The BeeHolder, January 2010

AGM, 18th February.

Our AGMs have become a source of fun rather than something to loath and avoid. It has now officially become a Tradition to have a raffle for a National Hive. One free ticket per membership, which means that joint-members will have to argue with each other as to who actually owns the hive won.

No doubt the official AGM business will be rushed through with almost indecent haste. It is up to members to stand up and demand discussion. It is also up to members to propose themselves or someone else to the posts of the Association’s Officers. Doug Wood and Jessica/Dave Bennett really wanted to stand down as Chairperson and Secretaries but were persuaded by committee to stay on if no-one else volunteered. However they are definitely, 100%, going at February 2011 so please consider apprenticing yourself to some post during 2010 for taking over the mantle in 2011. (Also we will need a new Editor of BeeHolder in February 2011).

The AGM will be a good opportunity for members to make suggestions for the indoor meetings of October and November.

John Beavan, our East Montgomeryshire SBI, will be talking about the year ahead and how to recover from any specific winter problems. He will also be leading a discussion about the new County Apiary at Gregynog.

March 18th Pre-Victorian Beehive.

This meeting will be fascinating to both experienced and novice beekeepers.

The Stewarton Hive, which Will Messenger will be describing, was almost certainly inspired by the octagonal hives recorded by Christopher Wren and John Evelyn. Members are recommended to Google “stewarton, octagonal, hive” or see wikipedia to follow the story behind the hive. By following the various links one can learn so much not only about the history of the technology but also about many of the fundamentals of beekeeping.

Will Messenger uses a description of this hive as a way of explaining bee-behaviour. The hive enjoyed considerable popularity during the nineteenth century as it did not suffer from dampness.

An understanding of the actual life cycle of the honeybee became known in the late eighteenth century as laid out in the Thomas Paine’s ‘The Age Of Reason’. Whilst he rest of us were then keeping bees in straw skeps, the Great House had the architectural and complex Stewarton Hive with exterior movable bars and glazed windows in each in each box, with the view of controlling the bees in much the same way as they did their servants and tenants.

Will Messenger is not only a commercial beekeeper with over 80 hives but also a bit of a fanatic about the history of bee-equipment and of the various Bee Keeping Associations throughout the UK.

Apiary Meetings in 2010

We have tried to have a meeting in each (and there are five of them) corner of the county in order than everybody can have a drive of less than 20 miles sometime during in the year.

April - Welshpool area : where the bees are active early in the year

May - Newtown area : where the meeting flooded-off last year will take place with the added interest of seeing the bee-houses well colonised.

June - Machynlleth area : great garden

July - Llanidloes area : Beautifully restored thatched barn, one of the complexes regularly featured in open house days by the Llanidloes ecological/energy aware groups.

September - Bishop’s Castle Area : (often said to be culturally part of eastern Montgomeryshire although strictly part of Shropshire) The apiary is one run by a group holding individual properties in an oft-featured low-energy housing development.