Margaret wins the Thistle Cup at the National Honey Show

The trophy is awarded to a Scottish Beekeeper with apiaries in Scotland and this year it was won by Margaret Forrest of Edinburgh. Margaret is also a member of NBA

Margaret was off running a marathon when the trophy was presented. I was collected on her behalf by Brin Wright, Immediate Past President of SBA.

    

Photo courtesy SBA

The SBA Practical Examination Results for 2019 were published in the December edition of The Scottish Beekeeper.

There were 52 candidates from across the country gaining their Basic Beekeeping Certificate. Twelve (23%) of these were from Newbattle 

John Berg

Igor Busturia-Cerezo

David Dowsett

Kevin Field

Stephen Hamilton

Michaela Huber

Maggie Lyons

Lisa Massie

Vince Moucha

Claire Rowley

David Suttie

Paul Whyte 

John was also joint winner of the Ian Craig Award for the highest mark in the Basic Beekeeping Exam.

Find out More by contacting:

Tony Harris, NDB

Photographs by John Borowski

The Honey & Gifts display - Decisions, Decisions!

 Hot Drinks & Light Bites in the Busy Bee Cafe

Caroline - Face Painter Extraordinaire

Kate (l)  admires a Face painting while mum chooses from the home baking selection

The day is coming to a close, Joyce (l) engages in conversation with the last cafe customers.

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Justin Rowlatt is attacked by bees in Ethiopia's Tigray province, where vast tracts of land have been regreened.

Contributed by Helen Nelson 

Newbattle Abbey College Drawing Room was the beautiful setting for NBA’s Beekeepers Question Time (BQT) last night (14/11/19). Huge thanks to panelist’s Matthew Richardson and John Hoskin for expertly answering a wide range of questions on bees and beekeeping and to Alan Riach for deftly chairing the event. We could have gone on till late into the night as anyone interested in bees can do as we learned interesting facts and new information. We stopped around 9.15 pm though to have tea and cake and buzzin’ chat. Huge thanks also to David Hennessey whose idea it was to host a BQT event and to the NBA members who made it happen. David did a grand job introducing the evening to an engaged audience from far and wide, wrangling the sound system and recording the event. Now the process is nailed we will definitely make BQT an annual event, and look forward to once again welcoming old and new friends alike.

  

       Welcome from David Hennessey (l to r) Alan Riach, John Hoskin & Matthew Richardson

  

The 'engaged' audience

 

Tea, cake & a Buzzin' chat

The Bee Academy was in full use over the weekend with Saturday seeing our members sitting the SBA Modular exams that they had prepared for over the past weeks at the Tuesday evening study group sessions. Many thanks to Neil Rutherford for leading these groups. Eight candidates entered for the examinations. Most were sitting Module Six ( Honey Bee Behaviour) Two candidates sat the Module One (Honey Bee Management) examination and One candidate Module Three (Honey Bee Diseases, Pests and Poisoning) 

Sunday saw ten members working to produce some of the items that will on on sale in the Bee Academy building on Saturday 23 November when the association participates in the Newbattle Abbey College Christmas Fair that will open to the public at 11:00. The work party spent their time making Beeswax Wraps, Seed Balls and Beeswax Candles.

       

If you want to get involved in the Christmas Fair Activities the next opportunity will be on Friday 22 November when there will be a 'Working Bee' to set up and prepare for the fair the following day. Register your interest in joining in by visiting the Events page on the website. 

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Honey bees grab most of the limelight but did you know there are 180 varieties of bees in Wales?

Contributed by Helen Nelson

 

We took the opportunity yesterday to ask Margaret Ginman General Secretary Bee Farmers Association to present SBA Intermediate Module Certificates and Module 7 “Selection and Breeding of Honeybees” certificates to six members. Pics look similar but check out the size of the certificates 

Many congratulations to Neil Rutherford Ewan Mealyou Annette EvansMartin Vevers and Josefine Schneidt-Frazer for attaining distinctions, credits and passes in the Intermediate Module Exams, and similar results along with Lorraine Aitken in the Module 7 exam. Annette’s husband Malcolm collected Annette’s certificates.

Ewan presented Neil with a thank you gift on behalf of study group members for his time, effort and leadership in setting up and leading the Modules study groups and steering the members to their success. Next exam is next Saturday 9 November 2019, Module 6 “Honeybee behaviour”. Good luck to all sitting SBA exams on the 9th