New friends needed: Piesse Park volunteer group seeking support in Katanning

Friends of Piesse Park are calling on the community to keep the wetland thriving, which has steadily transformed from a mess of rubbish and reeds into a place of leisure and ecological importance since 2009.

Katanning Landcare and volunteer group Friends of Piesse Park have put in countless hours revegetating and developing the once-neglected site and FPP founder Bev Lockley needs hands to keep the ball rolling.

“You don’t have to dig holes and plant things, we need people with all kinds of skills,” she said.

“Half of my problem is that I don’t have the people, we really need someone to do events and publicity, you’ve got to keep yourself out there on Facebook.

“I need someone that wants to do that, I’m 75 years old and I don’t want to do that.”

The sustainability stalwart said that there are many opportunities for volunteers available at Piesse Park, from overseeing the Lakeside Eco Cafe to managing events and providing publicity.

“We need people,” she said.

“What we do is for the community, it’s about trying to improve things for the community, so come and join us.”

The park’s newest project is an activity trail painted by Margaret Innes that joins the children’s playground to the Lakeside Eco Centre.

“When we got the funding from Highways and Byways I thought how will we do this — Margaret came along and she started up at the children’s playground,” Ms Lockley said.

“She loves painting.”

Support received from the Highways and Byways organisation has also helped fund Piesse Park’s newly planted salmon gum woodland.

“When we started work here it was bare nothing,” Ms Lockley said.

“People now think it’s finished but we’ve got all these empty spaces.”

Anyone who would like to lend a hand to the group is encouraged to visit the Lakeside Eco Centre on Clive Street or get in touch with FPP via Facebook.