A LIVERPOOL bee keeping project is hoping for the sweet taste of success soon as workers get ready to gather their first batch of honey.

One year on the scheme which put hives on the rooftop of Blackburne House, off Hope Street, has gone from strength to strength.

They now have two bee houses – each capable of housing 40,000 bees – which are fully operational. They are now welcoming their second family of bees and organisers are hoping to siphon off the honey which they intend to sell.

Project manager of the Hope Street Honey Project, Lesley Reith, from Oxton, Wirral, said: “The honey is ready now and we have just bought an extractor and are waiting for it to be delivered. We’ve already got the jars to put it into.”

The idea for the project came when enterprise director of Blackburne House and founder of the project Jo McGrath was having a conversation about an article she had read about the decline of the honey bee population in Britain, and how urban spaces can be great places to put apiaries.

She thought the flat roof of Blackburne House would be ideal and asked Liverpool Women’s Institute if they wanted to be involved.

Four volunteers from the WI trained up as beekeepers with the help of a funding grant from the National Lottery’s Local Food Grant Initiative and money was spent on equipment.