Birstall Bee Man

10/08/2026

It’s been a week since the GoFundMe closed and
we honestly can’t thank everyone enough for the incredible support we’ve received.

What started with the devastating loss of our apiary and equipment has shown us just how amazing our community is.

We’re now taking some time to work out how the funds will be shared and spent.

Keep an eye on the page, as we’d love for you to follow the journey with us.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. 🐝💛

03/08/2026

Sharing the below article from the T&A for anyone who may have missed our story.

Just a reminder that our GoFundMe closes today at 6:00pm.

As we’ve said from the beginning, we have already raised enough to rebuild what was lost in the fire, thanks to your incredible generosity. Any donations made before the fundraiser closes this evening will go towards supporting bee-related charities and local community initiatives that help protect pollinators and raise awareness of the importance of bees (not forgetting the already promised donation to The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.

Thank you for standing by us and our bees. We’ll continue to share updates on our rebuild and where the additional funds are used over the coming weeks. 🐝💛

You can donate to the fundraiser up until 6pm on Monday, August 3 🐝🍯

01/08/2026

After announcing that we had paused our GoFundMe, we’ve had so many messages, comments and phone calls(!) asking us to reopen it. We’ve thought carefully about it, and we’ve decided to reopen the fundraiser until Monday at 6:00pm… and want to be completely transparent about why.

Because of your incredible support, we have already raised enough to replace the equipment lost in the fire and begin rebuilding our apiary. We cannot thank you enough for making that possible.

As mentioned, any further donations will not come back to Birstall Bee Man… Instead, every penny raised from now until the fundraiser closes will be used to give back to causes that support bees, pollinators and our local community (along with our already promised donation to the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund). This could include supporting local projects that raise awareness of the importance of bees, sponsoring community initiatives, and helping bee-related charities. We’ll carefully decide where the money can make the biggest difference and keep everything completely open and honest.

We know many of you simply want to help, and this feels like the best way to turn your kindness into something that benefits even more people and, most importantly, our bees.

As always, we’ll continue sharing updates on our rebuild, and what we choose to support with any additional funds raised.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you again for what has been an unforgettable few days. We feel incredibly lucky to be part of such an amazing community 💞✨🐝

https://gofund.me/e9a8bc1a8

31/07/2026

The last 24 hours have been completely overwhelming, and we are so incredibly grateful for every single message, donation, share, offer of help and kind word we have received.

When we set up the GoFundMe, it was never about raising lots of money. It was simply about making sure we could replace and rebuild what was lost in the fire - equipment, bees etc.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of our community, we have now raised more than enough to rebuild what was lost!

Because of this, we have made the decision to pause the GoFundMe. We want to be responsible and transparent, and we don’t want people continuing to donate when we have reached the support needed to get back on our feet.

The kindness shown to us has been so humbling. From people sharing our story, checking in on us, offering practical help, and supporting us in so many different ways and we cannot thank you all enough - we even made it on the Calendar 18:00 news!

It’s been a very emotional and very wild 24 hours, but knowing how many people care about our bees and what we do has meant more than we can say.

We’ll be sharing updates on the rebuild, the recovery of our bees, and what happens next right here on Facebook.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. 🐝💛

———-

After announcing that we had paused our GoFundMe, we’ve had so many messages, comments and phone calls(!) asking us to reopen it. We’ve thought carefully about it, and we’ve decided to reopen the fundraiser until Monday at 6:00pm… and want to be completely transparent about why.

Because of your incredible support, we have already raised enough to replace the equipment lost in the fire and begin rebuilding our apiary. We cannot thank you enough for making that possible.

As mentioned, any further donations will not come back to Birstall Bee Man… Instead, every penny raised from now until the fundraiser closes will be used to give back to causes that support bees, pollinators and our local community (along with our already promised donation to the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund). This could include supporting local projects that raise awareness of the importance of bees, sponsoring community initiatives, and helping bee-related charities. We’ll carefully decide where the money can make the biggest difference and keep everything completely open and honest.

We know many of you simply want to help, and this feels like the best way to turn your kindness into something that benefits even more people and, most importantly, our bees.

As always, we’ll continue sharing updates on our rebuild, and what we choose to support with any additional funds raised.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you again for what has been an unforgettable few days. We feel incredibly lucky to be part of such an amazing community 💞✨🐝

Following the suggestions from our community, we have set up … Birstall Bee Man needs your support for Our Bees Need Help: Rebuilding After a Devastating Fire

30/07/2026

I’ve said it countless times, but the response from everyone has been overwhelming.

Seeing this snippet of news from ITV Calendar has made me feel even more grateful for the support that our local communities has given.

This is huge, not just for myself, but for all beekeepers that have lost colonies, equipment and honey due to unfortunate circumstances.

The GoFundMe page has exceeded all expectations, and I’m amazed. Reminder that although we’ve gone beyond our goal of funds to get me back up and able to rebuild the apiary, any funds further than our goal will be donated to Children's Heart Surgery Fund. This is a charity very close to mine and my family’s hearts ♥️.

https://gofund.me/62c2fabfe

Thanks to all today, I can’t express how I feel right now 🐝

30/07/2026

So many people have kindly offered to organise fundraisers on our behalf, and we can’t thank you enough for wanting to help.

To make things as simple as possible, we’ve set up one official GoFundMe. If you’d like to support us, we’d be incredibly grateful if you could donate or simply share the link below.

https://gofund.me/cf3c526af

Every donation will go towards replacing essential beekeeping equipment, rebuilding our apiary, and helping us care for our bees after the fire.

We also want to be completely transparent. If, thanks to your incredible generosity, we raise more than is needed to rebuild, every penny above our rebuilding costs will be donated to the Children's Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF) a charity that is very close to our hearts and has supported so many families.

Whether you donate, share our fundraiser, or continue supporting us by buying our honey in the future, thank you. Your kindness is helping us rebuild something that means so much to us.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. 🐝💛

30/07/2026

So many people have kindly offered to organise fundraisers on our behalf, and we can't thank you enough for wanting to help.

To make things as simple as possible, we've set up one official GoFundMe. If you'd like to support us, we'd be incredibly grateful if you could donate or simply share the link below.

https://gofund.me/cf3c526af

Every donation will go towards replacing essential beekeeping equipment, rebuilding our apiary, and helping us care for our bees after the fire.

We also want to be completely transparent. If, thanks to your incredible generosity, we raise more than is needed to rebuild, every penny above our rebuilding costs will be donated to the Children's Heart Surgery Fund, a charity that is very close to our hearts and has supported so many families.

Whether you donate, share our fundraiser, or continue supporting us by buying our honey in the future, thank you. Your kindness is helping us rebuild something that means so much to us.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. 🐝💛

Following the suggestions from our community, we have set up … Birstall Bee Man needs your support for Our Bees Need Help: Rebuilding After a Devastating Fire

30/07/2026

I'm absolutely overwhelmed with everyone's kind words - the fire has been devastating to the bees, the equipment and the honey in that apiary, but seeing the support from local businesses and the community in general has been outstanding.

I'm so very grateful for you all🫶🐝

30/07/2026

Today we’re absolutely heartbroken and incredibly angry.

Someone has deliberately set fire to the land where some of our hives are kept.

While the financial impact is devastating, the thing that has upset us the most is the welfare of our bees. These aren’t just hives to us… they are living colonies that we’ve spent years caring for. The thought of what they’ve been through is something is devastating.

Thousands of pounds worth of beekeeping equipment has been destroyed, and the damage doesn’t stop there. This will have a significant impact on next year’s honey production, meaning we’ll have far less stock available than we’d planned.

As a local beekeeper, setbacks like this are incredibly difficult. We work hard to produce local Yorkshire honey, support other independent businesses that stock our products, and invest everything back into growing what we do. Incidents like this don’t just affect us, they have a ripple effect on the local businesses and customers who support us year after year.

It’s hard to understand why anyone would do something that causes so much destruction, not only to property but to wildlife and to people’s livelihoods.

To everyone who supports Birstall Bee Man, thank you. We will do everything we can to recover, look after our surviving colonies, and keep doing what we love, but today is a very sad day. 💛🐝

----------

I can't begin to thank everybody who has commented, offered to support or suggested the idea of a GoFundMe.
From all of your recommendations, I have set up my GoFundMe page, in the hope that we can continue to rebuild the apiary. For all of you asking, the link is below:
https://gofund.me/7cbe022d7
The response from the community is overwhelming - thank you so so much 🫶

———-

After announcing that we had paused our GoFundMe, we’ve had so many messages, comments and phone calls(!) asking us to reopen it. We’ve thought carefully about it, and we’ve decided to reopen the fundraiser until Monday at 6:00pm… and want to be completely transparent about why.

Because of your incredible support, we have already raised enough to replace the equipment lost in the fire and begin rebuilding our apiary. We cannot thank you enough for making that possible.

As mentioned, any further donations will not come back to Birstall Bee Man… Instead, every penny raised from now until the fundraiser closes will be used to give back to causes that support bees, pollinators and our local community (along with our already promised donation to the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund). This could include supporting local projects that raise awareness of the importance of bees, sponsoring community initiatives, and helping bee-related charities. We’ll carefully decide where the money can make the biggest difference and keep everything completely open and honest.

We know many of you simply want to help, and this feels like the best way to turn your kindness into something that benefits even more people and, most importantly, our bees.

As always, we’ll continue sharing updates on our rebuild, and what we choose to support with any additional funds raised.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you again for what has been an unforgettable few days. We feel incredibly lucky to be part of such an amazing community 💞✨🐝

09/07/2026

It's not just us feeling the heat this week... the bees are too! 🐝🥵

While we're reaching for an ice cream or a cold drink, our bees are hard at work keeping their hive at the perfect temperature.

From fanning their wings and creating a cooling breeze to carrying water back to the hive for natural air conditioning, it's incredible what they can achieve together.

Next time you spot bees busy flying about in this warm weather, they're not just collecting nectar – they could be helping to keep thousands of their hive mates cool too! 💛

Stay cool, stay hydrated, and spare a thought for our tiny workers who never stop buzzing.

What are you all doing to stay cool during this heatwave?? 🐝☀️