Toni Childs to host forum with region's beekeepers after Albury concert

The region's commercial and amateur beekeepers and indeed anyone passionate about safeguarding the future of the planet is urged to attend a breakfast forum with US-born singer-songwriter Toni Childs at Albury on April 8.

Childs is currently touring Australia with her Retrospective tour on a mission to raise money for It's All a Beautiful Noise, a future project to encourage people to protect the world's bee population.

On the morning after her concerts, Childs will hold discussions with local beekeepers with the view to creating a documentary series and interactive 3D music and storytelling tour in 2021.

North East Victoria-based honey producer Jane Holland has welcomed the chance to raise awareness of the threats to these precious pollinators.

Ms Holland, who owns Hachibee Honey with her professional beekeeper husband Russell, said there was now huge public awareness for the plight of bees.

"Bees are like the koalas of the 1980s," she said.

"But they are in major strife across the world.

"Australia is the last stronghold of semi-healthy bees but it is still a challenge to keep bees alive.

"It's a minefield out there for them in the modern world."

From an ever-changing, ever-diminishing habitat to pesticides, invasive plant species and pests, the humble bee is facing a sting in the tail when it comes to just day-to-day survival.

But it is the catastrophic threat of the Varroa mite that is posing the biggest concern to the previously protected water-bound borders of Australia, according to Ms Holland.

"This parasite will decimate our bees," she said.

"The whole industry will crash and take years to recover.

"Bees are integral to our ability to produce food; they pollinate nearly everything we eat."

There is an oft-quoted "fact" warning that if bees disappeared from the earth, humans would have only four years left to live.

It was during Childs' struggles with Graves' Disease that the singer felt she was ultimately reborn.

The autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid paused Childs' career for a decade.

But discovering the causes behind her symptoms saw her health improve and she essentially awoke to a new awareness of the world.

Thanks to her husband, NSW sound artist Mik Lavage, Childs embarked on a "vast, epic and beautiful" journey into another realm of music.

"It's not music you're tapping your toes to," she said.

"His music challenged me; it made me want to go to the Himalayas and give a concert for the whales and dolphins.

"I was singing at the top of the world, singing a new music and it was inspiring.

"I kept seeing posts about bees, what's happening to them and to our planet."

The rest, as they say, is history.

Childs wanted to make an animated show - an evening of music, storytelling and 3D mapped visuals - that would bring "these rockstars of nature" to the forefront of the world stage.

"This is not a downer - I'm not a greenie - yet I felt like nature itself was making a call about this," she explained this week.

"I want to create an inspirational show that people will get excited about that will also support these little angels.

" I want to make a beautiful noise for our planet."

Part of that process is connecting with beekeepers, interviewing them and capturing their "wisdom" to more accurately shine on a light on the issues.

"They are the first line of defence in protecting our bees and they need to be recognised," Childs explained.

As part of this tour, Childs will scout out appropriate venues for her ambitious project that would see "bee-centric" activities conducted in selected communities in the lead-up to a concert that promises to leave audiences "breathless".

"We need to put the feelers out in communities and pollinate all of these ideas," she said.

"Wouldn't it be wonderful to see bees listed as a protected species  - ultimately it would protect ourselves?"

Ms Holland understands why "people of influence" are motivated by the bees' 'tail' of woe.

"It is powerful and far-reaching - and it affects us all," she said.

"I think it's helpful for the public to think of bees like other stock.

"They get diseases, they get hungry, they need water and they get tired.

"Did you know the only reason a worker bee dies is when it is flying heavily and its wings wear out?

"They get tattered and literally fall out of the sky."

Both Childs and Ms Holland believe people can identify with the work bees carry out.

Between that and their high "cute factor", education campaigns about the vital role of bees are now building momentum in school curriculums from the early years and across social media.

Ms Holland would love to see the region's busy beekeepers make the effort to attend the April forum.

The sweet sound of success would be a world buzzing with healthy bees.