There was an eyecatching launch for Stroud's attempt to become the world's first Bee Guardian Town when 350 new bee houses were laid across the town's Subscription Rooms forecourt.

We will go for the special bee-friendly status in the coming year after agreeing the necessary criteria and £3,000 of funding to deleiver the project. The initiative is the idea of the town's Global Bee Project set up to raise awareness and help safeguard the future of bees.

The project is the brainchild of Jessie Jowers and Carlo Montesanti. The pair ran special workshops for children and volunteers to make the 350 bee residences.

Many of them will be sited on some of the 24 green and open spaces owned or managed by the town council. Where possible we will also be altering some of our maintenance proceedures to improve habitats for bees, especially in the town's Old Cemetery.

Our Greenspaces Team provided hollow stemmed cow parsley for some of the new bee houses. It was harvested during clearance work in the Old Cemetery.

It is hoped that we can meet the necessary criteria to become a Bee Guardian Town in the coming year. Find out more about the Project here

Article added online: 11th November 2009. Ammended 12th January 2010

Photo copyright: Samantha Urqhart

Stroud Mayor Andy Read and Deputy Mayor John Marjoram at the launch, with 350 bee homes and members of the Global Bee Project.