Bee Appeal

The Grange has started a Bee Club for clients, staff, volunteers and supporters who want to learn about bees. Earlier in the year we bought two hives thanks to a generous donation and constructed them in Bee Club meetings.

We were delighted when we received a call from the Reigate Beekeepers Association to say that a swarm had been found for us. The swarm came in a box similar to a cool box after having been captured in allotments locally. Penny, Magda and Fred wore protective suits to transfer the bees from the box into the one of two hives which had been put together by the Grange’s Bee Club.

The swarm spent several days safely contained in the box being fed with syrup solution before the transfer could be made. When Penny, Magda and Fred opened the box they found the bees had already begun building a honeycomb!

The swarm is settling in nicely. It turned out not to contain a queen but Jack from the Reigate Beekeepers Association has very generously donated a ‘nucleus’ from another swarm which included a queen.

A huge thank you to those who have supported this project with donations, particularly the Rotary Club of Bookham and Horsley which selected The Grange to receive a special award from a legacy left by one of their members, Bob King. We are delighted to be able to name the Apiary after Mr King.

We hope to begin producing our own honey by next summer.

The total start up cost for this project will be £5000. Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated. For more information please email anna.giokas@grangecentre.org.uk

To read the first Bee Club newsletter click here

How do the costs break down?