World Bee Day theme 2024 is “Bee engaged with Youth.” This highlights the importance of involving young people in beekeeping and pollinator conservation efforts, recognizing them as the future stewards of our environment. On World Bee Day the first lucky school to receive a Pollination Education Station (PES) was Castlewood Primary School in Southwater, thanks to a grant from Southwater Parish Council and a donation from Sussex Green Living. Other school installations confirmed include:
• May 22nd: Southwater Junior School (sponsored by Wates)
• May 23rd: Trafalgar Infant School (sponsored by Horsham Trafalgar Neighbourhood Council)
• June 12th: William Penn School in Coolham (sponsored by Sussex Green Living, using a donation from Barratt Homes) – In The Great Big Green Week
• June 13th: Billingshurst Primary School (sponsored by Sussex Green Living, using a donation from Barratt Homes) – In The Great Big Green Week
• June 13th: North Heath Community Primary School (sponsored by Envitia) – In The Great Big Green Week
On Sunday 19th May children had great fun at St Mark’s Church, Holbrook, hunting for fir cones, twigs, moss and bark to fill the Pollination Education Station. They planted rosemary, mint, oregano, chives, sage and lemon balm and will be adding thyme, primroses, snowdrops and crocus and growing hyssop, borage and ivy next to it. Karen Park, St Mark’s Eco Church Champion said, “Many thanks to Men’s Shed Horsham for donating the Pollination Education Station, in support of our Eco Church work, as we progress from a Silver to a Gold award. We hope this inspires other churches, Men’s and Community Sheds to collaborate, extend the PES trail and display an educational plaque donated by Sussex Green Living”. https://stmarksholbrook.org.uk/ecochurch
This project was developed as part of a Green Business Network in the spring, when Sussex Green Living worked with PMW Marketing who helped develop this campaign pro bona as part of their 30th Anniversary offer to local charities. Horsham business Envitia sponsored the first PES which was installed on their trading estate on the 4th March, they have agreed to sponsor one for their local school North Heath Community School in Horsham.
Carrie Cort, Sussex Green Living’s CEO said,
“This is a priority project for our charity, urgent action for nature is required as pollinators such as bees, wasps, butterflies, moths and bats are increasingly under threat from human activities”. She continues “Every third mouthful of food that we each is thanks to pollinators. Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least in part, on animal pollination, along with more than 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of global agricultural land. Not only do pollinators contribute directly to food security, but they are key to conserving biodiversity”.
This PES trail is set to expand further, with planned installations at Shelley Primary School in Broadbridge Heath and other locations. Plus, installations on new housing developments in Eastbourne, Hailsham, Arundel and Angmering sponsored by Barratt Homes.
Sussex Green Living is collaborating with Horsham Green Spaces and the South Downs National Park to enhance nature corridors across the county. Storrington based Lily’s Cottage Upcycling and Men’s Sheds Horsham are instrumental in constructing these educational stations. Each station includes an A2-sized educational plaque that provides information about the importance of pollinators, actions the community can take, and a QR code linking to further solutions on the Sussex Green Living website, namely local repair cafes, zero waste shops and recycling information.
“We are thrilled to see such robust community engagement and support for the Pollination Education Station project,” closed Carrie. “We hope in other areas business, churches, schools and councils will collaborate and add a PES and one of our education plaques to the trail”.
Sussex Green Living is actively seeking additional businesses to sponsor PES installations at their trading estates, local green spaces, schools and churches. The long-term goal is to install a PES in every town within the Horsham District that has a repair café, including Storrington, Steyning, Henfield, Amberley, Shipley, Pulborough, Ashington, Partridge Green, and Horsham, with aspirations to extend throughout West Sussex and beyond.
For more information about the Pollination Education Station, including dimensions, costs, and how to get involved, visit https://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/renature