A book has been published documenting ‘The Bees of Manchester’.

The book has been published by a freelance bespoke website developer, who only moved to Manchester just a week before the terrorist attack happened at the Manchester arena.

Hundreds of photos of the symbolic ‘worker bee’, which are scattered all across Manchester have been collected and used to make a book. The photos varied from a bee on a lamppost, to extraordinary pieces of bee wall art.

Philip Butler, 49, moved to the Green Quarter from London just minutes away from the arena. He felt his home shake from the blast of the bomb on the 22nd of May, where 22 innocent people lost their lives.

“The building shook. I live a minute walk from the arena. At first I thought there may have been a collision at the train station,” he said.

The devastation lead Philip to take action, and he began to think of ways to contribute as he wanted to help and make a difference after such a tragic event.

“Over the following days I thought how can I help? How can I contribute? At that point I started noticing more and more bees in the city. I thought if I could take a picture of all the bees in Manchester, I can put them into a book and sell it with all profits going to charity,” said Mr Butler.

2,000 copies of the £7.50 book were printed and the aim, if all the books are sold, is to raise £11,000 for the Manchester memorial fund.

Although Philip is happy that he’s been able to play a part in the recovery of Manchester, focusing on the book meant that he had to put his web design business aside in order to take his project to it’s highest potential – meaning he’s actually made a loss.

Special access was also granted to allow photos to be taken of the inside of the principle hotel clock tower, as the numbers on it are in fact bees.

Here’s where you can find some of the bee murals in the book:

If you want a copy of ‘The Bees of Greater Manchester’, you can get one here:

https://www.beequest.co.uk

 

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