Final weekend of Bee the Change craft activities at St David’s Cardiff

The final weekend of free, bee-saving craft workshops will held over the bank holiday at St David’s Cardiff.

This Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday, the city shopping centre will host free, fun eco-craft activities including plant pot painting and wildflower seed planting, bug hotel building, and bee-feeder making. The drop-in workshops will take place in the ‘Bee the Change’ shop unit, next to MenKind in the lower level of the Grand Arcade of St David’s.

The free workshops are part of St David’s Cardiff’s summer-long Bee the Change campaign to educate, engage and inspire guests to support local biodiversity and help the plight of bees. So far this month, more than 4,000 guests have made a #beethechange pledge to make a simple change to save our bees.

The campaign has also seen the installation of a bumblebee-themed display adorning one of St David’s shopping malls. A specialist team was brought in after hours to intricately build the aerial display within The Hayes Arcade, which features more than 6,000 silk flowers and foliage stems and 200 giant bees flying through a honeycomb-inspired design. A floral decorated arch, which boasts 1,000 colourful flowers, has also been built to overlook the display from the upper level of the Grand Arcade within St David’s with guests invited to pose for pictures and selfies to help spread the word about saving bees.

Bee the Change was chosen as the message for St David’s Cardiff’s summer campaign to help raise awareness of the decline of bees which are vital for the pollination of global food crops. The centre has several of its own beehives on-site which produce honey and has implemented a number of eco-friendly initiatives including becoming a zero-waste-to-landfill site in 2012 and using 100% of its electricity from renewable sources.  

Helen Morgan, Centre Director at St David’s Dewi Sant, commented: “Bees are relied upon to effectively pollinate crops, providing all of us with the food we eat every day. However, bee numbers are in huge decline which poses a serious threat to food production as well as their future preservation. 

“At St David’s, we’ve already planted wildflowers on our roof to attract bees as well as being home to thousands of bees in our rooftop hives. Through our Bee the Change campaign this summer, we hope we can spread the message even further whether through our eye-catching decorative displays, our free hands-on eco workshops or by asking guests to make a bee-saving pledge.”  

The centre is also hosting a photo competition to celebrate a summer of Bee-ing the Change; guests are invited to snap a selfie in front of the stunning floral arch located between River Island and Victoria’s Secret and share it on Facebook or Instagram for the chance to win a £500 St David’s gift card. For full entry details, visit the St David’s website.  

For more details, visit the St David’s Cardiff website: https://stdavidscardiff.com