The buzz around town

Reading Time: 4 minutes

20 August 2018

b-Compliant is Manchester born and bred.  We are so passionate of our roots that we chose to incorporate the bee into our own ogo (Not just because of the ‘b’).  We’re proud of what the worker bee represents, and we instil this into our working days at the office with a hive of activity ever present.

The team here have followed the #BeeintheCity campaign for a couple of weeks now, well, to be honest, it’s quite hard to miss around the City with the amazingly decorated super-sized bees popping up everywhere.  So, we wanted to share with you a little bit about it, especially if you are looking for something to do this upcoming bank holiday weekend.

 The History

 You’d be forgiven for only associating the Manchester bee with the horrific events that took place in May 2017, as it became a worldwide symbol of unity and defiance following the attack.

But did you know that the worker bee has in fact been the recognised emblem of Manchester for over 150 years?  During the Industrial Revolution, Manchester was filled with textile mills that were largely described as ‘hives of activity’ and because of this, the workers inside were described as bees.

Throughout the years many famous Manchester companies have incorporated the bee into their own logos.  Such as:

• HMS Manchester – Nicknamed Busy Bee. The Bee is depicted on the ship’s crest and also present on the ship’s funnel.

• Boddingtons – The Manchester brewery introduced their logo in the early 1970s, depicting a barrel and two bees.

• The University of Manchester’s coat of arms features three bees

• And whilst Manchester City didn’t incorporate the bee into their logo, during the 2009/10 season, their away kit was inspired by the bee and featured a black shirt with yellow shoulder inserts.

• We couldn’t get away with only mentioning one of the teams from Manchester ?. So, during the 2016/17 season, Manchester United unveiled their 3^rd kit design which included a honeycomb design to the sleeves, in keeping with the ‘Bee’ theme of Manchester.

The Event

 #BeeintheCity is a fantastic free event taking place from the 23 July – 23 September.  A colony of worker bee sculptures has taken up residence around the city.  They are individually decorated, with over 100 super-sized bees and over 130 little bees (which were created as part of the Bee in the City Learning Programme).  You will find the little bees in places such as museums, shopping centres, libraries and galleries, whereas the super-sized bees are across the city’s streets, parks and public places.

#BeeintheCity is a great way to get active with your family, especially over the bank holiday weekend.  There is a dedicated app that can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play (There is a cost of £1.99 but 25% of this is donated to the Mayor’s charity) which shows you the locations of the bees across the city.  As you make your way along the route collecting the different sculptures you can earn rewards on the way.  It also keeps track of your statistics such as, how many bees you have found, how many rewards and trophies you have collected and what percentage of the trail you have covered.  And that’s not all, there’s a fantastic pedometer built in too so you can keep count of how many steps you’ve taken, the distance you’ve covered and how long it has taken you.

You can find out more about the app, by clicking here