Telling the Bees

Hartlepool Folk Festival is pioneering a groundbreaking new creative community project. Telling the Bees will combine storytelling, music, arts, horticulture, foodways and beekeeping to address issues including social isolation, food insecurity and child poverty. 

We have identified a number of local schools who will host a hive and get closer to nature through beekeeping. Pollinating over a third of crops in the UK, bees are vital to our ecosystem, yet are under constant threat from habitat loss, climate change, pesticides and disease. We want Hartlepool to become a safe haven for communities of bees, while highlighting their cultural significance through links to folk traditions, food and farming, and creativity.

What will happen?

• Community beekeeping. As part of the project we will train local beekeepers, supporting correct care of the hives and providing much-needed flexible employment opportunities. The bees will become part of their host communities, providing an education resource - and honey! 
• Intergenerational work with local schools and assisted living facilities, involving music, storytelling, art and craft, delivered with professional facilitators. Intergenerational creativity reduces isolation and loneliness, and contributes to positive mental health in all ages. Workshops could focus on making beeswax candles, art or cosmetics, writing new stories or learning songs. The possibilities are endless.
• Food availability. Hartlepool has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the UK. Every session will have free, healthy food available for all participants, avoiding the stigma and embarrassment sometimes experienced when applying to food projects. We will also deliver sessions with a community food school each term, so that participants experience the fun of cooking and learn new skills.
• Community engagement and pride. The project will have a presence at Hartlepool Folk Festival where participants can showcase the outcomes, from the honey produced to performances, artwork, baked goods and even the bees themselves. 

We are being supported through Tees Valley Combined Authority's Festival Scale-Up programme to deliver certain aspects of the project, but we need business sponsors and friends to help keep the project free at the point of use for schools in particular areas of deprivation. Each hive set-up costs approximately £1000, and each school will be offered two hives when they enter the project. We also have costs around our beekeepers. The health and well-being of the bees is paramount, so our beekeepers will be specially trained for the project and will come from within our target communities - providing new employment opportunities. Finally, there are the costs associated with the creative programme, planting and horticulture, and Community Food School sessions. This wraparound activity ensures that the bees play an ongoing part in the cultural life of their schools.