Friends of Murphys Point Park

What a perfect day for our Annual General Meeting and Spring Adopt-a-Road event!

The Friends of Murphys Point Park gathered on Sunday, April 26 at the Lally Homestead for our AGM. We had a great turnout of members, who received an update on our 2025 activities and financial statements. Congratulations to Derek Zeisman, David Batchelor and Stephanie Gray on your election for a two-year term on the Board. Derek Needham, Brian Pierce and Tara Langford are completing the second year of their term this year.

Following the AGM, an intrepid crew of volunteers set out from the homestead to complete our spring roadside pick-up as part of the Lanark County Adopt-a-Road program. What a haul! In addition to the usual array of cans, glass bottles (some Stubbies had been there a while!), plastic bottles and miscellaneous garbage (including a trellis), we continued our unofficial quest to build a car by collecting three more tires, a tail pipe and a piece of fender! One tire recovery involved a human chain and a very long stick to retrieve it from a waterbody.

Thanks to our volunteers (Sue, Derek N, Derek Z, Brian, Dave, Tara, Kev, Christine and Steph) for your hard work cleaning up the section of County Road 21 that travels through Murphys Point, and also to Superintendent Curtis Thompson and Assistant Superintendent Mark Read for keeping us safe as we worked. We could not have asked for nicer weather nor better companionship!

Spring is (almost?) upon us and we hope you will join us for our combined Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Spring Adopt-a-Road event on Sunday, April 26!

The event kicks off with our AGM at 9:30 a.m. at the Lally Homestead. This is a brief meeting (usually about half an hour) where you can hear about Friends’ activities in 2025 along with the election of our Board of Directors. More details will be shared about the AGM soon.

The Lanark County Adopt-a-Road event will start right after the meeting. It’s a great way to spend some time outdoors and help keep Murphys Point and the neighbourhood beautiful by picking up litter and recyclables along the stretch of County Road 21 (Lally Road) that passes through the Park – from just before the main entrance through to the Group Camping area. We do each side of the road, which is about 7 kilometres of walking in total, and it usually takes about two hours.

Park staff will be on hand to assist and safety equipment will be available. Volunteers for Adopt-a-Road must sign a waiver for the County in order to participate. Please note, if you participated with us previously, you don’t need to sign the waiver again – it remains valid for the duration of the program. Here is a link to the waiver: https://www.lanarkcounty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Indemnity-Waiver.pdf

For your reference prior to signing the waiver, please have a look at:

·        County agreement information: https://www.lanarkcounty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Agreement-Form.pdf

·        Terms and Conditions: https://www.lanarkcounty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Terms-and-Conditions.pdf

If you would like to help, please complete and return the waiver to us at friendsofmurphyspointpark@yahoo.ca by 4 p.m. on April 23 so that we can forward it to the County. Volunteers will receive safety instructions prior to the pick up, including information about ticks. Sturdy shoes/boots and long socks that you can tuck your pants into are recommended. Equipment will be provided.

A light lunch will be served at the Lally Homestead for volunteers following the pick-up. You are welcome to join us for either or both events!

We hope to see you on April 26!

Mark your calendars for the morning of Sunday, April 26 when the Friends will be hosting our Annual General Meeting followed by the Spring Adopt-a-Road event! There will be food, too!

More specifics will coming very soon. We hope you will be able to join us for one or both activities.

Stay tuned!