Pickering is gearing up for an Earth Day Ecofair this weekend.

With the Pickering Bee Trail well underway, attention is now shifting to the events taking place to celebrate Earth Day itself on Saturday, Apri 22.

Beck Isle Museum is hosting a range of bee-related activities at their “Bee Amazing” Event, a repair café will be running at the Black Swan Yard, and an Ecofair will take place at The Memorial Hall.

In addition, there’ll be a Bee Talk and honey tasting at Pickering library, and activities run by children’s authors Sacha and Thomas Webborn at Pickering Book Tree.

Paul Norrington, from Pickering Environment Group said: “The level of engagement in our bee-themed Earth Day celebrations has been fantastic so far, with so many groups, businesses and individuals getting involved. Bees and other pollinators are in serious decline. We could be in serious trouble too, not least because up to a third of all our food relies on pollination from bees and other insects. There’s a great opportunity to turn all this positive energy into action.”

The Ecofair will feature around twenty stalls in total. The RSPB will be on hand to supervise the making of bee homes from upcycled mugs and bamboo.

Other stalls will provide inspiration on what we can all do help other wildlife thrive in our neighbourhoods, including Pickering Swifts, Pickering Hedgehog Rescue, The British Dragonfly Society and Ryedale Naturalists. Anyone wanting to succeed with planting wildflowers will be able to chat to Heritage Wild Flowers, The North of England's Leading Wild Flower Specialist.

Paul said: "You might be lucky enough to pick up a packet of free wild flower seeds. The Hall will have displays on how to help bumblebees, and there’ll be people to chat to about wider environmental issues, including recycling, how to shop plastic-free, reducing food waste and moving to electric heat pumps for central heating.

"In the words of the great David Attenborough: “We are at a unique stage in our history. Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to the planet, and never before have we had the power to do something about that. Surely we all have a responsibility to care for our Blue Planet. The future of humanity and indeed, all life on earth, now depends on us.”

Paul added: “The Ecofair is the perfect “one stop shop” opportunity for people to come and explore a wide range of ideas on small steps they can take to help our planet and come away inspired to take action. A lot of small steps added together can make a big difference”

For more information on the Ecofair and all other events go to www.ryedaleenvirogroup.co.uk, and follow the link to Pickering Earth Day.