Anglia Regional Co-operative Society

	Bee populations across the globe are severely declining. In the UK, around one third of honeybee hives were lost in the winter of 2007/08. Bees play an active role, they pollinate a third of the food we eat and in the UK alone, bees contribute £200m a year to the economy through pollination. In all, bees play a crucial role in pollinating some 90 commercial crops worldwide. As a responsible business, the Co-operative Group nationally has launched Plan Bee, which includes action on pesticides, research funding and empowering people to take action in their own gardens.
We will be setting up a working Bee hive at the Anglia Co-operative head office in Peterborough to help create awareness of the issue. Peterborough and District Beekeepers are providing us with three hives, there will also be a viewing area where local schools will be invited to view the bees at work. We will also be giving away packs of “Bee Friendly” seeds and education packs to schools.	Provide water for the bees to drink Let your lawn grow a little longer and cut it a little higher so the clover remains to feed the bees with nectar Reduce the use of pesticides in your garden Install a bee box in your garden - this helps bees to shelter from the rain or from a sudden drop in temperatures
Did you know?... Bees have six legs, four wings and five eyes There is only one queen per hive There could be up to 40,000 worker bees, which are all female Queens can live for several years We need bees to pollinate our food Bees cannot see the colour red Bees only sting if they think they or their hive is in danger Bumble bees do not produce enough honey for commercial use, just a few grams at a time to feed their young For more information, please email Laura.Gregory@arcs.co.uk