Service Birmingham donation creates a buzz in Sutton Coldfield
Gardeners and young people will soon be buzzing in Sutton Coldfield - thanks to a £3500 donation by Service Birmingham's staff benefit scheme to create a colony of bees at the Sunnybank Allotments.
The 100 plot allotment has Boldmere Junior and Infant School, Sutton Coldfield Girls School and the 21st West Scout and Cub Group as members, meaning the apiary will provide a valuable learning resource for many young people. Plans are in place to sell the honey to fund future community activities on the site and, when established, the bees will help increase the yields of the allotment through improved pollination.
Welcoming the grant, chairman of the staff benefit scheme and Ward Councillor for Sutton Vesey, Cllr Alan Rudge said: "Bee keeping can be an expensive hobby but this donation from the staff benefit scheme will allow hundreds of local people from the community to experience it for free. I am also delighted that it will provide an educational learning opportunity for local schoolchildren who can gain valuable hands-on experience and information about this fascinating pastime."
Service Birmingham, the joint venture between Capita and Birmingham City Council uses 5% of its profits to form its staff benefit scheme, which helps promote employee volunteering or finances small grants to charitable organisations and individuals with a suitable cause. Staff can recommend where the funding goes.
The donation will fund bee suits for working with the bees and a secure container for locking away equipment. Work is already underway to clear an area for the hives and it is planned that 250,000 new flying residents will make a bee-line to their new home in the spring.
Chief Executive of Service Birmingham, Stewart Wren said: "Service Birmingham's Staff Benefit Scheme has donated £1.2m to a wide range of local good causes since 2007. Congratulations to the staff who made the bid and I look forward to sampling some of the honey next year!"
ENDS
Notes to Editors
- Established in 2006, Service Birmingham is a joint venture between the Capita Group PLC and Birmingham City Council. The company runs the council's ICT function and helps drive forward its award-winning Business Transformation programme. It also manages the council's contact centre (which deals with two millions calls a year) and runs Birmingham's revenues and benefits department.
