Normandy Park

Hello Neighbors,

Our flower beds at Normandy Park are looking neglected, and we would like to spruce them up for our SABA 5K (Sunday,Oct.23rd).

There are many ways to help:

1) Fall Clean Up on Saturday, Oct. 15th from 10:00-12:00 (if not raining). Bring your shovels and gardening gloves and help us pull weeds.

2) Volunteer to "Adopt a Spot"--it can be a small or big section to maintain throughout the year. Just drop Emi Lievano an email at emiliacl@mindspring.com so that she can keep track of the areas.

3) Pull a weed or two--as you walk by or play at the park.

4) Volunteer to coordinate a garden clean-up/planting with a group of friends and neighbors. This would be good for a boy or girl scout troop activity.

Your help will keep our neighborhood looking beautiful!

We can't do it without you!

Due to the weather forecast for Saturday, 4/16, the Spring Park Planting and Egg Hunt will postponed to the rain date of Sunday 4/17. The planting will still begin at 10:00 am and the egg hunt will begin at 11:00 am. The time of the Easter Bunny's arrival is still a surprise.

Spring has sprung and it is time for SABA's annual spring planting and Easter Egg Hunt at Normandy Park. As in the past, this event will take place on the weekend before Easter. So, this year, the event will be on Saturday, April 16, with a rain date of Sunday, April 17.

The planting portion of the event will begin at 10:00am. This will be our opportunity to clean up the existing garden beds and further enhance the landscaping of the park. Now is the time of year that many of the plants around your house are beginning to sprout. Take a look around your yard and remember those plants that last year you said to yourself, "I really should thin that out." This is the perfect opportunity to tackle that project at home and donate the thinned out plants to the neighborhood park. We will plant those donations throughout the park.

Spring has sprung and it is time for SABA's annual spring planting and Easter Egg Hunt at Normandy Park. As in the past, this event will take place on the weekend before Easter. So, this year, the event will be on Saturday, April 16, with a rain date of Sunday, April 17.

The planting portion of the event will begin at 10:00am. This will be our opportunity to clean up the existing garden beds and further enhance the landscaping of the park. Now is the time of year that many of the plants around your house are beginning to sprout. Take a look around your yard and remember those plants that last year you said to yourself, "I really should thin that out." This is the perfect opportunity to tackle that project at home and donate the thinned out plants to the neighborhood park. We will plant those donations throughout the park.

For the last 2 years, our first event of the year was the Easter Egg Hunt, held on the weekend before Easter. The timing of Easter (and therefore the Egg Hunt) was appropriate for also having our spring park clean-up and planting event at Normandy Park on the same day. This year, Easter is much later (April 24). We should think about:

1. When should we have the Easter Egg Hunt? Maybe April 16 with April 17th as a rain date?

2. Who will help organize the egg hunt, including getting the supplies? What age groups should we have for the kids to hunt? Last year the groups were 0-2, 3-5, and 6-8. How does that sound?

3. Can we count on the Easter Bunny to make an appearance again?

4. When should we have the spring clean-up and planting event? Having it on the same day as the egg hunt might bring out more people but the weather might allow us to plant and clean-up the park even before the event.

Excitement is mounting for The Second Annual SABA 5k, to be held on Sunday, October 10, 2010. Here is the schedule of events for the day:

8:00 - 9:00 am - Registration
8:30 am - Dedication of the Bill Davis Memorial
9:00 am - Start of 1 mile walk/run
9:20 am - Start of 5k race

Prizes this year include 2 gift certificates each for 3 personal training sessions at Vertex Fitness Personal Training Studio in Bryn Mawr, Pa and 2 $25 gift certificates to The Running Place in Newtown Square, PA. In addition, the first 100 participants will get an event t-shirt and a Smart ID (shoe attachment for runner identification and emergency info). The Smart ID tags have been donated by The Running Place.

On October 3rd, SABA will be hosting our annual Fall Planting event at Normandy Botanical Gardens. Please come join us for some weeding and mulching on this first Sunday of October. Bring a pair of gloves, a garden spade, a favorite weeding tool and your family to meet some of your neighbors at the park. We will be focusing on four areas; the two existing garden beds at the corners of Cricket and Oakford and Cricket and Normandy, and the corner of Oakford and Aubrey and the beds surrounding the house(see pics below). Now that the house has been painted and repaired on it's exterior and the arborvitae trees have been removed it is time to focus on the beds around the house. We will be weeding and turning soil around the house and elsewhere as needed and applying mulch to all areas for the winter. Any plant donations are welcome and greatly appreciated. We ask that you bring any plants for donation to the garden on the morning of the planting.

We have selected Saturday, May 8 for this year's spring planting. This is one of our two most substantial events for further improving the landscaping and beauty of Normandy Park. I think the spring planting ends up feeling more fulfilling because you can watch the fruits of your effort grow and blossom throughout the rest of the outdoor season into the fall.

As in the past, the success of this and the beauty of the park depends on you. We need your volunteer effort for planting all the new additions to the park. Also. most everything we plant comes as a donation from neighbors. So, please take a look around your yard to see what plants are ready for thinning or you have decided to replace with something new. Then, don't simply discard those old plants. Bring them to Normandy Park on May 8 to make your own, personal contribution to this pocket park that has been such a centerpiece for the community.

We have selected Saturday, May 8 for this year's spring planting. This is one of our two most substantial events for further improving the landscaping and beauty of Normandy Park. I think the spring planting ends up feeling more fulfilling because you can watch the fruits of your effort grow and blossom throughout the rest of the outdoor season into the fall.

As in the past, the success of this and the beauty of the park depends on you. We need your volunteer effort for planting all the new additions to the park. Also. most everything we plant comes as a donation from neighbors. So, please take a look around your yard to see what plants are ready for thinning or you have decided to replace with something new. Then, don't simply discard those old plants. Bring them to Normandy Park on May 8 to make your own, personal contribution to this pocket park that has been such a centerpiece for the community.

As we did last year, we will kick off the year of SABA activities with an Easter Egg Hunt. Last year was the first time we held this event and it was a huge success. Many families and children came out and had a great time, especially when the Easter Bunny arrived. Photos from last year's event can be seen at www.sabanews.org/node/126 and there is a link to SABA's Flickr page for more photos.

As many of you know, every year SABA works to further improve the landscaping at Normandy Park. We do this with planting events in the spring and fall and some clean-up or maintenance events at other times. Last year, we began our efforts in the park with a clean-up of the garden beds and preparing various spots around the park for the spring planting event. That clean-up was combined with the Egg Hunt as a way of welcoming in spring at Normandy Park.