Bees for Development in Monmouth has created some unusual Remembrance Day poppies, in the form of palm-sized beeswax candles.

The candles are handmade by shop manager Donna Regan using beeswax imported from Uganda.

Donna heats the pre-dyed wax in a boiler then pours it into silicone moulds which produce beautiful lifelike ’flowers’.

"Each one takes a couple of hours to make - and I only have two moulds - but I’m aiming to have about twenty on display in our shop window in Agincourt Street in the week leading up to Remembrance Day," she said.

"I don’t know if they’re unique to us, but I’ve certainly never seen them anywhere else.

"The candles burn for several hours, give off a lovely, natural scent and emit a bright pure light. They’re far nicer than candles made using paraffin wax!"

The candles cost £5.50, with £1 from each sale going towards the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.

Donna also uses the Ugandan beeswax to make candles in the shape of pine cones, beehives and the like, as one small way of helping the beekeepers’ find a market for their produce.

Uganda is just one of the countries where Bees for Development is promoting sustainable beekeeping to combat poverty and to build sustainable, resilient livelihoods .

The organisation also works with local partners on community-based projects in Cameroon, the Caribbean, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kyrgyzstan, the UK and Zanzibar.

Keeping bees can change lives in the world’s poorest regions by creating food, income and employment.

Simple hives can be made from locally available materials and the bees themselves are freely available from nature.

What’s more bees don’t need to be fed and find their own food and water.

Beekeeping is even possible for people with no land of their own, offering a feasible livelihood option, with good markets for honey and beeswax.

Bees for Development targets the most disadvantaged groups in the areas where it operates - single women, young people, families without land or other assets, and people with disabilities - helping them to obtain bees, establish apiaries and develop profitable beekeeping enterprises.