Josh Runs for Warmer Homes and Greener Lives

Hello, this is Josh - I'm running my first ever half marathon on Saturday 7th December, the Endurancelife Dorset Half Marathon along the Jurassic Coast, at the urging of a friend who is running with me. The course is steep and will be a challenge!

It's my birthday the following week on 11th December. I am using the opportunity of these two occasions to fundraise for some of the fantastic grassroots climate and sustainability-focused organisations I have got to know in Birmingham and the West Midlands since I moved here nearly three years ago.

All are doing vital work to improve people's lives – for example through offering energy saving advice; supporting people through getting energy efficiency improvements such as insulation or solar panels; promoting walking and cycling; and nurturing green spaces. In the current economic climate, they need support more than ever.

I will be fundraising for five organisations, in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Stoke-on-Trent, and will split any money I raise equally between them. They are:

RETROFIT BALSALL HEATH - An innovative coalition of community, faith and climate organisations striving towards a more sustainable Balsall Heath, in inner-city Birmingham, which I have been supporting and whose events I have been attending since launch in 2022. RBH have earned headlines locally and nationally for their grassroots work getting government Green Homes Grants allocated by the city council to postcodes in Balsall Heath and nearby neighbourhoods, and helping residents apply and aiding them through the process of getting improvements installed: a hard slog requiring compassion and patience. They have a much broader, holistic vision around greener lives, eg facilitating tree-planting in front gardens and educating local kids and their parents about soil and plants.

FOOTSTEPS : FAITHS FOR A LOW CARBON FUTURE - An inspiring project of charity Birmingham Council of Faiths, under the leadership of Quaker Chris Martin and former C of E vicar Rev John Nightingale, bringing together religious groups through events and programmes to explore responses to climate challenges and promote climate action. Footsteps holds an annual interfaith walk and conference, both of which I was delighted to attend this year, and has facilitated energy efficiency assessments for places of worship across the city. I have worked closely with dedicated Footsteps volunteer and race and social justice campaigner Toqueer Quyyam.

RYECROFT COMMUNITY HUB - A dynamic and welcoming centre for charities and social enterprise in Blakenall, Walsall. Director Dave Taylor, who I’ve known and collaborated with since early 2023, and colleagues Nick Dodds and Kate Kaur are passionate about climate and sustainability in ways that are aligned with, not in tension with addressing bread-and-butter cost-of-living issues. In the past year, RCH has set up the Greenway Centre - a physical library of environmental books and a forum for activities promoting healthy lifestyles and low carbon choices.

NO LIMITS TO HEALTH - A health and wellbeing-focused Community Interest Company with a base in Wolverhampton East Park, encouraging people from minority and less affluent communities into cycling for pleasure. No Limits to Health holds twice-weekly led rides, offers bike repair, and also supports aspirant young cyclists from minority backgrounds into cycling sport. I met founder Sam Henry when I first came to Birmingham; I joined No Limits rides in 2024, as an inexperienced cyclist myself, and attended the first ever Wolverhampton Kidical Mass last summer, a celebration of cycling infrastructure in the borough. Off the back of the latter’s success, No Limits will be organising Wolverhampton Kidical Mass on a bigger scale in 2025.

CENTRE SPACE ARTS - A community interest company in Stoke-on-Trent running cultural events. Centre Space Arts has been commissioned by the Warm This Winter fuel poverty and energy efficiency campaign to run a series of workshops and drop-ins to offer a safe space and creative outlet for people struggling with high energy bills and other cost-of-living pressures. In summer 2022 I worked on a project with Centre Space founder, talented Stokie photographer and videographer Darren Washington, which subsequently led to Centre Space running a day of action for Warm This Winter at historic Fenton Town Hall.

I aim to raise funds between now and the end of the year. I will post an update after my run to let you know how it goes. All donations raised will initially be sent to my bank account, then disbursed evenly to each of the beneficiary organisations outside GoFundMe. After the funds are disbursed, I will write an update for donors on what difference the funding has made to each of the organisations, and their upcoming plans.