• Rolls-Royce prepares to rejoice World Bee Day on Monday 20 May, with actions at residence and around the globe
• Originally inaugurated in 2017, the Goodwood Apiary is residence to 6 beehives, housing over 250,000 honeybees
• As a part of Rolls-Royce’s one hundred and twentieth anniversary celebrations this 12 months, the beehives have been renamed after six of the ‘Makers of the Marque’ – key figures from the founding story that started on 4 May 1904
• Existing Rolls-Royce Apiaries within the UK, UAE and South Africa set to be joined by new colonies in Oman and Bahrain

“World Bee Day is always a big event in the Rolls-Royce calendar, and this year our participation takes on a truly international flavour, with activity in five countries. At the original Apiary at the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood, we were especially honoured to welcome our Junior Beekeeper, Poppy Liddle, for her first inspection visit this year. She was among the very first to see the six hives with their new historic names, bestowed upon them as part of our 120th anniversary commemorations. We’re delighted to recognise and celebrate the fundamental role of bees and other pollinators in company with beekeepers, conservationists and other caring people all around the world.”
Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Relations and Heritage, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Every 12 months, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars marks World Bee Day on 20 May. This 12 months, the celebrations tackle a very worldwide dimension, with actions on the firm’s authentic Apiary on the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, and the brand new beekeeping operations the marque has established elsewhere on the planet.

GOODWOOD
The authentic Goodwood Apiary was established in 2017 in response to the drastic decline within the inhabitants of honeybees, that are essential pollinators for a bunch of meals crops, in addition to wild crops.  

The Apiary is residence to a colony of round 250,000 honeybees. Every 12 months, the honey produced is rigorously processed, jarred and labelled by a crew of devoted volunteer beekeepers. The honey is made out there solely to visiting shoppers and VIPs.

Ahead of this 12 months’s World Bee Day, Rolls-Royce welcomed 11-year-old Poppy Liddle, honorary Junior Beekeeper, again to the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood. Poppy, who lives in close by Selsey, West Sussex, first got here to the marque’s consideration in 2021 when a narrative appeared within the pages of the native newspaper regarding the theft of her personal beloved beehive. Moved by her plight, Rolls-Royce organized for Poppy, then aged eight, to go to the Goodwood bees; the event culminated in her appointment to the distinctive and prestigious workplace of Junior Beekeeper.

Making her first inspection go to this 12 months, Poppy was confronted by her expenses swarming in a close-by tree. Working with beekeeper Jay Hampton, she helped return them to the Apiary, the place one other essential responsibility awaited her: inaugurating the newly renamed beehives.

When the six beehives had been first put in in 2017, they had been named after Phantom, Ghost, Dawn, Wraith, and Cullinan, the Rolls-Royce motor vehicles meticulously crafted at Goodwood at the moment, with the sixth one named Spirit of Ecstasy. Today Dawn and Wraith, have ceased manufacturing; while the marque has added Spectre to its product portfolio.

Rolls-Royce has due to this fact used the event of the marque’s one hundred and twentieth anniversary this 12 months to rename the hives after six principal characters from its founding story, as featured in its year-long retrospective collection, Rolls-Royce ‘Makers of the Marque’. The hives will henceforth bear illustrious names together with Charles Rolls, Henry Royce and Eleanor Thornton, engraved on the identical stainless-steel treadplates that are fitted to the marque’s pinnacle product, Phantom.

After the inauguration, Poppy loved a personal tour of the Home of Rolls-Royce, carried out by a few of the expert Apprentices presently coaching with the marque.

To rejoice World Bee Day, and as a part of its wider group outreach, Rolls-Royce employees and members of the Chichester Beekeeping Association additionally visited the close by March CE Primary School. Children from Years 1 and a pair of examined an empty beehive and beekeeping tools, studying about bees’ important position as pollinators in sustaining biodiversity.

A HIVE OF ACTIVITY: ROLLS-ROYCE APIARIES AROUND THE WORLD
Following the success of the Goodwood Apiary, the marque has prolonged its beekeeping actions to different areas around the globe.

UAE
The Dubai Apiary was established on World Bee Day in 2021 by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Middle East & Africa and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Dubai (AGMC). Like the unique at Goodwood, the Dubai Apiary contains six hives. However, these hives have been specifically designed and constructed to resist the Emirates’ excessive temperatures. The bees are additionally particular to the area, bred from the indigenous Apis mellifera jemenitica bee and completely tailored to the native surroundings.

As properly as being residence to 60,000 Emirati honeybees, the Apiary is each a refuge for different pollinator species and an essential training hub. Since 2023, it has hosted numerous workshops exploring the significance of pollinators in sustaining biodiversity, wholesome ecosystems and meals safety, inspiring college students from colleges and universities throughout the nation.

SOUTH AFRICA
Launched in 2023 in partnership with Grootbos Foundation, the Rolls-Royce Apiary in Johannesburg was the second initiative of its type within the Middle East & Africa area. The six beehives are located in an award-winning 3,500-hectare personal nature reserve, which boasts over 900 plant species, 118 chicken species, 29 mammals and 21 amphibians. The Apiary is a part of the Grootbos Foundation’s tireless work sustaining the purity of the reserve and the native bee inhabitants.

Ahead of World Bee Day, Rolls-Royce can be delighted to announce that two new Apiaries are to be added to its rising worldwide portfolio.

SAUDI ARABIA
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Riyadh has established 5 beehives in Baljurashi, within the south-west of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The metropolis lies throughout the Al Baha area, which has a powerful apicultural business and hosts an annual International Honey Festival, attended by specialists from over 30 nations.

OMAN
As a part of persevering with pollinator preservation efforts throughout the area, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Muscat have put in 4 new beehives on the Alila Jabal Akhdar resort –2,000 metres above sea stage.

BAHRAIN
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Bahrain is establishing 5 new beehives on the very coronary heart of the Kingdom within the lush grounds of the Royal Golf Club simply 20 minutes from the capital, Manama.