Horsham District Council, in partnership with the Friends of Horsham Park, have been awarded a national Bees’ Needs Champion Award for 2021, recognising the extensive hard work undertaken in Horsham Park to provide food and home for pollinating insects.
The Bees’ Needs Awards recognise and celebrate examples of exemplary initiatives to support pollinator flowers and plants; in this case the extensive hard work undertaken in Horsham Park to provide food and home for pollinating insects as well as how the team engaged and educated visitors at the same time.
Chair of The Friends of Horsham Park, Sally Sanderson, who helped to create the bee garden said:
“The Friends are delighted that our bee bed has been recognised by this award. It has been fun creating it and we hope it inspires people to select pollinator-friendly plants for their gardens. Even a pot on a balcony can be a great nectar bar for bees in an urban environment. We can all help to meet bees’ needs.”
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow MP, sent a personal letter of congratulations to the teams, and in it she said:
“I would like to offer you my sincere congratulations for being one of our Bees’ Needs Awards Champions for 2021. On behalf of Defra as a whole, we are grateful for the exceptional work that you have done to help pollinators survive and thrive throughout the country.
“The UK’s 1,500 species of pollinators play such a crucial role in all of our lives, helping flowers, fruit trees and crops to grow, and contributing around half a billion pounds a year of value to UK agriculture. Not only this, but they are also beautiful creatures that we value in their own right."
DEFRA runs the Bees’ Needs Champions Awards in partnership with the Green Flag Awards, the Bee Farmers’ Association, Championing the Farmed Environment and the Nature Friendly Farming Network.