Welcome to 2011, and welcome to our new style newsletter, IN COLOUR. A big welcome to spring too as after the winter we have just been through both us and the bees are ready. Welcome also to our new bee-keepers. If this is your first newsletter we hope you will find this publication interesting and useful and if you have any stories and experiences to tell us about please send them to me. I am just the compiler and editor. As membership increases the cost of printing this twice yearly publication also increases. One idea to help with costs is if anyone would like to sponsor a page (or more) at £5 per page with an acknowledgement and/or dedication. If so please contact me. The committee is always open to new ideas. An exciting new venture this year will be our attendance at Bakewell Show which will be mainly an information stand but we will have Association honey for sale. Helpers will be needed and if you are available please contact the chairman or secretary for details. Congratulations to John Hollingworth on designing the winning honey label in our recent competition. You will be able to see the label on the association honey jars at this summers shows. At Ashover show we do a bit of everything and we like to have a few home made honey cakes for sale. If you can provide some please make sure they are packaged and labelled and if any contain nuts please state this on the label. We will price them on the day. Commission to CDBKA is 10% and the rest is yours. All you have to do is list the items on an invoice sheet that will be provided on the day. If you have any queries please contact me. Once again the education course is fully booked. A big thank you to those who give up their time and energy into helping organise and run the course and the Taster Days.
SAINT AMBROSE
Saint Ambrose (339-397 AD) was one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. He was bishop of Milan and one of the original doctors of the church, but what is less known is that he is the Patron Saint of bee-keepers, bees, candle makers and wax refiners. (Also domestic animals, The French Commissariat, learning, Milan and students.)
There are no records showing that he kept bees, so why is he associated with them? The reason for this is told in a legend. As an infant when he was in his cradle a swarm of bees settled on his face and left behind a drop of honey. For this reason when depicted he is often shown with bees and beehives.
Article by Matthew Edge
Bibliography - Lives of the Saints by Alban Butler and Wikipedia.
Secretary’s Report March 2011
In my second year as your secretary membership has continued to grow rapidly and as a result we've been kept busy trying to think of ways to deal with the influx of new beekeepers and also others interested in supporting honeybees. This has been great to be involved with, but it's also brought problems as well, namely how to cope with the demand for places on our Beekeeping Course. Thanks to all those who gave of their time to help make it a success!!!
Winter Meetings
We're almost at the end of the winter programme, which has been very well supported despite the weather trying to spoil things. Guest speakers have included David Kemp (retired Regional Bee Inspector), Andy Wattam (National Bee Inspector) and Dr Stephen Martin. Our last meeting will have Ivor Flatman & Ben Jones from the NBU giving a talk & demonstration on Microscopy. I hope that the various talks have been of interest to all and thanks again to all who have helped including Rhoda & Beryl providing the refreshments during the meetings. If you have any suggestions for future topics please let us know and we'll try to include them.
BBKA Forum 2010
I attended the forum in October. Topics for discussion included how to provide training for new and existing beekeepers and updates from the BBKA Executive on their progress with the production of the first in a series of “Course in a Case” products. Those attending expressed the same point that due to all the publicity about the plight of the honey bee the demand for courses continued to be high. Quality of training was also an important factor as well as trying to offer a wide variety of training opportunities. By the time of the Spring Convention we had received our copy of the BBKA's “White” Course in a Case which has been useful in developing our courses for this year.
BBKA ADM 2011
Dave Whitmore & I attended the annual meeting at which the delegates from beekeeping associations met to appoint members to the Executive and went through and approved the treasurers report and education report. They discussed applications from associations that wanted to become member associations of the BBKA, as well as discuss and decide on propositions raised by associations. In particular this year was one relating to the BBKA ceasing endorsement of products used in agriculture which also been raised last year. The BBKA Executive explained their position on this matter saying that the BBKA would cease endorsements and after the delegates discussed some amendments to the proposition it was passed.
A full report can be found on BBKA web-site and there will be a copy of the report placed on the C&DBKA web-site in due course.
Association Apiary 5
Thanks once again to John Rouse and Shona Stockton for their assistance with giving us over-wintering sites for the association colonies which despite the very cold winter this year should hopefully build up this year.
Thanks again to Dave Whitmore and those who have assisted him in their work to provide the association with an apiary for training and breeding.
Events
I am in the process of finalising the summer programme and want to include a mixture of social meetings, some educational opportunities and possible visits.
We have been invited to attend Lea Brook Valley Project's Open Day in Dronfield, as well as for the first time man a stand at Bakewell Show at the beginning of August. In addition we shall be at Ashover Show and our Honey Show is on 3rd September.
The year ahead looks to be another very busy one with the Beginners Beekeeping course, two ‘new’ One Day Introductory Courses, developing the association apiary and helping give advice/assistance to those interested in keeping bees – as well as trying to look after our own bees.
Hopefully the spring and summer brings us all lots of success and that bee losses are not too many.
Finally a thank you from me to my chairman and fellow committee members, who are creative, helpful and give me great support.
Thanks also to all the members who have helped this year and have already offered their support in the coming year to continue to make this a successful association.
All the best for the forthcoming season.
Robin Bagnall (C&DBKA - Secretary).
MEMBERSHIP 2011
We now have 172 Members:
138 Members (Registered Members of BBKA)
11 Partner Members
5 Country Members
2 Honorary Members
16 Associate Members
That’s an increase of 23% in the year. We are still growing at an amazing rate
A big welcome to all our new members.
Mike Ashford, Membership Secretary
Our Beautiful New Equipment – Part Two
In April last year the Newsletter reported that we had bought a lot of new equipment
A laptop computer
A digital projector
New tables
Two gazebos with our name and logo printed big and bold on the roof.
They have all been used to great effect. At Ashover Show we had a really effective stand using both gazebos and the tables. They have also served us well at smaller events and as part of out training courses. The computer and the projector have been very valuable during our meetings. Those members who came to the Monday meetings have enjoyed the videos we were able to show in Staveley.
But, we needed to do more. Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire Links Council for Voluntary Service helped us again and we made another successful bid for funding from the Grassroots Fund of the Derbyshire Community Foundation. We were able to buy:
* Beekeeper smocks to lend to students on our courses
* A set of DVDs that the Derbyshire Beekeepers Association made and which our members find helpful
* Good quality display boards to use at events.
* And, we got our Secretary a good printer to match the laptop. He no longer has to rely on goodwill to get his work done.
Then we needed a microscope for serious work. Committee Members had been impressed by the value of microscopy at the National Bee Unit and at BBKA Spring Conventions.
It was difficult to define just what was needed and although suppliers and other
users were helpful we were baffled by the array of equipment on offer. We looked for an advisor. Stephen Mazurek, the Managing Director of Mazurek Optical Services is a real expert and he helped us to work out that the Association needed:
* A compound microscope enabling examination at 100 times, 400 times, and
1000 times magnification,
* A stereo dissecting microscope
* A camera to work with these and to enable us to project microscope images through our laptop and projector.
Stephen Mazurek brought along and demonstrated a selection of equipment, new and refurbished, from their range. We chose two microscopes and a camera that suited; he offered a very competitive price.
We had exceeded our available funds and we knew that Derbyshire Community Foundation had no more in their pot and neither had anyone else. Then Janet Hinchley came to our aid. Janet was married to Alan Hinchley who was our President for many years. When he died she created an educational bursary for us in his memory. Unfortunately none of our members had been able to take it up, so Janet converted it into a grant to allow us to buy the microscopes that we wanted and which, she was sure, would have delighted Alan. We are very grateful for her generosity.
Now we have nearly everything we need to provide a really good service to our members and to the public of Northern and Eastern Derbyshire. We have a microscopy group learning how to use the equipment to the advantage of members.
It has been an intensive and difficult exercise but we are delighted with what has been achieved. We would like to thank everyone who has helped us, the main players have been mentioned but there were lots of others. No one ever said ‘you can’t do that’ and everyone was helpful and encouraging. We are extremely grateful and will do our very best to make it all worthwhile.
Above—CDBKA committee members with Mr Mazurek at the demonstration.
CDBKA president Alan Barnes handing over the cheque.
Article and pictures by Mike Ashford.
EDUCATION
Congratulations to Penny Ives and Alan Fairbrother pictured below with David Kemp, Jamie Theaker, Douglas Ross, Philip Edge and Martin Dalley, who all passed the Basic Assessment examination last year.
Do not hesitate to contact Gordon Richardson or Sue Dakin if you would like to take the examination. Chris Edge is our examiner for the Basic Exam and you can either come to us at Worksop or he can come to you.
Photograph by
John Hollingworth
BEE-KEEPING TRAINING DAY
On the 5th February seven committee members went to the National Bee Unit at Sand Hutton near York for a Train the Trainers Day. This was part of a national initiative under the Healthy Bees Plan to improve trainers knowledge, teaching skills and also to provide them with training materials, ideas and practical advice to help them run a bee-keepers course.
The day consisted of lectures interspersed with small discussion groups who were a mix of trainers from different bee-keeping associations so we could all learn from different experiences.
The first lecture started with the statement “The single most important factor in the health of our bees is the knowledge of bee-keepers” He went on and discussed learning styles ie. Lecture plans and how to structure them, hands-on training with colonies and what resources could be used.
Teaching methods and course structures was next on the list. Quite a complicated one but very informative (it seems that we are doing things right at Chesterfield). By this time the fifteen minute coffee break was very welcome.
Then back at it again with a lecture about examinations including how they can improve competence which was followed by one of the small discussion groups with the idea of exchanging good practice.
After lunch, back in the hall, with a lecture on apiary teaching styles. This included how to demonstrate to groups and how to involve trainees in an inspection. This was very informative and at times quite funny especially with the photographs from the early 1900’s. Just what we needed, some light relief for what came next was the big one—teaching diseases (general bee-keeping).
Learning resources and their effective use was the last item of the day. These were the training ideas that have been developed and are being developed by the BBKA. At the moment two courses (in a case variety) plus the virtual hive. which is a full size hive with photographs in the frames each with a different learning element, are just part today’s education in the craft of bee-keeping.
Chris Edge