Mayor backs beekeeping campaign to bring hives to London
Mayor backs beekeeping campaign to bring hives to London
Charlton Manor Primary school says kids aren't scared of bees
London hives prepare for spring
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has launched a competition to help 50 local groups start up with beekeeping. Capital Bee wants to encourage responsible beekeeping and a bee-friendly city, asking Londoners to grow food, plant flowers and use less chemicals in the garden. The campaign is run by Islington-based food and farming charity Sustain and will provide beehives, bees, equipment and training for the 50 new beekeepers. The deadline for applications is 28th January.
Lots of special sites across London keep bees; there are beehives on the roof of the Tate Modern and John Cass Primary School, on top of St Paul's Cathedral and at the Natural History Museum. Greenwich school Charlton Manor Primary have been keeping bees and head teacher Tim Baker has said that beekeeping “has taught the children to take on responsibility in maintaining the apiary, teaching others about how important bees are and that we needn't fear them”. Mr. Baker explains that beekeeping has provided pupils with a 'real world' learning experience; it supports the school curriculum, has improved the behaviour of some of the school's most challenging pupils, increased environmental understanding and brought a sense of pride across the school.
The Mayor Boris Johnson said: “Bees and the skilled art of bee keeping have been an essential feature of city life for millennia. This is due simply to the fact that the humble bee is vital for food production, helping green spaces to thrive and acting as a reliable ecological barometer for the health of our natural environment”.
“As a logical next step to our initiative to create community food gardens and beautify neglected parts of London, we are taking practical steps to create a 'buzz' around urban bees. Capital Bee is also set to investigate new enterprise opportunities such as those coming from the production of delicious, locally cultivated London honey.”
Rosie Boycott, Chair of London Food, said: “A declining bee population has potentially catastrophic consequences for human life as we know it. With more and more people living in cities, it is important we seek to learn more about urban bee decline and how we can reverse this worrying trend. Our bee keeping competition offers Londoners a response to this problem, whilst we have also bought together experts to help explore the additional solutions. But anyone can help the cause of bees whether by planting bee-friendly plants or simply learning to appreciate them as a friend not a foe.”
Bees are a vital part of the ecosystem, pollinating food crops and plant feed for farmed animals. Whilst bees may be thought of as more suited to the countryside, cities now play an important role in helping to protect honey bees and other pollinators because of the diverse range of native and exotic plants available throughout the bees' season, less agricultural chemicals and a longer foraging season due to fewer frosts.
The campaign is part of the project Capital Growth, which aims to create 2,012 new community-run food growing spaces in London by the end of 2012, and an important part of the Mayor's plans for a greener London. Beekeeping has traditionally been a partner to food growing on allotments, gardens and farms, and the new growing spaces created by the project will provide the bees with plenty of food in return for their pollination services. Meanwhile, the Mayor's Urban Greening team is creating new habitats across the city to help bees and other pollinators and provide Londoners with healthy parks and green spaces.
The campaign was launched at the London Bee Summit at the Royal Festival Hall in December. The Summit was opened by environment minister Lord Henley and brought together beekeepers, politicians, academics and local residents to debate the future of beekeeping in London. One attendee was so inspired by the campaign they even wrote a song about it.
Pamela Brunton, who co-ordinates the campaign for Sustain, says, “The sold-out Summit shows just how important the fate of the bee is to Londoners. Done properly, beekeeping can bring many benefits to people and nature, and we think more people in the capital should have a chance to enjoy this rewarding activity. Anyone can help: grow your own vegetables, use less chemicals or buy organic food; and if you have the time and space for bees yourself, enter our competition to set up a beehive in your community.”
ENDS
For more information please call Pamela Brunton on Ben Reynolds at Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, on 0203 5596 777 / 07866 422 586.
For the Mayor of London's press office, contact Hilary Merrett on 0207 983 4755/ 07747 766673
Notes to editors:
- The competition is open for entries until 5pm Friday, 28 January 2011. Winners will be notified by Friday 18 February. Applicants need to have a new food growing space (created after January 2009), the involvement of at least five people and must provide a reference. The 50 winning community groups will receive a beehive and bees, the protective clothing, basic tools, training, mentoring and support.
- For more information on what makes a good site for keeping bees and step-by-step instructions on how to enter the competition, visit: https://www.capitalgrowth.org/bee_competition/
- Capital Bee is a new project by Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, which promotes community beekeeping and campaigns for a bee-friendly city. It is part of Capital Growth and is supported by the Mayor of London. http://www.capitalbee.org/
- Capital Growth is a partnership initiative between London Food Link, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, and the Big Lottery's Local Food Fund. It aims to boost community food growing, creating 2,012 new food growing spaces by the end of 2012. There are over 700 plots already up and running in a diverse range of places, such as schools, by railways, on housing estates and on roofs. https://www.capitalgrowth.org/
- Defra figures show that the UK's honeybee hives contribute around £200m a year to the economy, yet only one in six pots of honey consumed in the country is produced here. Capital Bee will therefore also investigate the enterprise opportunities that bee keeping can offer London, such as locally produced honey and hives, beeswax products and the provision of training.
- Tim Baker, the Head Teacher, is an enthusiastic advocate of bee keeping in schools. Charlton Manor Primary is on Indus Road in Greenwich. www.charltonmanor.greenwich.sch.uk/
- Singer-songwriter Jessica Goyder's live recording of “Bring Back the Bees and the Honey”, inspired by the Capital Bee campaign, is on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/jessicagoyder
Published Tuesday 25 January 2011
London Food Link: London Food Link brings together community food enterprises and projects that are working to make good food accessible to everyone in London to help create a healthy, sustainable and ethical food system for all.
