WI members vote to save honey bees

Delegates at the NFWI AGM at the Royal Albert Hall in London today passed a resolution by an overwhelming 99.4% majority calling on the Government to increase funding to research the plight honeybees.

The resolution “SOS for Honey Bees – Honey Bees play a vital role in the pollination of food crops and in our environment. In view of concerns about the accelerating decline in the UK honey bee population, this meeting urges HM Government to increase funding for research into Bee Health” will now become a campaign backed by 205,000 WI members.

Chair of the NFWI, Fay Mansell said: “Honeybees are vital to our country’s ecosystem and food production. The WI will now take action nationally and regionally to do all we can to ensure that our honeybees are saved and lobby the Government to do more to find out why our bees are struggling to survive.”

President of the British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA), Tim Lovett said: “We are delighted by the result of the vote. Our members look forward to supporting WIs as they campaign to save the nation's honey bees. It is a vindication of the BBKA’s continued campaign for £8 million for honey bee health research funding. We demand that a realistic and adequate share of the £10million fund set up by the Government for research into pollinator decline is now put into honey bee health research.” 

More than 5,000 WI members attended today’s AGM and guest speakers included: actor and columnist Maureen Lipman; journalist Eve Pollard; Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) chief executive Dr John Low CBE; musician Richard Stilgoe (with Orpheus Centre apprentices); and Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate chief executive Jonathan Wild.

The NFWI 2009 AGM was sponsored by CAF.