May 20th - World Bee day

There are 279 varieties of bees in the UK - the honey bee is just one of them.

7 years ago Bell House said ‘yes’ to bee hives. The first one was secondhand and cost £50. Each hive can have up to 60,000 individuals.

Honey bees feed on nectar and pollen which they can reach with their tongues.

Bell House now has 3 established hives which are taken care of by our beekeeper, Annie McGeoch. Annie has been interested in bees since the age of 6 - her grandad had hives in his garden in Lancashire - and she remembers those times fondly. Annie says she particularly loves the smell when a hive is opened.

Honey bee

If you’d like to find out more about honey bees you can book a place on one of Annie’s talks. Visit the website to book.

But as it’s World Bee day on Saturday 20th May here’s a shout out for just a few of the other bees you may have heard of.

Bumble bee

Bumble bees are beautiful large clumsy balls of fluff. They are a social species, nesting in colonies ranging from a few dozen to several hundred bees. There are 24 varieties. Each variety has different food tastes and these include brambles, buddleia, thistles and rhododendrons.

Common Carder bee Credit Aaron Burden

Common carder bee is a little bee and the only UK species with all-brown colouring and no white tail. They range from ginger to a pale, sandy brown depending on how sun-bleached they are. They are found everywhere from arable land to urban gardens. Gorse, dandelions, dead-nettles are some of its favourite foods.

Red mason bee

Mason bees buzz about in front of brick walls. This solitary species nests in cavities in wood, hollow stems and walls. They have boxy heads and large powerful jaws. Red mason bees are seen in built-up environments with plenty of gardens, churchyards and urban green space. And they are the bee most likely to be taking up residence in your bee hotel. Look out for a black head, brown thorax and orange abdomen, and in females, a lot of fluff.

Mining bee

Mining bees nest in the ground and they belong to a 67 strong group of diverse bees ranging from 5-7mm long. They feast on shrubs like hawthorn, fruit trees, dandelions and buttercups and much more.

Bell House front door has been painted blue - but why?

The front door of Bell House has recently changed colour from bright green to mid blue and there’s a very good reason why.

It is in preparation for the Dulwich Festival Artists’ Open House this May in which once again Bell House will be participating. Blue is a colour commonly used to represent portals or doorways and this ties in with the Bell House exhibition theme - Windows and Thresholds.

The Artist’s Open House at Bell House will be a series of five exhibitions exploring the theme Windows and Thresholds and will consider whether these in-between spaces are barriers symbolic of separation and division or portals to opportunities and possibilities.

It will feature over 40 artists - painters, printmakers, sculptors, filmmakers, and photographers - drawing inspiration from the new Berthe Morisot show at Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Berthe Morisot was one of the founding members of Impressionism. But conventions at that time made it difficult for a woman painter to paint ‘en plein air’ which was a key feature of impressionist painting. So instead she painted interior scenes, often with a window bringing the outside in and exploring the relationship between private and public spaces - portraying a view to the outside world and representing the barriers faced.

And so Berthe Morisot is the inspiration for the Artist’s Open House at Bell House exhibitions because of the way she worked and the subject matter of her paintings. 

The exhibition Windows and Thresholds at Bell House throws open the windows and doors to investigate the different interpretations attached to portals and their impact on the psychological spaces of our environments.

Portals are extraordinary openings in space and time, they can be architectural or ritualistic, representing both an ending and a beginning.  Regardless of whether they are physical, otherworldly or portals for the mind, they are gateways which connect us to distant realms, they link the interior to the exterior and are doors to the unknown. 

Windows and Thresholds at Bell House will be open 13/14 & 20/21 May 2023, 11am to 6pm and entrance is FREE.

There will be workshops and performances during the open weekends – visit https://www.bellhouse.co.uk/artists-open-house-2023 for details of how to sign up for these and to see the list of exhibiting artists.

Bell House projects will also be on view with a display of work from the Quilt Academy and a chance to see The Garage Press (letterpress printing) in action.

With thanks to the curators of these 5 multi-disciplinary exhibitions - Kim Thornton, Sarah Sparkes/Jane Millar, Ky Lewis, Min Angel/Jo Mason, Lucy Bainbridge

Dulwich Local History talks - raising money for local Charities by reaching an Online audience far and wide

Our online Local History talks in conjunction with the Dulwich Society started in January 2021 and are a huge success. They reach a growing number of people in Dulwich and further afield as we have had online attendees from Europe and the US.

Feedback on the talks is always excellent. Over 1,800 tickets have been sold but as many ticket holders watch with someone else we’re reaching more than double that number. And this doesn’t include the people who watch the recordings on YouTube afterwards, who number over 3,400 so far.

The talks have raised over £7,300 for local charities (after costs) including £2,100 for St Christopher’s Hospice, £1,100 for King’s College Hospital charities and £3,000 for Bell House educational projects.

Bell House is so pleased to be holding in-house events again. But sadly not enough people get to experience Bell House. The volunteers who help run the place want to create a more open-door policy to address this, and to make sure that everyone feels welcomed to the house. They want to improve awareness by creating a ‘P4 bus route community’ through which they will reach out and advertise Bell House as a magical place for everyone to share.

ALEX - AN ATTENDEE OF THE AFTER SCHOOL CLUB IS AN ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS

Alex was one of the children attending the After School Club last year. The club is held at Bell House and is run by Suzanne Jessel and other volunteers on every Thursday to support dyslexic children.

Alex’s mum wrote to tell Suzanne about what Alex who is 10 years old and his brother Prince, who is 12, have been up to since early December last year.

They have started their own business - the “Juicing Bros’ - after their mum bought their dad a slow juicer for his birthday.

The boys had a major feature written about them on ‘londonnewsonline’ on January 24th which you can read here.

“Once the brothers got hold of the juicer it was clear to see they were naturals, and the boys were encouraged to sell juices to their neighbours in Ulverscroft Road.

Alex, 10, said: “Our mum bought our dad a juicer for his birthday. We started making juices for the family for fun and realised we were pretty good at it.

“We started with our mum asking on our street’s WhatsApp group whether people would buy our juice, and we had a great response.”

In just six weeks the boys have had 78 orders, amounting to more than £600 in sales. They also have 28 five-star reviews on Google.

Prince, 12, added: “We have advertised on the East Dulwich forum and generated more business. A whopping 77 orders in just six weeks.

“We can definitely see this being a future career for us as we have many ideas which will help develop and expand the business.”

Alex said the orange, carrot and ginger juice, known as the ‘Phoenix,’ is his favourite flavour as it “has a real kick to it”.

Prince said: “Beetroot, orange and carrot AKA ‘Bee Reddy’ is my personal favourite as it has a perfect mix of sweet and veggie flavour.”

The boys’ mum, Simone Harvey, said: “I am so proud of my young entrepreneurs, they started out reading books like Be a Young Entrepreneur and Think Like a Boss: Kids Edition so they were in a really good mindset.

“Starting this business has not only taught them a great work ethic, but also helped build their confidence.

“Alex has dyslexia, and I’ve always told him it’s his super power and it can help him achieve anything he wants in this world.”

You can follow Prince and Alex on Instagram @juicing_bros

Pictured above Alex Cook left, a satisfied customer and Prince Cook (Picture: Juicing Bros)

Pottery at Bell House

This Autumn saw Bell House running for the first time weekly Pottery classes guided by expert potters Ekta Chakraborty and Annie Antoine.

The classes have been buzzing - a hive of activity - friends made, conversations flowing, skills learnt and importantly work to show for their time spent. Everyone enjoyed getting their hands dirty working the clay and revelled in decorating their pieces.

All work has now been fired and the results really do speak for themselves.

Big plans are afoot.

These classes were the first toe in the water for pottery at Bell House. 

We are currently building a Community Pottery Studio in the garden which is scheduled to be completed in July 2023. There will be a new and larger kiln, half a dozen wheels as well as every other piece of equipment needed to run a thriving and dynamic pottery space. Our tutors Ekta and Annie have been supporting and advising with the build  as well as several local professional potters including Julian Stair and Birgit Pohl

There are no community pottery studios nearby. Bell House wants their studio to be not only for building pottery but also for building friendships.

The studio will be used in the daytime, evenings and weekends so that all our local community can enjoy potting!

In the meantime, Ekta and Annie say: “We want to be able to grow our workshops over the next year to a number of days during the week and turn the pottery into a friendly, creative hub with regular, repeat, diverse participants.”

The new classes for 2023 are now available to book - go to our events page to learn more.

We also look forward to interviewing Ekta and Annie in the new year to find our more about their love of pottery and to hear about the building progress of Pottery studio.

But in case you need some more persuading to sign up for a pottery class - this is what Annie and Ekta say about working with clay.

“Clay is a great medium as it’s so tactile and very forgiving with mistakes. Nothing ever goes to waste, everything is recycled. It’s grounding and a mindful practice and also known to be beneficial for people on the spectrum or with ADHD.

Not only do you gain a new skill and hopefully learn something about the science of clay but you also devote time to yourself and your friends. It’s a slow process to be able to create an object with clay and results are generally never exactly the same and so this encourages the potter to enjoy the process, slow themselves down and focus!”