Pharmabees help create artwork at University Hospital Llandough

The Pharmabees team have partnered with Llandough Primary School, local artist Nick Davies, and the Cardiff and Vale Health Board.

This project is part of Our Orchard, a new initiative that aims to plant an orchard in the grounds of University Hospital Llandough as a space for patient and community wellbeing, as well as being an area where biodiversity can thrive.

Nick Davies, a Welsh artist with an interest in the micro world of nature, along with the pupils of Llandough Hospital have created pieces of art that are a welcome addition to an area of the orchard designated for bees: the Bee Garden Project. The artwork consists of concrete moulds made into tiles that represent both the life cycle of bees and also the type of plants that Pharambees researchers have identified as having antibacterial properties – plants such as bluebell and dandelion.

To give the project more academic rigour, Elizabeth Roche from Cardiff University visited Llandough Primary School to teach the Years 5 and 6 children about Pharmabees, and how scientists can analyse honey in the search for new antibiotics. The pupils were also welcomed to the Redwood Building, where they were taken to the rooftop beehives to learn more about these creatures that are so vital to the ecosystem.

“The Pharmabees project staff were incredibly generous in giving support to extend their outreach programme for schools with encouraging children to engage with the subject of science,” said Nick Davies.

As a thank you, the Pharmabees team is excited to receive a specially made piece of artwork from the pupils to display at the Redwood Building.