sessions 💚🙌
Spaces are limited — don’t miss out!

Sign up here: https://bit.ly/sotonkidscycling

15/07/2026

💚 Thank You! 💚

What an amazing day we had at our Friends of St. James Park Family Fundraiser on 12th July!

Despite the heat, it was wonderful to see so many people come together to support our charity. A huge thank you to everyone who attended, our incredible volunteers, USH students, stallholders, entertainers and all of our supporters. You helped make the day so special.

Thanks to your generosity, we raised much-needed funds that will help us continue supporting St. James Park and delivering projects and activities that benefit our local community.

We couldn’t do what we do without you. Thank you for being part of it, and we hope you enjoy these photos from a fantastic day! ☀️💚📸