Whitehaven Sea Cadets have won a national award.
The unit won the social action award in the 2023 National Sea Cadets annual awards.
The award recognises the hard work that the cadets and volunteers put into a nationwide environmental and social action campaign which aimed to create over 10,500 square feet of new wildflower spaces where bees and pollinators can thrive.
Taking inspiration from the formal name for their unit, TS Bee, the campaign, #SaveTheTSBees, saw the cadets send over 8,000 beebomb wildflower seedballs to over 400 youth groups including every sea cadet unit in Great Britain and dozens of local youth groups, encouraging the recipients to join their cause.
It was made possible thanks to funding from the Cumbria Community Foundation and Sellafield Ltd Transforming West Cumbria #CanDo programme.
Ordinary Cadet Connor Sweeney said: “Bees play such an important role as pollinators and yet there are less and less of them every year.
“Given our unit name, we decided to take a stand and help bring them back. Helping the environment has been at the heart of the project – we have used biodegradable envelopes, packing and labels and even our flyers were printed on seeded paper which will create even more flowers for the bees to thrive.”
The unit is currently recruiting new members. Open to everyone aged between 10 and 18, they meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6.30pm to 9pm at Kent House behind Dixons department store, Carter Lane, Whitehaven.
Email [email protected] for more information.
