A factory in Altham has implemented a 'bee yard’ and trained a dozen of its employees to become beekeepers.

Furniture manufacturer The Senator Group is working with the Bee Centre in Chorley to welcome three hives to the grounds at its Accrington site.

The Senator Group has been committed to implementing projects that have a long term, positive outcome on the natural world, for more than 40 years.

Kath Cordingley, co-founder of the Bee Centre, said: "Working with businesses like The Senator Group helps to develop a robust, native honeybee population.

"Not only are we installing more beehives which demonstrably increases the number of honeybees in the local area, but together, we are also supporting education and awareness.

"We’re very excited to be at the start of this relationship with The Senator Group.”

Lancashire Telegraph: According to bee experts at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, a third of the world’s food production depends on bees.

Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, are increasingly under threat from human activities. 

Damaging practices include habitat loss, intensive farming practices, changes in weather patterns, air pollution and the excessive use of agrochemicals such as pesticides.

The hives at The Senator Group currently hold approximately 45,000 honeybees, but this will reduce in the winter months as the male drones die off.

Lancashire Telegraph:

After that, it will leave only the female workers and the queen bee, which retreat into the hives and crowd together tightly to form a winter cluster.

These hives are the first phase of a larger pollinator garden that will create a habitat for not only honeybees but also other species of bees and pollinators.

It will also allow further collaboration with The Bee Centre to deliver education about bees and their importance to our social, economic and environmental wellbeing.