An Asian hornet sighting was confirmed in the Tamworth area of Staffordshire on 2 September 2019. Read more about it in this letter from BBKA.
The East Kent Ploughing Match will be held on 25th September at West Court Farm, Shepherdswell, CT15 5PZ.
Website: https://www.ekpma.co.uk/event
Established for over 70 years in East Kent this popular annual event attracts between 3,000 and 4,500 people each year from the agricultural community as well as all walks of life. The event not only draws tough competition between modern, old and horse drawn ploughs, but is a fantastic outing and educational opportunity.
Canterbury Beekeepers partners with other local associations to run a beekeeping stall, where we sell honey and talk about bees. The enthusiast can enter honey (set or runny) into the Women’s section show. Note that the closing date for entries is 23rd August. For more details, please see the schedule:
This year EKPMA has organised the following:
Ladies Section * Horse Plough Classes * Classes for Ploughs * Vintage Tractors and Ploughs * Grain * Vegetables * Poultry and Eggs Class * Preserves, Cakes and Handicrafts * Tossing the Sheaf * Display of Vintage Tractors and Engines * Craft Tent * The Hawking Centre: Birds of Prey flying display * Have a Go Archery * Terrier Racing * Tickham Hunt and Blean Beagles
At our apiary meeting this weekend, we extracted honey from supers collected from our Palmsted Wood bees. We also talked about the bottling process, and how you can use the commonsense that should be applied to preparing a foodstuff, to getting a few bottles of honey ready for honey shows.
The following links provide some introductory and detailed instructions on how to get honey ready for shows. It may seem intimidating, but remember that the local honey shows value participation, as much as perfection, so why not give your honey a chance, by entering a local show? Some examples are given below.
Preparing for a show
Introductory notes: https://www.bedsbka.org.uk/honey-show/preparing-for-the-honey-show/ . Notes for competitive beekeepers: http://www.petersfieldbeekeepers.org.uk/honey-show/preparing-for-a-honey-show/
Thanet Honey Show
Part of Acol Horticultural Show (Saturday 21st September) . Typical schedule: http://canterburybeekeepers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Honey-Show-schedule-TBKA-2014.pdf
2019 East Kent Ploughing Match
SEPTEMBER 25, 2019, WEST COURT FARM, SHEPHERDSWELL, CT15 5PZ https://www.ekpma.co.uk/event Look in the Womens’ Section for foodstuff classes
Apple Festival at Brogdale
19-20 October, https://www.brogdalecollections.org/festivals-events/ . Not a honey show, but you can sell your honey at the Canterbury Beekeepers stall.
DDBKA Honey Show
Saturday October 19th , Shepherdswell Village Hall. Here is the schedule from last year’s show – they don’t change much from year to year: https://canterburybeekeepers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Dover-Honey-Show-Schedule-2018-corrected-version.pdf . And here is a report on a recent show: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQjvw_j15lgazdGM2ZJSjM4WjA/view
National Honey Show
24-26 October 2019, Sandown Park, Esher. Last year’s schedule for illustrative purposes: http://www.honeyshow.co.uk/files/2018/2018-Schedule-Full.pdf . Kent Classes, National classes
The main event of the summer for our parent body, the Kent Beekeepers Association, is the Bee and Honey Show at the County Show at Detling on 5-7 July. KBKA are always interested to hear from people who can help out running the stand, or indeed entering hive products in the Honey Show section. There’s a lot more detail about being a steward, which will earn you free entry to the County Show, and how to enter the Honey Show available from the organizer, Bob Smith. There are 4 separate documents that might be relevant.
More information about the County Show: https://kentshowground.co.uk/
Here is some basic information on the habits and biology of the non-native species, the asian hornet (Vespa velutina). This is an invasive species that provides threats to beekeeping, native insect populations, and potentially to human health.
Here are some recommendations we hope all beekeeping members of Canterbury branch can act upon: “recognise and report”