Plenty of buzz about new eco campaign in Fife shopping centre

Two bee hives are now installed on the shopping centre's land.

‘Just Bee Cause’ has been created to promote bees within the community, working with several partners across Glenrothes including nurseries, primary schools, secondary schools, Fife College and the Bee Buddies charity.

The campaign will be delivered by several engaging activities including celebrating ‘National Bee Day’ with a visit by a ‘Bee Bus’ to the centre where the public can attend for free on Saturday, May 18.

Bee workshops, sponsored by the Kingdom Shopping Centre, are also being delivered by local charity ‘Bee Buddies’ to all nurseries and schools taking part in the ‘Just Bee Cause’.

The workshops will follow the ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ with the emphasis on promoting fun and education together. An activity pack with fun facts, education and quizzes has been designed by the centre and will be issued to each pupil taking part in the project along with a complimentary gift to reward their efforts.

Kay Roonie, CEO of Bee Buddies, said: “Bee Buddies are absolutely ‘buzzing’ to be part of this fantastic campaign by taking our Educational Workshops and Kingdom Shopping Centre’s activity pack to the nurseries and schools in the local area.”

‘Just Bee Cause’ encourages creativity through learning and nurseries and schools throughout the town have been tasked by Kingdom Shopping Centre to design and create their own honeycombs using recycled wood provided to them and sponsored by local retailer, Little Thistle.

Around 1000 pupils from the town will take part in the project. A class from each nursery and school will then compile their honeycombs together to form a hive of bee activity which will be displayed in Kingdom Shopping Centre as an art installation during the summer. The public can then vote on their favourite design and there will be an opportunity for each school and nursery to be in with a chance of winning £500 prize money.

Two bee hives have been made from 100 per cent recycled materials built locally in Fife and are now installed on Kingdom’s Shopping Centre’s land, away from the public along with their own food beds of lavender and pansies.

Fife College were excited to take part in ‘Just Bee Cause’ and three departments including ‘Access to Construction’, ‘Access to Further Education’ and ‘Art and Jewellery’ who all took part in the creative design. Each hive has its own special design which took the artist and jewellery student Kayleigh Anderson from Fife College, over two weeks of intense painting with the finest attention to detail.

David Carson, centre manager for Kingdom Shopping Centre, said: “We have put a lot of planning and energy into our community campaign and we are proud to deliver a number of initiatives that will really drive the message home about how important bees are to the ecosystem.

“We even have four of our staff members now trained ‘Bee Keepers’. We are proud to deliver ‘Just Bee Cause’ to the community and look forward to seeing the campaign take shape throughout 2019.”