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Shipston ITB 2023 Report

This year’s Introduction to Beekeeping course was somewhat affected by the cold weather we are having but nevertheless was very successful.

Day 1 – Theory day

We had a total of 20 attendees, 18 adults and two children. The Saturday is the theory day in Brailes Village Hall, where a number of speakers take the attendees through topics including Why Keep Bees; Honey Bees and their Colony; Choosing your bee hive and equipment; Finding an Apiary site and getting bees; the Beekeeping Year; Products of the Hive and What Could Go Wrong.

We provide a buffet lunch on the Saturday and tea and coffee breaks where the attendees can ask the Shipston members present as many questions as they want.

Welcome to Shipston Beekeepers ITB 2023
Building a frame is definitely easier than putting this display together….
…but we got there!
David Blower – All about bees
Chris Paxford on Essential equipment
Chris demonstrates the parts of a hive
Douglas Nethercleft’s amazing display of Products of the Hive
We provide a (rather good, we think) buffet
Some of the catering team
Lining up in flowering order of the flowering plant on each attendees name badge

Day 2 – Practical

The weather gods were against us this year and it was just too cold to open a colony for any length of time.

So Plan B was that David Blower MB was able to book the Brailes Village Hall for the Sunday at short notice and we spend the second day on a round robin looking at how to make frames and build a brood chamber. We always have these stands but at the Training Apiary so whilst one group is opening a colony the other groups are on the frame making round robin.

David Blower introduces the session
Mike Clarke demonstrates how to make a frame

Course follow up

We promise that everyone on the course will get an opportunity to see inside a colony and we have now proposed dates for this to the attendees.

And for anyone who wants to learn how to look after a colony of bees before they get their own (ideally!) we will shortly be opening our Training Apiary in Brailes on Monday and Wednesday evenings, These sessions are for beekeepers who want to learn how to look after a colony and we help them achieve this by getting them to look after the colonies at our training apiary with the help and support of some of our very experienced members. These sessions are for Shipston Members only; for more information on how to join Shipston Beekeepers go to our Join Us page.

And thanks goes to…..

The course would not happen without the involvement of a lot of members.

David Blower MB is the Course Organiser and he was helped by Gary Thomas, David Jones, Margery Blower, Mike Clarke, Dave and Mrs Kelleher, Steve Woolf, David Murphy, George Heighton, Irene Beever, Liz Bates, Ian Haycock (and apologies if I have missed anyone out).