What is The Bee Tree Community?
We are an online community centre that runs a Zoom based timetable of group Zoom sessions with the aim of bringing people together over various topics, interests and activities. We are classed as a Community Interest Company which means that any profits we make are primarily reinvested back into Bee Tree to ensure it continues to develop and benefit our members, both now and in the future.

Who can join Bee Tree and what equipment is needed?
Anyone aged 18 and over can join Bee Tree. If you need a person with you to help you use/take part in Bee Tree that is fine too. Just make sure you have a device with a front facing camera and an internet connection that is preferably Wifi based and can handle Zoom calls.

Why does your membership form require my personal details?
We take your name, date of birth, contact details and emergency contact details for safeguarding reasons. Bee Tree is not an in person/face to face community centre and as such we cannot support you in case of an emergency. We therefore take these details in case we need to send your emergency contact/emergency services to your home should anything happen to you during our Zoom sessions and you are alone with no other option for help. Should anything happen to any of our members we will remove all other members from the meeting and will stay online with you until your emergency contact/emergency services arrive. If necessary we can then speak with them to tell them what has happened. 

How much is it to join?
Bee Tree costs £10 monthly and this gives you full access to every single session on our timetable. Your first month is also free so you can have a free trial with us to see how you find it. If you decide you'd rather not continue beyond your first month please make sure to cancel your subscription.

How do I cancel my subscription?
Go to our Subscribe/Donate tab located under our 'Book a Session' tab and click the cancel button.

Where can I see and book the sessions that are currently running?
Visit our 'Timetable' tab in the menu to see our currently running sessions and book them in the 'Book a Session' tab. You can use the little arrows at either side to shift the calendar back and forth, allowing you to book as far ahead as you like. Please note you will not be able to book a session and have access to it once it has started. However we appreciate that people can forget to book sessions so you can always WhatsApp/Text us if you are a member and require the Zoom link. 

Do you run over Christmas and New Year?
Yes! We run a Christmas/New Year timetable over that 2 week period in place of our usual timetable. Details of this can be found under our 'Christmas Timetable' tab which will be active when appropriate.

How do I access/join/cancel any sessions that I book?
You will receive an email with the option to 'Join Meeting' as soon as you've booked a session so keep those emails safe!

Alternatively your sessions are saved in the section of our website that is your area. On the far right tab of the menu that displays your name click the little arrow next to it. This will open a drop down menu with options for you to select and edit that are relevant to your membership. Select 'My Booked Sessions' and this will bring up a list of the sessions you have booked and the dates/times they are running. To the right of the 'Reschedule this meeting' option you will see a little arrow. Click it and it will drop down to show you a 'join this meeting' option. There is also a 'Cancel this session' option. Please make sure you make use of all of these to not only join a session but to also reschedule or cancel it so we know you aren't coming.

I'm not sure how to use Zoom. Can I still join Bee Tree?
Yes! Plenty of our members are not confident on Zoom but we are happy to teach you how to use it and both us and our members are all very patient with each other. We offer one to one support over the phone to help you gain access and we can then support you to to get more confident using our website and Zoom. We appreciate how frustrating technology can be and how much of a barrier it can become so we do everything we can to ensure our members can take part. If you'd like someone with you (eg a friend/family member/a person who supports you) to either get you into a Bee Tree session or to stay with you and support you during it that is absolutely fine too. 

Do you offer any other services apart from Zoom sessions?
Yes we have a WhatsApp group associated with each Zoom session that we moderate. You can join any of these - just ask us in session or email/whatsapp us and we can add you. These groups are useful for members to stay in touch with each other and us through the week, to share things that interest them and are relevant and to post into with any difficulties/last minute cancellations etc. 

How else can I contact you?
Check out our 'Contact Us' page to get in touch with us.

How can I become a Host for Bee Tree?
Select the 'Our Hosts' tab in our menu and scroll to the bottom to fill out our enquiry form. Have a read of the information about and for hosts on that page, Bee Tree really couldn't run without them and we are hugely proud of and grateful to all of them for providing our members with the wonderful sessions they facilitate. 

How can I support you to grow as a service?
Our membership payments are our main source of income - they have now reached a level where our running costs are covered and our initial startup costs have been recuperated. However, we need a lot more this year to enable Bee Tree to reach more people and become more secure as a well established service. Please consider setting up a £5 monthly donation if you're able to and/or simply sharing us with family and friends and people who could benefit from joining us. Recommend us to local media to be featured and anything else you can think of to get us known to those who need us. We would be so appreciative of any support at all!