As part of their on-going work to improve the local environment, The Ashley Centre is pleased to announce that they are housing a colony of Honey Bees on the centre roof.

General Manager David Beddows said: “We are lucky enough to have the very pro-active Epsom Division of Surrey Beekeepers on our doorstep so we asked them if they thought it was a practical idea to house a bee hive on one of our roofs. We are delighted that they thought it was a good idea and we are now working in partnership with them on this exciting project, to try and do our best to help save the very important Honey Bee.

“Epsom Beekeepers have placed one hive on the roof at the moment and if this is successful we will be looking to add to this in the future. We are very pleased to be working with Epsom Beekeepers to do our bit to help bolster the local bee population as they are in decline and all research shows that around a third of what we eat is pollinated by bees. We will keep you updated on how they get on and who knows, there may even come a time where we will be able to offer customers The Ashley Centre honey!”

In the UK alone, bees contribute £200m a year to the economy through pollination. They play a crucial role in pollinating some 90 commercial crops worldwide. However, it’s not just fruit and vegetables that rely on pollination by bees; alfalfa, a major cattle crop, is 90% reliant on pollination by bees. The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) estimates that if people were to take over the job of pollination from bees in the UK, it would require a workforce of 30 million.

For more information about The Ashley Centre and all the latest events, please “like us” on Facebook ), follow us on twitter (@ashley_centre) or visit our website (theashleycentre.co.uk) For more information about Epsom Beekeepers please visit: www.epsombeekeepers.co.uk

Based on information supplied by Mary Zoeller.

 


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