Introducing Bee Friendly Bridport
Bee Friendly Bridport is a new Community Group established by the team at The Dorset Bee and the
Symondsbury School Bee Club. The group aims to raise awareness of the importance of all pollinators and
the risks to them of habitat loss. This includes the actions that individuals, groups and organisations can
take to support pollinators, and how these actions can ha
ve a positive effect on the natural ecosystems and
biodiversity within Bridport and its surrounding area. We can all help pollinators to thrive and we know that a lot of fantastic projects are already underway in
this area, such as Symondsbury School Bee Club, Bee Hives at the Community Orchard and the Community
Shed Seed and Plant swaps to name just a few. The Bee Friendly Trust awards ‘Bee Friendly Town’ status each year to villages, towns and cities which have
demonstrated a commitment to be more bee friendly. It would be amazing for Bridport to receive one of these
accolades and we aim to be able to enter the town for an
award in 2024 to put Bridport on the map as a pollinator
friendly place. We are fortunate that existing projects
undertaken by the Bridport community will already be
fulfilling some of the criteria set out by the Bee Friendly
Trust, but this list might also spark some new ideas! We have already spoken to a few groups and individuals
who are excited about the campaign, and we have been
invited to share our ideas at the Town Council’s Environment & Social Wellbeing committee meeting in
early June. We would love the opportunity to speak to you about the campaign and understand any relevant
work you or your group are doing. We have arranged a stall at the Bridport Community Charter Fair on May 20th soplease come and say ‘hello’. This will be an opportunity to launch the campaign and speak to people about how they can help pollinators
thrive in their gardens and local green spaces by growing more flowers, leaving areas to grow wild, cutting
grass less often, leaving insect nests undisturbed, and trying to reduce the use of pesticides. We will also
have information about growing pollinator friendly plants and flowers, how to build bug hotels and how to
complete a pollinator survey. If you have any information, leaflets or other items which you think may be
relevant to this campaign we would be very happy to have them to distribute or display on our stall. Whilst our immediate goal is to bring groups together to collate and document the work already going on
and achieve an award for Bridport, we believe the longer-term benefits are huge. Our hope is that the
campaign will result in a coherent approach to providing and protecting pollinator habitats and provide a
springboard for further environmental and social projects. We really hope we can count on your support and involvement in this exciting project –please email us at
[email protected] if you would like to be included in our list of supporters at the Charter Fair. The Bee Friendly Bridport Group
Alison Little (Chair); Helen Bolter-Griffin; Gareth Flux; Nicole Collins; Jo Cullis; Emma Roberts; Jo Clarke
