Dear Member,

Well, Rugby hosted another successful Honey Show this year with Fran Payne co-ordinating it for the first time. While we missed Bruce Roberts and Pauline Young who for many years have set the standard at our shows, Steve Brown and Rowan are stepping up to the plate.

I think special mention should go to the Bee Sauna made by Tim Belk for both inventiveness and execution, and to Frances and Tony French for the darkest honey I have ever seen! Well done everyone who entered, especially some of the newer beekeepers.

Every year the Warwickshire County Honey show donates some of the entered honey to one of the branches. This year it is the turn of Rugby to receive this gift of 12 jars which they can then donate to a charity of their choice. The committee agreed to donate the honey to More4, the charity supporting the Homeless.

We are planning to run another Introduction to Beekeeping course in early February, so please inform anyone you know who may be interested. Once we have a venue, Rowan will post the details on the Website, and produce a poster if anyone can display this. The course would make a good Christmas gift for someone interested in bees and beekeeping.

Do remember that our monthly meeting in December has been changed to the first Wednesday in December to avoid clashing with other festive engagements. Peter Dixon has again agreed to run the quiz, and of course with everyone bringing something tasty to share, you and your partner/family are welcome to join in this lighthearted meeting.

My attention was drawn to an article in the Rugby Observer asking for local groups to apply for a grant to promote a green-minded community initiative. We are going to submit an application and will keep you posted as to the result.

With the very warm Autumn we are having, the bees are still very active, but of course there is a diminishing supply of nectar available so we can assume they are using up the stores you ensured they had last month, and the queen will be continuing to lay so the colony will remain large. This means that if we also have a mild winter again this year, in December/January the bees will have used up much of their reserve so be prepared with some fondant if it is needed.

Do come along to the next monthly meeting to hear about the Stewarton Hive. While it may not be a hive any of us are using or want to use, I am sure there will be some useful insights about beekeeping, past and present.

Also please read the article in BBKA on EFB written by a new beekeeper who bought a nuc from a bee breeder and suspects that is where the EFB came from. Having myself seen the grotty old frames supplied to one of our local members who bought bees from one of these supposed bee breeders I am not surprised. Be warned about buying bees!

Please check our Events Page for the dates of meetings and events.

Regards,

Margaret Holdsworth