What city in England has the bee as its emblem? You might be surprised to hear that it’s Manchester. Yes, the city doesn’t strike one as being very promising for people interested in beekeeping, but the bee appears on public buildings and company logos all over the city. You may ask why, the streets of Levenshulme and the terraces of Old Trafford are hardly lined with beehives, and the city is more renowned for brewing beer than making honey (but what’s that insect depicted on the bottle or can of that beer?). Never the less the bee is this proud city’s symbol – the reason, as every Mancunian will tell you, is that bees are industrious: a quality greatly admired by the inhabitants of Manchester.
The city was of course the first industrial city in the world and has been the home of great innovations and inventions, as we know the city first boomed in the Victorian age when its factories buzzed like furious beehives producing good for the nation and empire. We also know that the city has a huge cultural industry and is the home of many musicians, artists and writers. But how many of the following inventions did you know were produced by this industrious city?
The free public library
Steamboats
Street lighting
Atomic theory
The first functional railway
Fresh water systems for the general public
The professional orchestra
The mechanically powered submarine
The first branch of Marks & Spencer’s
Rolls Royce
The splitting of the atom
The periodic table
The scheduled airline service
The computer
So, whilst Manchester has not distinguished itself in the field of beekeeping, I think we can allow the people of this energetic and productive city to retain the bee as their emblem as they have surly done enough and made such a significant contribution to our lives that we cannot deny that they share the bees diligent and industrious nature.
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