Summer News from the Beehive and Beyond!
It has been a busy and very exciting few months, with lots happening across our projects. From celebrating our wonderful volunteers and winning awards, to harvesting delicious fruit and vegetables, enjoying teddy bear picnics and even filming a documentary about hedgehogs!
Celebrating Our Volunteers
First of all, a huge well done to our outgoing volunteers at the Beehive, who recently received their Saltire Awards.
The little ones will certainly miss the sessions they shared with the older kids, the volunteers have made such a lovely difference, and we are so grateful for all the time, energy and enthusiasm they have given.
The good news is that we have a new cohort of volunteers coming in, who were recruited in June. We are looking forward to welcoming them and seeing all the fun and new ideas they bring with them!
We are also delighted to be welcoming a new group of young volunteers to the Dunbar Day Centre. The project has become incredibly popular, with 10 young people already showing an interest in getting involved. It is fantastic to see such enthusiasm from the younger generation and we can’t wait to get them started! And now for some very exciting news…
We are absolutely delighted to share that the Dunbar Day Centre Board nominated the Dunbar Day Centre project for Civic Week and we have won the Bowe Cup!
The Bowe Cup is awarded annually by Dunbar Community Council to a young person or team who has demonstrated exceptional achievement or made an outstanding contribution to the town. To receive this recognition is a real honour, we are all ‘bowled ‘over.
This is the second award we have won this year, which is just fabulous! We are looking forward to picking up our cup in August and celebrating.
The Beehive Garden is Thriving!
The Beehive Garden has been absolutely thriving this summer – thank you to the allotment team, Naomi, Ali and Anne. The children have been enjoying the most delicious strawberries, honestly the best I have tasted, a real taste of sunshine! They have also been picking jostaberries and blackberries and turning them into their very own jam. They even made gooseberry jam, too!
The children have also been making blackcurrant juice, which they absolutely loved. We have had lots of potatoes and onions, as well as a glut of courgettes. One little one even brought in some homemade courgette muffins to share – yummy!
We are also waiting, hopeful and keeping our fingers crossed that we will produce some melons this year. The plants are doing really well so far, so we are feeling optimistic!
There is an abundance of tomatoes and cucumbers growing in the polytunnel, too. Our tomato plants were grown from real Sicilian seeds, and the tomatoes are absolute little drops of heaven!
It is wonderful to see the children enjoying the garden, learning where food comes from and discovering just how much joy can come from growing, picking, cooking and sharing.
Lights, Camera… Hedgehogs!
In other exciting news, I was delighted to be invited by Jen Walker to take part in a short documentary about hedgehogs at the Beehive!
It was such a fun morning, chatting with the filmmaker about all things hoggy and sharing how much the children love seeing footage of our prickly neighbours.
Our hedgehogs have become very special residents in the Beehive, and it was lovely to have the opportunity to talk about them and the enjoyment the children get from watching them on camera.
Teddy Bears Picnic & Treasure Hunts
Back at the Beehive, we recently held a Teddy Bears’ Picnic and Teddy Bear Treasure Hunt in the Beehive Garden, inviting parents and carers to come along and join in the fun.
The sun shone, everyone brought along their favourite bears and picnic blankets, and we had a lovely time getting together as a community. The wee ones particularly enjoyed heading off on their very own bear hunt around the garden, and each little adventurer received a small knitted teddy as a prize.
It was such a lovely opportunity for families to spend time together, enjoy the garden , see what the children are growing and have some fun in the sunshine.
A very special thank you also goes to Caitlin, Juliet and Eva, along with her wee sister Ailsa, who joined us on the day to volunteer and help make the event such a success.
They did a smashing job welcoming families, helping with the bear hunt, setting everything up and clearing everything away afterwards. Their help was very much appreciated – Thank you, girls!
What a busy and brilliant summer it has been so far. We have so much to celebrate our amazing volunteers, our wonderful garden, our fantastic community and, of course, our awards!
Best wishes
Mrs Flowers! (aka Carey Douglas!)