Care home owner plans to install 500 beehives and train homeless to be beekeepers

Chris Bialan, who co-owns five care homes, has launched a campaign to boost the number of bees in the UK by building 500 new beehives and giving them to people to foster.

Bee Mission, a community interest company, is appealing for foster homes in Hampshire and Dorset and is planning to train up homeless people to work for the bee project, which includes becoming beekeepers as well as packing and selling the honey. Since 2019, Mr Bialan and fellow Bee Mission director Amy Foster have been helping rough sleepers in Bournemouth by cooking and distributing food up to three times a week.

Mr Bialan who jointly owns five care homes including Allenbrook Nursing Home in Fordingbridge as well as Kings Lodge Centre for Complex Care in Surrey, has been trialling the scheme at his care homes by installing beehives in the grounds of the homes.

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