Andrew celebrated World Bee Day (20th May) – a day to cherish the profound role that bees and other pollinators make to our precious ecosystem.
It was made even more special this year with the news that the Arundel Bee Project – led by local resident and bee-keeper Nick Field - achieved its long-held goal of leading Arundel to being awarded the special accolade of “bee-friendly town” status.
The Arundel Bee Project launched two years ago, and the initiative was designed to raise the awareness of the threats to pollinators and their habitats, and to create a community-led series of supporting programmes to help combat these threats. Bees have been in a steady decline and since 1900 - the UK has seen 13 species of bees disappear, with a further 35 currently classed as endangered and this is a statistic we can all help to reverse.
World Bee Day was introduced by the Slovenian Beekeepers Association in 2017 and adopted by the United Nations in 2018 to help raise awareness of bees.
Andrew Griffith MP commented:
‘Last year I joined Arundel CofE Primary School when the children were gifted wildflower seeds from the Arundel Wildflower Project, part of the Arundel Bee Project, to encourage bees in their community, It is fantastic to see that the hard work that has gone into this wonderful project has been recognised. I congratulate the Arundel Bee Project on achieving their status as a “bee-friendly town” and would love to see many more towns and villages running projects like this to earn the same title.”
Notes
- To read more about the Arundel Bee Project see https://arundelbeeproject.org/
- To read more about the The British Beekeepers Association please see https://www.bbka.org.uk/
- To read Andrew’s news release of his visit to the Wildflower Project at Arundel Church of England School please see https://www.andrewgriffithmp.com/news/mp-visits-schoolchildren-support-arundel-wildflower-project
