Dear Member,

Well it has been a busy month for Honey shows and for those brave souls who have put in entries and received awards.

Congratulations also to those six people who gained their Basic Beekeeping Assessment certificates and badge: Fran Payne, Tim Belk, Gillian Berridge, Andrea Clark, Hayley Kenney, Martin Wibberley. This is a recognition that they are on the road to becoming good beekeepers and means they can continue their education through the BBKA modules or general husbandry route. With this ‘driving licence’ they are now safe on the road (and in the Apiary)!

Our Rugby branch submitted a composite entry to the County Honey Show on the theme of ‘100 years of Women’s Suffrage’ and we were delighted to win a second place. Entries were donated by Rowan Moore (wax) Sam Peckett (set honey) Martin Wibberley (light honey) and Pauline Young (candle) Maurice West (comb honey). Creative ideas and the practical construction and display were a joint effort by Haley Kenney, Maurice West and myself. It is very rewarding to participate in this way and maybe next year a few more of you will sign up to work on a composite entry or even think of submitting your own individual entries as Vincent Peacock did this year.

While ‘showing’ may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it is an excellent way of improving your honey preparation if you are thinking of selling part of your honey crop.

Once again this year Fran Payne did a magnificent job of organizing and running Rugby’s Honey Show. Running the Honey show involves a lot of preparation and hard work and we can all help out by participating with submitting entries and coming along to support. It is in fact amazing to see the different entries and once you have had a go yourself you do appreciate the skill and hard work that is involved in putting in a good entry and getting an award. Fun too, if you let it be!

While the Honey Show was being judged by John Home, David Bonner, our soon to retire seasonal bee inspector, gave a very concise and accessible lecture about the diseases we can expect to see while beekeeping, and what to do about it if we do. It was a shame that the attendance at the lecture was rather small as this was critically important information.

At the County Honey show in September we were also treated to fascinating lectures by Steve Martin, a world renowned researcher into varroa who held out a small branch of hope that some of the work he was doing in South Africa may hold the key to Apis Mellifera developing a way of dealing with varroa. Kirsty Stainton, another nationally recognised researcher, talked about the viruses that varroa is a vector for, particularly Chronic Bee Paralysis (CBPV) which appears to be on the increase in the UK and has caused losses to some bee farmers. Gerry Collins, a beekeeper with a wealth of experience of beekeeping and teaching beekeeping also gave a lot of practical advice on dealing with common problems faced by beekeepers.

We are extremely fortunate in being near the hub of BBKA and that we have access to all this important information about bees and beekeeping. Do take advantage of these opportunities and you will find your beekeeping improves and you get more enjoyment from your hobby.

Don’t forget that Margaret Murdin will be talking about the Asian Hornet in November at our regular meeting. With several sightings of Asian Hornets we can now assume that this is a threat we will definitely be dealing with in the years to come. Margaret will no doubt tell us more about how we as beekeepers can deal with this threat, and what the BBKA and the NBU are doing to play their part.

Rowan has circulated a poster for our beginners course in February. Please print it off and put it up in any suitable location. Also inform friends and family. This would make a good Christmas gift.

Please also consider coming to the Crackerteria meal in December - friends and family welcome. A good way to support a local charitable cause and to get to know your fellow beekeepers.

Regards

Margaret Holdsworth