Guided Lilies get set for Burrator 10k challenge

It's only a few weeks now before the first Burrator 10K Challenge on 22nd May and a group of staff and volunteers from Plymouth Guild calling themselves the Guilded Lilies, are getting in their final hours of practice in order to raise vital funds towards the Guild’s services.

Part of the City since 1907, Plymouth Guild has been supporting people in Plymouth for over 100 years with information, advice and practical support. It also provides infrastructure support to voluntary and community organisations through volunteer brokerage and promotion of placement opportunities.

One of the many services run by Plymouth Guild is Active for Life, a service which supports and promotes physical activity in adults with mental health problems and/ or learning disabilities. The aim of Active for Life is to improve health and wellbeing by helping people find something active they can do regularly and enjoy.

On the last Friday of every month they deliver an environmental conservation activity at Burrator in partnership with the South West Lakes Trust; giving clients the opportunity to try their hand at practical conservation on Dartmoor.

We support the rangers at the South West Lakes Trust to make improvements to sites around Burrator Reservoir; helping to preserve its heritage for future generations. We have undertaken a variety of tasks including; learning traditional woodland management techniques such as coppicing and charcoal making, gorse removal, butterfly surveys and 'bracken bashing' to reveal important historical features at the site.  

Larissa Milden, Plymouth Guild’s Active for Life Service Manager said, “Being in the great outdoors can have a dramatic effect on improving mental health, and it is fantastic to be able to offer such an opportunity to our clients." She went on to say, “We are delighted therefore that a group of staff and volunteers have chosen to attempt to run the Burrator 10k Challenge event on 22nd May to raise vital funds for Plymouth Guild’s services.

Plymouth Guild’s Guilded Lilies would love it if you joined them or came to cheer the runners along. You can also support them by donating to their Guilded Lilies on-line giving page https://localgiving.org/fundraising/guildedlilies.