Aim

Restoring the outdoor learning area at our community orchard promoting learning outside the classroom and empowering climate action

BEES (Bradford Environmental Education Service) is the environmental department of YMCA Bradford.  We offer a broad range of environmental education opportunities to young people, individuals, community groups, schools and businesses; enabling and inspiring people to make a positive contribution to their local environment, develop skills and explore the natural environment.  By empowering the local community to take climate action we are supporting positive climate action and reducing the impact of the climate crisis.

For 25 years our orchard has promoted the importance of urban natural spaces to aid pollinators, food production and protection from climate change.
We run sessions with local nursery, school and youth groups who participate in gardening and conservation tasks to support over 40 tree varieties and soft fruit bushes.
Children and families learn about natural practices to protect the environment, create wildlife habitats, feed pollinators, grow and eat food organic produce. Many go on grow their own too.

Through the community orchard and it’s volunteers are educating the local community in the effects of climate change and how small behaviour changes can make a positive impact on our local environment and protect us against the increasingly negative impact of climate change.

Around 400 children a year will participate in activates such as planting produce and pollinator plants, learning plant life cycles, looking at what insects eat and where they nest, coppicing, creating seed bombs and nature arts and crafts. We encourage them to embrace the natural world and think about how they can protect it.

We run education and experience days for school groups, disabled schoolchildren and adult mental health wellbeing groups to help them and their families understand how important urban cultivation, trees, insects and plants are to mitigate the increasing effects of pollution and climate change. They can learn and hopefully be encouraged to plant food crops and insect friendly lawns and meadows at home to create better wildlife habitats in the city.

For those who have no or limited access to green spaces and leave the orchard with a real appreciation for nature and the desire to continue to help it. Many have gone on the join our Friday Conservation Volunteers group who undertake a variety of tasks around Bradford District to create wildlife habitats, grow pollinators, plant trees remove invasive plant species and protect woodlands and green spaces, including Bowling Community Orchard


The site is in need of some upgrades to restore it for the next 25 years. Money raised will be spent on restoring our outdoor learning area with new wooden bench seating, accessible pathways and expanding our habitat hotels on site.  Our insect hotels are structures made of natural or recycled materials designed to provide shelter and nesting spaces for various insects and other small creatures supporting the biodiversity of the Orchard. 

How you can help

There are three ways to get involved and support our project:

1. Donate

Every pledge gets us closer to our goal. Your support can help build momentum and inspire others to give too.

2. Share

Share our project with friends, family and your wider network. The more people we reach, the more likely we are to succeed.

3. Volunteer 

If you’d like to get involved, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch through the ‘Contact’ section using the subject "I want to volunteer my time or expertise" on our project page or by visiting https://bradfordymca.org.uk/services/environmental-education/

This project successfully funded on 16th September 2025