Shipston Beekeepers members’ will know that we don’t do a ‘traditional’ honey show but prefer an event where as many people as possible can sample the entries and form their own views, rather than just one person – the honey show judge – deciding what is ‘good’.
This year we took that a step further and wanted members to taste and score the entries so that they could vote for the winner in each class and the overall winner. To make this manageable we decided to have just 5 classes:
- Runny honey
- Soft-set honey
- Honey cake
- Mead
- Frame ready for extraction
We were all set for the event on Monday 12th September but on the Sunday night Douglas Nethercleft, who was organising the event and is a Honey Show Judge, had a positive Covid test. Fortunately for Shipston Beekeepers at short notice Carolyn Kramer, who runs our 100 Club and Winter Bee School, stepped in and she and her partner Chuck ran the evening very successfully.
This is the Best in Show prize, the John Castle Memorial Plate.
This is how the evening went:
Honey classes – Runny and Soft Set
And the Winners were: George and Drina Heighton in both the Runny and Soft-Set classes
Mead Class
Always a very popular class, especially when there is tasting involved!
And the winner was: Ray Pearce (well his friend Irene, who apparently actually made the mead!).
Honey Cake
We had three entries and one entrant admitted that the honey she used was not in fact her own bees’ honey but from a friend. But we don’t mind, it’s the taking part that matters.
The Winner was: Dave Kelleher’ wife, Fiona.
Frame ready to extract
We only had one entry so well done to Paul Neal
Best in Show – The John Castle Memorial Plate
For winning both the Honey classes and for getting the highest individual score, the Best in Show at the 2022 Shipston Beekeepers Honey Show, presented by Carolyn, was awarded to George and Drina Heighton:
