Cadets from Whitehaven Sea Cadets are buzzing with excitement as they launched a campaign aimed at encouraging hundreds of young people nationwide to save our bees.

The unit’s formal name is T.S. Bee and they want to make sure that their wild namesakes have plenty of spaces to thrive.

The campaign, named #SaveTheTSBees, has seen the cadets send over 8,000 'beebomb' wildflower seed balls to over 400 youth groups including every sea cadet unit in Great Britain and many local youth groups thanks to funding from the Cumbria Community Foundation and Sellafield Ltd Transforming West Cumbria #CanDo programme.

Its aim is to create over 10,500 square feet of wildflower spaces where bees and pollinators can thrive.

News and Star: Cadets packing the seeds Cadets packing the seeds (Image: Whitehaven Sea Cadets)

One of the cadets involved is ordinary cadet Connor Sweeney. He said: “Bees play such an important role as pollinators and yet there are less and less of them every year.

"Given our unit name, we decided to take a stand and help bring them back.

"Helping the environment has been at the heart of the project - we have used biodegradable envelopes, packing, and labels, and even our flyers were printed on seeded paper which will create even more flowers for the bees to thrive.”

Whitehaven town councillor Edwin Dinsdale visited the unit while the cadets were preparing the seed ball packs and was presented with his very own pack.

He added: “I would like to thank Whitehaven Sea Cadets for presenting me with the Beebomb pack. This is a great environmental initiative and I would strongly encourage everyone in Whitehaven and countrywide to fully support this campaign.”

News and Star: The Beebomb packs The Beebomb packs (Image: Whitehaven Sea Cadets)