Welcome to Cherry Trees & Bees (The Rooftop Bees Community Club)

The club is made up from volunteers from the area and was kickstarted by local beekeepers to promote the craft of beekeeping. Over the 5 years we have evolved and since securing our new apiary in Cherry Tree, our members have been involved in a number of differing projects from beekeeping to laying bricks. We are about more than just about beekeeping and our other activities also includes planting wildflowers, trees, hedgerows, maintaining our wild gardens and working with the community. As a small community club our main aim is to engage with our members to socialise and enjoy learning new/different skills. We love to encourage new starters into the craft of beekeeping and provide free access to bee handling and hands on basic beekeeper training. We also run “meet the bees” sessions yearly to non-members to allow everyone to enjoy access to our apiary. We meet as a full group each month for full member meetings the 1st Wednesday of the month (excluding Dec and July). These events are open to all and are held at our community library (attached to the apiary) at Cherry Tree, Blackburn.
We also hold ad-hoc events throughout the year such as;

• Apiary Maintenance and gardening.
• Basic Beekeeping Training.
• Honey Processing.
• Beeswax Processing.
• Social Events such as offsite trips to national and local events.
• Community Engagement.
• Fundraising Events.

Feel free to come and meet us for a chat/brew at our next advertised meeting to see how you can get involved in the project.

Our main aim is to bring the local community together to enjoy socialising and working in our pollinator gardens/facilities.
Our Clubs Aims and Objectives:

• To provide free access to honey bee handling and basic hands on beekeeper training.
• To provide a social club to tackle loneliness in the community.
• To engage with the local community and promote pollinators/biodiversity in the local area.
• To promote honeybees and beekeeping in Blackburn and Darwen.
• To provide a local forum for members to discuss beekeeping, horticulture and biodiversity.
• To provide pollinator and biodiversity education to both children and adults.
• To expand the project and welcome new members from the local community.



Helping Members get started in Beekeeping.

While we encourage our members to advance to hive of their own, beekeeping is not a hobby to rush into and there are several risks you need to consider before siting a hive of your own. Our club is designed for members to be able to learn the basics, free of charge, before they take the plunge. As a club, we do not gift or sell colonies, queens, eggs or loan any equipment outside the club apiary. This policy is to protect our not for profit club/facilities and to keep our membership free. The club does however give you access to experienced beekeepers who can supply stocks or equipment (charges may apply). This service is not affiliated or supplied by the club and any sale, gift or loan is at the individual’s own risk. Our experienced beekeeping members are advised to only gift/sell colonies to members who can demonstrate they meet our recommended safety criteria.