CAMERON Toll Shopping Centre in Edinburgh has announced that it is going to offer workshops to teach youngsters about the life cycle of bees.
Having taken possession of four Webster Honey hives last summer, which are situated on its roof, three free “drop in” workshops will be held between 11am-4pm in July on the 1st, 22nd and 29th.
The workshops will be led by Webster Honey’s experienced beekeeper, Meik Molitor who will bring along a special observation hive.
As well as covering the life cycle of the honey bee, each workshop will explore what happens over a year in and around a hive, what role the beekeeper has in looking after the bees, and how honey is extracted and harvested.
Claire Jefcote, Centre Manager of Cameron Toll said: “We were delighted, when last year, we became one of Scotland’s first Shopping Centres to have beehives on its roof.
“It’s a fantastic initiative to implement for the environment.”
“As the hives are on the roof, our customers are unlikely to have seen any bees in the centre itself.
“Children are fascinated by the whole process, so the workshops are a fantastic opportunity for them to see into a hive and learn lots of fact from Meik.”
Meik Molitor said: “I love carrying out workshops and find that there is huge interest in bees at the moment.
“We’re very grateful to Cameron Toll for doing this, and for their initial sponsorship of the hives last year which enabled us to take our unique honeybee hive concept onto the roof of a busy shopping centre for the very first time.
“Bees fly over huge distances, connecting with plants and flowers, so it needn’t be a rural environment that hosts them – the important thing is to sponsor a hive and increase our bee population as much as possible.”
Beehives can be located almost anywhere, with honeybees acting as nature’s best pollinators, flying for up to three miles to pollinate trees, plants and flowers that turn carbon dioxide into oxygen.
Within easy reach of Holyrood Park, Hermitage of Braid and Blackford Hill Local Nature Reserve, the Meadows and Princes Street Gardens, the Cameron Toll bees have flourished.
