The BeeHolder, April 2010

This is the secretaries' report as presented at the AGM on February 18th, 2010.

The year started well with a high turnout at the AGM, the year began with 70 members and as of today we now have over 100.

The first public exhibition of the year was held at Newtown Library. The committee put together a display of equipment past and present the Virtual Hive & lots of photos and of course the most important piece the Observation Hive. During the time at the library we were asked if we could perhaps do some demonstrations for a few primary schools, of course we said yes not realising how many children would be coming!

Tony, Graham, Ralph & Jessica put together a bit of display letting them taste honey, dress up in bee suits, show them how the equipment worked, how to extract honey and the grand finale looking at a working hive. One school however were not allowed to cross the busy main road so we took the display to them. This was so worthwhile the children & teachers were fascinated by it all and we received some lovely thank you letters.

After the school visits we started with the apiary visits the first one being in April to new members Rev John & Bridgit Newbury subject of the visit, where to place a hive.

Weather was too wet for the visit to Roy Norris’s in May so that is planned to go ahead again for this year.

We then had a very successful bee demonstration, BBQ and open garden hosted by Dr Beverly Evans-Britt & Tony Shaw. A whopping £291 was raised through the sales of teas & plants and the proceeds were then used to buy some bee suits for children.

In July we had an enjoyable trip to Attingham Park to meet Brian Goodwin. Even though it rained for most of the day the weather did stay dry enough for us to inspect the hives at Radbrook College. The day was nicely finished off with a meal at the Mytton & Mermaid in Attingham.

August & September were the highlights of the year with two days at Shrewsbury Flower show & two days at Glanseven Food Festival. We were offered a stand by Glamorgan beekeepers which in itself was a challenge to put together but definitely well worth the effort and was very professional so a big thank you to them for letting us have it.

At Glanseven we held a raffle and managed to raise £465.70. Winner of the hive was Nigel Moulding who is now a new member.

September was the last of the outdoor apiary visits what splendid weather we had and tea fit for a queen. This was held at Liz & Roger Farrington’s house in the hills above Manafon, the biggest turnout yet with over 60 people attending. Most were new members who had met us at the shows. With a bit of juggling with suits we managed to get everyone who wanted to see the bees into the hives. John Beavan our new SBI for the area also came along and did the talk & hive inspection.

In November we managed to persuade Sara Clutton from Theatr Hafren to put on the film Vanishing Of the Bees. This went down very well and had a large turnout and recruited a few new members on the strength of this.

In between these main events the committee has been working hard behind the scenes finding speakers for winter meetings, places for apiary visits, giving talks to WI’s, Gardening Clubs, more Schools etc.

The year ended in January with a Christmas Meal at the Lakeside Golf Club. Special guests were Brian & Daphne Goodwin, Peter & Marian Guthrie and John & Alison Beavan all of whom have (and still do) give a lot of time to the MBKA. An enjoyable evening was had by all with 40 members in attendance.

For 2010 it is important to help all the new members we currently have. In April we are again holding beginners courses at Plas Dolerw, Newtown with Brian Goodwin who is the President of The Shropshire Beekeepers. We then hope to get a training apiary set up with the help of John Beavan SBI, fellow members and a grant or two. We have kindly been offered a piece of land in the woodland at Gregynog Hall, Tregynon. We want to show new members excellent bee husbandry skills make sure they get the right advice anytime. We are all beginners and learning all the time & we need to learn from each other. We are currently seeking grants to help fund the project and have applied to a number of organisations for this. Outdoor apiary visits will get more difficult to find with so many new members as parking can be very limited at a lot of places so it is vital we get this up and running as soon as possible, Finally this is going to be our last year as secretary , and Doug woods last year as Chairman & Tony Shaw has asked me to tell you he will also be finishing as BeeHolder editor as it’s important to have change & some new blood.

We will still be hands on but without the paperwork!

To sum it up we have had a very good year with the start of many more to come.

Thank you all for your continued help & support hope to see you at future meetings

Jessica & Dave Bennett, Joint Secretaries MBKA

The treasurer's report and draft financial statements were distributed by Roy in January. Rather than repeat all the figures here, will those who want to see the final approved version please contact Roy and he will send you a full copy.