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October Newsletter
Dear
Members Hasn’t
September been glorious? At least it shortens the winter a bit. If only we’d
had days like this in July. The lack of honey entries in the Honey Show was
disappointing but very understandable- we have had reports of very low entries
in other shows in the country. It was gratifying to see so many entries in the
cookery section and also the enthusiasm in the junior section. It is so good to
have youngsters taking part again. Well done everyone. June Future
Events October
5th- Planning and committee meeting If there is anything you would like to see in the
2010 programme please tell me or any other committee
member before this meeting. June Saturday
10th October – ‘Using Nucleus Hives’ Jim Vivian-Griffiths. Moccas Hall
2.0pm The title is
really self-explanatory. Jim will come and tell you how to make and use Nucleii.
A nucleus hive can prove invaluable in certain situations. Come along and learn
more. Refreshments as usual. Saturday 14th
November- Talk by a member of Bees for Development. Moccas Hall
2.0pm. More details next
month. Saturday
December 5th- Pre-Xmas Lunch The venue for this will be decided at our Committee
meeting on 5th Oct. This is the occasion where we like to have the
Honey Show Cup Winners and BBKA certificate winners come and be awarded with
these. A form will be in next month’s newsletter. June Past Events
September 12th Kington
Show
The weather was
excellent and there was a good attendance at the Show. Our stand was in the
Crafts Tent but we were not happy with the space we were allocated. We were very
squashed. Next year we want a better site. Plenty of people came to see us and
the Hereford Association was not far away, too. This wasn't a problem because
people went from one stand to the other to see what each had to offer. We sold
honey very successfully and a number of people wanted further information from
us. Hopefully we will have recruited some new members. The general public
certainly have a heightened awareness about honey bees and some of the children
had learnt about them in school. CHILDREN'S
QUIZ "What Do You Know About Bees?" AT THE KINGTON SHOW This was a great success. The winners were: 9-12 yrs
1st Prize
Sally Bayliss (9), Lower Hergest Runner-Up
Edward Goode (12), Dilwyn 8
and Under 1st
Prize Laura Wade (6), Shobdon Runner-Up
Jasper Robinson (8) , Shobdon Prizes were books about bees and I can highly
recommend for the over 8's "The Life and Times of a Honey Bee" by C.
Micucci, Paperback £3.99 from Amazon, if anyone wants to
buy an excellent introduction to bees for a child. Rosie
Bashford Thanks
for organising the quiz and for the report, Rosie June September
20th Honey Show and Harvest Lunch.
Moccas Hall. The combination of a free hot harvest lunch and
displaying all our hard work over the year, is just reward for belonging to our
Beekeepers Association. Many thanks need to go the cooks for providing a lovely
meal; the jobs of washing up and of doing the raffle were shared out. The sense
of everyone getting to know one another and appreciating being part of this
association was warmly felt. The attendance by old and new members gives
everyone a chance to share their knowledge and welcome new beekeepers. Dinah Sweet was incredibly fair and gave a running
commentary on how she was assessing all our entries. The only way we can improve
and learn is to hear knowledgeable people like her tell us from their
experiences over the years. Did the low entry of jars of honey mean there was
not much produced this year or are we not used to competing in this way? As Dave
says unless people enter and take part in the Honey Show and compete in order to drive our
standards up, we will lose this valuable way of sharing expertise. There will only be more beekeepers as time goes on,
so lets keep going in offering people the chance to display their work proudly
and enjoy the trophies. I am not beyond enjoying a pat on the back for a bit of
hard work. It gave us the confidence to sell our honey in our local shop, being
part of our community and selling locally. Thanks to the committee, Dave and June and the
organisers. Margaret
Woodward Cups
and Trophies M & A.D.
Williams Challenge Shield. For the highest aggregate points Bob and Pam
Mendy WyeValley
BKA ChallengeCup For
highest points in Classes 1A,2A, & 3A Peter Woodward
The Sheldrake
Challenge Cup For highest points in Class 6A- Cut comb. No Entries Goodman Cup For Class 5A – Shallow comb No Entries The Wye Valley Rosebowl
For
Class 7A - Beeswax No entries Novice Plaque - Class 4A No Entries The Rosemary
Meehan Trophy
For
Class 13- Honey Cake Bob Mendy
Also
awarded: THE RALPH DOVER CUP For the winner of the Beginners’ Course. Janet Probyn Junior cups were presented to:- Class 16 - Up to 8 years Lyndon Strangeway Class 17 - 9-14 years Hester Hardy Class Results Class 1A- Light Honey:- 3)
Geoff Hardy Class 3A- Granulated or Soft Set Honey 1)
Peter
Woodward Class 1B- Open Class Light Honey 1)
Philip Earl Class 8- Beeswax Candles- 3 matching, moulded. 1)
Bob Mendy 2)
Pam Mendy Class 9- 3 matching Beeswax Candles 1)
Pam Mendy 2)
Bob Mendy Class
10- Any exhibit connected with beekeeping. 1)
Pam Mendy 2)
Bev Rose 3)
Bob Mendy VHC
A.Strangeway Class 13- Honey Cake 1)
Bob Mendy 2)
Rosie Bashford 3)
Bev Rose Com)
Suzanne Wenczek Class
14- Honey Welsh Cakes 1)
Peter Woodward Class
15 Honey Cookies 1)
Suzanne Wenzcek 2)
Rosie Bashford 3)
Pam Mendy VHC
Peter Woodward Class
16 Exhibit child up to 8 1)
Lyndon Strangeway 2)
Jessica Ewing 3)
Tom Ewing Class
17 Exhibit Children 9-14 1)
Hester Hardy Certificate
of Merit for best exhibit in show went to Suzanne Wenczek for her honey cookies. Saturday September 26th
Visit
to Maisemore Apiaries with lunch at the ‘Rising Sun’ at Hartpury. 12 members went
round in the morning and 5 of us in the afternoon. Dave and I have obviously
been acquainted with Eric Hiam and his family for years but it has been many
years since I have been ‘behind the scenes’. We began in the wax room where
the block beeswax is melted down and made into foundation. Eric explained how
the wax varied in colour and we saw block wax which was a grey colour from
Ethiopia. This when rendered down came out a very pale orange colour. We saw the
machine where the wax is embossed with the cell shapes and cut into the familiar
sheets of wax. We then went into his enormous wax processing
building. The plant cost more than £60,000 to set up and there seemed to be
pipes which carry honey everywhere. I was so green with envy when I saw his
conveyor belt system. The supers are raised up, the frames lifted out and fed
into the uncapper, then they go along the conveyor belt and are fed into his 120
frame extractor! All done at the press of a button! The honey is piped away
through a heat exchanger unit and then into another room into his gigantic
settling tank. People always said our tanks were large at ¾ ton but this one
was twice my height and held 6 tons! Eric said the extracting which took weeks
before and quite a few staff can now be done in days. Let us hope the honey
seasons will start to improve again for him. It was a very pleasant afternoon. Before that we had met up with other members in the
Rising Sun at Hartpury. Although the appearance was not terribly inviting they
were right at Maisemore- the food was very, very good. It ended up with 9 of us
for lunch which was a bit disappointing but we all enjoyed it. Dave and I then went back to Hartpury church and
looked at the Bee Boles which were worth seeing. There had just been a wedding
there and they were still taking photos by the Bee Boles. June Bees for Development
Dr Nicola Bradbear is running a residential course at
Ragman’s Lane Farm in the Wye Valley. This is a working and training farm run
on permaculture design principles. The course looks at the relationship between
humans and honeybees and focus’ on the present predicament of bees here in the
UK. The title is Sustainable
Beekeeping-Give Bees a Chance.
The course will include practical and classroom sessions. No previous knowledge
of beekeeping is assumed. The cost is £125
including food and bunkhouse accommodation. It includes ensuring bee health by
addressing the root causes- sustainable beekeeping in practise-making an
appropriate low cost hive. Held on the
weekend 24th and 25th October Book
on-line at www.beesfordevelopment.org
or tel: 01600 713648 Tom
Straker, one of our newer members attended this course previously and can
recommend it. October Notes
Okay so you have fed your bees and given the
appropriate treatment; providing they are Queen right and properly fed there
should be no need to interfere with your bees until February. When your bees are
in cluster it is desirable not to interfere with that process- it is a kind of
going to sleep to pass through the winter and generally you would not disturb
them. I have kept bees in this way for the biggest part of half a century, these
are my findings and I will not change my mind. The key factors here are to make
sure you have fed properly. In an emergency look when the bees are not in
cluster,generally it will be safe then. Keep an eye out for the cold snaps; that
is the time when you will probably get a visit from the woodpecker. Cover the
hive with a mesh guard to prevent damage, this is quite simple to do. If you are
in an exposed place tie the roof down to prevent wind damage. Your hives should
be about 15 inches above ground level with proper air circulation which will
prevent your hives from rising damp. These notes are for guidance only and they
are not meant to be a definitive guide to keeping bees. They are however methods
which I have used for most of my beekeeping days and they are a practical and
common sense approach which most keepers can adopt. If you wish to experiment
with new ideas be cautious and run a small trial first to establish if it works.
Don't put all your at eggs in one basket. If it fails you will not have lost
all. Okay folks that's all for now, all the best for the coming winter Dave Obituary Mr
John Mapp who used to drive for Bowyers Coaches died recently. John drove on all
our trips for over 25 years and many of our older members will have fond
memories of our trips together. He was a lovely man. June Contributions by the 20th month please to :June and Dave Williams, Golden Valley Apiaries,
Long Lane, Peterchurch Hereford. HR2 0TF Tel: 01981 550320 |