Jack Daniel Anderson-Martin (or JD as he’s known) rightly hit the headlines in August 2012 when at the age of 7 he became Britain’s youngest qualified beekeeper having passed his exams to get his British Beekeepers’ Association Junior Certificate. Since then his hives have gone from strength to strength so Get Calderdale Buzzing! is particularly pleased to welcome him as our official Young Ambassador.

And his first task – with father Patrick – has been to sign up his school Scout Road Academy, Mytholmroyd to become the first school in the new Calderdale B-line. Buglife are looking for schools to work with to create a ‘pollinator improvement plan’, and then help make it a reality by providing funding and advice. Here’s the introductory B-Lines school flyer and there’s lots more school resources to download here.

The project has been welcomed by Anne Stamp, principal at Scout Road: “JD and his dad have set up two hives for the school and were hoping to get a bee club off the ground in the New Year. We’ve signed up to Get Calderdale Buzzing! which will help us make our school grounds more friendly to bees. JD’s class have put together a pollinator plan about how they can best improve the school grounds by planting various bee friendly plants and bug hotels. We’re very much at the beginning of our bee journey, so to speak – it’s really exciting for all of us.”

What JD says about bees

“My bee hive has 60,000 bees, when I walk around hebden bridge I’m always looking out for my bees on flowers and wondering if they are from my hive. I think the bees are our friends and we must treat them like we would our own friends. They work so hard, some in dangerous places full of chemicals sprays and pollution. It is our job to help the bees find plenty of free food. If we grow plants that are full of nectar and pollen they will come and improve that area for them and for us too. I don’t know what’s stopping us from getting going right now – hopefully our little projects, like the one at my school will spread into other areas so that everyone can enjoy gardens and parks that are full of life and bees!”

He’s also drawn his own cartoon about the threats to bees which you can see here (4 frames). And he recommends you view the video More than Honey. See the trailer here.

Get Calderdale Buzzing! says: Thanks, JD, for all your great work for bees.