Our collaborative project with The Irwell Valley Sustainable Communities Project and The Salford Bee Collective enabled us to install our first bee hive in the Spring of 2014, with training which enabled volunteers to gain understanding of the life cycle of the honey bee and related aspects of bee-keeping and managing hives.
The bee-keeping volunteer initiative has since become very popular, with volunteers gaining a wealth of expertise and knowledge from their involvement in our practical activities with a second hive installed in the Summer of 2014 and over 15 jars of honey sold at the 2014 Christmas Fair as well as at other parish and volunteer events.
WATCH THIS! A collaborative project with Master’s Degree Media Studies Students at Salford University also got under way during the autumn and winter of 2014, producing a short film which describes how important bees are to the natural world and local ecosystems as well as how important the keeping of bees has become to the local community and volunteers at the Paradise Garden.
Introducing Our Bee-Keeping Trainer
David completed our ‘taster’ bee-keeping training course in July 2014 and became a very dedicated volunteer, subsequently taking a key role in the management of our hives as well as acquiring his own hives at his allotments shortly after starting volunteering with the project. Additional, more in depth training was enabled by funding secured through the European Social Fund capacity building grant so that David could undertake additional in-depth training at Tiger Hall in Shropshire providing the additional knowledge that he required to deliver bee-keeping training to a small group of participants during 2015.
David’s knowledge of bees and how to keep them now seems to be astronomical! Following the positive feedback and involvement from those who took part in the bee-keeping activities led by David in 2015 we have promoted the bee-keeping to a much wider audience for the start of the 2016 season and hope to get many more people involved in the fascinating world of bee-keeping during the 2016 calendar year -seen here below…
December 2015 : A summary of ‘where the bees are up to’!
WATCH THIS!!! A short film capturing the final hive inspection of 2015 and interviews with David and other volunteers about the health of the colony as the hives were shut down in December 2015 and the hopes and aspirations of those involved for 2016.
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