News from the BBKA

Saturday 19th April, 2008. 9am To 5pm - The 31st British Beekeepers' Association Spring Lecture Convention and Exhibition. Open to all, beekeepers and friends. Sixty trade, educational, conservation and environment exhibitions. Venue: Stoneleigh Park Exhibition and Conference Centre, near Coventry, Warwickshire, CV8 2LZ. Find on Streetmap.co.uk or how to get here using the AA Route Planner free service. Access via the main entrance on the B4113 near Kenilworth leads to our designated car parks which are FREE: NB entering by any other route leads to different car parks which attract charges. There will be a BBKA Convention sign just inside the entrance which will be visible before turning onto the site.

Programme of Events

Lectures
In the Wolfson Theatre, the National Beekeeping Centre and the Royal Pavilion.

Demonstrations
In the Seminar Rooms(main venue) and the Arthur Rank Centre.

Trade and Educational Stands
In the Avon, Stareton and Warwick Halls; Environment and Conservation Stands; Birds, Bees and more......... In the Granary Hall.

Computer Event
In the National Beekeeping Centre.

Tickets on the Day - Saturday 19th April 2008
Tickets including all lectures and demonstrations - £18.00. Free entrance for under-seventeen's if accompanied by an adult.
BBKA members can pay just £15.00 on production of their membership card (a member is indirect via an affiliated county/local association; an Honorary Member or an Individual Member). Associate, Friend, Family and other categories are NOT BBKA MEMBERS and are required to pay the full £18.00.

Advance Tickets
BBKA MEMBERS - £12.50 Non-members - £15.00. NB admits BBKA members to Members' Day and the Spring Convention. Admits non-members to Saturday 19th April only. Ticket to also attend Members' Day lectures is £18.00. Available until 5th April from the Tickets Officer: Christine Hayward, 19 Kings Road, Leiston, Suffolk, IP16 4DA. Cheques payable to "BBKA"; sae (C5 (229x324 mm) with 48p in stamps. Includes one free programme. Tickets also available through the BBKA website from January 2008. No refunds available on advance or lost tickets.

NB No animals, other than guide-dogs anywhere in the convention venues.

Entrance
There is only one entrance to the Convention Buildings at the top of 10th Street. Go up the side of Warwick Hall, ignoring the 'old' entrance. Advance tickets will be exchanged at the door for a one-day-valid, tamper-evident moisture-proof bandet. This isloose-fitting so as not to impede blood flow and, once removed, it cannot be re-attached. It must be worn all the time at all venues.

Free Parking

Catering
Catering is available at a new venue The Parks Restaurant adjacent to the main conference centre. Cooked or Continental breakfasts are available from 7.30 - 1030. NB. From 7.30-9.00 the restaurant is only accessible from the outside entrance (large sign on Avenue M: wheel-chair entrance is very close by). From 9.00 access to Parks Restaurant will be via a door at the far end of Stareton Hall. Very important - there is no access for wheel-chair users via this door, which opens onto a 3ft flat surface followed by six steps. Hot lunches are available from 1200-1430 plus a bar. A good selection of sandwiches, soft drinks and snacks will be available until 1630.

Accommodation
Accommodation is available on the Showground. There is a choice of basic low-cost hostel-type or a comfortable hotel, the Stoneleigh Park Lodge (Tel. 02476 690123)
Conference rates are available in a few selected local hotels and guest houses.
Friday and/or Saturday night meals at special group rates at local venues.

There are no facilities for overnight parking for campers and caravans at the Showground.
Details available from the Convention Hospitality Officer, June Hughes, 103 Coniston Road, Kempshott, Basingstoke, RG22 5HU Tel:01256 464280 Email: june.hughesbees@hotmail.co.uk

Trade Exhibition
Enquiries to the Floor Manager, John Hayward. Tel: 01728 832487

Programme
The organisers reserve the right to alter the programme without prior notice. NB The Convention is No Smoking throughout.

Fifth Annual BBKA Members' Day
Friday 18th April 2008

NB Nine lectures (open to all) and two workshops (BBKA Members only). Numbers for both workshops are limited. Materials and tools will be provided for the Photo-Memory Album Workshop (10.00-1600) £35.00. Microscopy £35 (10.00-1600): use your own microscopes and tools if you have them but tutors can provide for those without. Cheques payable to BBKA send with membership number and a C5 (9"x4") sae to the Convention Office for information/booking - 2, Harlyn Road, Millbrook, Southampton, Hampshire, SO16 4NF. Tel/Fax: 023 8077 5445.

NB The entrance for Friday only for the Seminar Rooms and Wolfson Lecture Theatre is via the 'Old' Warwick Hall Entrance. Visitors to both Wolfson Theatre and the National Beekeeping Centre MUST FIRST check in at the Stareton Foyer (Convention Entrance).

There is NO public admittance to the Exhibition Halls on the Friday. NB There are NO facilities for children in any of the workshops.

Friday 18th April 2008

Seminar Rooms (main Conference Centre)

1000-1230 part 1 of 2 Microscopy for Beekeepers. Tutors: Alan Kime and Dennis Fullwood.

1330-1600 part 2 of 2 Microscopy for Beekeepers. Tutors: Alan Kime and Dennis Fullwood.
This one-day course is intended to enable beekeepers with access to suitable equipment to set up and use the instruments effectively. Loan equipment will be available for those without. This workshop has been sponsored by Bee Diseases Insurance (BDI).

Wolfson Lecture Theatre
Lectures are open to all, on a first-come, first-served basis. NB Advance ticket required together with membership card for members wishing to attend the Friday lectures. Non-Members: £18.00 admits to Friday and Saturday Lectures.

1300-1400 "Colony Collapse Disorder" "Disappearing Disease" and all that....... Norman Carreck, NDB.

1430-1530 What's New in Medicinal Honey? Dr Rose Cooper, University of Wales Institute (UWIC) Cardiff.

1600-1700 Bee Losses Dr Peter Neumann, Swiss Bee Research Centre, Berne.

1730-1830 Beekeeping in Samoa: Honey Production as a Small Business Enterprisefor Women". Murray Reid, National Manager, Apiculture, (Government of New Zealand).

1840-1940 An Introduction to Queen Rearing Clive de Bruyn, NDB ** see Saturday April 19th.

The Royal Pavilion

1000-1230 Times to Treasure, a Photo-Journal Memory Album Workshop.

1330-1600 Times to Treasure, a Photo-Journal Memory Album Workshop.
Jose Morum-Pound, an independent consultant with Creative Memories. Create a family heirloom; remember the past, celebrate the present and connect with the future. Use all your snap-shots, memorabilia and digital photos etc. to create a lovely, durable album on acid-free materials. A 'hands-on' workshop for a very small group.

National Beekeeping Centre

1300-1400 Feast or Famine: off-season forage (for the beekeepers' Garden). Andrew Willis, Hampshire.

1430-1530 Profile of a Serial Killer: Africanized Honey Bees (AHB) Michael Young, Institute of Northern Ireland.

1600-1700 Seeing Bees Better Sam Baird, beekeeper and optician from Northern Ireland.

1730-1830 Queen Rearing as a Group Activity Norman Walsh, Northern Ireland beekeeper.

Spring Convention - open to the public
Saturday 19th April 2008

Saturday 19th April 2008

Wolfson Lecture Theatre

1000-1100 The George Knights Memorial Lecture What's New in Medicinal Honey? Dr Rose Cooper, UWIC (Cardiff).

1130-1230 Re-Queening Honey Bee Colonies Without De-Queening Using Protected Queen Cells Murray Reid, AsureQuality, New Zealand.

1300-1400 Queen Rearing as a Group Activity Norman Walsh, Northern Ireland Beekeeper.

1430-1530 "Colony Collapse Disorder "Disappearing Disease" and all that ...... Norman Carreck NDB.

1600-1700 Re-Queening Honey Bee Colonies without De-Queening, Using Protected Queen Cells Murray Reid, AsureQuality, New Zealand.

National Beekeeping Centre

1000-1100 Honey Bee Losses Dr Peter Neumann, Swiss Bee Research Centre, Berne.

1130-1230 Off-Season Forage (for the beekeepers' Garden) Andrew Willis, Hampshire beekeeper.

1300-1400 Seeing Bees Better Sam Baird, beekeeper and optician, Northern Ireland.

1430-1530 Profile of a Serial Killer; Africanized Honey Bee, (AHB). Michael Young, Institute of Northern Ireland beekeepers.

1600-1700 Small Hive Beetle: Distribution, Biology and Diagnosis Dr Peter Neumann, Swiss Bee Research Institute, Berne.

The Seminar Rooms

1045-1215 Hints and Tips for Beginners.

1430-1600 Repeat of the above: Tutor: Margaret Johnson, Hampshire beekeeper.

The Royal Pavilion (main venue) in The Guest Room - access is via the door in Stareton Hall

1030-1130 Why Swarms, and is Control Possible? Terry Clare, Convenor, a BIBBA Bee Breeding Group.

1200-1300 Modern Beekeeping Using a Dartington Hive Robin Dartington Hertfordshire beekeeper.

1330-1730 Queen Rearing Experience.... a workshop for 44 beekeepers This will be classroom and apiary based. Tutor, Clive de Bruyn NDB. NB this course begins with the lecture on Friday 18th at 1840 and, while Clive is inviting other beekeepers to attend, priority will be given to the 44 students. The rest of the course is only for the students and the BBKA apiary will be closed to others at stated times. Others may visit the apiary informally in between. Course fee = £50.00 + BBKA Membership Number, and Advance Spring Convention Ticket. NB ALL workshops are subject to advance booking only: no walk-ins permitted.

The Royal Room (next to the Guest Room)

1030-1130 Seeing Bees Better Sam Baird, Beekeeper and optician Northern Ireland.

1200-1300 Api-therapy: Medicine from the Honey Bees Michael Young Northern Ireland Insitute, Beekeeping.

1430-1530 Off-Season Forage (for the Beekeepers' Garden) Andrew Willis, Hampshire Beekeeper.

1600-1700 Bee Improvement: A Practical Programme for the Average Beekeeper Terry Clare, Convenor, a BIBBA Bee Breeding Group.

Demonstrations in the Arthur Rank Centre

1000-1100 Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron June Hughes, Hampshire Beekeeper.

1130-1230 Making Beeswax Flowers Elizabeth Duffin, Dorset Beekeeper.

1300-1415 How to Prepare Your Honey for the Show Bench Peter Matthews of the National Honey Show.

1445-1545 Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron June Hughes, repeat session.

1615-1715 Making Beeswax Flowers Elizabeth Duffin, repeat session.

Computer Event - National Beekeeping Centre

1000-1230 Production of Branch Newsletters. Tutors David and Carol Friel Enter by free ticket available from the main Reception desk.

1415-1645 Repeat of the above. Tutors David and Carol Friel

Never on a Sunday........ Not!

Never on a Sunday, or that's my day of rest...... goes the song. Well, not at next year's Spring Convention, when Sunday 20th April will become a full-blown part of the event. The Members' Day on Friday was introduced some five years ago and now attracts a substantial crowd of several hundred members, who are able to enjoy the 'first sitting' of some of the key lectures, which are then repeated on the Saturday.

Sunday has in previous years not been an official part of the Spring Convention but BDI has held its AGM and likewise BIBBA, with its lecture session. But, as was reported in October's BBKA News we are adding a range of educational events to 'grow' this day and extend opportunities to delegates. As noted before, the Microscopy event has been over-subscribed each time it has been run and a second course on Sunday will help to give those who want to pursue this aspect an earlier chance of being satisfied. 2008 also features a major two-day 'event' in the form of Clive de Bruyn's Queen Rearing Course, which will run on Saturday and Sunday. With the BIBBA and BDI events, the Education Day thus begins to achieve a critical mass.

Three other key events will really make a day of it. Firstly, there will be a Basic Assessment Seminar, designed to review the Basic syllabus and prepare members to take the assessment through their Associations, soon after the Spring Convention. The programme will include a mock assessment, so that participants will actually see how these are done and hopefully build their confidence. The BBKA wants to get as many through the Basic as possible - it's our beekeeping driving licence and we hope that the 40 places for this three hour session will be taken up quickly. We hope too, that the workshop "So you want to be a...." will also be well attended. It is designed to help Associations bring on budding, but perhaps somewhat reluctant treasurers, secretaries, exam secretaries etc. to get a grounding in the basic skills needed to do these jobs in the context of the BBKA. It will be for existing Association officials to 'encourage' the next generation to attend this workshop which will look at the BBKA as an organisation, its Constitution, basic Charity law and a range of basics relating to the roles of treasurer, secretary, membership secretary etc. etc. The third event will be a bee disease recognition course run by the National Bee Unit, which will undoubtedly draw a good crowd.

All these events will be pre-booked and some will carry a fee, so see the Spring Convention Brochure or the web-site for details; book early to avoid disappointment is the message.
Finally, to round off the package, there will be some items not strictly for beekeepers, including Philippa O'Brien following her success at Chelsea, on Garden Design and Pauline Aslin, will run sessions on making some household and cosmetic products with hive materials.

Lunch will see everyone coming together which should provide some social glue to the mix. This Sunday: certainly no day of rest! T.J.Lovett

Members' Education Day
Sunday 20th April 2008

A new initiative to satisfy the growing demand for beekeeping related training, the day comprises, seminars and lectures. Places are limited and pre-bookable, being available only to those members holding a Spring Convention advance ticket. Session fees where applicable are stated. Lunch will be provided in the National Beekeeping Centre between 12.30 and 13.30, to ticket holders only which are available at £5.00 each or included in the cost of the session where stated. Sessions marked * are free of charge but a lunch ticket MUST be purchased.
As per the Friday Members' Day, cheques (payable to BBKA) should be sent to 2 Harlyn Road, Millbrook, Southampton, S016 4NF Tel/Fax: 023 8077 5445

Sunday 20th April 2008

National Beekeeping Centre: Main Hall

10.30-12.30 BIBBA AGM*

12.30-13-30 Lunch for all sessions..

14.00-16.00 BIBBA Lecture Session.

National Beekeeping Centre, The Boardroom

10.30-12.30 *BBKA Workshop "So you want to be a...." Core session.

13.30-15.30 BBKA Workshop The Treasurer.

Royal Pavilion: The Guest Room

10.00-12.30 Queen Rearing Day 2 with Clive de Bruyn (see details for Saturday 19th April).

13.30-17.30 Queen Rearing Day Two continued.

Royal Pavilion: The Royal Room

10.00-12.30 BBKA Basic Assessment Seminar and Mock Exam - Ivor Davis and Val Francis fee = £15.00 to include lunch and a 5.00 voucher towards your Examination fee.

13.30-16.00 Disease Recognition Seminar by NBU Inspectors.

Royal Pavilion: Meeting Room 1

10.00-11.00 *Garden Design, Philippa O'Brien.

11.30-12.30 *Household Hive Products, Pauline Aslin.

13.30-14.30 *Garden Design, Philippa O'Brien (repeat session).

15.00-16.00 *Cosmetic Hive Products, Pauline Aslin.

Seminar Rooms 1-3 (opposite the Wolfson Theatre stairs)

09.45-12.30 Microscopy for Beekeepers - Repeat course with Alan Kime and Dennis Fullwood. Fee = £40.00 to include lunch.

13.30-16.00 Microscopy for Beekeepers continued.

Seminar Room 4

10.30-12.30 *Bee Diseases Insurance (BDI) Annual General Meeting.

13.30-14.30 BBKA Workshop, The Members' Register.

14.30-15.30 BBKA Workshop, The Examination Secretary.

The Studio (opposite the Seminar Rooms)

13.30-15.30 BBKA Workshop - The Association Secretary.

For further information on these sessions, please contact the organisers. For the BBKA Workshop, please book as above, but for further information on the BBKA Workshop please contact the BBKA at the National Beekeeping Centre 02476 696679 or admin@britishbeekeepers.com.

Speaker Profiles

Jose Morum-Pound
Jose is an independent consultant with Creative Memories. She will present "Times to Treasure", A Photo Journal Memory Album Workshop.
Do you, like so many of us, have cupboards, drawers and boxes filled with photos and memorabilia of wonderful memories that no-one sees and future generations will only discover after we have departed this mortal coil and will wonder who everyone was? Do you take lots of digital photos and store them in the modern version of the shoebox, the PC? Are those wedding pictures or photos of that extra special holiday still waiting to find a home in an album? If the answer if 'YES' then I have the perfect answer for you and one that will create a family heirloom. Through "Creative Memories" products I can help you to store and organise your photos safely and use acid-free, lignum free photo safe products to create a treasured photographic Memory Album, using only the very best products on the market.
Come and enjoy and take advantage of the opportunity that BBKA is giving you with a 'hands on' day of nostalgia, fun, laughter and friendship at my workshop at the BBKA Spring Lecture Convention and Exhibition at Stoneleigh Park on Members' Day, Friday April 18th 2008 and I promise a great day. The cost for the day is £35.00 which will include materials and use of tools. Remember the past, Celebrate the present and Connect with future generations. For more information please contact The Convention Office, 2 Harlyn Road, Millbrook, Southampton, Hampshire, SO16 4NF. Tel./Fax: 023 8077 5445.

Dr Peter Neumann
Dr Peter Neumann has held several major positions including teaching and research assistant posts and a post doctoral research fellowship from 1995 until 2006. He is currently Senior Research Scientist at the Swiss Bee Research Centre and is Visiting Professor at Rhodes University and Yunnan Agricultural University since 2003. He will be giving two lectures:

"Bee Losses". In Europe, the USA and China, beekeepers are confronted with annual severe colony losses(100.000.000 p.a.), which recently occurred more often, at a higher magnitude and with different symptoms (CCD = Colony Collapse Disorder). This pollinator decline will lead to serious economic and ecological consequences because adequate measures cannot be taken by beekeepers and veterinary authorities due to the unknown underlying factors. Potential suspects are pathogens (Varroa, viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc.) and environment (nutrition, pesticides, management, etc). Here I give an overview of the suspects for colony losses and aim towards separating major and minor ones. This will foster the development of essential and sustainable control measures. For that purpose, the group "Prevention of Bee Losses" has been initiated with 69 members from 19 European countries Canada, China and the USA to achieve three objects. Accurate data on losses; the exchange of information and coordinated research. This worldwide joint approach in apicultural science will hopefully reduce the detrimental impact of honeybee colony losses for apiculture, agriculture and natural biodiversity.

"Small Hive Beetle: Distribution, Biology and Diagnosis". Small Hive Beetles, Aethina tumida, are parasites and scavengers of honey colonies native to sub-Saharan Africa. They have become an invasive species and can cause considerable damage to apiculture in their new ranges. Here, I will give an update on the following topics.
1. Distribution: Data from Canada, Sudan and the USA. 2. Biology: Alternative food sources, bumblebees and stingless bees as alternative hosts; differences in beetle-induced absconding between European and African colonies; impact of natural enemies on beetle pupation success in its native range. 3. Diagnosis: cryptic low-level reproduction of small hive beetles and new molecular tools.

Murray Reid
"Beekeeping in Samoa: Honey Production as a Small Business Enterprise for Women" Keeping bees in the Pacific is an ideal occupation for subsistence farmers and especially for women. However, establishing small beekeeping businesses in Samoa can be fraught with difficulties. This presentation discusses how such projects need to be evaluated, the importance of participatory planning, securing funding and getting a local partner involved, protecting a developing industry from bee diseases, involving government agencies, marketing products locally then developing export markets; what to do when things go wrong and what things worked well.

"Re-queening Hives Without De-queening, using Protected Queen Cells."
The importance of young queen bees to a colony's performance is well-known with many commercial beekeepers saying they "would prefer to have a young queen of unknown stock to an old queen from a select line". This is especially so when parasites, such as Varroa and the miticides used to control them, affect colony performance. However, the time and cost to find and replace queen bees is considerable and using protected queen cells in queen right colonies is one way to achieve re-queening without finding the old queen.

This presentation will report on field trials carried out in a commercial outfit in the South Island of New Zealand from 1968/1969 to 1974/75. The beekeeper was operating 1800 hives with only seasonable help for extracting. He operated the colonies in an extensive manner and was keen to find a way to re-queen with minimal input. Most New Zealand beekeepers still use a variation on the methods tested in these trials and these will be discussed.

Murray worked for a commercial beekeeper operating 1200 colonies for three seasons while completing undergraduate studies at Auckland University. He joined the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) as an Apiculture Officer in late 1969 and was then sent to the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada to complete an MSc in apiculture.

Murray heads a small tem of four, who make up the apiculture business unit within AsureQuality Limited.. AsureQuality is a State Owned Enterprise (SOE), which is owned by the government but operates a limited liability company. AsureQuality has 1,700 staff in 120 locations and was formed when MAF restructured in 1998.

The apiculture unit provides biosecurity services under contract to MAF, such as surveying for exotic bee diseases, and responding to incursions of exotics or suspected exotics. The apiculture officers are qualified lead auditors and verify honey factories on behalf of the government's Food Safety Authority and also verify bee products and live bees for export. The unit manages an American foul brood disease control programme on behalf of the National Beekeepers' Association(NBA) and a varroa control and education programme in the South Island for the Varroa Agency Inc. Murray and his team carry out pollination hive audits for beekeeper and grower associations and manage a honey residue testing programme as part of market access requirements to the EU. The apicuture unit also undertakes contracts for various aid agencies mainly in the South Pacific. These later programmes can involve bee disease surverys, product development, marketing, sales and exporting through to whole industry development programmes.

Norman C. Walsh B.Agr., Nat.Dip. Sc. (Apic)
Norman was introduced to beekeeping as a student at Greenmount Agricultural College in 1953 and obtained his first two colonies of bees the following year. Bees provided him with pocket money for his subsequent time at Queen's University, Belfast, where he graduated in Agriculture in 1958. During his working life with Unilever Agribusiness he continued to keep up to twenty colonies but was very much a lone beekeeper until, approaching retirement at fifty five, he joined Dromore and District Beekeepers' Association. He attended classes again at Greenmount and later at Gormanston and over the next few years obtained his Senior, Lecturer's and Honey Judge's certificates from the Federation of Irish Beekeeping Associations (FIBKA) and his Nat.Dip. Sc. (Apic) from Cork Institute of Technology. Norman is Secretary and a past Chairman of Dromore and District Beekeepers' Association, past President of the Ulster Beekeepers' Association and was General Secretary of Apimondia Ireland 2005. He has recently joined BIBBA and the Galtee Bee Breeding Group and, with three others, formed the Ulster Bee Improvement Group. He attends the FIBKA Summer School each year at Gormanston where he participates in the delivery of courses. Norman has lectured in Ireland, England, Scotland and the Isle of Man and has successfully exhibited and judged honey in Ireland, Scotland and England.

Andy Willis
"Feast or Famine": Off-season forage (for the beekeeper's garden).
It is well understood the importance of winter bees and the first couple of cycles of brood in early spring. Andy's talk and slide show will explain how the average beekeeper can help their own bees by planting various plants that he has observed during his 20 years professional horticultural career, to be worked by bees during this normal 'famine'. The high quality photos take us through the whole of this 'off-season' and illustrate how easy it is to grow a beautiful, productive and wide variety of plants for the mutual benefit of our own bees and ourselves.

Born in 1965, Andy showed an interest in plants and nature at an early age, taking on an allotment in his teens. Attending Writtle Agricultural College to do a HND in Commercial Horticulture, he left early to take a job in the Hydroponicum, Achiltibuie (North West Highlands of Scotland). It was here that he realised the importance of bees for pollination as the crops, grown indoors, all required hand pollination. His employer Robert Irvine film director; also coached Andy in photography and public speaking, enabling him to give high quality presentations of his work. The beekeeping commenced in 1989 when he took the position of head gardener at a South Lincolnshire manor house, where in the orchard within the 5-acre grounds, were 8 established National hives. Andy taught himself beekeeping using a book, talking to staff at Thorne's and a local beekeeper with 60 years experience. He also learned from his mistakes and observations. Over 4 years, he increased the honey yield from c.200 lb and 8 hives to c.2, 500lbs and 23 hives. Currently Andy co-manages more than 20 hives in and around Southampton, having had to stop work due to ill health in 2004.

Michael Young
Michael is a family man with his wife Rae and four beautiful daughters. They live in the historic Georgian village of Hillsborough in Northern Ireland. He is a very keen gardener also a potter and paints in watercolours, encaustic wax and oils. Michael is also a keen mead maker and at this moment he has sixty gallons brewing for the tenth anniversary of the INIB. (It promises to be a good one).Michael travels extensively carrying out lecturing, honey judging and workshops throughout the UK, Ireland, USA. He has been invited by the Eastern Apicultural Society for the past seven years and was a guest speaker at the EAS conference in Delaware in 2007. Michael has been invited to next year's EAS in Murray Kentucky. One of his remits is to coordinate and manage their prestigious honey show. Michael has held many officer positions in beekeeping organisations in Northern Ireland, including past chair of Ulster beekeepers, but the most valued is his current position as Chairman of the Institute of Northern Ireland Beekeepers' Association. Michael founded the INIB in the year 2000 and has become a major player in promoting beekeeping for the Northern Ireland Beekeepers attracting world-class speakers twice yearly to Northern Ireland. In 207 as Chairman for the Institute Michael has on different occasions received an audience with His Royal Highness Prince Charles, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Secretary of Stare for Northern Ireland Shaun Woodward MP in Hillsborough, and in 2007 was invited to Buckingham Palace to attend the Queen's Garden Party. Michael's first lecture will be about the African Honey Bees (AHB) and its impact on the beekeeping world. The title is "Profile of a Serial Killer (AHB)" His second one will be "Apitherapy, Medicine from the Honeybees" (A look at the history and medicine from the honeybees)

Sam Baird
“Seeing Bees Better”
Sam Baird is an optometrist and beekeeper from Northern Ireland. His talk draws on his experience as a practising optician to explore how we can perform our beekeeping tasks more efficiently.
Main topics covered are lighting and appropriate types of illumination. Various lighting equipment is demonstrated including several items most folk have in their homes but didn't think of using. Applications both in the field and the honey house are demonstrated. Common sense suggestions are made which have been well received wherever the talk has been delivered in Ireland. Basic eyesight problems are described and appropriate spectacle and lens combinations are suggested. The difference between bee vision and human vision is utilised. We find out why some men have bee like vision. Alternative approaches to apiary tasks are discussed and the latest in some futuristic modern technological applications are explored. New equipment is introduced and includes a useful optical instrument for grafting and some very special spectacles. Sam is Vice Chair of Dromore and District Beekeepers' Association and a member of the Institute of Northern Ireland Beekeepers.

Norman L.Carreck BSc,CBiol,MIBiol, FRES, NDB
"Colony Collapse Disorder", "Disappearing Disease" and all that .....
Norman L.Carreck has been keeping bees since the age of 15. He read Agricultural Science at Nottingham University and joined Rothamsted Research in 1987 as an agronomist working on nutrient uptake in cereal crops. Between 1991 and 2006 he was apiculturalist in the Plant and Invertebrate Ecology Division, with responsibility for maintaining about 80 colonies of honey bees. He was also fully involved in the two research groups, on pollination ecology and bee pathology. Norman is a member of the Technical Committee of the British Beekeepers' Association, a Committee Member of the Central Association of Beekeepers, Secretary of the Examinations Board for the National Diploma in Beekeeping, and is Senior Editor of the Journal of Apicultural Research.

At the time of writing, Colony Collapse Disorder is very much in the news, as are colony losses elsewhere. There is no doubt that many commercial beekeepers in the USA have lost many colonies, and in the UK, a number of very experienced beekeepers also lost colonies over the winter of 2006/7. It is not clear however, that all of the losses described are due to the same cause, and colony losses have occurred before at various times and in various places. The talk will document previous dramatic losses of colonies, including the "Isle of Wight Disease", and try to put the present losses into context, hopefully with new information emerging from scientific studies in the USA and Europe.

Terry Clare
Terry Clare's love affair with bees began when he acquired his first bee book at the tender age of six years, but it was not until 1971 that he began beekeeping in earnest and was mentored by a well-known bee farmer Ken Beevor. However, the big change in Terry's beekeeping occurred after a spell of lectures and practical work at Kirkheim Bee Institute, Germany, during a year long course led by Brian Palmer at Hadlow College, Kent. This resulted in him forming the opinion that beekeeping practice should be based only on facts and the importance of structured education.

Terry has now down-sized to about fifty colonies but still raises queens and produces nucleus colonies as well as being heavily involved as Convenor of a Breeding Group. His experience has covered "Expert", Education Officer, Examination Secretary and Swarm Controller of his local Association. Other roles have been Convention Convenor of the National Honey Show, BBKA Spring Convention team member, Chairman and vice Chairman of BIBBA, Council of National Beekeeping Association (CONBA) representative, etcetera.

Apart from running Introductory and Basic Assessment courses, Terry also runs courses on queen rearing production, morphometry giving demonstrations and workshops throughout the UK and Ireland including Apimondia 2005 and Gormanston.

Terry's two lectures are: "Why Swarms and is Control Possible?" and “Bee Improvement - a Practical Programme for the Average Beekeeper”

Dr Rose Cooper
University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC)
"What's New in Medicinal Honey?"
Honey is an ancient remedy that has been used for the treatment of a wide variety of illnesses by many civilisations. It lost favour in the treatment of wounds in the UK in the 1970s, but it was re-introduced into conventional medicine in 2004 with the licensing of wound care products. Approval for similar products to be used in Canada and in the United States of America was granted in July 2007.

Now that wound dressings containing honey are available on prescription, clinical use has increased globally and reports of its efficacy are being published in medical journals.
This lecture will review the development of such products and their clinical use. The results of recently published scientific and clinical studies will be outlined and the direction of future research will be suggested.

Rose Cooper is a microbiologist who has been researching the therapeutic properties of honey for ten years. Her particular interest is in the inhibition of antibiotic-resistant species of bacteria.

Robin Dartington
It is now over 80 years since the National hive was introduced, and the conditions affecting hobby beekeeping have changed very substantially. The National was designed to encourage moving hives to pollinate the nation's food crops - it was described in early catalogues as 'the commercial hive'. Beekeeping is now more of a recreation - and the advantages of the National are now its wide availability and low cost. However, the National hive is not well adapted to dealing with the modern priorities for beekeepers.

Lighter lifting - a full National super exceeds the guidance issued by the Health and Safety Executive.
Better control of swarming - swarms are not welcomed by neighbours as they once were.
Sustainable control of Varroa - non-chemical biotechnical methods require extra space for easy manipulation of combs.
Regular queen replacement - the foundations for bee health and for productive colonies lie in annually raising fully developed vigorous young queens in strong stocks that show strong immunity to disease and good adaptation to local conditions.

Robin developed his modern variant of the National Hive, the Dartington Long Deep hive, 30 years ago. He will illustrate the historical precedents incorporated in the design and how the features make it easier to deal with the new priorities and to increase enjoyment from keeping bees and producing lovely honey. Robin has no commercial involvement in selling hives but does give talks and publish hive plans and operating manuals.

Clive de Bruyn NDB
"A Queen Rearing Happening"
Clive has taught beekeeping for many years both in this country and abroad and was the County Beekeeping Lecturer at Writtle College, Chelmsford for years until Writtle (in common with the other agricultural colleges) closed its bee department.
Honey bees are Clive's business and his life. He is a commercial beekeeper maintaining two hundred colonies; he raises queens and nuclei for sale and regularly teaches beekeeping classes. His courses normally run for eight weeks but for the Spring Convention he has distilled this into a very special 1-and-a-half-day introduction to queen rearing.

Clive will be demonstrating the methods that work for him, so that students will see the kind of mini-nukes and other equipment he uses and the methods he employs. He never insists that his is the only way, but is very keen to see beekeepers learning the basics and using the methods and equipment that best suit themselves.

The formal course begins at 1345 on Saturday April 19th and continues all day Sunday 20th. However, Clive will be giving a one-hour general introductory lecture on Friday April 18th at 1840 until 1930, Wolfson Theatre. This is primarily for the course students, but others are invited to this one lecture.

Liz Duffin
"Making Flowers in Beeswax"
My husband Michael, and I started beekeeping in 1978,shortly after moving to Somerset. At about that time, I first saw flowers made from beeswax in the Bees and Honey Section at the Royal Bath and West Show. When we started showing honey, I was spurred on to make decorative wax for a large display we aspired to put up in our local show. At that time, no one was demonstrating wax flower making, but I found a leaflet written by Kay Curnock, the wife of the late Arthur Curnock, a honey judge. This was the starting point for my working with beeswax. Subsequently, we did put together a big display which we took to the National Honey Show on a number of occasions.

I was first asked to demonstrate wax flower making to Yeovil Beekeepers. Since then I have shown hundreds of people, not only beekeepers, how to make flowers and how to use beeswax for candle-making. If anyone buys wax blocks from me, I always ask them what they use it for and at the recent New Forest Show an Australian lady wanted it to wax the mouthpiece of her didgeridoo!

I enjoy meeting people at my demonstrations and hope that I have inspired some of them to have a go at flower-making and to carry on a craft so closely linked to beekeeping. Just one way to use beeswax, which should be an important by-product of your beekeeping.

David Friel
“Production of Branch Newsletters”
This year we have been asked to concentrate on producing branch newsletters. This will entail inserting photographs into documents, using simple to use software without the need for expensive Desktop Publishing programmes. Find out how to provide for your association neat, easy to compile newsletters without creating massive files and how to reduce all those important photos to a manageable size so that they will easily integrate with your work. Finally, there will be an introduction to the use of Internet Explorer to demonstrate how this can be beneficial when sending your production by E-Mail.

June Hughes
"Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron"
June has been in the beekeeping fraternity for about 29 years. She and her husband run 14 hives. June became interested in encaustic art at a Spring Convention around 1997 when she watched a demonstration in the Dixon Pavilion. It was something she had never seen or heard of before and by the end of the demonstration June was hooked. Since that first encounter she has attended a number of local courses and a two-day course in Birmingham. She now gives demonstrations at many local clubs, organisations and associations.

What is encaustic art all about? Encaustic wax painting is at least 2000 years old and the Ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians all practised it. The word encaustic means 'burned in'
To get started, you need a small dry travel iron with low-heat seating, some beeswax and a sheet of non-absorbent card. Melt the wax on the base of the iron, then spread the wax onto the card. Even if you have no experience, you will produce impressive work. As you become more addicted you will create exciting effects.

June attends the Federation of Irish Beekeeping Associations' Convention held in County Meath in July each year, where she holds seven workshops: three on beeswax and four on encaustic art. She looks forward to seeing you at the Spring Convention and hopes that you, too, will have a go as she did, and get totally hooked.

Margaret Johnson
"Hints and Tips for Beginners"
Margaret has been keeping bees for the last 25 years and currently runs 45 colonies with her husband Alan. She has been involved with beekeeping at all levels from local through County to National, serving on the BBKA Executive for five years. She was Chairman of the Education and Husbandry committee, during which time she was responsible for organising course to train the trainers.

At local level, Margaret has spent a considerable amount of time training new beekeepers and has lectured extensively on all aspects of the craft. She is one of those on the end of herllocal Association help line answering queries and if necessary going out and assisting the beekeeper with the problems that he or she may have.

This year "Hints and Tips for Beginners" will concentrate more on the practical aspects of the craft and will enable beekeepers to get some hands on equipment experience.

Alan Kime and Dennis Fullwood
“Microscopy for Beekeepers”
In view of the Government's clear intention to oblige beekeepers to undertake more responsibility for detecting and effectively treating bee disease, this seminar can be seen as an opportunity to try some of the basic techniques which are required. It is also hoped to stimulate interest in the scientific aspects of the craft to provide a new facet to beekeeping and possibly in microscopy itself. The day is intended to enable beekeepers to access suitable equipment to set up and use the instruments effectively and to carry out basic slide making for disease investigation and simple pollen analysis.

Alan is an experienced hobby beekeeper who holds the BBKA Advanced Theory Certificate together with Module 9 in Microscopy. A member of Ealing BKA, he is also a committee member of the BBKA Examinations Board and the Central Association of Beekeepers. He has a keen interest in bee disease diagnosis, regularly running bee health clinics.
Dennis is a past Vice-President of the prestigious Quekett Microscopical Club, and is currently deputy editor of their Bulletin. He has wide-ranging interests in microscopy including Algae, Bryophytes, Microfossils, Histology, Plant Anatomy and Entomology. Deriving great pleasure from introducing people to microscopy, Dennis spends much time exhibiting and demonstrating techniques at meetings and exhibitions throughout the year. He is a present renovating a slide collection in the Entomology Department at the Natural History Museum.

Peter Matthews
“How to Prepare Your Honey for the Show Bench”
Peter and his wife Christine started beekeeping in 1974, attending the courses at Sparsholt College, Hampshire, run by John Cossburn. He was persuaded to show the first crop of honey in the novice classes of the Meon Valley Honey Show. Ron Dibben then showed him how to put the final touches to honey for the show bench in the members' and open classes the following year. Since then Peter has entered in honey shows both locally, nationally and internationally with some success. At the first ever world honey show at Apimondia in Dublin 2005, he won a Gold Medal and the Royal Dublin Society Silver Medal for a comb for extraction, plus a Silver Medal for dark honey. He started stewarding for honey judges at shows throughout the South of England to gain experience of judging. He was the show secretary for Petersfield and Hampshire BKAs for many years before moving to Scotland. He then gained the BBKA Intermediate Honey Judge certificate and after two years further experience and another exam he became a Senior Honey Judge. The aim of this workshop is to show beekeepers how to prepare honey, a frame for extraction and cut comb for honey shows starting from when the honey is still on the hive, selecting the frame for extraction, the different colours of honey and the steps taken up to getting it into the jar and exhibiting at the honey show.