Leeds beekeeper teaching children on World Bee Day and beyond
A beekeeper from Leeds is inspiring a generation of schoolchildren from urban parts of the city to love the winged insects. Kate Turner took up beekeeping during lockdown and began cultivating her own 30,000-strong hive after taking an online course. Ms Turner set up Bee Inspired Eco Education, a community interest company which aims to educate young people about the natural world, last year.Speaking ahead of World Bee Day on Tuesday, Ms Turner said the creatures were "vital" for the future of the planet.
The species' powers of pollination keep the world's eco-system and food chain thriving, but the United Nations has warned that bees are increasingly under threat from human activities."I started learning about bees with a view to then teaching and talking to others about them and inspiring people to love nature," Ms Turner said. "Our young people are our protectors of the future and it's really important that we inspire them to love the world around them and care for it."
With the help of a Leeds City Council grant, Bee Inspired now has a partnership with 10 inner city schools, most of them primaries from deprived neighbourhoods where children may struggle to regularly access green space and nature.Ms Turner, 51, will regularly take a colony to the schools so pupils can learn about the lives of bees. In addition, she runs a hive at the CATCH community centre in Harehills where children from an after-school club get a buzz from observing the insects in their own habitat.
"The kids absolutely love it and their enthusiasm is really infectious," she added."We do other activities around the importance of planting for bees all year round. We make wildflower seed bombs and talk about the simple things everyone can do, regardless of whether or not they have a garden, to help conserve our bees."Ms Turner said beekeeping was a "fascinating hobby", but warned that due to its cost and complexities it is not one "you can just jump into without thinking about it". She added: "If you want to save bees and help them, the big thing to do is to plant for them. "Even if you've not got a garden, you can just use a window box and plant flowers in it and that's a brilliant thing to do."
Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Memorial statue to lost North Sea divers unveiled in Aberdeen
A statue commemorating divers who have lost their lives in the North Sea energy industry has been unveiled in Aberdeen. A dedication service was held at the weekend to mark the installation of the memorial. It is estimated more than 100 divers have lost their lives since the inception of the oil and gas industry in the 1970s. The statue, by sculptor Alan Herriot, overlooks the harbour at Pocra Quay. It was commissioned in 2023 by the North Sea Divers Memorial charity. Depicting a man in a diving suit and helmet, it sits atop a granite plinth which reads: "Dedicated to all divers who lost their lives in the North Sea Offshore Energy Industry". Mr Herriot, one of Scotland's best-known figurative sculptors, has other work in made the statue of Scottish football legend Denis Law outside Provost Skene's House, and one portraying King Robert the Bruce outside Marischal College. The weekend's dedication service was attended by some of those who have worked in the industry, including people from across the UK and diver James McLean, a North Sea Divers Memorial trustee, said that none of the deaths over the years had been in vain, as they led to tighter safety said "We know the impact of those losses, and it's very personal for us. "It's been an emotional journey the last couple of years, and sitting looking at the diver we agreed we've almost lived with all those souls over the last two years."Mr McLean added: "It's doffing our cap, remembering friends and colleagues and others who died over the decades, not just in oil and gas but also in the renewable energy industry."
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Mystery EuroMillions winner has two days to claim £1M prize
A EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker winner has only two days left to claim a £1,000,000 prize from a 27 December draw. The winning ticket, with code XDQM36414, was purchased in Wiltshire, and the deadline to claim is Wednesday. National Lottery operator Allwyn has made extensive appeals for the mystery winner to come forward over the past six months. If the prize remains unclaimed, the £1,000,000 and any accrued interest will be allocated to the National Lottery Good Causes fund. Lottery winners have 180 days to claim their winnings, and unclaimed funds support various community and national projects nationwide.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Windrush Day celebration in Sheffield honours lasting legacy
An event to recognise and celebrate the contributions of the Windrush generation has taken place in "Honouring Our Past: Building Our Future", the gathering brought together community members to commemorate the legacy of Caribbean people who were invited to the UK to help rebuild the country after World War those in attendance at the New Testament Church of God on Sunday was Linnette Hastings who came to Sheffield from Jamaica with her brother in said: "It is important to the community to reflect where you came from, what you've been through and the resilience of the people to get as far as where we are today." This year marks the 77th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush arriving in Britain on 22 June ship carried more than 1,000 passengers from the West Indies and Windrush Day was introduced to celebrate their contributions to rebuilding the country after the 2018, it emerged that the government had not properly recorded the details of people granted permission to stay in the UK, and many were wrongly mistreated. Ms Hastings, who trained as a nurse and worked at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital, said the move to England had been a "culture shock" and recalled experiencing racism firsthand."We are now in the 21st Century and still for all the people of the Caribbean and beyond who came here to work, we are still experiencing racism and prejudice," she said."We don't want to hear a token, we want to see results." The event on Sunday included guests such as Sheffield City Council leader Tom Hunt and Lord Mayor of Sheffield Safiya usher Delroy Robinson, whose parents came to the UK in 1962, said it was an opportunity for the community to share experiences and their stories."It's about not letting people forget. If you forget where your past was how are you going to appreciate where you are going in the future? "For us it's about letting people recognise what it was like in the Windrush generation and how we can then help build our generation going forward." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
