UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who has already sponsored me. I’m so thankful for all the support. This morning i completed the Plymouth 10k, in a personal best time, of 01:00:22 (1 hour and 22 seconds). That is despite me hanging out with a chesty cough and snotty cold! Im so proud of myself for this achievement, and showing how positive thinking can have such a profound effect on the mind, body and soul.

If you haven‘t already donated, this just giving page will be open for a little while longer before all the money raised (including the cash i‘ve been sponsored) is given over to Pollenize. There will of course be further updates once this has happened!

On Sunday 6th October i'm going to be running the Plymouth 10K (Britain's Ocean City Race) and i'm hoping to raise money for a fantastic community project from Pollenize! Please sponsor and help me!

About me: i'm Emily and i'm not a 'natural runner'. Actually i'd go as far as saying I hate running. It's painful and I suffer with a plethora of old injuries; making a 10km run just about the last thing I want to be doing on a Sunday morning! I run like Pheobe in Friends, with arms flailing about and I have the ability to trip over just about anything; including myself. This massively hilly race will really be a challenge for me and I really want to do my bit for a local cause that is close to my heart. I'm really hoping you'll all take pity on me and donate, even if it is just to stop me going on at you about the bees! Every £ counts so even if its a small amount, it‘s all appreciated!

Pollenize CIC is a social enterprise that brings together the power of community and technology to reverse pollinator decline. I'm a patron and have seen for myself the invaluable work that these guys do, and I want to help spread the message and actively participate with this project.

Pollenize CIC weblink

This is an ecological and climate crisis - Pollenize works alongside bees to bring attention to pollinator decline. It can be overwhelming watching news and social media bombarding us about the climate crisis, and it is easy to feel helpless, this is why Pollenize believes in the mantra: 'Think Global, Act Local' , this is how we can all make a difference.

With the money I raise in sponsorship for this race, Pollenize will provide a year's patronage for young people within the community. This will give them guided and informative beehive inspections throughout the beekeeping calendar year; along with expert bee instruction to develop their knowledge and cultivate the next generation of beekeepers. The additional funds will also allow them to pollinate the local area and provide native wildflower seeds that are necessary to enable the establishment of healthy habitat for local honey bees and other pollinators alike.

Pollenize wants Plymouth to lead the way by example for other cities to look to for how we can make our urban environments ecological havens for pollinators, and connect communities back to nature. The apiary enclosures will become the beacons for the community engagement in pollinator conservation. The most important mission at Pollenize is to leave a healthy, habitable planet for the next generation to live in. Through their wildflower seed packets, local communities, engagement with schools, and keeping bees in our city, they will tackle pollinator decline locally.

Please donate - be an active part of pollinator conservation efforts!

As a Community Interest Company, they provide further projects at schools, showcasing the importance of pollinators in our environment. Their aim is to introduce apiaries (Beehives) to high profile buildings in the centre of urban communities. These apiaries are stocked with Native European Dark Honey Bees. Key to their goal is gathering environmental intelligence data through remote hive sensing equipment and performing honey pollen DNA analysis to improve the future resilience of urban pollinators and their habitats.

Their mission includes accelerating pollinator awareness by introducing apiaries stocked with Native European Dark Honey Bees to high profile buildings in the centre of urban communities (currently there are five apiaries, with more to come). Also gathering environmental intelligence data through remote hive sensing and honey pollen DNA analysis to improve the future resilience of urban pollinators and their habitats.

Pollinator decline is a serious environmental problem, which we all have a responsibility to engage with.