Bee inspired!

BUZZING - Atiq at the front, Joseph & Sophie enjoy dressing up as bees

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Pupils from across the borough were buzzing after having the chance to become “Bee-fects” for the day.

More than 100 children gathered at St Mary's Church in the Baum, Rochdale for an afternoon of bee related activities organised by the Manchester based Co-operative College.

The bee is the symbol of the Co-operative Movement and the day was organised to celebrate 2012 as the International Year of Co-operatives and Rochdale being the World Capital of Co-operatives.

The church became a hive of activity, as pupils dressed up as bees, played co-operative games, enjoyed honey tasting and learnt about how bees behave co-operatively. At the end of the day, youngsters were given a special pack containing bee-friendly wildflower seeds to plant in their gardens or their school grounds.

The event focused on understanding how working together can help everyone achieve something greater than if they were to work alone. This is the predominant principal of co-operatives, which have likened their organisations to a beehive because of the strong collaborative ethos.

Connor Widdup, 10, from Shawclough Primary in Rochdale, said: “It has been a really fun day and I’ve learnt lots about bees and working together.”

Labibah Arshad, 10, from Brimrod Primary, said: “The best bits were the honey tasting and the game where we matched bee pictures to words.”

Melanie Greenwood, 13, and Ambreen Khalid, 12, from Matthew Moss High School, said: “It was interesting learning about the bee dance. It’s really complicated for such small insects. We were really impressed.”

Teaching Assistant Michelle O’Hara from Brimrod Primary said: “Our pupils thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon; it was a fantastic opportunity to work with children from different schools and for them all to understand how, through co-operation and working together, they can achieve more than if they work alone.”

Cheryl Eastwood, Executive Director for Children’s Services at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “This was a great activity organised by the Co-operative College. The pupils obviously learnt a lot about bees and co-operation and had great fun doing it!”

Nancy Brown, Rochdale community outreach officer for the Co-operative College, said: “This was a great way of celebrating Rochdale as the World Capital of Co-operatives and highlighting the decline of the honey bee. It was fantastic to see so many children from Rochdale learning about bees by working together. We look forward to encouraging children to get involved in wildflower planting across the borough and perhaps some will even be inspired to take up bee keeping!”

Throughout the year events are being held in the borough to celebrate the International Year of Co-operatives and Rochdale’s unique contribution to the worldwide movement. To find out more go to www.rochdale.gov.uk/co-op2012 or facebook.com/rochdalecouncil or twitter.com/rochdalecouncil On twitter use #rochdale2012

The United Nations declared 2012 as the International Year of Co-operatives back in 2009 and launched the special year at their headquarters in New York in October 2011.
Just weeks later Rochdale was put in the international spotlight when it was declared the ‘World Capital of Co-operatives’ at a global meeting of over two thousand co-operators in Mexico.

For more information about the Bee-have project contact outreach@co-op.ac.uk