Your Heritage
The BumbleBee Alliance is a Community Interest Company that works in partnership with the local community and businesses to inspire people through bee-related social and educational projects. The alliance worked with pupils aged 5–19 from the Wyvern School in Ashford, Kent. The school is an all-age day school for pupils with profound, severe or complex learning needs.
The children and young people engaged with the county’s fruit and vegetable growing heritage through hands-on experience in creating a garden and orchard in six acres of the school grounds.
They learned about the importance of bees and helped to establish a sanctuary for bees and other insects which is essential for fruit pollination.
Three young people who had been involved in an earlier HLF-funded project, ‘Wings of Discovery’, acted as tutors to the pupils. Volunteers from the local community also participated. These included parents and relatives of the young people, school staff working out of hours, and pupils from local mainstream schools.
The project helped sustain traditional fruit and vegetable varieties, supported the biodiversity of the local area and provided valuable opportunities to develop gardening and habitat management skills.