Rolls-Royce Motor Cars PressClub · Article.
ROLLS-ROYCE PREPARES TO CELEBRATE WORLD BEE DAY
17.05.2024 Press Release
Every year, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars marks World Bee Day on 20 May. This year, the celebrations take on a truly international dimension, with activities at the company’s original Apiary at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, and the new beekeeping operations the marque has established elsewhere in the world.
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Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
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Andrew Ball
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
- Rolls-Royce prepares to celebrate #World Bee Day on Monday 20 May, with activities at home and around the world
- Originally inaugurated in 2017, the #Goodwood Apiary is home to six beehives, housing over 250,000 honeybees
- As part of Rolls-Royce’s 120th anniversary celebrations this year, the beehives have been renamed after six of the ‘Makers of the Marque’ – key figures from the founding story that began on 4 May 1904
- Existing Rolls-Royce Apiaries in the UK, UAE and South Africa set to be joined by new colonies in Oman and Bahrain
“World Bee Day is always a big event in the Rolls-Royce calendar,
and this year our participation takes on a truly international
flavour, with activity in five countries. At the original Apiary at
the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood, we were especially honoured to
welcome our Junior Beekeeper, Poppy Liddle, for her first inspection
visit this year. She was among the very first to see the six hives
with their new historic names, bestowed upon them as part of our
120th anniversary commemorations. We’re delighted to recognise and
celebrate the fundamental role of bees and other pollinators in
company with beekeepers, conservationists and other caring people
all around the world.”
Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Relations and Heritage,
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Every year, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars marks World Bee
Day on 20 May. This year, the celebrations take on a truly
international dimension, with activities at the company’s original
Apiary at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, and the new beekeeping
operations the marque has established elsewhere in the world.
GOODWOOD
The original Goodwood Apiary was
established in 2017 in response to the drastic decline in the
population of honeybees, which are crucial pollinators for a host of
food crops, as well as wild plants.
The Apiary is home to a colony of around 250,000 honeybees. Every year, the honey produced is carefully processed, jarred and labelled by a team of dedicated volunteer beekeepers. The honey is made available only to visiting clients and VIPs.
Ahead of this year’s World Bee Day, Rolls-Royce welcomed 11-year-old
Poppy Liddle, honorary Junior Beekeeper, back to the Home of
Rolls-Royce at Goodwood. Poppy, who lives in nearby Selsey, West
Sussex, first came to the marque’s attention in 2021 when a story
appeared in the pages of the local newspaper concerning the theft of
her own beloved beehive. Moved by her plight, Rolls-Royce arranged for
Poppy, then aged eight, to visit the Goodwood bees; the occasion
culminated in her appointment to the unique and prestigious office of
Junior Beekeeper.
Making her first inspection visit this year, Poppy was
confronted by her charges swarming in a nearby tree. Working with
beekeeper Jay Hampton, she helped return them to the Apiary, where
another important duty awaited her: inaugurating the newly renamed beehives.
When the six beehives were first installed in 2017, they were
named after Phantom, Ghost, Dawn, Wraith, and Cullinan, the
Rolls-Royce motor cars meticulously crafted at Goodwood at that time,
with the sixth one named Spirit of Ecstasy. Today Dawn and Wraith,
have ceased production; whilst the marque has added Spectre to its
product portfolio.
Rolls-Royce has therefore used the occasion of the marque’s
120th anniversary this year to rename the hives after six principal
characters from its founding story, as featured in its year-long
retrospective series, Rolls-Royce ‘Makers of the Marque’. The hives
will henceforth bear illustrious names including Charles Rolls, Henry
Royce and Eleanor
Thornton, engraved on the same stainless-steel treadplates which
are fitted to the marque’s pinnacle product, Phantom.
After the inauguration, Poppy enjoyed a private tour of the Home
of Rolls-Royce, conducted by some of the skilled Apprentices currently
training with the marque.
To celebrate World Bee Day, and as part of its wider community
outreach, Rolls-Royce staff and members of the Chichester Beekeeping
Association also visited the nearby March CE Primary School. Children
from Years 1 and 2 examined an empty beehive and beekeeping equipment,
learning about bees’ vital role as pollinators in sustaining biodiversity.
A HIVE OF ACTIVITY: ROLLS-ROYCE APIARIES AROUND THE
WORLD
Following the success of the Goodwood Apiary, the
marque has extended its beekeeping activities to other regions around
the world.
UAE
The Dubai Apiary was established on World
Bee Day in 2021 by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Middle East & Africa and
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Dubai (AGMC). Like the original at Goodwood,
the Dubai Apiary comprises six hives. However, these hives have been
specially designed and constructed to withstand the Emirates’ high
temperatures. The bees are also specific to the region, bred from the
indigenous Apis mellifera jemenitica bee and perfectly
adapted to the local environment.
As well as being home to 60,000 Emirati honeybees, the Apiary is
both a refuge for other pollinator species and an important education
hub. Since 2023, it has hosted a number of workshops exploring the
importance of pollinators in maintaining biodiversity, healthy
ecosystems and food security, inspiring students from schools and
universities across the country.
SOUTH AFRICA
Launched in 2023 in partnership
with Grootbos Foundation, the Rolls-Royce Apiary in Johannesburg was
the second initiative of its kind in the Middle East & Africa
region. The six beehives are situated in an award-winning
3,500-hectare private nature reserve, which boasts over 900 plant
species, 118 bird species, 29 mammals and 21 amphibians. The Apiary is
part of the Grootbos Foundation’s tireless work maintaining the purity
of the reserve and the local bee population.
Ahead of World Bee Day, Rolls-Royce is also delighted to
announce that two new Apiaries are to be added to its growing
international portfolio.
SAUDI ARABIA
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Riyadh has
established five beehives in Baljurashi, in the south-west of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The city lies within the Al Baha region,
which has a strong apicultural industry and hosts an annual
International Honey Festival, attended by experts from over 30 countries.
OMAN
As part of continuing pollinator
preservation efforts across the region, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Muscat
have installed four new beehives at the Alila Jabal Akhdar resort
–2,000 metres above sea level.
BAHRAIN
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Bahrain is
establishing five new beehives at the very heart of the Kingdom in the
lush grounds of the Royal Golf Club just 20 minutes from the capital, Manama.