02 June 2011 – Keith Taylor, the Green MEP for Brighton and the South East will be visiting Brighton & Hove tomorrow, Friday 3rd June, to find out what the University of Sussex and a local children’s nursery are doing to fight the plight of the bee population.
Keith will visit Hopscotch children’s nursery in Hove to meet children, a bee keeper and staff. He will see first-hand the work that the nursery does in promoting the conservation of bees, including giving out free wildflower seeds. Keith will even be planting a collection of bee-friendly plants, known as a ‘bee bar’!
Earlier in the day Keith will visit the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects at the University of Sussex. He will meet with Dr Francis Ratnieks and his team to learn about their work, including hearing about the 5-year ‘Sussex Plan’ (1), a key project to aid honey bee health and wellbeing. This project has been funded by local and national charities and businesses after the government announced it would not increase vital funding for bee research.
Keith Taylor MEP, who sits on the Animal Welfare Intergroup in the European Parliament and recently hosted a meeting in the European Parliament on bees (2) said:
‘The job that bees do for us all cannot be underestimated, not least because honey bee populations around the world have been crashing in recent years. Without bees, how will we pollinate our crops?’
‘I hope that I will be able to learn more from the University of Sussex about the fast decline in the bee population and to see if there is anything more that I can do to support their work at a European level.’
‘I am really looking forward to meeting the staff and children at Hopscotch, which I hope to be able to use as a project to showcase across the region.’
Next weekend Keith will be attending the Isle of Wight Festival to support the festival’s Let it Bee campaign. The campaign raises awareness of the plight of the dwindling bee populations in the UK and all over the world.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1) For more information on the University’s Sussex plan see: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/lasi/sussexplan
2) For more details of this event see: http://www.keithtaylormep.org.uk/2011/03/28/long-term-effects-of-plant-protection-products-on-bees-is-there-a-risk-european-parliament-23rd-march-2011/
