Bees and Seas Project Flying

We thought it was about time we updated all our followers on our progress at the new Bees and Seas site at Brooklands Park…

As you may have read earlier this year, our main project sponsor, Sussex Transport replaced two old damaged shipping containers with brand new containers – one will be used for our teaching space and classroom, the other for our apiary and bee-keeping equipment. The difference this has made to the site is unbelievable! The wonderful park rangers at Adur and Worthing Council cleared the site of heavy rubbish in April. Another big milestone reached. In April and May the ‘Friends of Brooklands Park’ volunteers carried out some heavy digging, planting and wild flower seed sewing. This has really started to visually impact the site. The transformation has well and truly began.

And we are super pleased to report that things have not slowed down this last six weeks:

  • The Bees: The wonderful Worthing Honey Collective have been super busy this season. We have seven hives and growing…Queen Agatha’s lovely calm hive was split last month for onwards travel to the Brooklands Apiary. Our second colony of bees has been purchased from Paynes farm, also bound for the new apiary. We currently have over 20 name suggestions for our new Queen Bee!. The winner will be picked during our summer festival.
  • The Bee Hive: Huge thanks to the children at Herons Dale Primary for their commendable creative efforts in designing the latest beehive for our new bees. We are very confident they will love their new home. Head over to our Facebook and Instagram page to view the lovely pictures.
  • Planters, Boats and Creating Space:The fabulous Friends at Brooklands Park (FOB) have been working closely with the park rangers to transform the space. Our volunteers have been working hard. A beautiful boat has been placed at the entrance, and planters have been built and filled. B&Q donated lots of lovely bedding plants to the FOB and these have been used across the site to improve bee forage for our little pollinators. The rangers have been clearing paths and creating space for people to walk around the site. Thank you to the community for continuing to donate seeds, plugs and plants.
  • Fencing and Colour: Our project partner Creative Waves worked all weekend recently – installing a fence from recycled materials to enclose the teaching space. We are so very excited about Nadia and Nessy’s creative design…They have been painting and decorating the containers in preparation for the big unveil. We know these two will add the wow factor to our Pollination Hub. Updates to follow next month…
  • Operation Bee Safe: Another of our business sponsors, CEO of Priavo Security, conducted a thorough site security audit and presented some comprehensive recommendations in a report last month. All in preparation for the bee’s arrival. Friends of Brooklands Project Manager, Lisa Craik, is working closely with the park rangers to enhance security at the compound. Our lovely friends at New View Homes very kindly donated a skip to help us clear rubbish and safety hazards from the compound this last few weeks.
  • Funding: We are incredibly grateful to our funders for the recent donations that have been received. Every amount has been allocated to a project goal, allowing us to transform the site at Brooklands for local people and wildlife.  This additional funding, has allowed us to plan a series of family fun activities at our Bees and Seas event in August. In celebration of World Bee day of course…
  • Promoting Progress: A big thank you to the team at Inside Magazine for promoting our project to the wider community across six different locations and 40,000 households in our Worthing town. A fantastic publication full of sustainability projects, ecological progress and exciting community updates in our local area.
  • Wild Bees Arrive: In other exciting news ‘wild bees’ have made their new home in our log hive which was installed at Breathing Spaces Farm in Sompting in April. The team at Breathing Farm Flowers will be organising walks from the Bees and Seas Festival to this Downland site in August, so you can discover how wild bees live!

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for updates throughout the summer. A full Bees and Seas Festival programme will be published on this blog over the few weeks.  See you there folks.

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