Yesterday, I was lucky enough to go to the Goodbye Bees event which was a chance to see all 101 bee statues in the same place and for the last time.
Many of the bee statues are being auctioned off next weekend and who knows where they'll end up and if they'll be on public display again. Some of the bees though are being given back to the charities who sponsored them or are represented by them. For example, Harpurbee will be going back to The Manchester Youth Zone. (I believe it'll be placed in the closed car park/allotment garden back area which isn't accessible to the public).
The event was held at the Manchester National Cycling Centre with some of the bees being inside and most of the being outside. It was really busy - lots of people eager to see the bees they had missed during the trail and the weather was bad too - the tail end of a storm that has flooded part of the UK this weekend.
To add to this my boyfriend had started with a cold and wasn't feeling well. We also had a nightmare parking! We ended up in the wrong place but then got told to go back there as there was nowhere to park around the cycling centre! Walking through the rain to get there then having to walk around the bees in the rain didn't help improve our moods but I tried to enjoy it as best I could.
It was really nice to see all the bees together and look at the ones we'd missed. I think we got to see around 50 on the trail and I realised whilst planning the second trip to see them that there was going to a few that I'd never get to see. So, it was good that the event was held and I could get tickets for it as I didn't feel like I'd missed out!
Of all the bees my favourite is still the one in the opening photo, Bee-You-ti-ful. I love the washed out colours and the inspirational imagines and quotes. A lot of the other bees are also inspiring and carry positive messages but there's just something about this one bee that really speaks to me!
If I had to pick a second favourite it would be this one below; Sundae. I love the ice cream look created on this bee and it feels so summer-y. For me this bee was also very different from all the others, I guess because it didn't have a 'bee' theme as such like some of the other ones do. Also, I love ice cream!
Due to how they had set the bees up it was hard to get a 'group photo', I tried my best but there was also trees and people in the way too!
Now, here's a selection of bees from the event that I liked best and all of these are ones we didn't get to see during the trail.
I love this bee above! It had this really old stone look and reminded me of a headstone!
I like this one below too. It's simple and pretty with the butterflies on it.
The bee above is themed around the 80 Days Around The World novel and the bee, I believe, was at Manchester Airport to celebrate the airport's 80th birthday!
I also liked this Egyptian themed one too.
I think this bee was called something like The Sky Isn't The Limit and it has this star consolation theme. I liked the Galaxy painting on this bee.
The below bee really sums up Manchester for me; Cottonopolis. Manchester in the past has long been the centre for the cotton industry and the worker bee is the symbol of the hardworking people.
This is Rainbow bee, who I also liked and seemed fitting in all the wet weather!
And this last Bee, I mistook as a bee with a cold as he was called sneezebee and I joked that my boyfriend was feeling like the bee was! Actually, this bee is theme around allergies, especially pollen which makes sense in the summer!
So, that's it! The bee trail is officially over. I am super sad to see the bees go and it's a shame they can't be left on display around Manchester. It was a good way to bring people together but I guess there'd be too much up keep.
I did buy the book of the bees though which lists them all and the small bees too. It's a great reminder of all the bees and fun that we've had finding them. I got a set of postcards too which had some nice photos of 9 different bees and the 10th postcard says something like we completed the bee trail.
So, it's goodbye from the bees and goodbye from me. Until next time readers.
(All photos belong to me.)
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