Beginners - The Course for 2012 is Full
We are taking names for the 2013 course
In previous years we have given the beginners' course to 10 or 12 people. recently there has been a good deal of publicity about the problems that bees and bee keepers face in the press and TV. The result was that 40+ people signed up this year, filling our facilities to capacity and beyond.
The course we offer as a group of hobby bee keepers takes place in May and June. Our facilities are modest and we ask for £25 per person to cover the costs. The course consists of six Thursday evenings (rain or shine) from 7.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. These evenings are followed by Saturday morning meetings (shine only) at which we give people experience in handling bees.
The aim of the course is to allow people to judge whether bee keeping is for them and to give information about getting started. It does not attempt to cover bee keeping in depth as this will come with experience.
Some people come along with bees already, some will start keeping bees during the course and some will leave it for another time. Most people keep in touch by e-mail but even without that, all who sign up can receive the information by post.
If you are interested in looking at bee keeping as a possible hobby to take up, then here is your chance. We run a course of six sessions at our Apiary (where we have our hives) near Stafford.
The aim is to give people enough information to see whether or not bee keeping is for them and to keep a hive of bees with some help.
The Thursday evening sessions are followed by practical sessions on the following Saturday morning 11.00 - 13.00.
The evenings start at 7.00 p.m. and are followed with refreshments. Registration for the course costs £25 for which you will receive a booklet of notes on the first session. After the first session we will ask you to join the Association as an associate member.
Bee Keeping?
Bee keeping is the manual craft of looking after bees that involves some lifting and some ability to make up items with simple tools. It is a craft that produces a pure and wholesome food that is an enrichment to the table. Bees can sting but with protective clothing this is minimised. Pollination of crops and wild flowers by our bees has a value that can only be guessed at, but we are 100% positive about our value to our environment. Forget about making money from bee keeping, but enjoy the satisfaction of producing some of your own honey.
