Local Group News

The Bees&Seas is a local project born from a common passion for ‘wildlife’ and ‘connecting communities’ with nature across land and sea. Friends of Brooklands Park, Creative Waves and We Are FoodPioneers have come together to combine expertise, skill and passion to create a community beekeeping project, pollination hub and educational training space in the heart of Brooklands Park, between Worthing and Lancing. The council recently awarded them a disused urban council yard that sits outside the local council’s Brooklands master plan. And they plan to transform it throughout 2021 into an ecological, natural asset for the local community.

To raise the much needed funds for the Bees&Seas project, We Are FoodPioneers have set up a Spacehive Crowdfunder and they really need your support for additional funding to bring the project alive, maintain the hives, develop the green space, and importantly run a series of workshops for local children and the community as a whole.

If you are in a position to do so, any small donation to the crowdfunder would be very much appreciated and will go directly into this great local community project.

For more info & to donate: https://www.spacehive.com/beesandseas & https://www.foodpioneers.org.uk/projects/bees-and-seas/

As we ease out of staying at home and into our much-needed restorative green spaces, we wanted to share our plans for the rest of the year – all being well.

Volunteers

The spring farm-flowers are on the way and have been tended by a small number of volunteers during March whilst another small group have planted about 200 native hedging plants at the barnyard in Sompting. After April 12th we hope to have slightly larger volunteer groups at both Maybridge Keystone Centre and the Barnyard. We will put up some tree hives for native Black Honeybees at the barnyard, an exciting collaboration with Bees And Seas, a We Are FoodPioneers project connecting the downs to the coast.

Wildflower Walks – May 22, June 21, Aug 21, September 18. Four walks to the Sompting Barnyard to learn what’s flowering in the countryside, do plant and moth surveying, and see how we are trying to increase biodiversity. All on Saturday afternoons except the Solstice walk which will be early evening.

Open day and farm tour in Worthing – July 20 – Have a look around our tiny community-supported flower farm and wildflowers. Pick up some tips on how to sow, grow and use a cutting patch through the year. Join us at any time from 4pm to 6.30pm.

Returning – connecting to flowers, the seasons and self. May 11 & 18 at Maybridge, May 25 & June 1 wildflower walk to Sompting. “The garden and learning about nature has opened up a healing place in me.” A small, informal group for women recovering from trauma (including domestic violence) and other mental health challenges to explore and reconnect with nature. Using our farm and wild flowers, it will be about grounding, exploring our senses and expressing ourselves creatively. A chance to relax, listen, talk and/or simply ‘be’.

Please get in touch to book a place on any of these events or to find out more: [email protected]

These projects are made possible by Rampion Fund at Sussex Community Foundation and their funding round opens this spring. Visit www.sussexgiving.org.uk/rampion or call 01273 409 440.