BERTIE AND BEATRIX
Rosa Rich, 8
Suffolk
One day, there was a little girl called Florence. Florence loved to play in the garden and would spend hours talking to the butterflies, birds and bees she came across. She wished they could talk back to her, and sometimes she thought they could really understand her. She also loved flowers and she would make sure the flowers she planted with her mummy were watered and looked after.
One Saturday afternoon, she got her £1 coin for her pocket money as usual, but she noticed a difference on the shiny new coin. It had the King’s face on one side and two bees on the other! She had never seen bees on her pocket money before, and she thought it must be special in some way.
The next morning, Florence took her pocket money out of her money box and looked down at her new £1 coin. The King’s face was still there, but the bees had disappeared! She heard a buzzing noise and looked back down at her money box. She couldn’t believe her eyes when the two bees from the coin flew out, and flew around her bedroom. They seemed to be looking around at all her stuffed animals and posters of wildlife on her walls. Florence was shocked! She wondered aloud what their names were and why they were buzzing round her room instead of staying on the coin. She couldn’t believe her ears when one of them said to her, “We’re Bertie and Beatrix, the bees from the new £1 coins, and we’re here to remind people to how important we are!”
Florence was so excited. She asked the bees why they were so important and Beatrix replied, “We’re important because we pollinate flowers and help trees and plants grow. Without us, farmers wouldn’t be able to grow fruits and vegetables, or crops to feed animals. We also make honey and beeswax! But there are fewer of us around than before, so we need humans to make sure our habitats are protected, so we can keep helping them.”
Florence promised that if Bertie and Beatrix got back on their coin, she would spend it on seeds to sow in her garden. Florence hopes you will do this too.