The lowdown: Pollinator Pioneers were keen to engage with a local eco focused youth group, ideally a school with a strong climate focus and green agenda. The brief – to help fundraise vital cash at the launch of our new training Apiary, throughout a 3 day ‘Bees&Seas’ event at Brooklands Park summer of 2021.

The crew: Following an extensive training session and brief with the school teachers and children – 3 queen bee team leaders were selected to manage 3 groups of 8 worker bee team members. Children ranged from year 3 to year 8, and parents were fully engaged in the process.

Edu Session: Honey bees are social insects, living as a superorgamisim together in large, well-organised family groups, consisting of many individuals, that together function as a whole. Each member has a definite task to perform, related to its adult age. This efficient organisation of a colony is vital to its survival. Likewise, our Worker Bee youth group focused on individual tasks, teamwork and a collaborative effort to achieve a common goal. Project targets included: marketing, administration, coordination, event planning, budgeting and evaluation.

In summary:

Hive Beeby children dressed as bees and performed a waggle dance at the event, bringing customers to their stall to pick up ‘handmade’ woollen pollen pom poms in exchange for a homemade cupcakes.

Hive Pelling children researched and sourced a variety of distinct honeys for a honey tasting stall. The wooden stall was made by one of the groups children from recycled materials – throughout his holidays.

Hive Milling children worked together to build a stall, research a wide variety of local sustainable, environmental and ecological goods to sell. They worked hard sourcing goods from local suppliers as charitable donations.

Children’s comments:

‘’We loved learning about the bees. That there are different types of bees that make up the colony. A queen bee, drone bees, and workers. That all bees work together like a big family.‘’

‘’I learned to increase my confidence, be brave and approach people to come to our stand. This took courage, but I was very happy I learned how to do this.’’

‘’I learned how to do meeting, take minutes and do actions.’’

‘’I loved selling things and raising money, and being at the event and having fun. I’d like to do that again.’’