Trail is the bee’s knees
MANCHESTER will soon be abuzz with hundreds of giant bees – and the first ones have already landed in the city centre.
The Bee in the City trail will place eye-catching fibreglass sculptures of the insects at key landmarks around the city centre and surrounding suburbs throughout this summer.
More than 100 huge honeybees will be dotted around the public art trail, each with its own colourful design created by local artists, along with colonies of mini bees designed by school children, youth groups and adult creative groups.
There will be 131 of the mini bees to discover at locations including the National Football Museum, the Royal Exchange Theatre and Heaton Park, from July 7 to 23.
Some of the designs were unveiled yesterday at Manchester Central Library, which will be home to bees created by Inscape House School, Cheadle; Manley Park Primary School, Whalley Range; Martenscroft Nursery School and Children’s Centre, Hulme; New Moston Primary School; Oswald Road Primary School, Chorlton; and St Margaret’s C of E Primary School, as well as literacy campaign Read Manchester.
The Lord Mayor of Manchester, Coun June Hitchen, who was there to meet some of the pupils behind the designs, said: “The creativity these children have is amazing: the colours, the designs, the artwork, and more importantly to be able to connect together.”
Many of the mini bees are already in situ ahead of the official launch date.
The full trail featuring the bigger bees runs from July 23 to September 23, featuring designs including a Rock’n’Roll bee signed by Liam Gallagher, a Bee Gee bee called Hive Talking, a Hac-Bee-Enda bee celebrating the city’s legendary nightclub, footballing tributes to Sir Matt Buzz-Bee and GeorgeBee Best, and Hilda Bugden - a celebration of one of Corrie’s most famous characters.
The project is being brought to the city by global public art producer Wild in Art, whose previous work has included the Great North Snowdogs in the north east and Liverpool’s Superlambananas.
Directors Charlie Langhorne and Sally-Ann Wilkinson were also behind CowParade Manchester, which saw colourful cattle form a trail around the city in 2004.
The bees will be auctioned off after the event to raise money for the Lord Mayor’s We Love MCR charity, which aims to help aimed at improving the lives and life chances of Manchester people.
You can download a Mini Bee trail map from our website - visit manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on.