Celebrating the successes and achievements of our students and societies here at Aberystwyth University
The Sustainability Award was added last year to recognise a society who has actively promoted sustainability within a wide range of their activities. Notably when we talk about sustainability, we include cultural/social sustainability, environmental sustainability, and economic sustainability. This gives lots of scope for societies to play to their individual strengths and personalise it to their group.
The Bee Conservation Society (BeeSoc) are our winner this year; they are following on from their big success at last year’s 2020 awards, where they won the Society of the Year award. You can read all about their successes last year in the article here. BeeSoc is a friendly community dedicated to preserving bees, primarily through sustainable bee keeping, fundraising, and awareness raising. As a society they keep their own bees, train their members to bee keep, and raise awareness about the dwindling bee population in the UK. They do weekly socials, frequent fundraisers, and outside of COVID restriction, apiary visits.
BeeSoc have worked hard to care for their bees, tending to them throughout lockdowns; they work to increase their beekeeping capacity by investing in their future. While their bees have taken a little hit from a fungus towards the end of the year, they are working hard to bring their buzzing hives back strong ready for the new academic year. All while continuing to raise awareness virtually throughout the pandemic.
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(Soruce: Aberystwyth Bee Conservation Society Facebook) |
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Collaboration has been prominent theme for the group throughout the year. They teamed up with some of our other environmental based societies to connect with their counterparts in Bangor as part of the Societies Festival. All the groups came together to host a quiz, network, and meet people with similar interests. BeeSoc also hosted Tickled Pink at one of their socials as part of their Boob Schools, and they collaborated with Eco Education for a ‘Build Your Own Bee’ crafting and chatting social. All of these helped their members to become aware of diverse range of social and environmental issues.
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(Soruce: Aberystwyth Bee Conservation Society Insatgram) |
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Further to this, the society actively got involved with awareness raising. Mental health was a key aspect of their awareness raising, in May they participated in this year’s annual Darkness Into Light walking event. Members started their walk in the dark and continued until the sun rose to raise awareness for suicide and self-harm. Alongside mental health, BeeSoc are passionate about supporting the LGBTQ+ community, showing their support throughout the year by getting involved with awareness raising during LGBTQ+ History Month in February. Nate (SU President 20-21) also enlisted the help of BeeSoc as part of his 24hr Old Collage Fundraiser. BeeSoc alongside Aber Pool set the challenge of seeing who can eat an advent calendar the fastest, encouraging members to get involved and donate. Additionally, for just £1 individuals could sponsor one of BeeSoc's bees.
Financially, the society diversified their income sources, taking advantage of the many opportunities available to them. They utilised the termly SU grants to upgrade and expand their bee keeping equipment, ready for additional members to get involved in the coming academic year. The society also charges a reasonable membership fee of £4 for the whole year, which allows the group to utilise these funds to support their endeavours. The society also took advantage of passive forms of fundraising. They utilised easyfundraising, a website that turns members' every-day online shopping into free donations. Finally, the society took advantage of the SU’s Coach Education Fund to fully train an additional beekeeper for the upcoming academic year.
BeeSoc pride themselves on being a safe space of diverse individuals, all connected through a shared passion for bees. Even during COVID they have been consistent with their socials and engaging members. The SU is excited to see what BeeSoc get up to next year, and we hope you are too!
Why not get involved yourself? Check out BeeSoc here: