The Beeholder, April 2009.

I'm a new member of the MBKA, and yet to get my first colony of bees (which will hopefully come along this year). I was a member of the Somerset Bee Keepers Association before moving up here to Montgomeryshire, and have been impressed at the helpfulness and enthusiasm of bee keepers of both associations towards new members, so when somebody suggested a web site at the AGM I was happy to volunteer to help get it off the ground.

Most clubs and societies these days have a website as a useful tool for members and to advertise their presence to the rest of the world. For people already receiving club information by e-mail, it is a small step to bookmarking the club web site in your internet browser and the problems of bouncing e-mails are suddenly a thing of the past. For everybody else, we can continue with paper and stamps!

We intend that the web site will provide information on the MBKA and bees generally to the public, maintain current and archive copies of the BeeHolder, have links to other bee web sites and serve as the first stop for news and information for our members. We would also like to hear from any members with ideas for things to put on the web site, or any web sites you've seen which have features you'd like to see included.

Finally, I plan to put out a questionnaire to all members to find out who has broadband, who uses dial up etc in order to design a web site which can be used most effectively by as many members as possible.

Please contact me with any comments or suggestions. If I know what problems you are having with email and the internet then it will be easier for me to design a website suitable for the slow connection rates of Montgomeryshire.

Chris Leech