As we head into winter, bees might not be at the forefront of everyone’s minds. But at Elysium’s Aberbeeg Hospital, that’s certainly not the case. We spoke with Aberbeeg Hospital Director and Chief Beekeeper, Jessica Jones, about the service’s commitment to their brood of bees.
“We’ve had bees here at Aberbeeg since May, and their positive impact has been clear to see. Not only are the people we support and colleagues really invested in their wellbeing, but they also have such a positive impact on the environment. And our initiative has also been praised by our regulator, Health Inspectorate Wales.
“Our queen – Queen Ann, who is named after my mother – has been very busy and we have about 80,000 bees in her brood at the moment. As they’re a new brood, we’ll leave all the honey for the bees this season. Hopefully, if they survive the winter, they will be a really strong brood.
“The climate is changing and we’re not having cold enough winters for bees. It does them good to have a really cold snap and if they don’t, they can starve. However, with our brood, I’ll be feeding them if it looks like they’re running out of stores.
“Having bees has been a great opportunity to get involved with local community groups. We have had the main Gwent Beekeeping Association come along with a demonstration hive with lots of bee suits, so the patients could get involved and learn more about beekeeping.
“They have also enjoyed the practical aspects too. For example, the bees made some honeycomb in the wrong place in the hive and I had to remove it. It was a great chance to show it to the people we support and they could touch and smell it. Next year, we hope they will be increasingly involved.
“While most people associate summer with bees, winter is really important to them too. Bees born in late summer and autumn live over the winter. They keep feeding the queen and keep her warm until the spring.
“As we’re rural, this is just the beginning. We’re going to hopefully add more bees. We’ll be planting more trees, getting up close with nature and working alongside Gwent Wildlife Trust. We’re hoping to make those we support more curious about the environment – people can engage with nature in a meaningful way.
“It’s well-known that being out in nature is good for your mental health and we want to make sure people have the opportunity to get outside, get active and curious as much as possible. As a low and medium secure hospital, helping people have those opportunities is even more important.”