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Wisborough Green BKA
Beekeeping Beginners Day
For
non-beekeepers and beginners
Saturday February 18th 2012
Pulborough, West Sussex.
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This
course is a full day event that will provide the potential beekeeper
with all they need to know in order to start beekeeping. It will also
suit the beginner who has already started, but has little or no
knowledge, or who has had poor advice and is struggling.
The programme has been well planned by a beekeeper with nearly 50 years
beekeeping experience and who has
been teaching it for 40
years. It is based on real experience, not simply teaching what others
know straight out of a book or training manual. It will be presented by
Wisborough Green Chairman Tom Moore and Apiary Manager Roger Patterson,
both very experienced lecturers. Apart from
a few specialist subjects all the images have been taken locally, not
downloaded from the web.
This annual course is well established in the beekeeping calendar and
is probably the largest in the country. It has not been slapped
together quickly to take advantage of the current interest in beekeeping. In
2009 the venue capacity was reached some time before the event and a
second session was hastily arranged - 194 attendees in total! Every
year there are many attendees who come from some distance away, either
because they have been recommended by previous attendees, there are no
courses in their area, or they are full.
The cost includes a buffet lunch, refreshments and our own booklet that
is packed with sound
and useful
information. At break times there will be a number of beekeepers in
attendance to honestly answer your
questions. They will not be on a "hard sell" mission because we don't
operate like that. There are many people who have always thought they might
like to keep bees, but are not sure if beekeeping is for them. This course will suit them well and we have
performed a service whether we can give attendees a little help to get
them going, or to convince them they are unable to make the committment
that bees require.
For
those local
enough there will be free follow up sessions at the apiary where you
can see inside a beehive and handle a colony of bees on your own under the
supervision of an experienced beekeeper. Further
details will be posted on the website www.wgbka.org.uk.
In the past we have had a lot of experience of people buying bees and
equipment, then coming along for help, only to find beekeeping doesn't
suit them and abandoning the bees and equipment. We have
found the Beginners Day and follow-up practical sessions have largely
prevented that. We
feel we have a duty to the bees and the general public to try and make
sure beekeepers are well prepared and responsible.
For those who are from outside the West Sussex area there will be
details on the day help you find a Beekeepers Association in your area.
The
venue overlooks the Amberley Wild Brooks that is a SSSI and well known
wetland site for migrating birds. At lunch time there will be an
opportunity to have a walk by the River Arun.
It is hoped to have a supply of Roger Patterson's new book "Beekeeping
a Practical Guide" that is due to be published two days
beforehand.
Course
details here
Booking
details here
Payne's Southdown Bee Farms will be in attendance. They are a supplier
of good quality beekeeping equipment and have been trading for over 80
years.
Organised
by the Wisborough Green Division of the West Sussex beekeepers
Association
www.wgbka.org.uk
