Volunteers hit town’s park with a big mow

A local businessman has been praised after he took it upon himself to lead a team of volunteers in cutting the grass at Knowl Park in Mirfield.

Martyn Connell, 46, was prompted to take action after seeing pictures of the greenery surrounding the war memorial at Ings Grove Park looking overgrown.

The slashing of council budgets has resulted in a number of green spots across town being neglected.

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Mr Connell, of Lady Heton Drive said: “The war memorial in Ings Grove Park was in a bit of a state. As far as I was concerned these sorts of places should be kept immaculate, regardless of council cutbacks.

“Then I was driving past Knowl Park recently, saw the state it was in and thought ‘that’s not right’. With the hot weather as it is now, as a public park it should be kept nice. I used to take my dog walking there.”

Mr Connell put an appeal out on the Friends of Mirfield Facebook site for volunteers to help him tidy up the park, on Knowl Road, and as a result he was joined by six others on Sunday morning.

Among the group’s number was local farmer Michael Barber, who donated heavy machinery to the cause and Jon Wood who offered a home strimmer to help with the cut.

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Mr Connell added: “A lot of people on Facebook said it was a great idea. We did quite a sterling job considering there was just a few of us.

“There are other areas around town in a similar state and I’m thinking of getting more people together maybe once a month on a Sunday and just cleaning up a bit. We’ve thought about litter-picking, or going down to a churchyard to tidy up the grass around the headstones. We’ve even had a local school get in touch to see if it’s something they can get involved in. It’s just a way of building up a bit of community spirit, which I think is important.”

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