Gardening in torrential rain? We must be daff-t!

How many GoodGymers does it take to plant 500 native daffodil bulbs? 10! Plus a pre-party, a lovely task owner, a secret milestone, and a whole lot of rain.

We started this evening's session in an unconventional way - with a party! The foundation stone event for the Windsor and Maidenhead Eco Action Hub a the Nicholson Centre to be precise.

This was a great opportunity to meet and network with members of other groups, who are leading the charge for action against the climate and biodiversity crises in our area. We heard some really inspiring speakers and had a chance to share our ideas for how we can contribute. We also got yummy cake and drinks - yay! We hope some new tasks and/or new members will come from connections made this evening, and that together we can make a difference.

7.30pm rolled round quickly and it was time to tear ourselves away from the party and head to our task. #WednesdayNightIsGoodGymNight and we couldn't let the evening pass without getting fit whilst doing good. It was also time to get wet! The closer we got to the task location, the more it poured. Task owner Rachel Cook, from Wild Maidenhead had said we would need rain to soften the ground for digging, and the weather gods did not disappoint!

Kudos to Gillian and Angie, who ran a meandering route to the task while the rest of us walked the 1km up the hill. Once on location we gathered tools kindly donated by the Maidenhead Community Allotment and Braywick Nature Centre and received our briefing from Rachel: we would be planting native daffs, which bees absolutely love; we should plant in clusters, at least a bulb-length deep, and with a bulb-length in between; and we should beware of dog poo!

Wow, there's nothing like a torrential downpour to motivate you to speed up on a task. We quickly set to work and within 20 minutes we had planted the whole box - a whopping 500 daffs! Rachel was impressed and said she will definitely welcome us to help with more projects in future. She will be putting signs up to stop contractors mowing this verge in the Spring, and we look forward to seeing the flowers of our labour.

Huge congratulations to Rachel, who completed her 50th good deed this evening. We were so busy with the Eco hub and dodging raindrops that we didn't take the time to celebrate, but we promise to make up for it next time.

We didn't linger in the rain after the task, but instead said our farewells and legged it home. Well done team! Many people would be put off by such wet weather be we just daffo-dilled with it.