YABeeP aims to provide peer support to individuals, families and groups who want to encourage wild bees and/or keep bees themselves using natural beekeeping methods – our interest is in honey, bumble and solitary bees.
In 2011 we will hold our informal meetings at 10:30am on the second Saturday of each month during the bee season - March to October. Meetings last about 2 hours and, weather permitting, usually include a chance to get hands-on with bees:-
2011 Dates:
- March 12th Meeting - Includes an introduction to natural beekeeping, winter review and introduction to the hive building workshop.
- April 9th Meeting - Don't miss this one as we have Carlo Montesanti from the Bee Guardian Foundation as our guest speaker talking on "Don't Call Me Honey : Bees the bigger picture". We will also cover 'Getting honeybees for your hive'. The meeting will be followed by........
- April 9th Workshop follows on from meeting - Build your own solitary bee house - practical & fun.
- April 30th all day workshop. Build your own honeybee hive - practical & fun. In 2011 we will be building Warré hives, adapted to allow for the easy introduction of framed bees for those buying their bees in nucs.
- May 14th Meeting - to include and 'Kitting yourself out'
- June 18th Meeting - to be followed by our annual BYO Barbecue/garden picnic lunch. NB: This meeting was originally 11th June but had to be moved - my apologies.
- July 9th Meeting - 10:30am Yatton Library
- August 13th
MeetingDue to holiday commitments we have decided to cancel the August meeting. - September 10th Meeting
- October 8th Meeting
If you wish to join one of these meetings we'd love to see you - please email YABeeP@googlemail.com or tel: 01934 876275to let us know who you are, how many will attend and to get directions to the meeting. We hope to hear from you.
Why do we meet?
Meetings allow us to:
- Welcome new members to learn about our aims and principles and decide whether they wish join us,
- Provide an environment to network with each other to expand our knowledge, ask questions and share new ideas and thoughts on helping bees,
- Provide an opportunity to get hands on with bees (dependant on weather of course) and see into a working hive/bee box
- Allow us to meet socially and have the occasional BBQ, picnic, etc., after all life’s not all about bees.
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| Typical meeting |
Where do we meet?
Meetings mostly take place in the Yatton area as this is central to our North Somerset patch, however, we may occasionally meet at a members home elsewhere. The venue details and a map are emailed to members the week before each meeting.
Meeting format
YABeeP believes in holding informal meetings; we don't instruct our members or provide formal training courses but use a 'learning through doing with support' philosophy. Meetings are used to provide peer support and help for those new to bees. We also try to have short 10/15 minute themed talks at our meetings, mostly given by our own members (volunteers always needed!) but occasionally bringing in a local(ish) expert. Weather permitting, we also use meetings to let members get up close and personal with bees and experience the workings of the various bee homes we use.
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| Learn about hive types |
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| Up close & personal with bees |
Workshops
In addition to our monthly meetings we also hold practical workshops as demand dictates. These tend to be all day affairs which allow members to build their own hives for honey bees or homes for bumbles and solitary bees. As well as being highly productive – you should expect to complete your project within the day - the workshops held to date have all been great social events! These workshops will be listed in the Dates section above in red when arranged.
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| Horizontal honeybee hive workshop - the fruit of our labours |
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| Build a wild bee home (photo © Simon Johnson) |
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