Dear Members,
First, let me try to get up to date! I’ve been busy revising
for the BBKA Pests and Diseases Module 3 in March and have let other
responsibilities slide!
The February meeting was well attended and most
enjoyable.
Steve Wilson showed
us how to make wax foundation using the FDBKA kit. Steve is the guardian
of this equipment and uses it to demonstrate at Manor Farm. If you fancy having
a go yourself, contact him to arrange the loan of the equipment.
Greg Young demonstrated the making of lip-balm from
beeswax and gave out samples in tiny individual tins, which were much
appreciated. The process is straightforward but the regulations that need to be
followed if you want to sell products like these are not so simle, so be warned!
Paula Little (I) talked briefly about how mead making
can use up every tiny smear of honey from your extractor and cappings tray, if
only you have the energy to start a new project after a busy day extracting
your honey crop. I have to admit that I also receive donations of heather honey
with” too high a water content from Mike Holloway and Greg Young, which turn up
in lovely little buckets and are no where near the trouble. Mead made with
apple juice is called Cyser, mead spiced with herbs is Metheglin. Show or
Traditional mead is made with water and no additives except the necessary to
get a ferment. Tiny tasters were supplied of each type and seemed to go down
well.
The HBA had it’s AGM. Janelle is retiring as
secretary and we wish her well in her new life in Hertfordshire. She will be
missed by Romsey BKA and HBA. I’ll give a full report to the committee and post
it here after our next meeting when a few details have been confirmed. Thank
you to Mike Smith, Chrissie Day and Alan Baxter for attending and representing
us at there.
The March Meeting was a talk by John Hoar. As many of
us know, John is passionate about Neonics. He had prepared a really fascinating
talk, looking at the history of it all and explaining how misrepresentations
and unfounded claims have been used throughout to justify their use in the face
of evidence. The sheer volume of information that John has analysed and distilled,
and is able to explain in an interesting and lively manor is awe inspiring.
The early part of the
meeting had some important matters to share with members and so John was only able
to give half of his talk. We are hoping to find a place in the autumn for that.
These matters were: Mentoring Scheme: Jan Lethbridge gave an update on the Mentoring Scheme.
E-mails have been sent to all involved. We seem to have matched up most of those
requesting a mentor. Jan has been very careful to try and match people who live
close to each other, to make it easier for those involved.. There are still one
or two areas in our large catchment that are not well covered, so if you feel
you could pass on a few words of wisdom to a new Beekeeper please let her know.
A big thank-you to all involved so far.
Asian Hornet in Portsmouth: John Geden our new
regional Bee Inspector spoke at Portsmouth BKA on the Tuesday before our
meeting. He got in touch as he would have liked to talk to FDBKA but his other commitments
would not allow him to. He has therefore set up a Zoom meeting on 12 APRIL
at 7:30. (his invitation will be forwarded separately) The Asian Hornet has been on the agenda
for so long and it seems it will never get here. Sadly, that situation is changing.
The queen found in our area, this early in the year may indicate that a mated queen went
into hibernation last autumn, and if that is the case we will be hearing a lot
more about this very, very soon. I recommend the web page Andrew Durham of
Cambridge BKA has on the subject. He covers what we can learn from the French bee
keepers and is really useful. https://www.wbka.uk/hornet.php?status=0
Happy Beekeeping,
almost time for the first spring inspections.
I have it on good authority there has already been a swarm!
Paula
Dear Members,
The January Talk over zoom was very successful. Those who
attended said they would be happy to attend future events held in a similar
way. This means that we will no longer be limited talks by people who can
travel to us, which will enable us to provide a wider range of topics for our
talks.
The events page of the website has been updated, confirming
the dates of our talks in Stubbington up until March 2023.
Our next event is on
February 25th. There will be demonstrations showing how to
pour your own foundation, make lip balm from wax and a display of mead making
equipment that will provide us with an excuse for some mead sampling to take
place! The students from this year’s course are being invited. Refreshments
will be provided whilst we get to know each other. We look forward to seeing
you there.
The Committee are supporting HBA’s drive to encourage Associations
to run their own queen rearing programme. The HBA are hosting a zoom talk on THURSDAY
10 February at 5:30pm. Epsom BKA has been running a successful group for several
years and hopefully Phil Shepherd will share the secret of their success. An
e-mail will follow with the log-in details. If you would like to be involved in
this project, this will give us all an idea of what will be involved.
In fact, a number of e-mails will arrive in quick succession
to tell you how to access a number of local and national events.
Portsmouth BKA spring convention 9 April
Meridian BKA talk on Asian Hornet 20th March
BBKA spring convention 8-10
April
Whilst we are on the
subject of HBA, their Hon. Secretary Janelle Quitman, is giving up her position
as she no longer lives in Hampshire. HBA are advertising for a new Secretary
and there are two communications about that too. Paula is already a member of
the HBA committee, and it would be wonderful if a FDBKA member could join her
as Hon.Sec. Failing that, some company at the HBA AGM would be much appreciated.
The AGM of HBA will be held at 7.00pm on Monday 14 March 2022 via zoom.
Looking forward to seeing you soon
Paula and the Committee.
Dear Members,
It
was really lovely to see so many of you at our AGM, the minutes of
course, will be circulated before the next year’s AGM and these notes
are most definitely not them.
The Committee was re-elected and
I am over joyed that Sally Furlong nominated and elected as a committee
member. Steve Jarman and Alan Baxter offered their help. If you were
not at the meeting but would like to offer your support, please get in
touch.
Mike
Smith, was thanked for his very many years on the committee. First as
Treasurer, then as Chair. The Committee nominated him and he was duly
elected President of the Association.
He was given a certificate to say as much! Suspecting that we might try
and show our appreciation with a gift, Mike had specifically requested
that we didn't but accepted a Certificate!
His first role as President was to hand out BBKA Module certificates.
Alan
Baxter obtained his Basic and Module 1, Greg Young, Christian Fox and I
( Paula Little) also got Module 1 and I got Module 2 as well. Despite
being a lot of work, it has been really interesting studying for the
modules. Module One covers all aspects of practical bee keeping and I
thoroughly recommend studying for it, even if you don’t take the exam.
If you think you might be interested, please get in touch and maybe we
could help set up some more study groups.
Mike Holloway
was presented his certificate for Honey Bee Health. However, when he
came up to collect it, the Committee had planned a surprise! Mike has
run the New Bee Keepers course for many years and has supported
generations of beekeepers. I started out in the New Forrest Association
but when I joined FDBKA in 2008, still a fairly inexperienced bee
keeper, of the 28 then members, Mike was the man I called. He has been
generous with his time and energy to so many of us, in so many ways that
the Committee awarded him Life Membership of FDBKA.
Two other members were “mentioned in dispatches,”
for the way they supported other members during Covid Lock-down.
Whenever anybody asked for help or advice through the group Facebook
site Sam Summersgill and Greg Young
seemed to be the knights in shining armour who came dashing to help. I
personally have been helped by both of them this year, and I know a lot
of you have too.
Before
we get to the points raised by members, I must just mention the
Auction. The tables were literally piled high with donations. Many
people went home very pleased with their bargains and a healthy sum of
£319 will go Bees for Development. Duncan Williams,
who remains our Auditor despite giving up bee keeping. Duncan had
donated his equipment to be sold for charity. Greg and I took these to
the Meon Valley Auction in the Summer, raising £215, which accounts for
our large donation shown in the Treasurer’s Report despite not having an
AGM or Auction last year.
THE REALLY INTERESTING BIT>
There were three really good points raised at “any other business”.
1.
Mike Barringer said, he took his entries that he had prepared and
entered into our Honey Show to the National Honey Show. He explained,
he did win a few prizes at our Show but not with all his entries. as the
judge said the standard was high. The same entries won him a silver cup
at the National Honey Show. He encouraged all members to have the
confidence to enter the National Honey Show too.
2. Do we have a “welcome pack” for new members?
Oooops.
No. Usually we had meetings and talked to them. No blooming use during
lock down at all. We do have a website though and it was suggested that a
new members guide page would be
a good idea. I shall be consulting with the member who raised the point
to try and get this underway, ready for our new cohort of students
coming through this winter. If you have ideas for what should be
included please let us know.
3. Other associations seem to organise group discounts on equipment better than us, could we improve?
This
generated a really useful discussion. The Portsmouth Association runs a
shop on Saturdays that we can use. They have premises and take it in
turns to help staff it. ” Not everybody knows this” and the address and
times or link to this information will be on our website soon. Various
members have taken on buying glassware or fondant in bulk as a group,
thus benefiting from reduced costs. They usually advertise their
intention at a meeting or on Facebook page and collect orders then
arrange when the stuff should be collected. The Facebook page is a good
place for this. David Thomas reminded us that glassware in particular
can be bulky and the organiser needs to have adequate storage. It was
agreed, a few years ago, if a member was going to any bee equipment
supplier, they would let other members know and arrange to collect any
orders to save travel.
Again,
if you have ideas to help with this, please let us know and we will try
to share the information. It has identified an area that could be
included in the welcome pages on the website, perhaps.
So..
quite long but on the upside a lot shorter than the real thing. On the
down side no mince pies afterwards!! A gallon of gently warming mead sat
in the kitchen but I’m afraid to say I forgot to give it out. My
apologies.. I’ll bring it to our meeting in January!!
Wishing you all the best of the season. Looking forward to seeing you in January.
Paula | 
