Hon. Newsletter Editor:
Peter Edwards
E-mail: beekeepers@stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk

THE NEWSLETTER THAT NEARLY WASN’T!

I had intended to devote a large part of this month’s newsletter to queen rearing and improving the quality of our bees – until the computer crashed last weekend!  Thanks to Windows XP I have spent most of the last 5 days and nights re-installing drives, systems, programs and data – and keeping the beekeeping going!  Perhaps next month I will devote a bumper issue to queen rearing and breeding, but in the meantime, I will just try to get this out on time.
Peter Edwards

INVITATION TO THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF OUR NEW FACILITIES

Mr John Maples MP will formally open our new facility at Hampton Wood on Friday 15 July.  All members are welcome at 11.30am in the wood on that day.

Please make every effort to attend if you are able.
Ron French

VISIT TO THE MAYOR’S PARLOUR

On the 8^th of June the Mayor, Councillor Bill Lowe, generously presented a certificate relative to our £5000 lottery award.  This took place in his parlour in the town hall in the presence of our chairman, Terry Hitchman, and four committee members accompanied by our swarm lady, Moira Osborne.

The mayor was presented with a jar of honey provided by the chairman.  A picture of the occasion was published in the ‘Herald’ the next day, giving the Association the publicity we were after.  We couldn’t have a picture of the actual presentation as the certificate might look like a cheque in the picture and that is a ‘no no’ – funny old world, isn’t it?
Ron French

STARTING BEEKEEPING - FROM ONE OF OUR NEW MEMBERS

I grow a lot of bee loving plants and in past summers have wondered where all the visiting bees come from and if I could buy honey that might actually be from my own flowers.

I saw a poster put up by Mike Osborne in the village (Snitterfield) and really fancied finding out more about this beekeeping business.  Discussing this with a colleague, Cathy, we decided to pluck up courage and give Mike a ring to see if he would talk to both of us about it.  After a visit to his hives we were inspired - and thought we would chum up and get a hive together to share the responsibility.  It all seems so straight forward, after all bees have been kept for hundreds of years - but as eager beginners we know this year will be a steep learning curve and will rely on kind mentors from the association to keep us on track!

Our first hive is in place on the site where an old member, Rob Birbeck, kept his for many years, and his wife, Sylvia, encouraged us to keep them there, so we feel confident they'll be safe - and they are only a couple of hundred yards from my garden and the tempting nectar from the many herbs and flowers I grow.

As we should be wearing big 'L' plates on our bright new bee suits, Cathy and I decided that by joining the local association we will gain from the knowledge and support from other members.  It was so easy, Mike organised it all for us, forms were sent by email, signed and returned at once.

Our first swarm of bees was collected last month and had a dodgy start with the weird weather, but with help from Mike they seem to have settled down and are hopefully going to provide the honey I am so looking forward to.  We have now bought and constructed another second hive ready for new occupants, so wish us luck, any advice will be more than gratefully received.
Ginny Crow

BEEKEEPING IN FRANCE

My wife and I went to France with our two young boys over the spring half term, staying in the small Normandy town of Houlgate about 3 hours from Calais.  We decided to spend part of one day following a traditional craft/produce trail of various small-scale producers.

The choice was an apple juice/cider/calvados producer, a pigeon breeder, a beekeeper, snail breeding and bread making.  We plumped for the apple juice producer and the beekeeper.  Having picked up my first hive courtesy of SBKA and Mike Osborne the week before we went to France, I had resisted the urge to check the hive before going and was chuffed to find a beekeeper whilst I was away.

We visited the apple grower first and spent an hour talking to a lovely man whose son was the fourth generation of growers on that farm.  We then started to make our way to the beekeeper - a journey that looked very small on the map! We managed to get very lost on the small country roads, eventually stopping to ask an elderly gent for directions.  He embarrassed us with his helpfulness by insisting on closing his workshop and driving us there (only 10 minutes away as it turned out) to make sure we got there!

Odile and Roger Chaeoze keep 500 hives on various sites, harvesting a range of honeys and selling all manner of honey, pollen and wax products.  They have a selection of old hives and tools, a video showing the basics of beekeeping and a display area for them to show all the various parts and processes.  They also have a lovely picnic area.  Although my wife speaks a fair bit of good basic French, it was interesting trying to talk about the various technicalities with no English.  We spent a good hour with Odile who showed us round and was generally very helpful.  If anyone wants to go there, it is called Haut Hamel at La Vacquerie just south of Caen.

As for my own bees, I have recently extracted my first batch of rape honey and look forward to many more - as Bruce Forsyth says - didn't they do well!
Mike Ashton

[Many thanks to Ginny and Mike for their contributions – I look forward to more from other members!  PE]

HEATHER

A reminder that a few of us who are verging(?) on the insane will again be moving bees to the heather moors in Derbyshire or Yorkshire at the end of July.  If you are interested in joining us then give me a ring.  I should point out that this exercise involves much hard work – mainly in the dark, a night or two with very little sleep, no guarantee of any crop at all and the possibility of bringing back colonies in a worse state than when you took them.

You will need to be obsessed with heather honey and the only (fairly) certain reward is a superb fish and chip supper at Bryan’s in Headingley (if you go to Yorkshire) when we collect the bees in early September.
Peter Edwards

50 INJURED IN HONEY BEES ATTACK

[India News]: Bhadohi, Mar 9.

About 50 people were injured, 10 of them seriously when a swarm of honey bees attacked them in Bhadohi, India.  The bees attacked the victims when they threw stones to destroy about 25 beehives in an export house built on the industrial development authority building, police sources said.

Some of the victims were injured when they fell on each other in an attempt to escape the bees, sources said, adding that ten of the seriously injured were admitted to a hospital.
Peter Edwards