Despite the gloomy weather and the fact it had been raining all day, that didn’t stop the sensational seven goodgymers from turning up - the plan was originally to harvest some acorns.

We met with Sophie Lack at Ockwells park, who was running this evenings task. Sophie gave us a briefing and warmly welcomed our new comer Donna. Unfortunately the acorns were not ripe enough and not ready to be harvested, so therefore another task was put in place.

Early this year the nature reserve team planted several 100 little whip trees, sadly not all of them thrived, only around 50% be-leaf it or not. Our task was to remove the wooden canes and the plastic protection around the trees that hadn’t blooomed. We ran and cycled to the nature reserve (when we finally found the correct place to be after a quick phone call with Alistair of Braywick nature reserve. He guided us to the big metal fenced off area where the planted trees were (which ensured the deers stayed away) and we set to work.

Stuck in A Rut...

It was very boggy and uneven under foot and there were even jokes of placing bets to see who would stumble 1st. Luckily no one did and all ankles are in tact!

Marie and Emma started picking out the good trees from the bad trees along the right hand fence doing a tree-mendous job. Claire started on the other side leaving piles of canes and plastic which Donna came and collected up ready to be counted by Ankur and Sara (of GoodGym Slough) who also did a sterling job of collecting canes and plastic.

Towards the end we were “caning” along and the counters had a great system in place. They counted 343 wooden canes and plastic protectors which Sophie reported back to Alistair for his stats.

Quality control inspector Sophie checked the trees and rescued some that looked to have lost life but were actually secretly thriving with leaves growing at the very bottom. The team then ran back to the car park and even a mini sprint finish was had.

Tree-rrific job team and well done for Marie and Emma running over 10k there and back! We hope you join us for another task very soon.

Donna added to the report:

It was good to help in the park but very wet..managed to do some clearing (despite the rain) as the acorns were not yet ready for harvesting. A lovely group of helpers and I will go again.

Hmmmm....maybe the flow of causation in that report title isn't quite right? Must be this August heat frying my brain... Its not the kale that's making the butts lovely, its the butts that are benefitting the kale! And of course the efforts of the group that run the Maidenhead Community Allotment, and our runners, who have been helping out every week.

This evening's allotment team included Claire, who now knows her way around the allotment like a caterpillar in a cabbage patch; Marie, who we were thrilled to welcome back for her second community mission; and new GoodGymers Emma and Raymond. A very warm welcome to you both, and we hope you enjoyed your first good deed!

When the team arrived the plants were looking very thirsty, so they wasted no time using the watering cans to give everything a big drink. They also had some fun with a hoe.

Amy then stopped by en route to a community mission in Windsor to say hello and bring the keys to the shed and tap. This enabled the team to fill up the water butts from the hose. Kudos to Emma and Marie, who were determined not to waste a drop of precious water. They showed great resourcefulness, attempting to repair a leak with duct tape, a human patch (aka Emma's hand) and eventually deciding to catch the drips in a bowl.

From hoes to hose...water fun evening!

We have lots more community missions listed for the next few weeks. Check out our happenings page for the latest opportunities to get involved.