On Wednesday the 3rd of December we held our last monthly meeting of 2025. We decided to have a bit of fun having a blind tasting session of honey that people had brought along.


We only had two classes, runny and set. The winner of the runny honey was Greg who had put in a jar of 3 year old honey that was quite dark and predominantly from tree nectar.


The winner of the set honey was Steve, who's jar had also won second prize in the County show. It was set so hard we had to lever it out with a spoon!


There was also a class for mead, although we only had two entries. The winner was Steve who had entered the smaller bottle.


A little celebratory feast was laid out that was enjoyed before finally ending the event by wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and Healthy New Year.

This month Dave Bonner from the Coventry Beekeepers Association visited us to give a presentation on queen rearing using the Miller method. At the start Dave explained he was going to condense eight weeks of manipulations on two colonies of bees into a 60 minute talk and tha it may be a little pacey!

However, although the who process involves many steps, each one was explained perfectly by Dave and by the end of the talk most people, many taking notes throughout, had a good understanding of what needed ot be done.

Dave gives his talks to raise funds for Bees Abroad, a very worthy charity that trains people in Africa to maintain their own honey bee colonies and in so doing generate a valuable cash crop, honey. This income allows them to provide some of the basic necessities in life.

Last Wednesday, the 5th February, was our AGM. We just about managed to squeeze a quorum out of the members attending. All items on the agenda were approved, the last minutes, the year end accounts and the membership fees. The current committee, including the three officers were re-elected and our two trustees of the Warwickshire Beekeepers Association CIO were also re-elected to represent us on the board.

At the end of the meeting we enjoyed a very informative presentation given by one of our members who flew for the RAF and is now a commercial airline pilot.

Of course tales of beekeeping and winter woes were also exchanged!