Hartlepool Folk Festival organisers look to address social challenges through beekeeping

Festival leaders are due to launch a new year-round community project centred around beekeeping to address challenges of social isolation, food insecurity and child poverty.

Through the project called Telling The Bees, they plan to create a safe haven for new colonies of bees in Hartlepool, while highlighting their cultural significance through links to folk traditions, food, and the environment.

It is set to combines creativity, gardening, cooking and, most importantly, beekeeping.

A number of local schools have already had meetings with the team.

“We thought people might think we were completely mad, wanting to give them bees,” said folk festival director Joan Crump.

“But everyone we’ve spoken to just gets it straightaway and wants to be involved.

"The loss of our bees has been a big news story in recent years, and a number of schools that we’ve contacted have Forest Schools and even their own Eco Leads, so we’ve been pushing at an open door.”

The bees will become part of their host communities, and each hive also comes with a programme of bee-inspired creative workshops and projects, delivered by professional facilitators.

The project will also train local beekeepers, supporting correct care of the hives and providing flexible employment opportunities.

“Cooking, eating, getting closer to the animals that produce our food – they’re all connected,” added Joan.

The project is set to begins at the start of the autumn school term and will be officially launched at Hartlepool Folk Festival between October 6-8.

A crowdfunder to support the project has been launched at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/telling-the-bees.