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

The subscription renewal forms are enclosed with this month's mailing (email members will receive a paper copy). They should have been sent to you all last month but a number of problems caused a delay. Given that you have already had a month's reprieve, please pay promptly to save extra work and expense!

Denis Keyte has also been growing Phacelia tanacetifolia for many years. The seed is easy to save and some packets will be available at the AGM at 50p each, for association funds. DNK

Richard Lindsey, our Seasonal Bee Inspector, has asked me to print the following message:

'If any member feels they are or have been near the outbreak could they contact me direct now, asap, so they can be inspected without delay, Tel 01217440404 or 07900426493'.

The Waldron Trophy for the best two-jar entry of extracted honey by a Stratford Association member was awarded to Denis Keyte.

The Challenge Cup for the most points gained was also awarded to Denis Keyte.

The Cookery Prize for the best entry in classes 18, 19 and 20 was awarded to Moira Osborne.

The BBKA Certificate of Merit for the best entry in show was awarded to Denis Keyte.

Our congratulations to Denis for an outstanding performance.

I am sure that many of us, especially the non-smokers, have sometimes wondered what effect the smoke from our smokers was having on our lungs!

A recently published paper in the Journal of Apicultural Research, 'Respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function tests in beekeepers exposed to biomass smoke inhalation', reported on work carried out in Turkey to investigate the risk to beekeepers from using smoke to subdue bees.

The paper quotes reports that exposure to smoke caused by 'biomass combustion' (bonfires to you and me?) is one of the main causes of chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in non-smokers living in rural villages. A group of 34 beekeepers and 25 control subjects was studied and they were divided into smokers and non-smokers (of cigarettes) - although how they managed to find anyone in Turkey who does not chain-smoke is a mystery to me after our recent holiday there!

The results showed that respiratory symptoms were no different in beekeepers from control subjects for each smoking and non-smoking group, but that either beekeepers or control subjects from the smokers group showed decreased lung function and increased respiratory symptoms (coughing, sputum, breathing difficulties).

It is suggested that 'less intense and short periods of smoke use in addition to outdoor exposure to biomass smoke in beekeepers may be a factor of lower risk for chronic bronchitis'.

I note that the type of smoker fuel used was not studied (beekeepers in rural Turkey possibly use only natural materials - leaves, grass, wood etc), unlike many beekeepers here who burn noxious materials such as corrugated cardboard or even baler twine!

Last month's forum at Stoneleigh covered a number of topics, including a report from the National Bee Unit on their battle with the foul brood diseases, the problems of Bee Diseases Insurance Ltd, the proposed Stoneleigh apiary, the recent GM conference, and some associations' problems with the BBKA's members' database.

Mike Brown of the NBU gave statistics showing that the incidence of AFB has been much higher in 2002. EFB is still a problem in some areas, but the shook swarm method of dealing with it is showing promise. Resistance of varroa to Bayvarol and Apistan has been found in more colonies in Devon and Cornwall, but not yet outside those counties.

Everyone at the forum was urged to write to their MP to try to rescue BDI from its present problems, arising from government legislation that makes BDI, with its 5-figure turnover and a staff of unpaid volunteers, obey the same rules as a major international insurance company. Evidently only the Treasury can provide the necessary dispensation for BDI.

We will have read in BBKA News about the plans for a new apiary at Stoneleigh. Although a charitable foundation will provide much of the capital cost, concerns were expressed that the project would have an unwelcome impact on the BBKA's finances.

Some associations are still not happy about providing BBKA with details of their members. Ultimately this could result in their expulsion from the BBKA, and individual members would be deprived of their third party insurance cover. DNK