Bromley
Bee News Monthly Update
Published by the Bromley Beekeepers |
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Welcome
to the February 2003 issue of Bromley News.
The first Winter lecture given by Brian Palmer went down well with everybody, the slide show and talk gave a fascinating insight to beekeeping in South Africa. Because of extreme poverty, stealing has become a way of life, even honey and combs are stolen. We heard about a commercial beekeeper who had to keep his bee hives in a razor wire enclosure to protect them not from dangerous animals but from the human kind.
During the last few month I have been working on a new website for Bees for Development. This charity helps overseas beekeepers with training and provides basic information to help them manage bees in a sustainable way. When their new site is launched you will be able to buy your beekeeping books and videos in the online store. I hope this new site will be a focus for supporting Bees for Development and perhaps get a few more Bromley members to support them by subscribing to their journal. URL: http://www.beesfordevelopment.org This
month we have an excellent feature article written by branch members
Robin & Jenny Spon-Smith. We hope this will encourage other members
to put pen to paper and submit them to the editor. Steven Turner
Therry Apiculture Northern France On our regular trips to northern France we have paid several visits to Therry Apiculture, at Bouin Plumoison, on the D349 road about 56 miles south-east of Boulogne. This consists of a beekeeping museum and shop. The museum contains an interesting collection of old hives and other pieces of antique beekeeping equipment. The shop has a limited amount of equipment for sale - such as smokers and gloves - and a wide range of honey and bee products, such as sweets, biscuits, honey vinegar, mead and so on.
There is also a small auditorium in which there is a video concerning honey bees and beekeeping permanently showing. (Commentary only in French, unfortunately!) There is also an indoor hive, whose exit to the open air is via a glass sided passage. One of the most impressive features is a cellar containing a large quantity of barrels of mead and mead making equipment. Mr. Therry describes mead as "La boisson des Gaulois" - the drink of the Gauls. Behind
the premises is a bee garden with several hives, but evidently most
of his colonies must be kept elsewhere. Also present was a young lady reporter from a local radio station. Realising that Robin was a beekeeper from England, she recorded an interview with him. We didn't discover whether it was ever broadcast! Therry
Apiculture is well worth a visit by any beekeeper who finds himself
in the Pas de Calais. It is advertised as open Mondays to Fridays
from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m., on Saturdays 'toute la journée' (all
day - whatever that may mean), and on Sundays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
except in January. It advertises guided visits for parties of more
than 20. The address is 923 rue Nationale, but it is easily found
as Bouin Plumoison is only a small village. Apiary
News The
weather doesn't look promising for the meeting on the 2nd Feb, but
who knows the weatherman may well smile on us as he has done on many
occasions in the past. Whatever happens I am sure that those of you
who do come along will enjoy the tea and biscuits if nothing else.
Any time there is a warm spell it could pay to lift the cover boards
to see how the food situation is. Even borrowing a frame of stores
from another hive could save the day if you find a stock is particularly
empty. In the meantime I wish you all the best and look forward to
seeing you soon. Peter
Springall Diary
Dates Saturday 1st March 2003 3:00pm Medway Beekeepers Association presents Brenda Ball of Rothamsted “The Varroa Virus Story”. Brenda is famous for her work on bee viruses and varroa. Come and hear what a virus is and how it works in terms that we all understand. Location: Presentation Suite, Civic Centre, Strood. Easy access from M2, M20, A2 and A228. Free entry, refreshments and unlimited parking. All beekeepers and their friends are invited. Sunday
2nd March 2003 11:45am For
more information Advertising |
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