Creating a Bee-Friendly Space in Wray Crescent

You may have wondered about the changes going on in the L-shaped flower bed beside the path through the park, where we host the Big Buzz festival every year. It’s an important project and we wanted to share some more information about it.

For Simi

Simi tragically died at the age of 13. She was a local girl, gentle, kind, and full of light, who spent so much of her young life in the park.

This part of the park is already dedicated to bees and other pollinators. It was also one of Simi’s favourite parts of the park, and her family are raising money to make it even more beautiful in her memory.

“In her memory, we are raising funds to improve Wray Crescent — a place where Simi, her brothers, and her friends spent countless hours playing, laughing, and growing together. The park was part of her childhood, and we want to make it even more special for others,” they said.

We’ve already planted dozens of beneficial plants in the space, including Agrimony, Echiums, Bluebells, Echinacea, Erysimum’s, Snowdrops, grasses, and many more. Along with turning the L-shaped bed into a beautiful space full of plants and flowers for pollinators, Simi’s family have placed a memorial bench for her in the space and will plant a tree in her name. You can find out a little more here.

We all hope that this part of the park become increasingly beautiful to look at. That beauty will have a purpose: dedicated to Simi the space will help boost bees and other pollinators, making the park more beautiful and boosting biodiversity in her memory.

Why bees matter

Bees are so small, but mean so much. Boštjan Noč, initiator of World Bee Day and president of the Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association, said at World Bee Day in connection with the role of bees in providing food:

“To talk about reducing world hunger without ensuring conditions for the existence of bees and other pollinators is to pull the wool over people’s eyes… I believe that with the proclamation of World Bee Day, the world will begin to think more broadly about bees, in particular in the context of ensuring the conditions for their survival, and thus for the survival of the human race.”

Bees are the most important pollinator. They should matter to all humanity:

• Every third spoonful of world food depends on pollination.
• With pollination, bees contribute to successful agricultural production. 
• Pollination-dependent crops are a major source of income for farmers.
• Pollinators have positive effects on the entire ecosystem, preserving natural habitats and biodiversity. 
• Bees are also a good biological indicator of environmental conditions.