As discussed at our meeting on Wednesday, the DDBKA honey show is on Saturday 20th October. If you want to enter, there are a number of open classes, and we’re keen to keep up the recent good attendance by CBKA at the local honey show. You must have sent (by post) an application form to the Show Secretary, Chris Holdstock, to arrive not later than Saturday 13th October.
Attached here is a pdf file with the show schedule, and the application form you need.
Report
Many thanks to all of you who took the time to help out at the event at Brogdale. For those of you who attended on Saturday, you picked the right day! Sunday was somewhat of a wash-out and it finally ended around 3PM. However we did have the benefit of a folk group, who played several jigs to keep us warm, and we were entertained by a group of young children, most of whom completed at least 3 rounds of tasting honey (pity their parents later on) and bombarded us with questions about bees.
Julian did his usual excellent job of promoting beekeeping with his presentations, which are always a driver for people to visit the stand. The observation hive is always a big draw and it would make a material difference to attendance, interest and sales of honey if we didn’t have it there.
Colin, Sue and I provided honey for sale – you can see the picture of Sue behind the stand before the punters turned up here.
Honey sales were rather brisk on Saturday but slowed on Sunday. There were some useful trends/tips to pick up from the sales and we can perhaps discuss that at the next club meeting in October. Our prices were as follows:
16oz £6.00
12oz £4.95
8oz £3.85
4oz £2.00
Gift Pack £9.00 (2 x 8oz in gift pack with wooden honey dripper)
Brogdale Cider Festival
We have a stand at the Cider Festival on Saturday/Sunday 22/23 September. We are looking for volunteers so please consider giving up some time for some very enjoyable activities – talking about beekeeping, selling honey and sampling the cider. If you would like to volunteer, please email me with any preferred days and times.
Last Call for CBKA Polo Shirts
Our branded CBKA Polo shirts have been well received by everybody. I am about to place another order so if anybody would like one, please email your request including size (S, M, L, XL, XXL). They are great value at £10 – it is nice for all attendees at events like Brogdale to wear a club shirt, if possible.
You might be interested to know that the 2012-2013 programme is under development and the first few courses are about to appear in BeeCraft. The website contains details of the 6 courses listed so far, there will be others.
What is new this year? There are completely new courses (e.g. Brood Diseases, Bee Behaviour) and many of the existing courses have been modified or completely re-written in response to feedback and to make them more focussed on the Healthy Bees Plan objectives and the BBKA education and training system. Although the courses currently on offer are confined to the existing Devon and Kent training centres, negotiations are on-going to secure more northerly venues.
The good news is that, with generous sponsorship from Fera via the Healthy Bees Plan, courses this season will be offered for just £75 for the 2 days, including refreshments, light lunches and all of the handouts and consumables. As previously, class sizes will remain small (typically 10-12) and two tutors will be available, ensuring a high degree of individual attention. Here are some of the upcoming courses:
| November | 4, 5 | Honeybee Behaviour new date | Dan Basterfield | Devon |
| December | 1, 2 | Anatomy & Dissection new date | Ken Basterfield | Devon |
| December | 3, 4 | Advanced Husbandry new date | Ivor Davis | Devon |
| December | 6, 7 | Pollen new date & venue | Bob Smith | York |
| February | 1, 2 | Microscopy filling | Ken Basterfield | Devon |
| February | 3, 4 | Adult Bee Diseases | Dan Basterfield | Devon |
| February | 10, 11 | Adult Bee Diseases new date | Dan Basterfield | Kent |
| March | 1, 2 | Pollen new date | Bob Smith | Kent |
So, please take a look at the website – www.national-diploma-bees.org.uk – and see whether you are tempted. The KSRC site in Sittingbourne is the home for several of the courses, so is relatively accessible for us.
With the appointment of David Blower as Education Co-ordinator for the BBKA, the NDB people are hoping more closely to integrate the various training opportunities within the 2 organisations. For example, the early NDB courses mentioned above are particularly targetted to those considering taking the BBKA Module 3 exam (Pests & Diseases) in November.
We have our September Apiary visit this Saturday, 1st September, 2:30PM at the club apiary Bredlands Lane, Westbere, CT2 0HD. It’s a great opportunity for new beekeepers to see how to deal with the honey crop, application of Apiguard and assess the colonies in preparation for Winter. We can also bemoan the bad weather and the poor honey crop!
WANTED
If you have any old cups – not cracked or chipped ones please! – we want to build up a stock of equipment to be left at the apiary. We are also looking for any outdoor chairs you may have taking up space in your shed.
Look forward to seeing you there.